Mailbag - Nov. 11, 2000

Our Costa Mesa City Council, always with good intentions, of course,

and without the voice of the people, have put out an edict on code

violations that has bound residents hand and foot. The reason is to clean

up the West Side of Costa Mesa. Of course, the developers are working

hand-in-hand with the city government to make sure we are all under this

fable called, “Let’s make Costa Mesa a better place to live.”

In doing so, council members are forgetting how America became strong.

As I remember, when America was still a young nation and before the

government became a big godfather under the pretense of making things

easy, we had families with 14 children living in small, unpretentious

homes. We had those who lived on the “other side of the tracks,” of which

I was one. We were too poor to make our dwelling look like that of the

“rich and famous.” We had beggars come to our door for food, which we

always had on hand and were willing to give out. We had the homeless, the

demented, the crippled, the drunk -- they were all part of the community.

We had women with children whose husbands had died, and they supported

their children by baking in their kitchens and the children sold the

baked goods. Now all that is taboo and the women are placed on welfare.

These small beginnings many times grew into bakeries or other businesses

that started in the homes. Far be it for snooty Orange County to allow

any small beginnings -- the very seed that produced our great country.

Now we have an intolerant mentality that says, “Let us rid the world

of the part of the human race we find inferior to us.” And please, let us

have every blade of grass in its right place or our well-manicured lawns

may get a citation from the ever-watchful eye of the government.

Jesus loves the poor, the maimed, the afflicted. That which has made

America the envy of the world is the very fact that people come, wretched

and poor, and are given space to reinvent their lives, overcoming every

obstacle.

Shame on Costa Mesa and the hotshot lawmakers. Seems we once more have

no room in the inn for our lowly Savior.

MARIE KOLASINSKI

Costa Mesa

Ditching West Side plan a good start

Scrapping the West Side revitalization plan is probably the best idea

the City Council has had this year. The council has ignored the most

important factor of the revitalization. The problem on the West Side is

the slum lords and property owners who charge very little rent for places

to live that are rundown, trashy, in dire need of updating and not

well-kept in general.

We should also talk about East Bay Street properties just off Newport

Boulevard and the properties on Coolidge Avenue just off Baker Street. I

once heard the City Council discussing putting in new tree islands in the

middle of Coolidge Street,not only to clean the place up but to give the

children a place to play. Yeah, I would send my child out to the middle

of a busy street to play.

Pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and cleaning up the businesses on the

West Side should be the last of the problems taken care of there. Come

on, let’s get to the real root of the problems in all of these areas.

LYNNE HARRIS

Costa Mesa