Mailbag: Opinions on undergrounding are charged on both sides
Opinions on undergrounding are charged on both sides
The following video has a city official directly contradicting undergrounding opponents’ outlandish claims along with local real estate professionals and a contractor that have been directly involved with approximately 1,200 underground connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_cO2MtusIQ&feature=em-upload_owner
You can also find official city and county information at or on the city website.
Get the real facts.
Unfortunately, for those opposing underground utilities, and improving our neighborhood, we live in America, where community members are usually afforded the right gather signatures on an official petition in perpetuity and to vote on an issue so the majority can make policy rather than allowing policy to be dictated by the one who makes the most noise. I would ask the opposition to please stop trying to deprive the community of our Constitutional right to vote on the issue, our right to improve our properties and our community. We just want to vote!
If cost is such an issue why would the opposition spend thousands on newspaper ads, Facebook ads, unsightly signs to pit neighbor against neighbor and litter our community, when those funds could be donated to those truly less fortunate in our neighborhood?
If the opposition leaders simply put forth half the current effort into raising money for our less-fortunate neighbors instead of Facebook ads, newspaper ads, atrocious yard signs and berating our city officials they could have the best of both worlds and actually help our community and any members truly in need.
It’s not about finances, it’s about ego. If finances were the main issue one would only need to look at the numbers once: For approximately $116 per month over 20 years undergrounding can add an estimated average $60,000 to property values to as much as $225,000 in Newport Heights, the year it is completed.
For $116 per month you can potentially create an additional $60,000 to $225,000 asset for your family, your children and your future, however, opponents of undergrounding don’t want this for the community and don’t even want you to be able to vote on it.
If you have signed the no-undergrounding petition you have signed an unofficial, invalid petition that won’t and can’t even be considered by the city under current ordinance. It accomplishes nothing but to add your name to a divisive public list opposing community improvement.
To sign an official and valid petition and really make a difference in your community visit download the petition package and sign and return your petition card. The majority of your neighbors will thank you.
Aaron G. Cook
Newport Heights
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Writer presupposes others’ finances
Re. Bonnie Jeannette’s commentary, “Now is the time to underground utilities in Newport Heights,” (June 10): I have a couple of comments about Ms. Jeannette’s recent commentary in favor of forcing homeowners to pay for undergrounding. How on earth does she pretend to know if even one person “in more than 30 communities” has been “harmed financially” or has “been unable to live as they did before”?
I live around the corner from Ms. Jeannette, and I am certain that she neither knows nor cares about my financial concerns, let alone the concerns of strangers in 30 communities. Ms. Jeannette is completely ignoring seniors on fixed incomes, single-income families and those who have suffered medical setbacks. The amount of money that I would be assessed is of great concern to me and many of my neighbors, and we are praying that the undergrounding petition fails!
I also don’t understand how she can be worried about our becoming the “least desirable neighborhood” because, in my opinion, Newport Heights is one of the most desirable places to live in Newport Beach and in the nation. Most of my neighbors feel blessed to be living here.
Wendy Flotow
Newport Heights
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Power lines are an unsightly feature
There certainly is a lot of controversy regarding the under grounding of utilities in our neighborhood. In the neighborhoods where under grounding has been done, it has made a positive improvement and has arguably raised the value of the homes in those areas.
Call me shallow, but I take a great deal of pride in my home and my neighborhood, not only for myself, but for my neighbors as well. These poles are unsightly, and if there is a way we can make this happen, I am all for it. As I find these poles extremely ugly and potentially unsafe, I do not understand why we must be subjected to looking at all these “no underground” signs that have popped up in the neighborhood.
Having multiple signs hanging off trees, fences, etc., is certainly not going to change anyone’s position either way. I hope these signs are removed soon!
Juli Hayden
Newport Beach
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Home price argument is a red herring
This letter is an answer to the pro-undergrounding article in the Daily Pilot in which a few are trying to decide for the majority and make assumptions about other people’s lives.
I have lived in the Heights for 40 years and love it, notwithstanding the above-ground poles.
Having sold real estate on Balboa Island for 30 years I can tell you that on the Big Island, where people voted against undergrounding, the prices have not been affected in anyway, they keep going up.
Also, we have not been told about programs for financial assistance, as was mentioned in the article.
On Little Balboa Island, where undergrounding was done years ago, the cost was included in the taxes. I wonder why this cannot be done here.
All in all I think there are too many unanswered questions. Valid concerns of over 220 Assessment District 118 homeowners opposed to the utility undergrounding may be accessed at noundergrounding.com.
Goly Van Orden
Newport Beach
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Confusion over project abounds
I am guessing that other Newport Heights residents feel as I do: confused by all the information, lack of information and misinformation that is circulating about the issue of underground utilities. I attended the first neighborhood meeting, read as much literature as I could on the subject and listened to the opinions of others.
First of all, $25,000 is already a large sum to many residents of the Heights. But residents do not have to worry only about that large amount; more worrisome is the possibility of additional personal costs above and beyond that amount required by individual households to adapt their property to the underground system.
What smart business person gets involved in a project without having any control over the potentially large additional costs involved in completing and personalizing it? Perhaps someone in an emergency situation would have no choice but to go blindly into “that unknown.”
Call me naive, but shouldn’t we have a better understanding of the work and the total costs that are going to be involved before we consider such a behemoth project? Isn’t that just good “business sense?” But should we spend taxpayer money on a study that might estimate those costs but does not benefit a majority of the citizens in Newport Beach?
I live in a vintage home in the Heights and have had a magnitude of upgrades, repairs and large maintenance projects completed on my house in the 35-plus years that I have lived here. I have had some major problems on my property and have even had workers try to double their bills after the projects had been completed.
Fortunately for all the large jobs, I have always gotten a contract. It was stressful enough dealing with the problems, even with a contract. But a contract is binding. Call me naive again, but if the city were able to give me a contract stating even the approximate costs of connecting my house to the power grid, and all the other adjustments and repairs that will be necessary to successfully personalize the power project for my house, I might have more confidence in the process.
However, that does not mean that I would approve of that large amount, nor that I would want to go through the stressful situation of the work that will be involved in the adaptations necessary to an older home.
Isn’t it really the best policy when you don’t have all the information you need on something so important and costly and you feel that people are trying to pressure you into something that is not necessarily in your best interests, to just vote no?
Lynn Lorenz
Newport Heights
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Don’t charge me to enhance your view
I oppose undergrounding. Why? Cost estimates are uncertain, ranging from $25,000 to $35,000 per household, including hook-up; value added to a house is uncertain, estimates ranging down to 1%; no power lines on my street, few that “pepper” other streets, thus aesthetic improvement negligible; safety/reliability benefit/detriment, uncertain.
Thank you, neighbors, for the vigorous debate. I understand some of you enjoy property with views that would be enhanced by undergrounding. I do not, and neither do many of my neighbors. My initial support for the project vanished after examining both sides of the issue. Perhaps you should underground, but don’t ask me to pay for it.
Unfortunately, the Pilot’s coverage is factually weak, dealing unchecked facts and repeating opinions supporting one side of the discussion from folks with questionable credentials, making no mention of hook-up costs. Is this your standard?
Don Ronaldson
Newport Beach
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Make City Hall pay for the project
Recently I read in the newspaper about water usage being especially high in “wealthy enclaves” like Beverly Hills and Newport Beach. Maybe we should follow Beverly Hills and set aside a portion of our tax money to pay for the undergrounding in this city. Maybe the City Council wouldn’t be pushing so hard if it came from their other pet projects. Southern California Edison is the biggest winner here. If they replace the above-ground lines, they pay. If they underground, we pay. Say what?
Carolyn L Carr
Newport Beach
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Lessons learned in West Newport
The issue of placing utility lines underground in Newport Heights sounds like a chapter in my past life, when I used to live on Seashore Drive in West Newport. We went through the same thing several years ago that people are now experiencing in Newport Heights.
Prior to having the underground work done in my old neighborhood, there were years of talking, planning, lack of understanding what exactly was being proposed, breaking off of the issue and finally coming back to it. We heard all the pros and cons regarding the process and, finally, a majority passed it and it began.
What we thought would be a rather swift transition from a plethora of poles to a clean-looking neighborhood, wound up taking between three and four years with a three-month break in the summer months, due to heavy beach activities. We heard all the good stuff about what would happen, like an increase in property values, cleaner-looking neighborhoods and better utility service.
What they didn’t tell us were things such as completely uprooting and gutting out the streets, not being able to park on those streets while the work was being done, and a noise factor that was nerve-shattering. The cost for the multi-million dollar project was not cheap, but was arranged so that if desired, the property owners could pay for it through a special assessment with the property taxes.
When the utilities were finally placed underground, the street repaved and the last pole being removed from my street, it looked like a brand-new neighborhood being offered a fresh start after having been through a war.
Looking back at it now, it was worth all the years that we had to go through to finally enjoy a peaceful and serene neighborhood with no overhead wires. If anyone was not content with the final outcome of placing and hiding all those overhead wires under the street, it would have to be our winged feather friends who are probably still upset with the human race for getting rid of all their perching power in the sky.
Bill Spitalnick
Newport Beach