Readers Respond: Peering into Westside windows

First, I would like to say that your articles so far on the Westside

have been very well-written (“The Westside story,” May 3, and “The

crusaders,” May 10). The reporter leans to neither side. That is the type

of reporting that is needed for this type of subject.

My fiance and I have lived in Costa Mesa for just six months, but we

are already impressed. Costa Mesa is a wonderful place to live. We love

the diversity, the close proximity to the beach and the hometown feel

that Costa Mesa has.

However, it is increasingly apparent just by reading the Daily Pilot

that Costa Mesa has an appalling number of closet racists -- people who

say that they are not racist yet communicate ideas that indicate that

they are.

To set the record straight, I am a full-blooded white person. I have

lived in many different socioeconomic areas in my short years on this

Earth, from upper middle class to the poverty level. I can tell you that

all races have nasty habits. One cannot classify a single criminal act as

strictly performed by one race. Whites litter, whites turn their radios

too loud, white people drive too quickly through residential streets, and

there are even some illegal white people living here in this country.

Please, Westside activists, keep in mind that we owe it to our

children and grandchildren to fight racism at all levels. As Martin H.

Millard would be happy to tell you, the white population will very soon

be the minority, and it could be us that the racism is directed at.

RACHEL SCOTT

Mesa Verde

I would like to commend the Daily Pilot on its positive coverage of

events in the Newport-Mesa area. Most of the time, you provide balanced

and intelligent viewpoints.

This is why I am surprised that you give credence to someone who uses

such verbiage as “brown glop” (“Activist known for contentious views,”

May 10). You do us a disservice by giving him a public outlet for hatred.

The Daily Pilot is a forum for debate, but you should, and probably do,

have rules of engagement. One I think you need desperately is that

name-calling is nonproductive. It is not debate, it is sensationalism

when you become a party to this kind of incendiary rhetoric. It does not

build. It causes wars.

I believe that our community is coming together like most of us

post-World War II folks have seldom seen. There are many citizens from

churches and community groups who are volunteering in classrooms to make

Newport-Mesa a better place for all of us to live.

I just spent the morning at Orange Coast College, where Westside Costa

Mesa students and their families were invited to experience college. OCC

students and faculty, under the guidance of Jay Yett, opened their labs

and their hearts to promote the American dream of education and the

better life it promises.

There are so many heroes in our community, far more than those who

bemoan the demise of society and do nothing to improve conditions.

SANDRA KASZYNSKI

Santa Ana Heights

The fact that there are so many ad hoc citizens groups popping up to

weigh in on redevelopment of the Westside (“The Westside story,” May 3)

indicates a complete failure on the part of City Hall.

The problems that exist did not begin in 1998, when the city

contracted for its farcical study conducted by UC Irvine students. They

have been brewing for the past 20 years, known to all residents but

consistently ignored by City Hall.

A lot of city councils have come and gone in that time -- a lot of men

and women with extremely divergent views. Yet, surprisingly, City Hall’s

policies have remained remarkably consistent.

How is this possible? I submit to you that it is because the city

manager and other non-elected officials are the real architects of this

mess. It is clear from the number of fractured splinter groups and the

deteriorating rhetoric regarding the Westside that the city manager’s

failed policies have taken a big toll on Costa Mesa.

Perhaps it is time for the City Council to take the reins and act.

They should fire the city manager and all of the staff members

responsible for this debacle and hire individuals who can actually do

their job without alienating large segments of the population.

JAY MARTIN

Costa Mesa

I have been noticing letters down through the years from an H. Millard

and always assumed the writer to your paper was a World War II-type --

like myself -- of indefatigable opinions representing the extreme far

right. These people are regarded as generally harmless because of their

disappearing numbers.

Depressingly, he appears, from your photograph, to be much more

youthful. I would be very interested in finding out more about the

background and age of this individual, and as long as we’re on the

subject, I would be interested in learning more information about the

background of Councilman Chris Steel.

His description of himself as an “investor” especially cries out for

more information.

FRANCIS X. CAMPBELL

Costa Mesa