City Hall project? To the ballot box

DOLORES OTTING

“Faster than a speeding bullet; more powerful than a locomotive; able

to leap tall buildings in a single bound: Look, up in the sky! It’s a

bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman ... “

No, it was the Newport Beach City Council meeting Tuesday, during

which members of the council trampled over the questions of others

elected officials and, in essence, trampling over our rights. By

eliminating our elected officials from asking questions on our

behalf, the council erodes our democratic process. Why have meetings

or televise them if we, including members of the council, are

supposed to call the city prior to the meeting to get our questions

answered to save time. Did anyone else get the feeling that they were

having a contest to see how quickly they could end the meeting?

So, where were we? Oh yes, on April 2 more than 90 residents

attended the first advertised workshop to discuss the proposed

Newport Beach City Hall. It was a gorgeous day and I was inspired to

see so many people participating in our government. I knew that if

advertised, residents would attend. We showed that we truly do love

and care for our city. It got quite contentious at times, with (what

appeared to be) fist slamming and people being told that if they did

not like it, they could leave. People left.

What could have brought on this attitude, you ask? Simply asking,

“Why don’t you take a poll and see how many of the residents here

really want a new City Hall?” was enough to start tempers flaring.

Ask it three times, and boiling points were reached. What would

have been the big deal if they did poll us? In the end, it would have

been easier to take the poll and go on with the meeting. Regrettably,

they wasted time and energy arguing about why no poll would be taken,

which is quite contrary to the minutes of the Feb. 8 City Council

meeting and the democratic process.

We had a PowerPoint presentation that was very difficult to read.

Unfortunately they used hard-to-see white text on a gray background,

had no handouts and the microphones were not working. In the end, we

saw what four residents at the previous meeting voted for. We were

told that this would be what we all want. Four people voting is not a

valid representation. We heard again that the parking structure of

350 spaces -- the size of a football field with 4 stories -- was here

to stay. It is affectionately being called the “economic development

engine for the development, rejuvenation and growth of the area.”

Developers will be able to use the parking spaces in the structure as

economic chips toward their projects. What is wrong with the 400-plus

parking spaces we already have in the area?

The workshop ended by reviewing three different scenarios of

different sizes of the new City Hall. I don’t remember a plain

vanilla choice of just a remodel option. We were asked to comment and

vote on the plan of our choice. I guess they did poll us after all.

It was difficult to determine what we were really looking at because

the presentation was so small and not everyone could sit in the front

row.

In closing, I would like to say that it is unfortunate this

project is exempt from Greenlight law. Greenlight’s main objective is

to give us the right to vote on projects that will affect all of us

for the rest of our lives. So, it looks like we are going to have to

tell the city that we want the right to vote on the largest

expenditure -- possibly $40 million -- in our city’s history. That

figure does not include the cost of technology, interest, cost

over-runs and the ever-increasing price of fuel.

Mark you calendars for Saturday at 10 a.m. There are not enough

words to explain what you missed; and you don’t want to miss the next

one!

Good bless our troops!

* DOLORES OTTING is a longtime Newport Beach resident and City

Hall activist.