Mailbag: Proposed Fountain Valley sign is a ‘hideous plan’

We have lived in North Mesa Verde, Costa Mesa, for over 50 years. We have freeway noise, airplane noise, helicopter noise.

Against all our wishes, the 405 Freeway has planned an expansion. All of our areas are becoming more and more congested with constant downgrades of the quality of life in our neighborhoods.

Now, the city of Fountain Valley proposes to erect a giant LED sign, flashing commercial advertising at us 24 hours a day. This project should have never become this close to approval. Their own Planning Commission has rejected the project.

So who is attempting to push this project down our throats? Be a good neighbor and reject this hideous plan now.

Bob Wright

Costa Mesa

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Multiculturalism shapes American identity

Once upon a time, America was one country. The idea was that there would be one general template or ideal for an American. The ideal American would take bits from George Washington, Dolly Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Pocahontas, Booker T. Washington, Duke Kahanamoku, Dolores del Rio and from other outstanding folks, and all that would be forged into one sterling national character.

That forged character, that true American would be wonderful: intelligent, open-minded, technologically sophisticated, spiritually sensitive, honest and straightforward, brave and tough, kind and fair. These true Americans also would be talented, well-educated, hard-working, entrepreneurial and eventually wealthy.

Everyone wanted to be like that! And everybody who came to the United States was welcome to join the group. Early immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia and elsewhere who flocked to Statue of Liberty couldn’t wait to learn English, adopt that national character, and become one of those wonderful Americans.

Was that so bad?

It’s not that Americans have to drop the traditions of their origins. They don’t. The Germans cherish their Oktoberfest and their bratwurst. The Irish cherish their St. Patrick’s Day and their shamrocks. The Scots cherish their tartans and their bagpipe music. Not to speak of the Chinese and their Confucian sayings and Mongolian beef, or the Hispanics and their flamenco music and guacamole.

All those traditions enrich the nation. The idea of the melting pot is to take those wonderful ethnic traditions and blend them into one national character that is distinctive and admirable — an American Character.

It seems like a lot of the social turmoil, the violence and misunderstandings America is now experiencing flows partly from that loss of underlying commonality, that loss of a shared ideal.

No?

Dr. Steve Davidson

Newport Beach