Mailbag: New homes are improving Costa Mesa’s Westside

Opponents of development on Costa Mesa’s Westside talk as if the city is paving paradise and putting up a parking lot. They moan about losing wide-open spaces, but in fact the only things being lost are vacant lots full of trash and abandoned buildings that attract vandals and squatters.

If anything, there’s not enough development, of the right kind, on the Westside. In my neighborhood alone there are five bars and four liquor stores in easy walking distance of one another. That’s four bars and three liquor stores too many.

If not for the homes going up, another bar or liquor store would probably crowd its way into an already over-saturated market.

Another complaint is that the homes won’t attract young families.By this they seem to mean people with children.

Well, not everyone wants children. The child-free-by-choice movement, of which I am a part of, is growing as people finally realize not everyone should be a parent.

And besides, a family can be a single person with a pet and friends who care for each other.

Not everyone wants a house with a yard and a picket fence. Admittedly, they’re not my idea of a dream home. A childish part of me still clings to the dream of owning a three-story home complete with secret passages and a fish-filled creek in the backyard. However, everyone is different.

At the end of the day, there is no logical argument against these homes going up. The city is not building them in parks or stealing others’ homes in a government land grab.

There are so many real problems to worry about. Let’s focus on them instead and let the homes be built.

Jami JoAnne Russell

Costa Mesa

*

Irvine law helped vulnerable workers

As people of faith who feel a responsibility to care for vulnerable members of society, we want to express our concern about the recent decision of the Irvine City Council to repeal the living wage ordinance for municipal subcontracted employees.

It is a terrible injustice that the people who the city relies on to do basic service work would be paid so little.

We believe that it is our ethical responsibility to treat others as we wish to be treated. This ethic produces a healthy society that provides adequate compensation for work done.

Recent surveys show that a majority of people in the United States agree that income inequality and poverty are major concerns. When many communities throughout our great country are moving to increase the minimum wages paid to the poorest, we are ashamed that Irvine’s political leaders are now withdrawing support for a minimally decent wage for those who work for us here.

David A. Smith and multiple other signers

Irvine United Congregational Church Advocates for Peace & Justice

Irvine

God Squad rabbi is a pleasure to read

Thank you for returning the God Squad to the Saturday paper. I hope this is permanent and not just a way to plug a space.

I am a Christian but consider the rabbi “my” rabbi and look forward to his columns. He has more common sense than 99% of the other voices out there and is able to express his opinion and impart his knowledge without being offensive. And he holds his ground when necessary.

Judy Blackman

Costa Mesa

Editor’s note: The God Squad, a nationally syndicated column, is a regular feature, but sometimes it’s withheld from the paper to make room for locally written content.