On opposite sides of the bridge

We felt compelled to respond to the Sunday editorial concerning the

building of a bridge in Costa Mesa over the Santa Ana River.

First, the editorial was inappropriate and divisive. We are

neighboring communities with many shared and common goals. The

newspaper has lost sight of the overall need to preserve a pleasant

environment for all the communities involved. But please understand

that the city of Newport Beach has, in our opinion, a valid concern

that if the bridges are not built, the county master plan requires

that Coast Highway be widened again.

We can give a firsthand account of what it is like to live along

the eight-lane “freeway” with sound walls that were built to deflect

noise only until the year 2000 and that are now sorely inadequate.

We live on Seashore Drive near the Santa Ana River. In this area,

Coast Highway is seven or eight lanes wide, from the Santa Ana River

bridge to the Newport Boulevard overpass, near the Arches. Please,

think about how large a highway that is. The area from the Santa Ana

River to the “Arches bridge” is a residential area. Homes run all

along Coast Highway on Seashore Drive, in Newport Shores, Lido Sands,

and Balboa Coves, to name a few.

But we must remember where all this traffic is coming from. The

article mentions traffic “barreling” through Costa Mesa and

Huntington Beach neighborhoods. The traffic is originating in

Huntington Beach and barreling along Coast Highway and other streets

through our residential neighborhoods, and on through to Newport

Boulevard. Regardless of whether Newport Boulevard is called a

freeway or not, it still serves as one. Perhaps the issue is that all

the residents of Huntington Beach who need to reach businesses in

Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Irvine are choosing to travel to their

destinations through our residential neighborhoods rather than on the

San Diego Freeway. Maybe what is needed is a freeway in Huntington

Beach to connect with the San Diego Freeway, thus eliminating their

travel through our residential communities.

Another solution would be to just leave things as they are. There

is not much vacant land left in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach and

perhaps there is no need to build any more infrastructure in either

city.

We hope the citizens of Costa Mesa will be able to understand why

we (and the city of Newport Beach) are opposed to widening Coast

Highway, and together we will be able to reach a compromise to the

traffic problems that are thrust on our cities by neighboring

communities. And we also hope the Daily Pilot editorial staff, rather

than creating ill will and division, will take a step toward unifying

our cities’ needs and help support a common goal.

MICHAEL AND

ELIZABETH KIRCHNER

Newport Beach

The lead editorial in the Daily Pilot Sunday hit the nail square

on the head.

Years ago, the city officials of Newport Beach used their

financial and political power to have Caltrans stop plans to develop

a Pacific Coast Freeway. Because of this action, the proposed

interchange with the Costa Mesa Freeway at the proposed Pacific Coast

Freeway was abandoned.

You now see the burden that Newport Beach officials have placed on

the citizens of Costa Mesa and the city of Costa Mesa.

We see massive traffic going through the Newport Boulevard

corridor and its neighborhood side streets to reach the Costa Mesa

Freeway. Traffic that is going to or coming from Newport Beach. Also

note the excessive, and speeding, Newport Beach traffic going through

Costa Mesa’s Eastside neighborhood heading for the Costa Mesa

Freeway.

Now, the financial and political powers of Newport Beach officials

are raising their ugly heads again. They do not want anymore traffic

to come from the west on Coast Highway. Therefore, they demand that a

19th Street bridge be built over the Santa Ana River between Costa

Mesa and Huntington Beach. Newport Beach officials want this traffic

to channel through Costa Mesa’s Westside neighborhoods.

Newport Beach officials are not good neighbors. They could care

less about Costa Mesa and its residents. Their past and current

actions support this statement.

The cities of Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach should stay firm in

their rejection of Newport Beach’s proposed 19th Street bridge.

DON KNIPP

Costa Mesa

It is almost impossible to oppose the aims of the Daily Pilot

newspaper.

As a newspaper, it posses the upper hand. It picks or chooses whom

and what it allows to appear on its editorial pages. The editors

control the debate and much of its tone. And so it is with their

involvement in the current 19th Street bridge project in Costa Mesa.

Unfortunately, the editors of the Pilot have chosen, by their rude

editorial on Sunday, to fight the instillation of the bridge linking

, Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach by resorting to sheer name calling.

Namely that Newport Beach, which views the bridge as a logical

connection of two costal cities, as a bunch of bullies.

Yet regardless of which city you live in, we all want to be able

to move freely and easily between each other. It makes good business

and social sense. That is why the 19th Street bridge is highly

desirable. It connects the people and it gives the access they want

and need. It’s called for in the larger community, and it will bring

only good to the entire area.

REBA WILLIAMS

Newport Beach