Castaways Park no place for turf Regarding...

Castaways Park no place for turf

Regarding Jan Vandersloot’s commentary “Figuring out the future of

Castaways Park” on Tuesday.

Castaways Park should unquestionably be a passive, natural park,

and the idea that someone wants to “turf” it and apparently give up a

handsome Coastal Conservancy grant to help with the badly needed

re-vegetation effort is ludicrous. It makes a lot more sense from an

economical and ecological and social standpoint to keep the park

looking natural, as it did before any of our lives. Has the turf

brigade ever been to the park to see that people just walk or bike

and enjoy the view? As a longtime visitor, the most active recreation

I have witnessed there was a family flying kites.

This is a rare opportunity to “do the right thing,” and it would

be a shame to see someone’s tired vision of turf and palm trees

installed adjacent to a completely native bluff and ecological

reserve. Bring on the mowers, irrigation system, fertilizers,

pesticides and the associated noise, air and water pollution. Is the

city aware that a more naturally appearing meadow will save us all a

lot of maintenance and water? Has the single person referenced in the

article ever heard the word sustainability? Is turf an appropriate

groundcover in a decidedly passive park with plenty of turf at an

adjacent active park (Bob Henry Park)? Do they know that if you turf

this area, the Coast Live Oak trees on the site, the classic symbol

of California, will die of oak root fungus as a result of the heavy

summer watering required by turf?

We need to stop living in the past, and it would be a travesty to

turn our backs on the money provided by the Coastal Conservancy grant

to re-vegetate the Castaways.

JEFF STEVENS

Newport Beach

Costa Mesa seems city intent on development

Regarding Eleanor Egan’s article on the Costa Mesa bridges:

If I understood Egan’s article correctly, she feels the proposed

Costa Mesa bridges are part of a plot by Newport Beach and Huntington

Beach to allow “maximum intensity” development in those cities. Yet,

which city is proposing a huge, four-story condo tower at 19th Street

and Newport Boulevard and is attempting to rezone its entire bluffs

area to medium density residential? Not Newport or Huntington Beach,

but Costa Mesa.

Her other arguments against the bridges is that drivers will turn

off Coast Highway at Dover Drive, drive through Costa Mesa, cross a

bridge and come back to Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. That would

be the equivalent of taking a “shortcut” through San Bernardino to

get to San Diego.

Similar twisted logic both for and against the proposed bridges

will continue until proper studies are done to find out the true

effect they would have in Costa Mesa. Come on, Costa Mesa City

Council, let’s get the facts and fund those studies now.

MICHAEL STEINER

Costa Mesa