Church expansion signals need to move on

We have noticed that about every 10 years, St. Andrew’s Church tries

to get some sort of expansion passed.

We haven’t moved, and we haven’t died, which they may have been

waiting for. We did expand our house size, but our property size

allowed this, plus we had to follow all the dictates of the city to

succeed in doing this.

The church complains that we can expand, so why can’t they? There

is a good reason to fault their thinking. They expand, and they bring

in more people and traffic. We expand, and our number of cars stays

the same.

We have had our place near St. Andrew’s Church since 1955. The

churchgoers have always used our street for Sunday morning parking.

On Wednesday nights, there is a young people’s class at the church,

where they go to learn to be decent young people. After the class at

about 10 p.m., they are released. There is always a number of the

young ones who gather in the Newport Harbor High School parking lot

afterward to talk about not-too-nice things with the foul language

that goes with the subjects.

It is very clear in the night air. Those with cars rev their

engines and screech their tires over the parking lot and onto the

street until they decide it is time to go home. To think of expanding

the youth programs has us concerned. Because the church uses the high

school parking lot, it should consider monitoring it on those nights.

If the church needs so much expansion, perhaps it is time to find

a more suitable location.

VERNONA KAY FATH

Newport Beach