Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
Did you know that as one of the final acts of the previous council, they gave away the Balboa Parking Lot? Yes, the one where Balboa Market used to stand, on the corner of Palm and Balboa.
The old City Council gave a last-minute no-bid contract to ExplorOcean giving them this space averaging less than $360 per year for 7 years, and only $2,500 per year beyond that– for sixty years. That’s 30 election cycles, and those prices aren’t typos.
On this $10m property, that’s even less than one would pay for property tax if the old council had simply given them the land– What a deal for them! What a travesty for us taxpayers.
So what are the details of this contract and why does it smell so bad?
Reason #1: It allows ExplorOcean to have “exclusive use” of this parking area for multiple weeks per year. Who do you think this “exclusive use” will benefit? I think it is fair to assume that this “exclusive use” granted to ExplorOcean will most certainly benefit ExplorOcean, exclusively– at the expense of parking for other businesses.
Reason #2: As a primary objective, the old council says they want to allow businesses in Balboa Village to have more potential customers by encouraging ExplorOcean to turn this property into a multi-level parking lot. The problem with that idea is that visitors don’t typically patronize our local businesses— they visit our beaches, and then go home. Go to any restaurant or other establishment in our area– who is patronizing the shops? How many of these people are parking in the 68 spaces on Palm and Balboa or the 718 spaces in the Municipal lot? Odds are, not many. If we add 200 or even 400 more spots, how much will that impact business revenues? Not much.
How will it impact the quality of life for Balboa Residents? How much extra time will that take Peninsula Point residents and others in the surrounding area to travel to and from their own homes?
Time: Let’s say it only adds 6 minutes.
Frequency: Let’s say residents only drive 5 of the 7 days per week, and that they make one trip on those days.
Total: At 6 minutes per trip, this is 12 minutes per day; 60 minutes per week; 52 hours per year. Can you afford to be away from your family for 52 additional hours per year?
Cost: Let’s say the average income of people in the 92661 zip code is $100,000. This would mean that these 52 hours are worth $2,500– per person, per year, in perpetuity.
Collective Cost: Taking this cost and multiplying it by the 5,000+ people within this 92661 zip code– we wind up with $12.5 million/year in time value that is extracted from the resident population– Not even counting the devaluation of property that is sure to come with the additional traffic.
Underestimating: Each number I have used here is low. Adjusted Gross Income for the zip code in 2012 was $148,818 per person– not $100,000. The population is 5,936, not 5,000. Damages to peoples time, money, and property will easily be worse than outlined. The only benefactor in all of this? ExplorOcean. Talk about wealth redistribution!
The new City Council really does support our residents, but they need your encouragement to revisit this item. Please, write your council people or attend the community meetings to voice your concerns. Please share this message with people who will be affected by these changes.
The next community meeting will be Wednesday, February 4th at 6pm in the Balboa Pavilion.
The next city council meeting will be Tuesday, February 10th at 7pm in Council Chambers by Fashion Island.
