READERS RESPOND

I support restricted parking near the beach in Newport.

I am a 12-year resident of Newport Beach, and when I first moved to Southern California I lived in Corona del Mar for five years. I decided to move to another area of Newport Beach for reasons of the summer months at Corona del Mar beach. I was always very disappointed at the display of trash on the beach and on the streets adjacent to the beach. The residents who live surrounding the beach have beautiful landscaped homes and deserve the right and pay the price to enjoy their beautiful surroundings.

Yes, the city should restrict parking near the beach. The answer to this is resident-parking stickers for each and every car. You purchase a parking sticker from the city each year and it is displayed on your windshield, then with the money the city gets for these stickers it posts parking signs with restricted hours. I grew up in an area north of Chicago, in the suburbs, and we had resident stickers for each town to park at that beach during the summer months, otherwise you had to park elsewhere. If everyone had a Newport Beach resident sticker displayed in their car this would relieve a lot of overnight parking issues and for the people who reside in Newport Beach will no longer have to worry about their own vehicle being ticketed for being parked in front of their own residence.

WENDY CHESTER

Newport Beach

Rethinking the parking situation in Newport Beach is long overdue. I have often wondered why a Newport Beach resident should have to pay to park on any city street or in any public parking lot. I lived in West Newport for years and had to pay to park in front of my house. Does a resident of any other area in the city other than those at the beach have that burden? Isn’t that one of the things I pay taxes for? In regard to your question of beach parking, simply put time limits on the parking unless the vehicle is owned by a resident with a free, city-issued parking permit. Those in violation are either cited or towed. The sooner we stop thinking our city has some overriding obligation to the business owners who profit from tourist dollars and start thinking about the needs of residents, the quality of life for those unfortunately affected by the low budget element we call tourism, will dramatically increase.

PRESTON MURRAY

Newport Beach

We are very much in favor of an ordinance restricting overnight parking in Corona del Mar. We own property on Poppy Avenue, where my grandparents were residents since the early 1960s. Times have changed, and with the increase of crime, vandalism, gang tagging as well as trash, overnight parking has become an issue of public safety. Thank you for bringing this issue to the forefront and please continue to do so until it is resolved.

JULIE AND JUSTIN WILSON

Corona del Mar

If the city does pass an ordinance limiting parking near the beach during evening hours and the California Coastal Commission approves of the restrictions, who is to say the police will enforce the ordinance?

Our Neighborhood Watch group recently met with Newport Beach police officers about noise and problem residents in our neighborhood. We were told that the police department is severely understaffed and cannot respond to every complaint and call for noise and nuisance neighbors because of staffing problems. The staffing problem is especially acute on the peninsula.

We were further told that many of Newport’s police officers are going to other cities that pay better than Newport Beach.

This would seem to be a much bigger problem for the existing City Council and candidates rather than being persuaded to pass new laws that may not even be enforced.

BILL GARRETT

Newport Beach

I thought the article on parking was extremely timely given my recent experiences in Corona del Mar. Let me explain.

My sister lives in Corona del Mar, along Ocean Boulevard. My wife and I often watch their home when they are traveling. We walk the dogs, water the plants, that sort of thing. In fact, I am thinking of buying a home in the same area.

During the summer we have had several experiences with noise and partying into the early morning, between midnight to 4 a.m. When I get up early around 6 a.m. to walk the dogs, I have personally witnessed people sleeping in their cars and it is obvious they have been there all night.

I fully support the parking permit idea. The “homeless” people who sleep in their cars and party late at night are not the locals, but my guess is that they are there posturing for early access to the beach when it opens. The beach is for everyone, but the streets are for the residents and for passage to the beach, not for camping or partying. I do not see where the California Coastal Commission would oppose reasonable and orderly control of the residential streets.

Please vote for approval of the parking permits. I would not want to buy a home in this area, at the high prices, unless street camping and overnight parking by non-residents is reasonably controlled.

FRED NELSON

Irvine