MAILBAG - Nov. 4, 2006

Signs are a sure fire way to lose votesAh, it must be getting close to election time. Do you know how I can tell? It’s the delightful proliferation of the colorful little candidate and proposition signs that gaily decorate the various landscapes, median dividers, hedges and fences throughout the city. Also, their most-welcome, perky little presence offers a wonderful twofold purpose: Not only do they brightly augment the landscape with their rather festive variety of colors and shapes, but they oftentimes offer a valuable insight into the character of the person they represent. Slogans like “Honor-Integrity-Stability” or “Intelligence-HonestyProgress” are often incorporated into the sign copy to further aid us in making a determination of which way to vote.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I kind of like to keep a running mental tab of the number of signs that each candidate has put up. Then on Election Day, I have a pretty good idea of who I am going to vote for, right?

Wrong!

Anyone who uses these stupid little signs to influence his or her vote should be disenfranchised of the right to vote! And after the election is over, do the various sponsors and candidates retrieve these idiotic signs that they have jabbed into the ground throughout the city?

Heavens, no!

That treat belongs to the city. Tax dollars desperately needed for schools, parks and other vital city functions are uselessly spent picking up and disposing of these offensive, visually polluting pieces of debris.

I feel there should be a city code enacted prohibiting the putting-up of these signs on public property. Any candidate violating it should be fined for each and every violation.

Hopefully, this would put an end to this expensive, useless cluttering-up of the city.

VERNON W. MONROE

Newport Beach

A new city hall might stop airport expansionSo how could something the city of Newport worked on for three years all hinge on a horse trail a mile away from the airport (“City’s veto power is official,” Oct. 25)? First off, let’s not forget all the usual suspects like a couple of overzealous developers on Mesa that want to keep some public land where the horse trail should be. Or the City Council members for this closed-door agreement soon to be set in stone, sandstone that is, by people who really can’t make this kind of agreement with the county on airport development or limitations, unless maybe they offer the supervisors some shiny beads or maybe $36 million of our redevelopment money to hold the line on airport expansion.

But when this group of supervisors is gone, what will Newport sacrifice next? If they are truly committed to stopping airport growth, why don’t they build their new city hall at the end of the runway? I haven’t heard of an airport tearing down a city hall for expansion yet!

GREG KEHOE

Newport Beach