Time for Newport Coast to join Newport Beach

Nine months ago, the community of Newport Coast willingly joined

Newport Beach. Though annexation was not a completely smooth process,

in the end Coast residents got a great deal for joining the city. The

major victory came when city leaders agreed to distribute $18 million

to Coast residents over a 15-year period -- from $80 to $3,000 in tax

credits this year -- and set aside $7 million for a community center.

Now, apparently, that money isn’t enough.

The latest wrangle between Coast community leaders and Newport

Beach City Hall is over about $43,000 a year in interest income from

a portion of that $18 million that both sides say is rightly theirs

-- in this case, essentially a nickel and dime argument when millions

are involved.

And in this case, Newport Beach deserves the nickels and dimes,

for it is long past time for Newport Coast residents, and the

community’s leaders in particular, to begin acting like part of the

city they are now a part of.

They will not lose out on the money by leaving it in City Hall.

That $43,000 a year will be a small bump in the finances of their

city. Might it go toward tree replacement on the Balboa Peninsula or

police officers in West Newport? Perhaps. But wise spending and

investment of money by Newport Beach, in the end, will benefit

residents from Newport Coast Drive to Prospect Street.

One of Newport Beach’s strengths and appeals is that it contains a

host of different sections and communities. The peninsula is not like

Eastbluff, which is not like Corona del Mar, which is unlike Dover

Shores.

Newport Coast residents need to recognize their place in this city

of communities.

The alternative is a sort of balkanization of Newport Beach, with

each community demanding special treatment or coddling. And that will

benefit no one.