Mailbag: Super-majority votes could lead to good development decisions

I have read the April 28 Daily Pilot article, “Is proposed growth-control measure ‘Draconian’ or about ‘sound decisions’?” and I attended the Costa Mesa Republican Assembly (CMRA) debate on which this article was based. Among the many interesting comments about the growth-control measure at the debate, one particular comment provoked a thought about an alternative to the currently proposed measure.

Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer critically stated that the supporters of the measure had tried to alarm residents by communicating that it only took the majority vote of three of five council members to approve a development project. Assuming this concern was real, and not just a scare tactic, why didn’t the measure’s proponents just propose a simpler measure that would require a unanimous, or super-majority vote of 4 of 5, council members to approve all or certain development projects?

With this simpler approach, the slow-growth proponents could still keep the decisions in the hands of the people by engaging enough of the community to elect one or two council members representing their interests. If they couldn’t achieve this, then their slow-growth positions might not represent a large enough portion of the residents.

It is too bad that this simpler measure wasn’t pursued because it has a number of benefits. It would be easier to understand and would likely avoid the technical complexities of the current measure, its potential for unintended consequences, costly lawsuits and elections, and the need for voters to study the details of development proposals in order to intelligently vote on a project rather than just voting against it.

Charles Mooney

Costa Mesa

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Respect our parks

We live across the street from Heisler Park. We were very disappointed to see the mess left after a high school outside of Costa Mesa had its reunion. They left table cloths blowing in the wind, empty drink cans and bottles on the ground and on tables, tins of old food open for the sea gulls and a big carton on a bench. Shame on you, alumni, you should have more respect for your parks.

Carroll Bryant

Costa Mesa

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