Less staff would give City Hall more...

Less staff would give City Hall more room

The main reasoning I have gathered from discussion for the

proposal of a new City Hall is that the existing facility is too

small and cannot accommodate the citizens who go there for services.

The first issue of our quaint, present City Hall being too small

is just a ruse to increase the already bloated city staff. I checked

the populations and number of city employees of some Orange county

cities and found that Newport Beach, with only 80,800 residents, has

the largest city staff, with 902 employees.

Buena Park, with 80,600 residents, has only 567 employees; Lake

Forest, with 77,700 residents, has only 90 employees; Westminster,

with 91,500 residents, has only 830 employees; and Costa Mesa, with

113,000 residents, has 830 employees.

It is obvious that Newport Beach has too many employees, and in

order to add even more, we need a new City Hall. City employees are

expensive and their pension plans will be a future drain on the city.

The City Council should consider outsourcing more work and

reducing the number of city employees through attrition. This will

save taxpayers money and eliminate the need for a new City Hall.

The second issue is concerning city services. The few times I have

gone to the city for help on putting utilities underground for our

neighborhood and a dangerous alley that would result unless a slight

change was made in proposed building plans, I found the city staff to

be indifferent and less than helpful.

Why do we need so many more city employees than neighboring cities

to receive poor service?

In conclusion, we need to reduce the city staff by outsourcing,

which will result in the new City Hall not being needed at this time.

If the City Council still thinks it should move forward with the new

City Hall, this issue should be put on the ballot and be voted on by

residents.

JOSEPH DECARLO

Newport Beach

City Hall needs extreme makeover

First of all, I think we should replace City Hall with a new one.

Our Newport Beach Library is a world-class library. However, if

you go to the City Hall, the heart of our city government, it is a

dark, odd mix of add on, after add on, with a temporary trailer right

out in front.

The building is obsolete, with not enough parking for the workers,

much less the residents.

The problem is the parcel where City Hall sits. It is not

practical for a big government building. It is a small parcel, and on

a hot summer day, the traffic getting to it is awful. It probably

should be a fire station and a park. (The west side of town is

seriously lacking in parks.) The good news is, across town behind the

main library and bordering MacArthur Boulevard is a large parcel that

is slated to be a park.

It is a terrible place for a park, with cars going by at 50 to 60

mph. Within a mile or two, there is one of the largest parks in the

city, Bonita Canyon, and six smaller parks in the surrounding area.

How about if we do a land swap? Doesn’t the city own both parcels?

A park for a park, in a spot that one is desperately needed and a new

City Hall, at the virtual center of our new expanded town, in a

natural spot for a City Hall, in a beautiful commercial center.

TONY SHAW

Newport Beach

Parents to blame for childhood obesity

In response to the article about childhood obesity (“Schools

address childhood obesity,” May 3), my opinion is that parents need

to be responsible for their children’s sizes.

There’s only one way and that’s by actually feeding them real

food, good food -- not snacks and TV trays and McDonald’s.

For me, the reason is a lack of responsibility from the parents --

especially the mothers I would say -- where they’re just looking for

easy ways out of rolling up their sleeves to cook a nice meal for

their family.

I think that’s going to be the problem until they realize that

they are responsible for the health of their family.

ELISABETH FARRAGE

Costa Mesa

Former mayor brings good memories

Seeing Mary Hornbuckle’s name in the paper recently with the news

that she was appointed to the Coast Community College District board

brings back memories of when I was proud of my Costa Mesa City

Council.

JOAN PANGLE

Costa Mesa