City wants, needs your ideas

Dolores Otting

Well, here we are back in the days of the Wild West, and it looks

like there could be a shootout at the OK Corral, known today as

Marinapark.

The city’s ad hoc committee on Marinapark met Tuesday in the

council chambers, and it appears that there has been a line drawn in

the sand. On one side stand the park people, those who believe that

it should be left as a park and open space that can serve the

community with a view to the harbor and a hand-launch for vessels. On

the other side are the marina people, who feel that it should be a

full-fledged commercial marina. The stakes are high and both groups

have a true passion for what they believe in. They both know this is

their last and only opportunity since this is the last piece of

harbor-front property left in Newport Beach.

This meeting was touted as being the last meeting, that there was

no rocket science involved, and that their job was done. Then somehow

someone revisited the committee’s duties as outlined in their

resolution only to realize that they were not finished. Excellent for

us, the public, since the committee of 14 is a great group of people

doing a Herculean job working together to find a balance.

The meeting and discussion by the committee members and the public

was phenomenal. Councilman Don Webb is the chairman, and he included

discussion from the public on every agenda item and did not need to

be reminded. It was inspiring to watch and there was no criticism,

not even when a committee member stated that if a full-fledged marina

goes in, then there could be a recall and some council members could

go out.

The duties that are still to be completed are only a few:

* Develop goals for the future use of Marinapark.

* Gather what the real needs are versus what the wants are --

parks, recreation facilities, boating facilities, and revenue to the

general and tidelands fund.

* Develop a plan for gaining public input on future use of the

property.

Thanks to Dave Kiff, the assistant city manager, there have been a

couple subcommittees established to get the work done.

The committee is perplexed as to why there hasn’t been more input

from the public and are concerned as to how to get the public

involved. Tuesday, some members of the audience suggested that

perhaps there could be an evening meeting or workshop that would make

it easier for the public to attend -- the 4 p.m. Tuesday time slot

has never really been an invitation to the public. Perhaps we could

even have a town hall meeting?

Bottom line, the committee desperately needs and wants your input.

You know who you are, the 29,997 people who voted no on Measure L;

the 67% who voted no to changing the existing General Plan

designation.

In closing I want to say thank you to Sharon Wood, assistant city

manager -- yes, we have two. In all the years that I have been

participating in city government, she has always been professional,

courteous, helpful and an example to other city employees. She is

never too busy for any of us.

* DOLORES OTTING is a regular contributor to Sunday Forum and is a

community activist.