How can there be no shops and...

How can there be no shops and no parking?

So Chronic Cantina wants to open a restaurant in Triangle Square

but the Costa Mesa Planning Department says there aren’t enough

parking spaces. How can there be a parking problem in a mall that is

three-quarters empty? Let’s watch the city fathers shoot themselves

in the foot on this one.

BILL BENNETT

Newport Beach

Mall solutions clearly stalled from start

So let me see if I’ve got this straight. Triangle Square, the mall

where businesses go to die, has attracted a restaurant that actually

wants to move in. Chronic Cantina, however, can’t get an operating

permit from the Costa Mesa Planning Commissioning because there’s

“insufficient parking” for this new business. News flash: There’s

plenty of parking, because nobody goes there! If you don’t allow new

businesses to move in, the problem will get worse, not better.

Sometimes I wonder if Councilman Eric Bever’s comment about taking

eminent domain over Triangle Square wasn’t a joke, but rather a

statement of Costa Mesa city policy.

STEVE JOSLIN

Newport Beach

No thanks for the human relations committee

Well, the deed is done. As predicted, the human relations

committee is history.

When, during the July 19 council meeting, Mayor Allan Mansoor used

as part of his smokescreen for disbanding the committee the fact that

no council member had volunteered to be the liaison to the group, up

popped Councilwoman Linda Dixon, who called his bluff. She

volunteered not only to be the liaison, but to use her discretionary

budget to fund the committee’s activities if the council was

reluctant to restore the funding it cut in June.

There was no stopping the male majority on the council, though.

After Dixon made a motion not to disband the human relations

committee and for the council to restore funding in the amount of

$4,000 per year -- a motion that was seconded by Councilwoman Katrina

Foley -- Mansoor made a substitute motion to disband the committee.

That motion passed, 3-2, with Foley and Dixon voting no.

So, after almost two decades of serving this city, the human

relations committee is gone. The Mansoor-led council, in the same

callous style they used when they de-funded the committee in June

without any notice to the members, cut this group loose without any

kind of acknowledgment of their service -- no thank you, no nothing.

This is just another example of where this council, under

Mansoor’s leadership, is taking this city. It looks like they are

intent on extracting from government any element that does not

involve public safety or fixing potholes. It seems to me that they

are methodically draining the heart out of this town. Don’t be

surprised if we next see a full-on attack on other, in their view,

questionable functions -- the recreation division, for example. They

have already shown their attitude about that organization by chopping

$100,000 from its budget last spring.

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa

Watchdog should have more compassion for pets

Byron de Arakal’s chest-thumping patriotism regarding our

traditional Fourth of July celebration is admirable, but he treads on

hallowed ground when he belittles and ridicules our pets (“Thankful

for the city’s freedoms,” July 3).

His attempts at humor fell short when he started making fun of the

absolute fear and terror that animals experience on the Fourth of

July. This is not a laughing matter.

We would ask that de Arakal spend a little time talking to

veterinarians, animal control officers and shelter workers and he

would have a better understanding of the magnitude of the problem. De

Arakal’s lack of compassion is appalling.

This may come as a surprise to him, but some of us love our

country as well as our pets. His apology would be greatly

appreciated.

JEAN HARRIS

Newport Beach

Fair should get a little Independence

While reading your daily coverage of the Orange County Fair, I

couldn’t help thinking how great it would be if the fair opened on

the Fourth of July. Opening day could have fireworks and a concert.

There must be a band available locally or from one of the colleges

that could play some John Philip Sousa marches and go out with the

1812 overture from Tchaikovsky’s 49th opera as a grand finale. I am

sure the general public would support it.

It was sad that public television did not carry a Fourth of July

program nationwide. My wife and I, however, did stay up a little

later than usual to watch the Boston Pops perform at its annual

Esplanade Concert, which was shown on CBS at 10 p.m.

I trust we can look forward to a rousing celebration next year,

the year of our beloved nation’s 230th birthday.

LEFTERIS LAVRAKAS

Costa Mesa

Program for teens is a valuable tool

On behalf of the Leadership Institute for Teens volunteer

committee -- composed of teachers; community agencies, such as Human

Options, Volunteer Center Orange County, Orange County Human

Relations, Soka University and KOCE; and business owners -- we would

like to thank the Daily Pilot for the coverage of this summer’s

Warren Steinberg’s Leadership Institute for Teens.

The institute brings teens together throughout Orange County to

explore ways to lead their peers in programs to pursue peace in their

local and global community. This leadership conference inspires not

merely to be knowledgeable about local and global issues but also to

actively plan and implement a project and that will make a meaningful

difference in areas -- such as cultural awareness to stop hate,

creating a fundraising event promoting a cause, creating more

opportunity for students to have a voice at their schools, creating a

film about teen issues, organizing a program to improve the

environment, and preventing bullying and violence in schools.

GWEN HASS, CYNDIE BORCOMAN, LINDA BYE, DENISE WEILAND, PAUL EVANS

Committee members

This family proposes a trade, straight up

In response to the Mailbag item “Boisterous, barking sea lion

bulls are back,” which ran Wednesday, the Litvak family has an offer

to propose to the writer: We live in a quiet Costa Mesa neighborhood;

however, we are willing to trade our home for your home -- straight

up. You would have your peace and quiet, and we would have the ocean

view we so thoroughly deserve.

If this deal is not agreeable to you, please stop your whining: It

is giving us a headache.

JAY B., GLYNIS AND ALEXIS C. LITVAK

Costa Mesa