COMMENTARY ON ANAHEIM : ‘Can-Do’ Spirit Animates City That Is Home to Disneyland : The park’s founder furnished an inspiration that continues to manifest itself in projects attuned to the future.

Although Anaheim was first settled in 1857, its birth as a modern, world-class city didn’t occur until nearly 100 years later when Walt Disney approached city officials with his brilliant vision. His courage and foresight have inspired people throughout the world, but nowhere has that inspiration flourished as much as it has in Disney’s own back yard.

Bringing Disneyland to Anaheim is just one item in a long list of successes that the city can boast of. And meeting these challenges in the past has led to a present-day, “can-do” environment which, in turn, has created a dynamic evolution in our city--even by Southern California standards.

One look at some of the projects under way in Anaheim proves a “can-do” attitude is more than just talk:

* Continued improvements to Anaheim Stadium: Over the winter, the stadium installed a $1-million sound system, replacing a 20-year-old system. Two years ago, space underneath seating in left field was converted to a new, 100,000-square-foot Exhibition Center to handle the overflow business and smaller consumer shows that had previously been held at Anaheim Convention Center.

* Continued expansion of Anaheim Convention Center: Betterment III, the Convention Center’s third expansion since it opened in 1967, recently added 150,000 square feet of meeting space. Plans are already on the drawing boards for Betterment IV, which will add another 150,000 square feet of meeting space for a total of 800,000 square feet of usable space. These enhancements will add to the largest convention facility on the West Coast and one of the 10 largest in the nation, enabling us to better serve the 11 million visitors who pass through its doors each year.

* Disneyland’s expansion: Plans will be announced shortly for this proposed undertaking, which promises to maintain Disneyland as the granddaddy of all amusement attractions. In conjunction, the city is studying extensive infrastructure improvements and aesthetic improvements to the surrounding area.

* Anaheim Arena: Scheduled to open in the fall of 1991, this 19,000-seat indoor arena, situated in the shadows of the Big A, will create a sports and entertainment complex unparalleled in Southern California. As part of our efforts, Anaheim is already aggressively pursuing major league basketball and hockey teams to occupy the venue.

* Superspeed train: Although funding remains a concern, Anaheim was selected over Los Angeles as the California terminus primarily because of its central location, upscale demographics, a commitment to solving the ever-growing transportation crisis and a proven track record of achievement.

* The Anaheim people mover project: This intracity mass-transit system, possibly using monorail or maglev technology, will connect the Convention Center/Disneyland area with the Stadium/Arena/Regional Transportation Center area, easing the parking crunch and traffic problems that occur in the city’s most-traveled corridor.

* The five-city monorail project: Anaheim will be one of the stops for the proposed system to connect major cities in central Orange County.

* Anaheim Regional Intermodal Transportation Complex (ARTIC): This proposed multimode complex will be located at the Amtrak station in the north end of the Anaheim Stadium parking lot and will be unlike anything currently in existence. Plans call for ARTIC to be a single-stop link uniting elements of all the previously mentioned transportation projects.

* Project Alpha: This $200-million project will be the cornerstone of a revitalization of central Anaheim. Highlights include a new office building for Pacific Bell that will house more than 1,000 employees, and a new 11-story building that will house a variety of city departments. Plans also call for retail space, a multiscreen theater site and 390 apartments and homes. Those people who live and work in the immediate area will be given first opportunity to live in the new units, creating an urban village where many essential services are within walking distance, minimizing traffic and pollution--a concept experts are calling the trend of the future. Many of the housing units will be designated affordable, helping Anaheim address the challenges of providing economical living quarters for its citizens.

* Continued development of the “Platinum Triangle”: The aggressive and well-defined development of this valuable real estate situated in the general vicinity of Anaheim Stadium and bounded by a trio of freeways, combined with innovative transportation solutions, will make Anaheim the preferred address for business. Immediately to the north of the Platinum Triangle, Anaheim has already established its own Auto Row, with four dealers now in place and more to come.

* Redevelopment of the Anaheim Plaza area: This project will seek to address a glaring deficiency in Anaheim--the lack of a major retail shopping mall. Not only will this add valuable tax dollars to city revenues, it will also revitalize the area.

The city has also taken an active role in attempting to address the problems of traffic and congestion, downsizing and downzoning wherever and whenever feasible. Anaheim also has created a state-of-the-art Traffic Management Center, providing a high-tech look at major traffic corridors in the city and making instantaneous adjustments through the use of an integrated and coordinated signal switching system.

As is evident from the many examples above, Anaheim makes it a habit to paint in grand strokes. But we have not lost sight of the basic needs of our residents. The Adopt-a-Block and Wipe Out Graffiti programs have gained a strong groundswell of grass-roots support, recently passing a noteworthy mark of painting out more than 500,000 square feet of unsightly graffiti since the programs’ inception.

With the help of the city, residents in central Anaheim will join in early May for an all-volunteer effort to clean and paint 25 homes belonging to the disabled and elderly, who otherwise could not get the work done.

Anaheim has its share of critics, as all governments do. But detractors and naysayers only need to look at Anaheim’s track record as evidence of the courage and vision that is a trademark of our city.