SOUNDING OFF:

As a longtime Newport Beach resident, I read Daniel Tedford’s article “Luck be Our Lady” (Sept. 4) with great interest, as those of us living in the Our Lady Queen of Angels area must live with the consequences of an expansion that many consider supererogatory.

Moreover, I found the remarks of the Rev. Kerry Beaulieu of Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church that “a series of miracles led to an expansion of the parish and its school” to be astonishingly placatory.

I would argue that the miracles Beaulieu refer to were not of divine providence, but more miraculous in nature given the incompetence of city officials who appear to have been derelict in their duty — especially given the concessions and compromises of a similar proposed expansion across the bay, St. Andrews, which appeared to have heeded the concerns of its respective neighborhood, unlike Our Lady Queen of Angels.

And to those who “demanded expansion” of the school, I offer this: Instead of the arm-twisting maneuvering that appears to have gone on behind closed doors to buy out its neighbor, St. Marks, Our Lady representatives would have served a greater good by seeking out a larger parcel of land, of which there is no shortage of, wherein they could have built the church and school of their dreams on one property rather than having to split the pie in half, so to speak, as they appear to have done by dividing the school and church on two lots.

Notwithstanding the fact that city officials appear to have turned a blind eye to the overcrowding at Corona del Mar High School by their failure to build more schools to accommodate the thousands of four- and five- bedroom homes that have sprung up in communities throughout Newport Coast, and the traffic nightmare that continues to be compounded by the lack of foresight exhibited by the Traffic Department by privatizing public streets in Eastbluff as they have.

Further, relegating the two driveways to both the church and school farther away from the intersection of Jamboree and Eastbluff not only encroaches into our neighborhood, but also forces more cars onto our residential streets.

Building a gym that will be open daily until 9 p.m. seems as unnecessary as the excessive signage — seven signs on a block seems wholly inappropriate, wouldn’t you say?

The signage won’t be necessary once the 100-foot steeple is completed, which by my estimates should be visible from Rome.

Contrary to Tedford’s article, I don’t think “luck,” or “miracles” for that matter, had anything to do with Our Lady’s achieving its goal, much to the detriment of a neighborhood that I believe Our Lady has never exhibited a modicum of respect toward.

K.B. DOREMUS lives in Newport Beach.