Mailbag: Costa Mesa’s mask mandate makes sense

Reading “O.C. hits 800 COVID-related deaths as anti-mask protest held in Costa Mesa” made me appreciate Costa Mesa’s mask mandate and enforcement policy even more.

The article reported that the protest was against Costa Mesa’s mask mandate and specifically targeted the $100 fine for failing to wear a mask in public. But the protesters’ irresponsible actions, coupled with a little historical perspective, illustrate why the continued mask mandate and fine are necessary.

On the same day as the Pilot article, the L.A. Times published “1918 flu offers lessons for today, experts say, but few are learned.” The story described how cities that adopted public health measures early in that pandemic, and kept them in place, achieved better outcomes than cities that were slow to act.

Current-day protesters seem willfully ignorant to these lessons. Fortunately, Costa Mesa’s leadership began requiring face coverings back in April, when Mayor Katrina Foley pushed for ratification of the city manager’s mask mandate.

The protesters also say that masks equal mind control, but it is they who seem to be under the control of an anti-science, anti-fact movement that simply dismisses pandemic death counts as “completely and totally fake,” and creates ludicrous false-equivalencies between mask mandates and requiring members of the public to “wear a Spiderman outfit.”

The protests, and the completely unhinged protesters, make me appreciate the fact-based leadership and decision-making practiced by Mayor Katrina Foley, Mayor Pro Tem John Stephens, and the Costa Mesa City Council majority. They have my support and gratitude, and I hope they’ll continue to make the right decisions to keep Costa Mesa residents safe.

Bill McCarty
Costa Mesa

There’s no place left to build

In all its wisdom the Southern California Assn. of Governments has mandated the building of 4,832 affordable housing units in Newport Beach by 2029.

I am a recently retired Realtor, having sold property in Newport for over 50 years. In the early 1970s I sold 263 homes in the Port Streets ranging in price from $35,000 to under $70,000. These were virtual entry-level homes. Today developers are paying well over a million dollars to purchase a tear-down in that area. Some recent sales of new homes have exceeded $4,500,000.

If there was land available for even 1,000 housing units anywhere in the city, affordable or not, the land would have been developed years ago.

SCAG may make rules, but they cannot make land. Is the city going to be fined if we do not meet the association’s goals?

Howard Wells
Newport Beach

Lesser known candidates have cleaner slates

I am in full agreement with Peggy Palmer of Newport Beach and Tim Geddes of Huntinton Beach in their letters to the editor: “Running for city council should be compared to being interviewed for a new job, an occupation that should be taken seriously.”

Having said that, I suggest people do a Google search of the people who are running for Huntington Beach City Council. They may be shocked by what they find. Over the past 10 years or more, I have been appalled by the special interest groups on the council and still am to this day. One would think being a longtime real estate agent or having any involvement with real estate developers would be self-serving.

The lesser known candidates, ones not being financed with flashy mailers, should be considered.

As they say, follow the money, which is quite evident with the proposed Poseidon desalinization plant.

I’d also like to thank Ben Miles of Huntington Beach for his contribution “Lawyer doesn’t seem to know the law.” If Chapman University’s law professor’s comments weren’t so pathetic, they actually would be humorous.

Lynn Copeland
Huntington Beach

Let’s give democracy a better chance in N.B.

For several years now, our City Council in Newport Beach has not been very democratic because of the existence of voting blocs or teams whose many disadvantages I have described in a previous letter (Mailbag: Voting no on football this fall). Whenever a single candidate has to fight against a slate of candidates, the slate obviously has an unfair advantage. Two of our candidates in the upcoming election either must run against an incumbent who is part of the team or an incumbent who is running against a totally new candidate who, according to a colleague, had not even been involved in his first debate when he was endorsed by three members of the team or bloc. Without even considering names, qualifications or accomplishments, two of our candidates, Nancy Scarbrough and Jeff Herdman, start the race with obvious unfair disadvantages. And this does not even take into consideration that new candidates must run against incumbents who have been building up “war chests” since before their first election. The high cost of running for office against slates or teams discourages many good potential candidates from running. And it is the reason that Newport has far fewer candidates trying to seek election when compared to neighboring cities.

Given those large disadvantages promoted by the “team” culture, Newport Beach is lucky to have the two stellar independent candidates mentioned above, Nancy Scarbrough and Jeff Herdman. I would like to focus first on the qualifications of the incumbent and in a subsequent letter talk about how lucky we are that Nancy Scarbrough is running in District 2, my district.

Incumbent Jeff Herdman is arguably the most qualified of all the council members. He has excellent communication skills and is very conscientious. He is openly available to his constituents, and in addition to being the chairman of the Aviation Committee, he has a long list of accomplishments.

Herdman ran independently in 2016 against the slate of candidates of Team Newport consisting of Will O’Neill, Brad Avery and Lee Lowery, and won.

Let’s vote for Jeff Herdman in 2020 and show the slate of council members O’Neill, Muldoon and Duffield who are supporting the brand-new candidate that we think their blocs or teams are unfair. And since Mayor O’Neill has declared this the year of the “helper,” let’s tell him that he could provide a good personal example by breaking up “Team Newport,” thereby giving democracy a better chance in Newport Beach.

Lynn Lorenz
Newport Beach

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