Mailbag: The bunnies are nothing compared to the OCMA dog statue

I am astounded by the reaction to the statues of bunny rabbits at the City Hall park.

It is fun for me to see children and their adult companions playing among the rabbits. Many people are drawn to the park to experience the sculpture, and it certainly is more interesting than some of the other expressions in the park.

I am most astounded, however, to find that people are opposed to the bunny rabbits and yet, on San Clemente Street in Newport Center, there is a sculpture of a 28-foot dog urinating on the Orange County Museum of Art building, and no one seems offended by that. I have always wondered why that sculpture, with the lack of taste that it represents, would continue to occupy the space.

Keep the bunny rabbits, but for heaven’s sake, if the 28-foot dog urinating on the OCMA building represents the artistic tastes of Newport Beach, I give up.

Bill Ficker

Newport Beach

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‘Art’ is a subjective term

I pray that common sense and tolerance will prevail so that the library bunnies can remain for people of all ages to enjoy. They elicit laughter, fun and whimsy. Just looking at them can lighten one’s spirits and remind us not to take life so seriously.

To demand their removal because they don’t fit someone’s definition of “art” is ridiculous. There are plenty of sculptures in public places, including the library, that I don’t particularly care for, but I am not inclined to start a movement for their removal. Everyone sees things differently, and we all have a unique sense of art and amusement.

Leave the bunnies alone!

Laurie Lairson

Costa Mesa

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Drought is no time to develop

Since Newport Beach declared a water shortage last year, we have been asked to reduce our use by 20% and limit watering our yards to two days a week. That seems a wise and necessary response to the most severe and prolonged drought we have faced in years.

Meanwhile, a large development that includes 1,375 houses, one 75-room boutique hotel and a shopping center is being planned for Banning Ranch.

How does the city justify approving this and other water-guzzling projects while we are in the midst of one of the most extreme droughts in modern history? How much more development can be sustained without even more drastic reductions in the use of this very limited resource?

Andrea Lingle

Newport Beach

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