Letter of the Week

Costa Mesa is once again trying to come up with a specific plan for

the Westside. Will the longest running comedy since “Seinfeld” continue,

with the only changes being some new players on the program?

Last year, they hired analysts to come up with a proposal.

Then they held a lot of meetings for citizens to give their opinion.

They then threw it all away when no one liked the plan.

The last plan reminded me of a bow tie on a pig. It may have cutesied

up 19th Street and Placentia Avenue, but it wouldn’t have solved most of

the Westside problems.

Is the city really ready to work on a wholesale cleanup of the

Westside?

If so, they should not waste much time talking about eminent domain,

which at best is a small part of the overall solution. Let’s face it,

there are some problems not easily solved. The Westside is filled with

overcrowded and, in too many cases, run-down apartments.

There is no redeveloping going on there, as is the case with the

Eastside. That is because if you tear down 12 old Westside apartments,

you are only allowed to build six or eight new ones.

New condos? Who do you know that would buy a new condo over there?

As it is, redevelopment of units on the Westside makes no economic

sense. However, it could be accomplished by giving developers density

bonuses for consolidating small pieces of property into large ones.

Lots of small, obsolete units could be replaced by large, modern,

safer complexes.

How about the business failures on dead-end 19th Street?

Open up 19th Street to Brookhurst Street.

That would increase the amount of traffic on that street and change

the demographics of that traffic. Then, talk about window dressing for

the 19th Street and Placentia Avenue intersection. That might also add

value to the whole area of the Westside that presently has no easy access

to the beach.

Of course, tearing down slums will displace people until new units are

built.

Propose a 19th Street bridge and you will hear lots of complaining

from a few 19th Street homeowners, who have pretty much gotten their way

in the past. Up until now, has the city really been trying to improve the

Westside, or have they been running a popularity poll?

Let’s be honest, the Westside conditions are not their fault. The

problems hae occurred over the past 50 years from either bad planning or

no planning. You decide which.

Costa Mesa badly needs a new Westside specific plan, however difficult

the changes will be for some residents to swallow.

There will be lots of heat on our council members to keep the status

quo.

Can this new council stand the heat?

Only time will tell. Spending money on analysts and wasting time in

meetings will accomplish little if they continue the planning methods of

the past.

Newport had an obsolete specific plan. Now, they have the Greenlight

Initiative.

How long will Costa Mesa residents and property owners put up with the

festering Westside before they too put an initiative like Greenlight on

the ballot?

Wake up council members, it may come sooner than you think.

MICHAEL STEINER

Costa Mesa