Mailbag: How about a dog beach for Newport?

Hooray for the city for including a section of the Newport Beach Civic Center dog park for dogs weighing less than 25 pounds. It is about time.

It is troubling to see a city parks commissioner talk about wasted money just because a separate small dog area was not included initially (“Newport commissioners push for second dog park,” March 5). The park site was constrained by the location. No one knew for sure how popular this site would become.

Minor tweaking at this point to provide an area for small dogs hardly means that money was wasted. It is only a minor modification. If quoted accurately, the commissioner fails to fully recognize and appreciate the tremendous contribution that has been made by this new park.

While we are looking out for small dogs, what about water dogs? The city is sorely in need of a dog beach, or at least an area where dogs can run free and into the surf, as in Huntington Beach. Big Corona would be an ideal site, with plenty of parking — and associated revenue for the city.

Limit it to early hours when there are few if any swimmers. To those who fear dog droppings on the beach, visit Huntington, where most owners are quite conscientious about cleaning up.

Jack King

Newport Beach

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Permit parking isn’t workable

Re: “Commentary: Permit-parking ballot system is deeply flawed,” (March 4):

The writer explains clearly that the balloting for permit parking in an area of the Balboa Peninsula is flawed because of an unknown number of residents and ballots not mailed or distributed.

Of significance is the inherent unworkability of any permit-parking system. A few years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported on an effort by former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, then a professor at UCLA, to organize the chaotic driveway parking on the hills in Westwood by permit and regulation. This effort was ultimately deemed unworkable, as would any permit-parking system be on the peninsula.

Better to use our time more productively.

Al Wonders

Newport Beach

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Stop mowing Banning Ranch mesa

The Coastal Commission will meet Thursday in Chula Vista to vote on a plan to permanently halt the excessive and destructive mowing that has occurred for many years on the Banning Ranch mesa.

The mowing of about 40 acres, almost exclusively in the footprint for the proposed 1,375-home development project, involved coastal sage scrub and had the likely effect of suppressing the gnatcatcher population, along with other sensitive species. The entire Banning Ranch mesa is federally declared critical habitat for the California gnatcatcher.

Under the proposal before the Coastal Commission, the mowing would be limited to the amount necessary to ensure fire safety (a 100-foot buffer around the periphery of Banning Ranch) and to allow access to the remaining oil wells (a 25-foot diameter around each well). The community should support this plan.

This proposal would allow coastal sage scrub to return and flourish on large parts of the Banning Ranch mesa, restoring habitat for the California gnatcatcher and other wildlife. The resilience of nature always amazes and gives us all the more reason to work hard to save Banning Ranch as an open-space park and preserve.

Terry Welsh

Newport Beach

The writer is president of the Banning Ranch Conservancy.