‘Foolish’ Dismissal of Costa Mesa as a Prestigious City

Re your article extolling the prestige of Newport Beach (Aug. 2):

I’m afraid you have been both hasty and foolish in dismissing the city of Costa Mesa in a single sarcastic paragraph to lead off this otherwise interesting article. Notwithstanding the experience of one restaurateur, the growth and success of Costa Mesa and of the businesses that choose to establish their presence here are well known--and substantial.

The mini-urban hub that is “supposedly developing” in Costa Mesa and that you casually dismiss already hosts some of the most prestigious retail names in the world. Indeed, there are some who would argue that the phenomenal success of such businesses in Costa Mesa and the competition represented by that success are in large part responsible for the multimillion-dollar expansion of Newport Center noted in the article.

And speaking of multimillion-dollar expansions, Costa Mesa is also the home of a new $80-million performing arts complex, the most important development in the arts in Southern California in decades. The arts center has been created and built entirely with funds from the private sector, certainly the strongest form of endorsement by the gentry of Orange County as to the future of this “supposed” mini-urban hub and the prestige of its Costa Mesa address.

As a further example, let me offer the experience of our firm, GoodSmith & Co. We are a national financial services company doing business with major corporations throughout the United States. We never considered locating our headquarters in Newport Beach because, despite its prestige reputation locally, it is viewed by many of our Wall Street clients and their affiliates as a “typical” Southern California beach community, one that they, unfortunately, do not take very seriously.

We much prefer our Costa Mesa address. We believe that this city is destined to become the prestige location in Orange County corporate finance.

Finally, let me point out that one of the world’s great newspapers, your employer, has elected to locate its major Orange County editorial and production facility right here in the City of the Arts--Costa Mesa.

PAUL BENT,

President

GoodSmith & Co.

Costa Mesa