Good to see the nonprofits profiled...

Good to see the nonprofits profiled

I was so thrilled to see the two Orange County nonprofit

organizations that I’m most involved with, Habitat for Humanity and

the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, featured on the front

page of the Daily Pilot Sunday. I hope that the Daily Pilot will

continue to feature the important work done by these and other local

nonprofit organizations as part of its editorial coverage.

URSULA BOHEN

Costa Mesa

Swap meet should continue all weekend

I have gone to the Costa Mesa swap meet several times and I have

enjoyed it very much. I think the Costa Mesa swap meet should

continue on Saturday and Sunday.

BARBARA AYALA

Newport Beach

Boardwalk is needed to solve Back Bay problems

“Is the boardwalk along Back Bay necessary?” The answer is yes,

and here’s why: An elevated pedestrian boardwalk would solve many

problems in the Back Bay. To date, there is no unified public access

system that comes close to meeting the needs of the 750,000 plus

visitors who come to the Back Bay annually. Many of these visitors

stray off of the designated trails (in part because they are poorly

defined) and wander down by the water, fragmenting and damaging

habitat important to several endangered birds (Beldings Savannah

sparrow and the light-footed clapper rail). Many people also let

their dogs run off the leash in these sensitive areas, further

frightening these skittish birds and disrupting their breeding and

nesting patterns.

Elevated boardwalks have a proven track record when it comes to

providing people with guided access to sensitive areas. Everglade

National Park is an excellent example of how boardwalks can provide

better access for the public while protecting the natural

environment.

And [the national park was] in fact a model for developing this

proposal. This is an ambitious proposal no doubt, but this rare and

beautiful place we call the Back Bay, facing ever increasing

pressures from the visiting public, demands an ambitious solution.

JIM COKAS

Newport Beach

Clean up swap meet’s parking, trash problems

I work in Costa Mesa and attend the Costa Mesa swap meet on my way

to work on the weekend morning. I think that the swap meet should go

back to Saturday and Sunday and, as far as the solution, I say clean

up the problems with the parking and the trash. Certainly address

those issues, but the swap meets are a great community venue. They

are certainly a great way for Orange Coast College to raise funds for

community events, and I vote to keep the swap meet open and get it

back on Saturdays.

PEGGY ROGERS

Huntington Beach

Leave Back Bay as is, free of development

It seems to me that the Back Bay is a fairly pristine area from a

natural standpoint if we just leave it alone. We have already put

those trails in there. Next, they are talking about putting in

boardwalks. After that, we are going to see, oh, well, we really need

some restrooms; and after the restrooms, we are going to see we need

a carousel; and after the carousel, we are going to need ice cream;

and it just seems like a path that we don’t need to go down. We

already kind of have a building on the side of the Back Bay, that new

center. Leave it the way it is, leave it the way it used to be, but

when you start down this road, all of a sudden you develop early

encroaches.

And I’ll tell you on the other side of this, I’m kind of

pro-development, you know, I think somebody who owns their own land

should pretty much be able to develop it as they’d like to within

some boundaries. But I just think this is an area that should stay

that way, and there are not many areas like this in towns that are

available so, you know, the city should keep their hands off of it.

MARK WILLE

Costa Mesa