Mailbag: A New Year’s wish list for Newport Beach

Here’s our 2020 wish list for Newport Beach:

H: Hope and help for the homeless

A: Abatement of “luxury” variances

P: Prevention of a six-lane Pacific Coast Highway

P: Preservation of public views

Y: Yearlong good communication with residents and city government

N: Nurturing civic participation of residents

E: Establishing election reform

W: Wielding control over climate change problems

Y: (Not) yielding to developers’ demands

E: Establishing guidelines for city growth that do not compromise Newport’s natural beauty

A: Arresting the aggressive pace of “mansionization”

R: Ringing in a new year of peace and prosperity

Tom Baker, Lynn Lorenz and Portia Weiss
Newport Beach

H.B. recap article missed a couple of issues

While I am in general agreement with much of Julia Sclafani’s article “2019 in review: Top stories of the year in Huntington Beach” (Dec. 28), there was at least one glaring omission.

Tied inextricably to the Ascon issue was the Magnolia Tank Farm issue or, as many in my southeast Huntington Beach neighborhood call it, the Shopoff rip-off. This contentious issue involves both unwanted and unneeded development on a property adjoining the Ascon site that quite probably is contaminated as well.

Not only is the site problematic from an environmental standpoint, but it would be shoehorned into property surrounded by the AES power plant, the Ascon toxic landfill, sensitive wetlands and zoning only fit for other industrial purposes. Added to it are various other negative impacts such as additional traffic/congestion, noise, higher density and more pollution risk. Also problematic would be the increased demand on city services.

A second issue omitted in the article was the proposed approval of the Poseidon Water desalination plant project, which would adjoin the AES operation and cause further complications for any residential development of the former tank farm property.

Both the Magnolia Tank Farm and Poseidon desal plant issues will loom large in 2020 but spilled plenty of ink this past year. Both will affect not only southeast folks but residents citywide.

Tim Geddes
Huntington Beach

Editor’s note: The Magnolia Tank Farm and Poseidon matters didn’t escape the Daily Pilot’s attention in 2019, as the numerous articles about both during the year will attest. However, both issues have been going on for years, and in the past year remained in review phases without definitive changes in status, as the Pilot chronicled. Therefore, we decided, after some deliberation, not to include them among the top stories of 2019. They certainly will continue to be watched in 2020.

How to get published: Email us at john.canalis@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length.

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