Mailbag: Will development impact local schools?

There is a lot of discussion circulating around the city of Newport Beach about the pros and cons of the Museum House, but there is one issue that I have not seen or heard discussed by either the developer, the City Council or those who oppose the project.

The overlooked topic that causes me the greatest concern as a parent, and as a resident who lives near Corona del Mar High and Middle schools, Eastbluff Elementary and Our Lady Queen of Angels School, is the impact that this high-rise residential project could have on the traffic immediately surrounding these schools and adjoining ingress and egress streets. Additionally, what kind of impact will this project have on the student population? The more students, the more traffic impact in the school zones.

Ask any parent who drives their children into this school-heavy area of the Eastbluff neighborhood, and you will hear stories of frustration with traffic, parking and classroom overcrowding. There is great concern over the impact that the recently built and proposed high-density housing will have on the traffic and schools. We are anxiously awaiting the impact of the 500-plus apartment units built by the Irvine Co. at Fashion Island, as residents move in and their children register for school.

CdM has had considerable increases in school population over the years, as this side of the bay has been developed. Newport Coast, Bonita Canyon and One Ford Road have been the major factors.

What the school district really needs is a nice piece of land on which to build an additional high school to serve the area, so that the student population and traffic could be spread out over the city. The problem is where do we get the land? Maybe the school district could purchase the museum land and we could build our school there! We need a new high school more than we need high-density housing.

Lauri Preedge

Newport Beach

Newport-Mesa’s Reed earned his retirement

Some say Paul Reed is worth his weight in gold (“$22,194 monthly pension awaits soon-to-retire Newport-Mesa schools’ top business official,” Dec. 15). After all, he’s played a critical part in guiding the district through really rough economic times in his 14 years of service as chief business official and deputy superintendent for a district with an annual budget of nearly $300 million.

And Dr. Reed has been responsible during his tenure for administering about $2.8 billion. In short, Dr. Reed’s wisdom has not only saved the taxpayers millions, but he has steered spending to keep it in the classroom, as the school board has directed.

As wry testament to this, Dr. Reed earned the sobriquet “Dr. No” during his 14 years of holding the line on spending. His rectitude has helped rebuild trust in the district’s integrity and heal wounds from the embezzlement of more than $3 million by a prior chief business official.

Dr. Reed designed and led two bond programs that were structured to involve taxpayers in all aspects, thereby engendering the public’s trust. The successful bonds modernized old facilities and built new ones to keep up with the needs of students and their parents. I was on the school board during one of these bond programs, so I saw up close how devoted he was to getting it right for the taxpayers.

I’m convinced that Paul is worth his weight in gold.

Tom Egan

Costa Mesa

The writer is a former school board trustee.