Mailbag: Aquarium would be a better use of Lower Castaways site

Regarding the article in the Daily Pilot reporting on the Newport City Council discussion of the possible uses for the bayside property at Pacific Coast Highway and Dover Drive known as Lower Castaways (Newport Beach City Council supports plans for 50-meter pool at Lower Castaway Park, Oct. 9), after further research it is apparent that, by far, the best use for the property would be a community aquarium as proposed by Harbor Commissioners Rudy Svrcek and Don Yahn.

While a pool may be used by certain swim teams and some individual swimmers, an aquarium would be a facility that could, and would, be available and used by all the citizens of Newport Beach.

At a cost of $47 million and $2.5 million per year to maintain, the pool would be one of the most expensive projects per user in the history of the city. I also understand the City Council has further approved a $500,000 immediate expenditure in order to advance the pool concept with very little exposure or input from the greater community.

The aquarium has already stimulated considerable interest in the philanthropic community with legacy naming a distinct possibility, thereby deferring a large part of the initial cost. Furthermore, an aquarium could be a financially self-sustaining enterprise potentially saving the city the $2.5 million per year. A pool could be constructed much more inexpensively at another site, off the bay, such as at Mariners Park or any other city-owned parkland.

Newport Beach schools could, and would, take the opportunity to field trip students to the aquarium. Kids of all ages would be able to learn about the aquatic life that abounds right in their own backyard, and how climate change is affecting the local coastal waters.

The last city owned property on the bay deserves a legacy use we can all be proud of and that will be a resource for all of the citizens of Newport Beach, not just a few. A swimming pool could be built much more effectively elsewhere. City Council, please consider a special meeting where all citizens of Newport Beach could openly review the pool concept, the aquarium or any other option for the lower Castaway site.

Richard Heinz
Newport Beach

Commentary was inspiring

As a teacher and high school counselor myself, I agree with the commentary by Matthew Armstrong completely (Commentary: Beware of ‘parental rights’ candidates, Daily Pilot, Oct. 20). Teachers, counselors and administrators have the training, experience and technical skills needed to implement curriculum, govern schools and ensure parents are informed and participative stakeholders.

If you ask your favorite teachers who have now retired, they will unanimously say, “We always cared about our students so deeply, but the politics were always what interfered.” Armstrong exercised his right to criticize the so-called Parental Rights movement.

Newport-Mesa is a tight-knit community. Many of us have lived here our whole lives, gone to school together and know both the admirable and not-so-flattering aspects of the parental rights candidates Armstrong criticized, their endorsers and the often-hidden agendas represented. Before we go that far, I suggest that we focus this upcoming school board elections by focusing on the issues at hand, not personal criticisms.

Regardless of our feelings, what does the law say about medical confidentiality? What risks are there if conversations were divulged? At our public schools, what are the laws related to free speech versus bullying? Transparency is essential; how do we increase transparency of all the candidates, their salaries, their spending to avoid embezzlement crises like the famous 1992 Wagner case I remember? What does the research say about educational technology as a tool versus distraction? How can we differentiate trendy jargon from those based on rigor, diverse exposure, and student-choice?

My own experience has shown the best school system has experts research policy, legislators in the capitols make laws and politicians serve to endorse, not give orders.

At best, parents and politicians use their networks and energy to raise funds to create optimal private supplementation of a public system. At worst, petty politicking can turn things into the equivalent of a nullification crises we saw in Brown vs. Board of Education. If we cannot respect established laws, where does it stop?

Wise people know when to put their feelings aside and defer to the experts. No one cares about education in the classroom more than your local teacher: support and communicate, not coerce.

Joseph Klunder
Newport Beach

CdM High doesn’t match flier claims

Voters in Area 3 for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District received a flier that included misleading statements that do not accurately reflect our experiences at Corona del Mar High School, which is the high school in Area 3.

Current data on the Corona del Mar High School website (under the programs tab in College and Career Counseling) demonstrates the success of CdM students. In addition to that published data, these statistics were presented at the CdM graduation for the class of 2024 delineating the success of students in academics, arts and athletics.

- Earned California Distinguished School Recognition (1 of only 220 in the state);

- Ranked in the top 8% in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and in the top 4% in California by the California Department of Education;

- Ranked in the top 1% of college prep high schools in America by Niche.com;

- 97 % of the class are attending college including many at top universities with athletic and academic scholarships;

- ACT/SAT score above the national average;

- Five National Merit Scholar finalists including a National Merit scholarship winner (top 1/2 of 1% in the USA);

- Arts: 12 Cappies (high school Tonys); Nine Macys (high school Oscars);

- Athletics: Three CIF championships;

- Three graduates chose to serve in our military.

Stemler has made misleading and disparaging statements about our local schools and is not the right person for this job. He is not informed about the current success of students in Area 3. In addition, he works full time as an attorney in San Bernardino County, which will make it difficult to support school events in person.

We hope that Area 3 residents will reelect Carol Crane. She’s a parent of adult children who attended Eastbluff Elementary and Corona del Mar High School where Carol served as the PTA president. Carol is willing and available to show up in person at school events across Area 3 and the whole district. She cares deeply about the children and families in our community and is an amazing volunteer who is the very best candidate for this job!

We represent a group of nearly 70 parents who were willing to sign our letter but due to space constraints were unable to do so.

Brigid and Joe Cianfrani
Catherine and Adam Little
Jesse and Nicole Brettingen
Erin and Ron Schoenbaum
Suzanne and David Gauntlett
Newport Beach

H.B.’s reputation on the line

Several residents from other coastal communities have asked me what the heck is going on in Huntington Beach. Much of what they know about our civic affairs comes from reading articles and letters in the Daily Pilot. Kudos to the newspaper for highlighting our local concerns. When even conservatives among its readership bemoan the ideology, extremism and, frankly, the incompetence of our leaders, it is time to pump the brakes and take stock of our situation.

The City Council majority has run amok over the past two years with its trashing of norms, its failure to address problems and needs, its pursuit of divisive culture war issues and its bad conduct. Worse, it has endorsed a slate of MAGA minions to take on the “responsible” incumbents of the council minority running for reelection this November that would both remove the guardrails from the excesses of the majority and plunge the community into turmoil.

The conservative critics coming to me do not want to see the largest coastal city in Orange County swept out to sea for fear of negative impacts on their localities as well. They would rather see Dan Kalmick, Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton keep their council seats and also elect a qualified city clerk (Regina Blankenhorn) over the amateur (Lisa Lane Barnes) with no municipal government experience being backed by council majority. It’s about competence and caring and not partisan posturing.

Residents of Huntington Beach are justly worried about the reputation of their hometown. It was Will Rogers who stated “All I know is what I read in the newspapers.” When Surf City is getting known for political tribalism more than tourism, you know we have a problem.

Tim Geddes
Huntington Beach

First impressions are lasting ones. If that is the case, Michael Gates failed miserably on Monday presenting in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit.

If you want to have some fun, watch the first 35 minutes of the actual court case. Search for “YouTube City of Huntington Beach 23-3694”.

To summarize, Gates argued against high-density housing by presenting his tried-and-failed strategy to argue that federal and state law don’t apply to a charter city like Huntington Beach. This is not a case based on precedent; rather, Gates provides this as a case of “first impression” (I assume a legal term that means “I made this up”). In his rebuttal, Gates suggested that a charter city was “emancipated” from the U.S. Constitution, for which a judge called him out saying that the city is not a “free floating entity.”

I ask you to watch it for the absurdity of the presentation and the absolute failure of our ambitious attorney as he stammers in front of the judges. Watch the judges challenge him at the podium on the merits of the case and even on it being presented in federal court. Watch the judges as they appear to be smiling at the laughably preposterous manner upon which the case is based.

You don’t have to be a lawyer to see someone being laughed off the stage. And that, my friends, is the serious part of this letter.

Michael Gates stands in front of the City Council puffing out his chest at his grand ambitions to support the council majority, while spending millions of our dollars on ludicrous lawsuits that have no logical basis to any reasonable person.

Whether you are a conservative or liberal, I believe we can all agree that this nonsense must be stopped. Let us use this election as a referendum on the city’s direction by voting against Williams, Kennedy, Twining, Lanes and Measure U. Only then can we reinstate true local control and discuss the issues as a community and not a zealot minority.

Larry Hersch
Huntington Beach

H.B. library is under attack

After attending this week’s City Council candidate forum at Golden West College, I was horrified to hear the lies and homophobic statements coming from the MAGA extremists running for office, particularly Don Kennedy, Chad Williams and Marissa Jackson. One of the most malicious comments came from Jackson. She stated to a room filled with young college students that she and her friends do not go to Huntington Beach Public Library because of all the pornographic books that could harm their children. Jackson is patently clueless. It’s illegal for any public library to have pornographic materials.

Since June 2023, Friends of the Huntington Beach Library members and librarians have asked repeatedly for a list of the pornographic books that concern these misinformed residents. We also offered to provide tours of the children’s section so they could show us the books that were problematic. Not one single person has come forward. Meanwhile, our book circulation rate among children and adults has soared, attendance at library programs has grown dramatically, and Friends of the Library membership is at a record high.

If Huntington Beach Public Library is such a dangerous place for children, why was it selected as the Orange County library with the best Storytime for the third consecutive year by thousands of parents from Huntington Beach and surrounding communities?

Only three City Council candidates have staunchly defended our award-winning public library and its librarians: Rhonda Bolton, Dan Kalmick, and Natalie Moser!

Carol Daus
Huntington Beach

Reasons to vote for Min

A vote for Dave Min is a vote for action on issues important to the lives of the people he would represent in the 47th District of Congress, covering the cities of Costa Mesa, Irvine, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and parts of Laguna Hills. This district was a “bedrock” conservative district, but after redistricting in 2021, views in this district were more mixed and in 2020 Orange County voters supported President Biden by a margin of 53.5%.

If elected, Min would follow the dynamic Katie Porter who opted out of her seat to run unsuccessfully for the open Senate seat vacated by Sen. Diane Feinstein.

Both Porter and Min support each other, having been colleagues as law professors at UCI.

Min has passed 28 bills in the state Senate including several protecting domestic violence survivors. He has taken on the gun lobby, big oil and anti-choice extremists, and won. His other accomplishments include championing the COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund, writing legislation to rein in PG&E and the utility companies and voting against every proposed tax increase on O.C. families. He is rated 100% by Planned Parenthood for his proposition enshrining reproductive rights in the state constitution and the Sierra Club for his stances on offshore oil drilling, protection of open spaces and prevention of wildfires.

Most noteworthy and important has been Min’s stance on gun safety, passing important legislation in that area. He is supported by the Orange County police, firefighters, teachers and nurses, and has received the endorsement of the Los Angeles Times.

Lynn Lorenz
Newport Beach