Pulling Up an OC Drawbridge

Re “To Some, Affordable Housing Means Nightmare Neighbors,” Feb. 1: Shame on those members of the Mission Viejo community who had the audacity to circulate fliers claiming affordable-housing communities had an “increased propensity for litter, disease, graffiti and crime.” It seems that many citizens and planning commissioners alike are under the belief that ghettos are something that communities build.

Ghettos are the result of the isolationism that has become an entrenched part of American culture. Those qualifying for affordable housing are our neighbors in California, no different from anyone else. When families and children are deprived of a supportive community, they are already destined for blight. I hope that the citizens and planning commissioners of Mission Viejo will realize that throwing up walls against hard-working Americans based on their level of income is a cruel form of elitism. I question the “American dream” now more than ever.

Erik R. Stegman

Long Beach

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I am wondering when “lower income” and “working class” came to mean “criminal” and “gang-related” to the narrow-minded residents who oppose building low-income housing in one small area of Mission Viejo. I find these attitudes deeply offensive and more than a little scary. Criminals exist in all neighborhoods, no matter what the average income of their residents.

Given the current bloated state of Orange County real estate prices, the need for this type of housing is increasing. I am so very glad that my husband (who is Mexican and not a gang member or criminal) and I (a white girl), who are in the “average” income bracket, bought our 1,500-square-foot house in Lake Forest when it was $195,000, in 1997. There is no way we could afford it now, as we have noticed our same model approaching the upper $300,000s lately. It’s insane.

So, get over yourselves, Mission Viejo. Leave your perfectly manicured upper-middle-class sanctuary and go visit some low-income housing areas in cities such as Irvine, San Clemente and Laguna Hills before you decide that all such communities are “ghettos.” I think you’ll be surprised. Be happy you can afford to live in your $600,000 homes, but don’t begrudge the rest of Orange County’s honest, hard-working, family-oriented people a chance to live in a nice, safe community.

Shelley Logan

Lake Forest

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The planned low-income, affordable-housing complex would be constructed at Los Alisos Boulevard and Jeronimo Road. Contrary to the article, this area does abut residential neighborhoods. True, the area in question houses commercial properties, but directly opposite there is a high concentration of residential units, both apartment and single-family dwellings.

I have been associated with the area in question since 1975. Then, the area was predominately Anglo. Today it is a colony for illegal immigrants. Residents don’t want to make an already bad situation even worse. People are uneasy about enticing even more “undocumented workers” into the area. They do not want their schools overrun with non-English-speaking children. They don’t want the traffic congestion that accompanies multiple families using single-family housing. They don’t want the increased gang activity. They don’t want even more curbside “workers” vying for day labor. Above all, they don’t want the “Santa Ana syndrome” in their community.

Calling such concerns “racist” is a cheap shot. This is not racist. It is simply an honest assessment of what has happened to this neighborhood over the last 30 years, and enough is enough.

Joseph A. Lea

Mission Viejo

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I have never been happier to be an Orange County expatriate than after reading your article. The disgraceful attitudes and behavior of the people who attended the planning commission meeting represent everything about Orange County that I rejected: elitism, suburban ignorance, a “we got ours” sensibility and thinly veiled racism.

Even if the most common buyers of subsidized housing weren’t cops, firefighters, teachers and other pillars of the community, the idea that moderate-income residents moving into an upscale area is going to be the equivalent of importing gangs and drugs is disgusting. These people ought to at least be upfront about their reasons and just say, “We don’t want those black and brown people in our neighborhood.” Look in the mirror, folks; you’re the ones turning Mission Viejo into a ghetto -- of intolerance and prejudice.

Tim Vandehey

Ventura