Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
Monday the city held a meeting at the Seabase located at the Newport Sea Base on PCH to discuss the future of Mariner’s Mile. The city decided that the area was in dire need of redevelopment– right after a large land purchase was made by a developer.
Before the meeting, several citizens wrote in to me about their concern and suspicion of such an impacting meeting being held in a spot that had only 36 parking spots. Why would the city invite the entirety of Cliff Drive to a meeting regarding their views and what will surely be years with of construction to a location with only 36 parking spots? These citizens figured it was to discourage a full attendance. The city said the location was done because it was within the zone and they thought it would be convenient. That’s where things got off on the wrong foot to begin with.
The closest parking I could find was at the Balboa Bay Club. I hoofed it over to see what the plans were going to be about. There weren’t enough seats for everyone– or even standing room. I was allocated to stand by the door and much of the time in the actual doorway. It was packed. The city began by stating that they wanted to hear feedback about what the citizens wanted so that they could best build for the community. The citizens were broken up into 6 study groups and asked to write down their wants and needs. There was only one catch: All of the plans would be finalized by November. For those keeping score, that is just 94 days away.
All of the groups wanted virtually the same thing: Parking, a pedestrian bridge, and to ensure that the traffic increase wouldn’t overflow onto Cliff Drive. They wanted to keep nautical themes and all were upset that they would likely lose their treasured views.
Groups were headed up from a wide array of citizens, including builder Bill Valentine, SPON VP Dorothy Kraus, resident Peggy Palmer, and two residents known by first name only, Brad and Nicole. One group, though, headed by resident Russell Cook and including Newport activist Jim Mosher, didn’t pull any punches. Cook stated that the November timeline made it transparent that the city must already have plans ready to go and that everyone was basically having their time wasted at the meeting pretending to be part of the plan-building. In no fashion could the city digest the suggestions and come up with finalized plans based on resident feedback in 94 days. The implication was clearly that this was all just a ruse to try to recruit citizens into being on the side of the developer. When one looks at the timeline objectively, it’s hard to imagine how it would be any different.
Several times, the city had to quell the overflow crowd.
In the end, there is no info on when the next meeting will be or where it will be, and the citizens are still completely in the dark about what the actual plans are for the area.
But they did have free cookies.
