TONY DODERO -- From the Newsroom

So Costa Mesa Councilman Chris Steel won’t “let” me live in this town.

You see, my wife and I have been house hunting for some time now. You

would be too if you were us. It’s partly because where we live now is

right in the shadow of the Matterhorn, and I’m not talking the Swiss

Alps.

Sure, we have a nice place and all, but we also have a growing family,

a toddler and a newborn baby, and we need something bigger and quieter

and with less tour buses. So close to the Magic Kingdom are we, that when

the fireworks go off at night, it feels like we’re on the Bosnian front

lines.

So yeah, we’d like to move away from Mousedom, and Costa Mesa -- the

home of this fine newspaper that I work at -- would be a logical choice.

Only problem is, it’s not as affordable as Steel thinks.

“We’ve got to be serious about the people we are letting live here,”

Steel said the other night at a meeting in the Mesa Verde community, as

he railed on about affordable housing.

Let’s see, last time my wife and I checked, even modest homes in Mesa

Verde, where Steel was speaking, can start as high as $400,000. That’s

not exactly what I’d call “affordable.”

***

OK, I know, I know, I’m missing the message here.

What Steel and others on the Westside are saying is if you get rid of

the blighted apartment complexes and industrial areas and build better

housing, you’ll make the area desirable for upscale, young families --

though not mine -- to come and live.

It’s hard to disagree with that message. Everyone wants nice

communities, nice homes, nice parks, nice shopping areas.

Even editors want that.

But, what Steel and others on the Westside point out time and again is

that affordable housing attracts “illegals.” These illegals, they say,

are the major source of crime in Costa Mesa. Without them, heck, we

probably could shut down the jails.

They are forgetting something though. Sizing up the worth of community

members by wealth and citizenship status is using a shallow measuring

stick. Because someone is wealthy or was born here, doesn’t mean they are

immune from doing wrong.

For example, many in the Steel camp say that if Costa Mesa were to

become more like Newport Beach, that would solve the problems.

But what if you lived in Newport Heights and you had a neighbor named

Eric Bechler?

He wasn’t “illegal” and he lived in a house worth about $700,000 --

pretty unaffordable for many folks, I’d say.

But that didn’t stop him from knocking his wife over the head with a

dumbbell during an anniversary boat outing, then sending her into a

deep-water oblivion, leaving his own children motherless.

Or some say the Westside should be more like the Eastside of Costa

Mesa, where just a couple years ago you might have had a neighbor named

Steve Allan Abrams.

He wasn’t “illegal” either.

And all he did was intentionally run over and kill a 3-year-old boy

and 4-year-old girl as they played at the Southcoast Early Childhood

Learning Center.

He caused immense pain and agony for the parents of those children and

others injured in what was one of the most hideous and despicable acts a

human being could conjure up.

What a fine U.S. citizen he proved to be. And the list could go on.

My point, in case I lost you, is that blaming the ills of the town on

a whole class of people, and isolating and excluding them, is not what we

expect of our leaders.

Steel could do so much more if he used his place in office to instead

bring together apartment landlords, employers, church, school, city and

business leaders and, yes, even charitable groups to find ways to make

Costa Mesa a better place for the entire community, not just those who

can afford it.

***

Beware developers and Irvine Ranch Water District officials looking to

dump treated sewage into the Back Bay.

There’s a new activist in town to deal with for years to come.And even

though he only weighs about 9 pounds, 9 ounces, and is only 21 inches

tall, he’s got some pretty hefty credentials already.

Robert James Caustin II, entered this world on March 9.

Robbie is the first child for Defend the Back Bay founder Bob Caustin

and his wife, Susan Skinner. And if that isn’t enough activism pedigree

for you, he’s also the grandchild of Dr. Jack and Nancy Skinner, longtime

defenders of Newport Beach’s waterways and open space.

Grandma Nancy modestly pointed out his strengths in a recent e-mail.

“Of course he is adorable!”

Congratulations to all.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage please send messages

either via e-mail too7 [email protected] or by phone at

949-574-4258.