Mailbag: Letter fails to explain why Measure Y would ease traffic

In the Forum Section of the Sept. 15 edition of the Daily Pilot there was a letter written by Harbor Commissioner Joe Stapleton with the headline “Measure Y Would Reduce Traffic Across Newport Beach.” The City Council-developer driven Measure Y purports to reduce traffic by amending the 2006 General Plan.

Mr. Stapleton claims the Measure will reduce future traffic citywide by adding approximately 1 million square feet of development at Newport Center. How is that possible?

Mr. Stapleton claims funding for water quality improvements in the Back Bay and lower bay will be a result of your “yes” vote. Mitigating traffic, improving water quality and other purported initiatives are all things the city has done over the years and can continue to do without this unwarranted measure.

Mr. Stapleton further claims that future flight traffic at John Wayne Airport will be maintained as a result of your “yes” vote. As a member of the negotiating team that recently worked long and hard to finalize a new JWA Settlement Agreement, I can affirm that this deceptively written measure has absolutely nothing to do with “helping to control future flight traffic.”

Melinda Seely

President, AirFair

The writer is on the Stop Polluting Our Newport (SPON) Board of Directors.

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We need cooler classrooms

Re. “Commentary: Lack of air conditioning is unacceptable,” Sept. 21: I am delighted to see that Sandy Asper has brought up this issue. I brought this up with the Daily Pilot two years ago. Solar panels are a great idea, and I am happy that the district is thinking about student welfare. However, it is distressing to be in these classrooms and more distressing to visit the district palace, where ladies wear sweaters and men wear suit coats, as teachers and students swelter. You can readily see who is important.

Sandra Kaszynski

Costa Mesa

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Where’s the money for schools’ air conditioning?

The commentary by Sandy Asper was right on. The hot days of late summer make school classrooms feel like an oven. The school district offers a solution that is laughable at best. The school district pleads poverty, which begs the question, where is all that Lottery money?

Rob Macfarlane

Newport Beach

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Charter is a COIN toss

Costa Mesa’s proposed charter, Measure O, is not all its supporters claim it to be. Charter supporters say it will save millions of dollars in city-funded construction contracts. It may, in fact, do the opposite. Supporters say the charter may not be changed without a vote of the people. However, it contains a provision that will allow three members of the council to change it without putting it on the ballot.

First, Section 702 of the proposed charter states that, “The City shall not require the payment of prevailing wages in public works contracts paid for solely with the City’s local funds …”

How much, if any, this may actually save in the long run, no one knows. But, we do know this: The state adopted legislation (Senate Bill 7) in 2013 that says a city may not receive any state funding for any public works projects if its charter exempts contractors from paying prevailing wages on municipally funded projects. The proposed charter does just that.

As a result, the proposed charter could make the city ineligible for millions of dollars in state funding – much more than it might ever save by not paying prevailing wages.

Second, Section 602 says the provisions of COIN (the Civic Openness in Negotiations Ordinance) “and any amendments, modifications, or deletions thereto are hereby adopted by reference.” That means we are being asked to vote to accept future modifications, additions, or deletions to the COIN provisions in the charter without knowing what those changes may be. And, it means three members of the council can change the COIN provisions in the charter without putting it on the ballot.

One of the major advantages of a charter – as expressed in the law and touted by charter supporters – is that it may not be changed by a future City Council, and any changes must be voted on by the people. As written, Section 602 may be effectively changed – for better or worse – by a vote of three council members.

These are just two examples of how the proposed charter would not perform as advertised. In fact, the effect may be the opposite of what is claimed. The Council would have the power to change the COIN charter provision without a vote of the people, and the city could lose millions of dollars in state funding for street construction and other projects.

Perry Valantine

Costa Mesa

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17th Street traffic is worsening

Anyone who regularly drives on 17th Street in Eastside Costa Mesa can easily see that the city of Costa Mesa’s so called “traffic improvements” are actually making 17th Street traffic much worse than it was before the concrete center islands were installed. Before these islands were installed, drivers were free to use the center lane for making left turns and also for getting onto 17th. It is now much more difficult to make a left turn from 17th into the retail establishments, and it is also much harder, if not impossible, to make a left turn onto 17th from anywhere other than a major street.

Longtime residents will recall that the Costa Mesa city traffic engineer tried to widen 17th Street from four lanes to six lanes and would have succeeded if it had not been for the general outcry from neighbors who don’t want 17th to end up like Harbor Boulevard. The traffic islands that are now being installed are going to make traffic so awful on 17th that we will be forced into widening the street to make it usable again. Residents and business owners should let the city of Costa Mesa know that these so called “improvements” are having just the opposite effect. They are actually making traffic much worse. Remove these center island barriers and watch the traffic begin to flow normally again.

Jim Slaughter

Irvine