A South County Jail? No, Thanks
Your editorial in the May 5 Times (“It’s Time for Whole County to Get Serious About Jails”) raises some very interesting points.
That the need for more beds in jails is a countywide problem is likely true. That South County should accept such an institution because the Musick facility is already there is rather shallow logic.
Perhaps we should be looking at all the vacant land on Sunflower Avenue in Costa Mesa, adjacent to The Times Orange County publishing building. Why put a facility like this in a residential neighborhood when we have so much available land in commercial neighborhoods? Or would the constant stream of people coming to visit their loved ones be offensive to the merchants and customers? Would it drive away business? Would it attract the “wrong” element? Would it create problems of “safety” for the nearby businesses and offices?
Nobody wants a jail, or a commercial airport, or a landfill, or a tollway, or a stadium near their residences. Can you blame them? But the easy way out is to take an existing facility and enlarge or completely redesign it to do something it was never intended to do in the first place.
Supervisor Don Saltarelli may think it’s “gut-check time,” a flip remark if I ever heard one, but if that’s the caliber of person representing South County interests, perhaps it’s “gut-check time” for the entire Board of Supervisors.
MICHAEL D. NEBEN
Irvine
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