ON THE TOWN:Time to make improvements in Newport-Mesa

Life is funny. Sometimes it’s funny in a “ha ha” way; other times it is funny in a strange way.

A few days ago, my wife and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a trip to Lake Tahoe, where we spent our honeymoon.

It rained on our wedding day, which is supposed to be good luck. After a 20-year stretch, I would not argue against the theory.

We were supposed to get married outside in San Juan Capistrano. Fortunately, we chose a location that was flexible, and at the last minute the entire event was moved indoors.

The next morning, we took a flight on a major airline that was supposed to land in Lake Tahoe, but there was a snowstorm so bad they diverted us to Reno and put us on a bus for the trip to the lake.

When we woke up Thursday, the sky was so much as it was on Feb. 22, 1987, I would have sworn that I saw the same cloud formations I saw 20 years ago.

To top it off, the weather report in Tahoe for Thursday called for heavy snow.

But some things have changed in 20 years. There are no major airlines flying directly to Lake Tahoe, so we went straight to Reno and drove up during what was the last part of the storm.

Twenty years later, and it seems like deja vu.

After 20 years, we should want some things to change. Other things we’d like to see the same way forever.

We have all heard that most people resist change. I have found for the most part that this is true.

Change represents the unknown, and human beings have a natural skepticism of the unknown. Sometimes that skepticism manifests itself as fear.

On a weekly basis, I have to coach people through changes.

One of the techniques I learned a long time ago was to avoid using the word change at any cost. Instead, I frequently use the word “improve” or “improvement.”

People may not like change, but they like improvements.

Buying a new car, for example, represents a major change. We like the new model car, not only because it is shiny and has that particular new-car smell, but because it has improvements over the one we’re giving up.

That new car represents a change to which we look forward because, usually based on prior experience, we know that this particular change means improvement.

Around Newport-Mesa, changes are accelerating. The big, important changes are improvements, some of them milestones.

Newport Beach Mayor Steve Rosansky, for example, changed the format of a recent dinner meeting.

Rosansky chose a forum in which he knew he would have the ears of many of the players in the city and decided to put his stake in the ground over the location of the new city hall.

By making his case this way, Rosansky may also have put a stake in the heart of any other city hall option.

Over in Costa Mesa, I have written about City Councilman Eric Bever’s interest in a greener city. This interest is not as big a change as his willingness to acknowledge his agreement on a major issue with the council’s minority, Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon.

This is a good change, a very good change.

There is change going on in Newport-Mesa schools, too.

All of the schools are being changed and improved, thanks to new tax dollars.

Estancia High School gets a new sports stadium and Newport Harbor High School loses its iconic bell tower but gets a new, improved building in its place.

Those are just a couple of the exterior improvements. The more important improvements are happening in Costa Mesa classrooms where folks are scrambling to provide kids with an education that meets the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act.

It’s too bad that these overdue improvements were not initiated by the school board, which is arriving kicking and screaming to the party.

The bigger thinkers among us — people such as Rosansky and perhaps this new, improved Eric Bever — understand the need for change, the need for continuous improvement and the need to take action on these improvements, not just talk about them.