HEY NEWPORT, LET'S THINK CREATIVELY
(Photo of a brackish small marina with beach in Massachusetts that might be what a similar combination in Costa Mesa/Newport Beach might look like. Small sandy beach is just out of frame.)
Newport Beach is having a problem in raising money to dredge the harbor in that city. LINK
Well, how about working a deal with Costa Mesa? Maybe our city can help you with your harbor and you can help us with developing a marina and pocket beach(s) along the side of Banning Ranch that would be jointly owned by the two cities?
All the CM PRESS is suggesting is that we be given a small window, a mere corridor, a tiny alley, a minuscule channel, a puny rivulet to the sea so that Costa Mesa can connect up to that vast Pacific Ocean that we can see, but can't touch. Is this asking too much? Must Costa Mesa always be cut off from the sea?
We just want the ocean and the Santa Ana River to be able to meet and pool in an area near Victoria Street as a sort of tiny inland sea but with a channel leading to the ocean.
Hell, we'll even truck in our own sand for any tiny beaches we can develop below the Westside Bluffs.
We know of such beaches/marinas with the same brackish water that exist in other states and they're popular with the citizens.
Now, we're not talking about a large plastic marina, but a small natural one similar to what you see in the photo above.
We've seen the plans both for homes on Banning Ranch and the competing plans to keep it without homes. (See the two links on the upper right side of this page)
Frankly, neither plan does much for us. Not only do both plans look very contrived and plastic to us, they both seem to forget that our greatest natural asset is the Pacific Ocean that is within a stone's throw of the Banning Ranch property.
Why build a housing development next to the ocean that looks like similar developments thousands of miles away from the ocean?
Or, alternatively, why propose a "natural" park that looks like a miniature golf course?
Call us Frogpondians, if you will, but can't we have a natural area around here that is not overly manicured, and can't we use our closeness to the ocean as an asset instead of turning our backs on it and pretending it's not there?
Must every blade of grass be of uniform height? Must we rip out the natural plants that have been sown by the wind and replace them with plants that can't exist along our Bluffs except with superhuman effort and taxpayer money?
Just dredge a channel up to Victoria Street and let water seek its own level.
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PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION UPDATE
The Parks and Recreation Commission didn't hear the matter about park designations last night as previously reported it would in CM PRESS # 406, but moved it forward to a future meeting.
Apparently, the CMPD wanted to discuss changes in some of the language relating to our park ordinances before the matter is heard by the Commission.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
