Commentary: Lighting decision is a penalty for Kaiser area residents

Re: “Portable lights OKd for Kaiser Elementary,” (Oct. 1):

For the Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Commission to wrestle with a problem for more than 10 years without any substantive solution, and to kick the can from Harper Preschool to Kaiser Elementary so that the residents next to Kaiser can carry the pain for the next year, would require incredible incompetence, a lack of vision or a complete disregard for the people affected. What I witnessed the evening of Sept. 30 was a dispiriting mix of all three.

Without any real participation numbers, environmental or traffic impact reports or any real community outreach or involvement, despite the almost-unanimous opposition of the nearby residents and of the residents by Harper — who would not wish this intrusion on anyone else — the commission made a foolish and uninformed decision. It perpetuated a mistake of its own making.

In the process, the commission implied that the local residents objecting to lights at Kaiser were selfish and unfeeling toward the plight of the AYSO. One commissioner, who never went to the site to survey for himself the issues, even had the gall to tell the residents to “suck it up.” This, after the residents “suck it up” all year, tolerating traffic and parking congestion, the noise of coaches and parents in the afternoons, evenings and early Saturday mornings, trash thrown over fences, public urination and soccer balls — and their owners — ending up on patios.

The commissioners, in obviously self-serving speeches, cited the plight of the poor children — cue the sad violin music — who would otherwise not have access to soccer practice. They failed to hear the concerns of the local residents who, time after time, spoke not only of the harm to their quality of life but also of the safety of the children.

These residents know that Kaiser Elementary is completely unsuited for nighttime activity. The streets adjacent are very active but poorly illuminated, and the restrooms are far from the fields and located on a dimly lighted elementary school campus — not good places for young people to be running around.

Should any harm come to any of these children using a facility not adequately set up for night-time use — even with the addition of temporary lighting — the weight should fall heavily on this commission for its selfish, nearsighted and dangerous decision.

PETER MARADUDIN lives in Costa Mesa.