Entrance to Balboa Pier needs a makeover...

Entrance to Balboa Pier needs a makeover

I called in about six to eight months ago in regards to the

entrance to the Balboa Pier. It’s an area of about 100 feet long by 30 feet wide. In that area, they have eight palm trees planted. The

entrance is broken apart everywhere. When I complained about it, they

did go down and patch some of it. However, in that area, there is a

minimum of 20 cracks. Some of them 3 feet long. Solution: Remove the

trees, rip out the entrance, and replace it.

GARY FISHER

Newport Beach

Health benefits are harder to come by -- get used to it

I, in fact, have made it a point to go to my local grocery store

more often since the strike. I believe the strike is not necessary.

These are unskilled people making an hourly wage complaining about

having to pay a small amount to get health coverage. I, as a

professional, spend hundreds of dollars per month to have medical

insurance for my family. How can I support someone earning an hourly

wage wanting things handed to them?

I think they need a reality check. They need to find out what is

happening in the real world, and not just listen to what their union

is telling them they are “entitled to.” Compensation packages with

benefits included by the employer have become more scarce over the

years.

ELAYNE CARVER

Newport Beach

Great Park plan scamming taxpayers out of real estate

Orange County has certain fame as the scam capital of the United

States.

Few counties can beat us in investment fraud, embezzlement and

theft by taxpayer-paid employees of all sorts -- noting that the huge

majority of public employees are honest and hardworking.

Our latest scam is the Great Park, brought to us by Irvine Mayor

Larry Agran and his co-conspirators.

Using the well-proven tactics of the “Great Lie Technique,” so

well polished by the communists, Nazis and other people manipulators

of like ilk, the simply system still works: the bigger the lie, the

more easily it can be told.

To most people, the Great Park creates visions of grassy lawns,

trees, ponds and places for people to play.

In the double-speak of Agran and his co-conspirators, the Great

Park means office buildings, condos, housing developments, factories

and huge profits at the taxpayers’ expense.

The taxpayer and the voters should remember that the former El

Toro Marine base and all such properties do not belong to any

bureaucratic branch of government, they belong to the taxpaying

public.

We all know what will happen: A few years after El Toro has been

stolen from the public, there will be a huge cry for an airport. Land

will be bought for billions of dollars and more billions will be

spent for such an airport, with the old attitude of “who cares what

the cost is to taxpayers?”

Why should an existing airport that would cost the taxpayers very

little be turned over to Agran and his co-conspirators?

The scamming of the American taxpayer should be stopped.

As Pat Buchanan so wisely said, “It is time for the peasants to

roll out the guillotines.” The rot that permeates America needs to be

cleared away.

The space at El Toro is irreplaceable. To allow this to be stolen

from the taxpaying citizens for the profit of a few greedy

individuals would be unconscionable and would be a crime against our

descendants.

In addition, we now have the same people -- who will desecrate

anything for an extra dollar -- about to destroy our magnificent

giant hangers, our memories of World War II. These structures are

irreplaceable, historical structures. These people and their

political buddies have no shame. Future generations will despise them

,but fortunately for them -- as I have observed in the U.S. for the

last 70 years -- these barbarians almost always prevail.

It is so sad to see so few citizens care about our historic past

until it is destroyed.

D.L. WARWICK

Costa Mesa

Balanced budget will the tip the scales in favor of a few

The most frightening thing I received from the gubernatorial

recall is the reaffirmation of the stupidity of people and the ease

with which they can be easily manipulated and made to believe lies.

Taxation is the mainstream of our society. Everything that we take

for granted, from streetlights to lifeguards, is made possible by our

collective taxes. The same people who rail against the taxes would

scream the loudest if any pet service or public works were curtailed.

Of course there is pork and excessive spending, but that is why we

voters have phones and faxes and e-mail. You scold your

representatives and let them know what you expect from them and hold

them to it.

It is unreasonable to assume that we can enjoy all of the same

services with less money. Something will have to give, and that will

make some segment of our society very vocal and very unhappy. What

will we cut: police protection, school projects, aid to the elderly,

the needy, the ill? Will we cut environmental protection, road

repair, emergency aid or medical care?

If any right-minded individual had to make the choice, it would be

agonizing.

WALLACE WOOD

Costa Mesa

School district public relations called to question

This letter is in regards to the Measure A problems at Harbor View

School in Corona del Mar. As a taxpayer and community member with two

small children (a toddler and a preschooler), I attended the Nov. 6

Measure A meeting.

The behavior that I witnessed from the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District representatives was absolutely appalling. Teachers and

parents had valid -- and sometimes frightening -- concerns regarding

safety issues during construction. When confronted with these

concerns, district representatives Jane Garland and Susan Despenas

showed their true colors by becoming hostile, aggressive, defensive

and condescending.

As one teacher who had just spoken attempted to leave the meeting,

I watched Garland interact with her, both verbally and physically.

Garland’s body language was inappropriate, at the very least. When a

parent came to the teacher’s rescue, Garland verbally abused her,

too. I was glad to be standing out of the way.

Is this way the district handles valid safety concerns? Is this

the way our school district wishes to portray itself? Very poor.

SANDY WHITE

Newport Beach