Mailbag: ‘Yuppie town’ vision needs affordable housing

After attending a recent Costa Mesa General Master Plan meeting, I was aghast at the levels of arrogance, ineptitude and offensiveness of the questions proposed, and the presentation in general.

The presentation took on the form of an audience multiple-choice survey of futuristic proposals, primarily focusing on current “problematic motel” locations. Options offered were so limited and lacking in general public interest, and the obvious option of “none of the above” was conspicuously absent.

The artist’s renditions of which alternative “yuppie town” redevelopment most strikes your fancy completely omitted any other community-improvement options, such as low-income housing.

Clearly, such a choice would not have provided lucrative, cash-cow incentives for developers, but is this the path the Costa Mesa Master Plan visionaries are trying to push us down? Is it part of our “business-friendly” climate for financial prosperity? Some well-meaning humanitarians flunked “Priorities 101” at some point in their education.

As the meeting adjourned, many attendees were shaking their heads in dismay and disgust. I felt like I expected to see a light-comedy/adventure, and instead was duped with an egregious (and berated) futuristic, sci-fi horror, cultist B-movie.

I’m all for cleaning up our city in general. But I’m not in favor of worsening our already-troubled financial position — as decided by, and for the gain of, only a few.

James H. Bridges

Costa Mesa