MAILBAG:

As a sailor in Newport Beach for the last 30 years, I am appalled at the actions of the Newport Beach Harbor Patrol writing tickets to wind-powered sailboats racing in friendly competitions in Newport Harbor (as they have for a century or more).

This makes no sense at all. How can you even have a race with a speed limit? I can imagine the same Harbor Patrol cretins who came up with this new interpretation would support the CHP writing tickets for the stock car racers at California Speedway during the California 500 this weekend! If that works, let’s expand to the Indy 500!

Wake up, Harbor Patrol. You are killing a sport that made Newport Harbor famous. You’re doing nothing at all to build your reputation in this community. Most of us loyal sailors think you must be sniffing your bilge fumes on a regular basis!

PATRICK AYRES

Costa Mesa

Rehab homes follow codes; why can’t you?

Regarding the story (“Time to tidy up, city says,” Feb. 16), it is good to know that Newport Beach code enforcement is taking blight serious and cracking down on residents who don’t keep a lid on their garbage.

It could be worse. You could live next to a neighbor whose entire property is an “open lid trash can” complete with dirt driveway, open ditches, weeds, junk and debris, and a novel commercial shipping container parked in the front “yard” that would make a Beverly Hillbilly feel right at home.

Ironically, the drug and alcohol recovery homes are being painted as the neighborhood bad-apples based on all the negativity I’ve read in the newspapers and seen on City Council meetings. Our neighborhood in Santa Ana Heights has five or six recovery homes, and not one of them is a bad apple.

Each of those homes is well maintained. In comparison, we have about five or six true bad-apple homes that are a perpetual blight in the community. I understand that the county didn’t care about our community or enforcing codes and laws, but now that we are a part of prestigious Newport Beach, I can’t wait to see some tree pruning to remove the half-dozen bad apples in out neighborhood.

Which actually cause more depreciation in a neighborhood: a beautifully maintained recovery home or a property that resembles a junkyard?

R.A. NIEWIAROWSKI

Newport Beach