Mailbag - Aug. 28, 2001

Bringing crowds to Back Bay not too wise

Regarding your editorial (“Center Needs a Higher Profile,” Aug. 23): I

am all in favor of increasing the visibility (literally and figuratively)

of the Upper Newport Bay Interpretive Center. However, as a 13-year

resident of Santa Ana Heights, I do have some concerns.

I walk my dogs and run along the Back Bay trails every day and have

observed the changes in the volume of trash, as well as the illegal and

environmentally insensitive behavior of visitors to the area.

Here are a few of the behaviors I have observed on a routine basis:

* dirt bikers riding on trails that are specifically marked as off

limits to bikes; the most distressing aspect of this is that the

offenders are usually children accompanied by adults;

* large groups of children collecting insect and animal species in an

animal preserve, again, accompanied and “supervised” by adults;

* bushwhacking families venturing off the marked trails and disturbing

the preserve (sorry, but, again, usually led by adults);

* young boys constructing skateboard arenas within preserve habitat

areas;

* an exponential increase in the volume of trash along the trail and

in sensitive areas associated with the above behavior.

These are merely five examples of the problems associated with

increased usage of the Back Bay area. Anyone who has tried to run or bike

on the trail on a Saturday morning will understand that there are other

issues that confront us on the Back Bay, such as trail courtesy rules.

Bicyclists and walkers often ride or walk five or six abreast,

monopolizing the trail on weekends so that nobody can pass them.

So, while I applaud the desire to market the Back Bay as a destination

for environmentally aware visitors, I worry about the impact of the

Pilot’s desired “crowds” on the wildlife, as well as on the people who

currently use the preserve. How does the Pilot propose that the “jewel of

Newport Beach will be forever protected” if its own publicity of the site

turns it into a litter-ridden tourist attraction?

Instead of simply calling for crowds, why doesn’t the Pilot advocate a

more sophisticated, educational approach to exposing people to the Peter

and Mary Muth Center, one in line with the architectural vision so

maligned in the editorial? I can only speak for myself, but I am not

interested in having the Back Bay marketed as an amusement attraction for

people to act however they please.

If we want to increase the visibility of the Muth Center and the Back

Bay, we need to be ready and willing to pay the cost of the increased

county personnel that will be required to monitor the behavior of the

“crowds” the Pilot is so eager to draw. Perhaps the Pilot can provide us

with some innovative sources for these funds.

KAREN LINKLETTER

Newport Beach

Reader doesn’t agree with Greenlight views

This is in response to the comments (Mailbag, “Smaller population

would not require growth,” Aug. 19) made by Corona del Mar’s Norm Frahm,

whose remarks I found not only annoying and disturbing, but also really

mean-spirited. I think he’s totally out of line.

Apparently, Frahm has overlooked the fact that, for the most part,

residents here in Newport Beach and Corona del Mar have at some time or

another come from someplace else, unless of course they were fortunate

enough to have been born here. I find his attitude an embarrassment to

our community and an affront to those who make their homes here. For

whatever it’s worth, three generations of my family have lived here and,

as I was, most were born at Hoag. It doesn’t get much more “local” than

that.

I hope that any newcomers who read Frahm’s comments don’t feel that we

all share his thoughts. I, for one, certainly do not.

SEAN M. WALSH

Newport Beach

Koll project offering doesn’t cover cost

According to your Aug. 15 story (“City Council sets date for Koll

election”) concerning the Greenlight election, “the developers have

promised to chip in $2 million to help ease the effect of traffic of the

project.”

Further, “City planners have determined the roadways around the center

would need about $15 million in improvements to accommodate the increases

in traffic.”

Guess who pays the $13 million difference?

WAYNE J. SUBCASKY

Newport Beach