READERS RESPOND

The unfortunate message of the proposal to put the new city hall on the Newport Center Park site is that open space is always up for grabs, which makes potential donors (and I understand there is one for the park) skittish about committing funds. We don’t have that much open space that we should be subtracting from what we have, and to point to Banning Ranch as compensation is disingenuous because under the proposed new general plan, this area is already designated as open space, so the removal of Newport Center Park would be a net loss.

This idea has come up before ? it has been rejected and should be rejected again.

NANCY GARDNER

Corona del Mar