Mailbag: What are the benefits of allowing jetpacks in the harbor?

As the Daily Pilot reported, the Newport Beach City Council met in a study session regarding future permits for jetpack operations in Newport Harbor (“Newport won’t ban jetpacks in harbor, but there will be limits under latest plan,” Feb. 25).

Remarkably, several council members indicated they wanted such inherently dangerous and disruptive jetpack operations to stay in Newport Harbor. Several council members ignored the recommendation of the city’s Harbor Commission to ban such operations there. If such reports are to be completely ignored, one is left to wonder why the City Council is wasting important time and resources.

Interestingly, these City Council members never did indicate why they want these operations to stay. Have they determined and quantified any benefit to the city and their constituents? Have they assessed the potential risk of death, injury and property damage from such operations? Have they considered the risks of claims and lawsuits against Newport Beach for permitting and condoning an inherently dangerous business?

Randy Curry

Newport Beach

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Newport-Mesa faces more high-profile problems

I was thinking that the Newport-Mesa Unified School District was on the precipice of something good: whittling down the number of administrators, choosing apparently high-quality principals and generally moving in the right direction.

And then I read that John Caldecott, the district’s human resources director, had filed a complaint against the superintendent, which was unanimously rejected by the board. In January, he filed a writ, asking the Orange County Superior Court to release documents. He was fired days later by the board in a unanimous vote.

I interviewed Caldecott on Feb. 18 for a webcast, and he made some serious accusations. I couldn’t help thinking just how many scandals and disasters have befallen the district.

Under John Nicoll as superintendent, there were two major scandals. First, in 1992 there was the embezzlement of more than $4 million by the then-director of business support service, Stephen A. Wagner, who was convicted and died in jail.

Then, in 1993, came the advent of a new superintendent, Cloyde McKinley “Mac” Bernd, who literally rode his Harley onto the Big Newport Theater stage to attend the first teachers meeting of the year. Enough said.

Next, was the Orange County bankruptcy in 1994. The district, which invested heavily in the county pool, pleaded poverty, and as a result, the employees were not given raises for years and materials were in short supply for a long time.

The latest scandal involved the hiring and eventual firing of Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard, who was convicted in 2012 of two felonies while in Beverly Hills, sent briefly to jail and then exonerated when a judge overturned his convictions.

And these are but a few.

I have no idea how this will all roll out, but as a taxpayer and former teacher, I just wish that it would all stop.

Sandy Asper

Newport Beach