It’s About Time for Anaheim to Do Its Fair Share

I am writing to speak out against the arrogant attitude that I see and hear spewing out of the mouths of the city officials and some of the citizens of Anaheim.

They don’t want a jail in their town. They want to protect the rich people who don’t live there yet in homes that aren’t built yet, but they sure didn’t mind trying to help the Disney Co. push the working-class people out of their homes with eminent domain proceedings in the name of “redevelopment.” The biggest tourist attractions in the county are in Anaheim, with more ambitious plans on the way.

That’s fine, but who gets stuck with the negative side effects of all this expansion? The rest of Orange County, not Anaheim! A large number of the tourists come through John Wayne Airport. Those of us who live in Orange, Newport Beach, Tustin and Santa Ana had our quality of life diminished by the noise, traffic, etc., not Anaheim.

Theo Lacy Jail is in Orange, not Anaheim. Santa Ana gets the problems and traffic from the courts and other government buildings, not Anaheim. Southern Orange County has to deal with the threat of a nuclear power plant failure and high-speed chases--with the Border Patrol officials going after illegal aliens and smugglers--not Anaheim.

It seems quite clear to me that Anaheim takes all the gravy off the top and leaves the rest of the county to deal with the major problems. When are they going to carry their fair share of the load?

I have always voted against money for jails because I believe in fewer and better laws that don’t intrude on our lives (I’m sick and tired of small groups of tyrants in both political parties deciding what is good for me), but this time I’m going to support the new tax--because Anaheim deserves it!

MIKE MORTON

Orange