WHAT’S UP -- steve smith

One column each week is often insufficient for me to cover local matters.

So, I will get to El Toro. But first, please wade through two quick bits.

Two nights ago, Nick’s restaurant reopened in the beautiful new Harbor

Center in Costa Mesa. Thanks to a tip from ICI president Scott Bell, Roy

and I were able to make it down for the unofficial grand opening.

Although the location has changed, the food has not. It’s still the best

Italian food in these parts.

Second, I am offering a plea to Tom Moore to drop his countersuit against

Laura Schlessinger. Dr. Laura’s original lawsuit was recently thrown out

of court, leaving Moore alone to press his case that the talk show host

hurt his business. Going forward now will only prove what many have said

all along -- that this was all about money and Moore’s 15 minutes of

fame.

When I spoke to Tom Moore a few weeks ago, he told me the affair “was not

what I want.” Prove it, Tom, and drop the suit. I can virtually guarantee

that the time you take to press this suit will subtract tenfold from the

attention you need to pay to your business.

If nothing else, just remember that advice from lawyers should be taken

with a large grain of salt. After all is said and done, win or lose, they

still get paid. If for no reason than the spirit of this time of year,

it’s time to end the whole affair.

It has been interesting to watch the whirlpool that is the El Toro

airport debate pull so many down into the void. El Toro is the litmus

test for county residents. Either you are for it or you aren’t, and both

the published and unpublished reactions to a recent column in this space

prove the debate is spinning way out of control.

This much is true: either that airport will be built or it will not.

Regardless, we will all still be living together and I caution both sides

to keep this debate civil. Don’t be so sure that at some other time, on

some other issue, you just may need the help of those who now disagree

with you on El Toro. Burning bridges, no matter how right you think you

may be, is never a good idea.

I urge both sides to back off of the pressure to make government bodies

commit to one side or the other. School board member Jim Ferryman may

have been candid in his comments about not taking a side in the airport

debate, but he was right.

The school board is going to ask locals for $163 million in a few months

and the last thing we need is one-note lobbyists on either side using the

airport issue to alienate voters and make a “yes or no” El Toro

commitment the reason our schools decay even more. Good show, Ferryman.

Recently, the Costa Mesa City Council, the Newport-Mesa school board and

the general population of Costa Mesa were asked to choose sides. None has

officially committed to it and I urge them not to respond to the veiled

threats and false arguments for doing so.

The issue calls for civil, rational consideration which, sadly,

disappeared from the scene months ago. Now, the debate looks like a

last-minute political ad. You know the one -- a false charge against a

candidate is leveled, but there is no time to respond to repudiate it.

Instead, the media pick it up and report it as “news.”

In one recent e-mail I received, a member of one side of the issue called

a particular member of the other side an “idiot.” I tune out those who

use that kind of trash talk and I can only hope that readers condemn

those whose attacks become personal. If you have an argument, stick to

the facts and leave your rudeness at home.

And to the Pilot reader who suggested I find a South County antiairport

newspaper to express my views, I wish to point out that the majority of

the personal e-mail I received thought my recent column was pro-airport.

Perhaps the reader would be better off in a neighborhood where everyone

always agreed and polite debate was not allowed. Doesn’t that sound

stimulating?

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Replies can

be sent to the Daily Pilot at (949) 642-6086, by e-mail at o7

[email protected] , or to Steve at o7 [email protected]