Letter to the Editor

As longtime residents of Newport Beach, my wife and I are vehemently

opposed to the proposed expansion of Our Lady Queen of Angels School and

Church for the following reasons:

1. Having owned and resided in our present home for morethan 25 years,

we have only seen the traffic congestion worsen specifically since the

city wrongly restricted the traffic flow through Eastbluff and Bison

Road. That act, in and of itself, only further exacerbated an already out

of control traffic nightmare.

2. Corona del Mar High School now services more students and grades

than it was originally designed and built for. Each and every weekday, it

is next to impossible to go freely to and from our own home between 7:30

and 8:30 a.m.

It’s because of the congestion, as well as no left turn signs, that

requires us to travel miles out of our way to have legal access to our

own home. Furthermore, the ingress and egress is seriously jeopardizing

every school day at 3 p.m., as well as both Saturday and Sunday for

regularly scheduled church services and such affairs as weddings and

funerals.

3. Residents should be allowed to have full and complete access to

their own homes because they pay the very taxes that pay for the

installation and maintenance of the very streets that they are denied

access to because of the obvious overcrowding of both the high school and

the growing student body at the church’s school. If Newport Beach feels

it is necessary to restrict traffic, then restrict the school traffic and

not the residents who pay the taxes that built the school in the first

place.

4. As the city has expanded the parking lot for both the school and

the church to include Mar Vista, we are experiencing both students and

members of the church on residential streets. This demands that there is

an obvious need for restricted parking to protect our rights as residents

and homeowners. Because of the failure of the city to protect our rights,

our streets are overrun with both students’ and church members’ cars.

5. While the city of Newport Beach has continually allowed the growth

of new apartment complexes within a two-mile radius, they grossly

neglected to consider the needs of those who call Newport Beach their

home. And while we do not necessarily object to carefully increasing the

population of the city, it would be wise and prudent to immediately

address the current and worsening problems prior to allowing the church

(one of the major contributing factors in this problematic equation) any

and all expansion.

In other words, take a good look around and see for yourself the mess

that such expansion has already caused the residents of your city,

particularly this neighborhood.

WILLIAM DOREMUS

Newport Beach