ON THE TOWN:A referendum on trust

Newport Beach, like Costa Mesa, is facing its most important election in many years. The Newport City Council could undergo a severe makeover that could affect many plans.

But the most important choice on the ballot is not the election of a council member or even whether to initiate some new program; it is a question of maintaining the status quo.

As a rule, I prefer change. Too often, we are afraid of change because we are afraid of failure and afraid of the unknown. This is best said in a quote that has appeared in this space before; one that I credit to Zig Ziglar as he is the first and only person from whom I have heard it spoken. The quote is this: “For most people, the fear of failure is greater than the desire for success.”

For most people, that is true. As a result, people, businesses and institutions become complacent and depend on the status quo for protection from the fear of the unknown and thus the fear of failure, rarely contemplating that the chances of success are often equal to or greater than the chance of failure.

The great Newport Beach question is not a yes or no on growth or a yes or no on Measure X. The great question is whether residents should restore this decision-making process to the City Council.

The question, as it always is in politics and sometimes in business, is a matter of trust.

Growth in the city is inevitable. Growth should not be feared. What should be feared is uncontrolled growth that is not properly planned.

Enough people thought that the proposed hotel in Marinapark was out of control, and the idea was defeated. My own opinion was that it would have been a good addition to the city.

But residents decided otherwise, and under the rules at that time, it was their right to do so.

I’m not sure that the current members of the Newport Beach City Council or those who oppose Measure X are aware that this is less a question of growth, and more a question of trust.

Ideally, the City Council should be making these decisions, but residents do not trust them. The real work the new council will have in 2007 and beyond is not whether to add more buildings to Fashion Island or to add a promenade along restaurant row. The real work is restoring the trust of their constituents to help streamline the process.

Measure X is not a perfect law. No law ever passed has been perfect. In Iowa, for example, the law that was passed to keep registered sex offenders even farther away from the rest of us, has resulted in many of them disappearing; going underground so they can live where they want. The original law, while a good idea at the time, was flawed, and changes to it have wide support, including support from law enforcement.

But Measure X will restore the power of this key decision-making process until such time as residents determine that the City Council is once again acting in their best interests by striving to achieve an acceptable level of growth.