2 Groups at Odds Over Irvine’s Northwood 5 Development

What would make someone feel that they have the right to deny the residents of Irvine their right to the democratic process of placing an issue of major importance an the ballot?

We, of Irvine Citizens Against Overdevelopment, have encountered Irvine You volunteers at the shopping centers attempting to intimidate residents into not signing the referendum opposing the Northwood 5 project, which was recently approved by the majority council.

This is an issue of significance to all of us who reside in this city. We have all heard the building industry’s rhetoric before; however, the fact is that we simply cannot continue to build an indeterminate number of homes and overburden the infrastructure, nor can we ignore the worsening air quality.

The additional car trips per day on our neighborhood streets will increase by 41,000. Any reasonable individual can plainly see the effect this will have on our air quality, not to mention the added congestion. The shortage of potable water is well known, and that means that the 28,000 orange trees that now use recycled water will be replaced by 2,850 homes that require fresh water.

MERYL SCHWARTZ, Irvine