NOTE TO STEVE SMITH: IMPROVERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN GREEN
In his Daily Pilot column today (2/21), Steve Smith once again gushes about Mayor Pro Tem Eric Bever's recent call for more environmentally sound practices in Costa Mesa.
The problem with Smith's take on this is that Smith apparently wrongly thinks or hopes that Bever has somehow been convinced to go over to the other side (the dark side in some observers' views) and that now Bever is starting to be on the side of Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon and that with a little praise from Smith and other libs, Bever will stop trying to improve Costa Mesa in meaningful ways.
Now, we haven't spoken to Bever about this, but it's the CM PRESS's belief that Bever and most other big "I" and little "i" improvers have always been on the side of protecting Costa Mesa's environment. In fact, they've been in the forefront of this.
It's been the improvers who have constantly called for the cleaning up of the pollution from the Westside--not Smith's pals Foley and Dixon and their candidates Garlich and Scheafer in the recent election.
It is improvers who have called for reducing the massive industrial zone on the Westside bluffs by about half, i.e. go from the present 60 acres of industrial uses down to about 30 acres.
Foley and Dixon and their supporters, by contrast, want people to believe that the improvers' call to clean up the bluffs is some dark plan to chase some people out of the city. They say this because they're trying to divert attention away from the fact that a large part of Foley and Dixon's support comes from the out of town industrialists who are making gobs of money by keeping the bluffs perpetually mired in low end polluting industrial uses.
It's been the improvers who have constantly said that Fairview Park should remain a natural park and not be overimproved. It is improvers who have fought against putting in asphalt parking lots and similar things.
It's been the improvers who have constantly said that the area below the Westside Bluffs should be turned into what it naturally is--a bay with the ocean coming right up to Victoria. And, if this were to happen the ocean would clean up this land that was used for oil production.
It's the improvers who have been behind having the City of Costa Mesa invest in our neighborhoods by buying up decrepit properties and turning them into parks and green space.
Bever can speak for himself, but it's our belief that he's always been for a nicer environment.
Sorry, Mr. Smith, once again, you just don't get it.
If you want to do some good with your column, Mr. Smith, then try to convince Foley and Dixon to go really green by reducing the industrial uses on the bluffs. Go ahead, Mr. Smith, call Foley and Dixon and see if they'd get behind this. Laugh out loud. You know they wouldn't.
We won't hold our breath until you make the call, Mr. Smith, or honestly report what Foley and Dixon tell you--but we do try to hold our breath whenever we're on those bluffs. The air blowing over those factories isn't very green.
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Those are our very green opinions. Thanks for reading them.
