What’s Up

Steve Smith

Once in awhile, the differences between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach

become too visible.

Local jealousy and pettiness entered the picture at the Aug. 3 meeting to

discuss revitalization of Costa Mesa’s West Side. I’ve made my feelings

about the redevelopment very clear but did so by citing a series of

incidents that I believe are more than circumstance. Since then, I’ve

uncovered more “evidence,” but I’ll come back to that issue in September,

after I’ve had a chance to discuss it with Mike Schlesinger of Taylor

Woodrow Homes.

Right now, it is some poor behavior on the part of some of the meeting

attendees that needs to be addressed. At the meeting,

residents--businesses weren’t there because a whole bunch of people

forgot to tell them about it--were shown examples of other redeveloped

areas that may have the same appeal and success in Costa Mesa. I liked

what I saw. It was clear to me that the folks involved had done their

homework. The village-style redevelopment they have in mind is a good

fit. I will resist any attempt to turn 19th Street into a “City Walk” or

“39th Street Pier” such as you’d find in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Readers know the kind of shopping area without having been there. There

is the requisite coffeehouse, perhaps even two, the chain yogurt shop,

the chain meat restaurant and the usual chain clothing stores. The only

chain I’d like to see in the redevelopment is Taco Mesa, which needs a

bigger home with easier parking. Mom-and-pop stores must dominate the

revitalization in order to keep profits in the area and, if nothing else,

to make a statement against the dreadful monotony of different-but-same

stores located everywhere else.

Attendees were also given the chance to write their comments on several

easels, and here is where the problem began. On the board titled

“Industrial Relocation,” the question asked was where to move the

industrial parks that dot the Costa Mesa hilltop. Many would like to see

them moved, but in their attempts to get their point across, they left

their manners at home. One of the posted sticky notes read, “Dover

Shores,” and another read “Newport Beach.”

This column is not about the two oafs who left those useless notes on the

easel. It’s about common goals and civility.

Like it or not, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach are joined at the hip. Our

schools are governed by one board, and shoppers travel freely across city

lines to conduct their business. Some mall rats prefer South Coast Plaza;

others like Fashion Island. Even the parking tickets and traffic

citations received in Costa Mesa must be paid in Newport Beach (don’t ask

how I knowabout that one). And it should be clear by now that Newport

Beach has a higher per-capita income and all the trappings of such. Cay

and I are casually looking for a new place to live, and when I

participated in an Internet analysis of our situation, I was informed

that the comparable house in Newport Beach would cost an additional 25%.

So, Newport Beach residents have more dough. Does that make Newport Beach

better? No, it makes it different.

Dragging Newport Beach into the discussion of where to move our blight is

silly and a waste of time. Newport Beach did not make a difference in

Costa Mesa’s bad decision to locate warehouses and manufacturing on prime

bluff tops overlooking the Pacific Ocean. And it’s not just the two

sticky notes that perpetuate the pettiness. It comes up time and again.

For example, in discussions of school-district matters, not long ago, I

heard one Newport Beach resident question why Costa Mesa’s Estancia High

School, and not Newport Harbor High, received the go-ahead for a

high-tech wiring project. The question was not asked on educational

grounds, but on territorial ones. And so it was with the sticky notes at

the meeting.

I am sorry for the folks who perpetuate the “them versus us” mentality of

the area, but I’m jealous that they even have the time to think about it

at all. Count this Costa Mesan as one whose two favorite local

restaurants, Nick’s and Mi Casa, are in Costa Mesa, but whose mall

preference is outdoors at beautiful Fashion Island.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. He can be

reached at (949) 642-6086 or by e-mail at [email protected].