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Living in Newport Beach has always been a live and let live type of existence. We have 7 or 8 distinct so-called Villages. Hillary Clinton probably thought of us when she said: “It takes a village!” The point is that if you live in West Newport by the Huntington Beach City border or live in Newport Coast with the richy rich everyone seems to have different issues. When you hear about someone that lives near the 19th Pier and their beach walkways or agricultural outcroppings those of us here in the Corona del Mar Village may be too worried about parking spots or vector control of Buck Gully. Sometimes it is hard to grasp that Mariners Mile with a bunch of Commercial Business could co-exist with the little shops on Balboa Island. After a while, you start to wonder why tidelands, yachts, commercial fishing boats and a bunch of seedy bars could possibly have anything in common with those high rollers on the cliffs overlooking Corona del Mar Big Beach or all the celebrities that live on the beach side of the Pelican Hills Golf Course. (Recently listed as the finest Golf Course in America!)
Every Easter Week, there are still drunken sots of college and post-college party hearty types winding their way down the beach streets from the Newport Pier in both directions for miles. The cops come out in force and lots of drunks go to jail. All these folks never see the high and mighty of Newport Heights and their adjacent location to nearby Goat Hill – Costa Mesa. Newport Beach is as diverse as any place you might find when it comes to the style and premise of a village. Things are complex in Newport Beach, we have Federal Tidelands, State Tidelands, County Tidelands and even City Tidelands. Sometime they all get mixed up together as in the case of the American Legion Post 291 on 15th Street. The American Legion there even has a yacht club….which has to deal with City Leases and tourist boaters launching on a ramp right next door.
So, when a diverse city of only 86,000 folks (seems no matter how much land we get – we can never get over 100,000 and the big Fed money!) has a problem, there are usually some attorneys working the system. Recently, the City fathers and City Manager came to the conclusion that all those folks who have boat docks in front of their businesses – should probably pay “their fare share” and join the rest of the Boating Communities in California and pay the going rate. As you can imagine….the screams were deafening. But, if you think that is silly – try this – some local homeowners that live on the water and have boat docks that extend in some cases over 150 feet out into the bay have put together an organization to fight “possible forthcoming fees” for residential properties. Bob McCaffrey is no stranger to political in fighting. He and a few others have started: Stopthedocktax.com and is the latest machination of McCaffrey’s thought that tax breaks for the rich should continue…..forever!
Meanwhile, just try to find a buoy or a whisper to hook your boat up to in Newport Beach. The Buoy’s have a 20 year waiting list. Let’s just say the City figures that it is about time to get their due, in these tough economic times. We always wondered where Webster Guillory – the Tax Assessor was in all these debates. How much do landowners with docks pay every year in Assessed Valuation? How about in Dana Point? How about Huntington Harbor? How about Newport Beach? Shouldn’t all these fees be similar – at least? Hey, at least the Commercial Businesses with Docks are paying City License fees and in many cases a big proportion of their profits each year. So, why do the residential people get the pass? Well, we wish all the parties well and hope that folks that live in Fountain Valley, Tustin, Fullerton, Anaheim and Villa Park don’t pay much attention. After all, they don’t have docks or tidelands or beaches like we have in Newport Beach.
Paul Glaab, Laguna Niguel Mayor, OCTA Board Chairman, and toll lane enthusiast.
Then there is Paul Glaab. You know Paul….don’t you? He is the Chairman of the OCTA. He recently wrote an open letter that appreared today in the Daily Pilot of the LA Times suggesting that bloggers and floggers and citizens throughout “The OC” were getting it all wrong about the Toll Road concept for the 405 Freeway. Glaab says that NO Measure M money is being used for this process…Alternative #3. That’s the one that will give Single Drivers the opportunity to use a HOV lane for about $3 bucks for 3 miles – if they want to! Of course, if you have at least 3 people in your car or if you have a bus or shuttle – well then, you can still travel for free! How long would that option last Glaab? We know you are the Mayor of Laguna Niguel and that worries us a bunch – since you still have those dreaded “Red Light Cameras” which are going the way of the “Buggy Whip”. No Glaab, your twists and turns and mouthwash are not cutting it. We don’t need to sell $400 million in Public Bonds to build your 605 to 73 White Elephant…….no chance! We will just go with Alternate #2…..that is completely paid for and for which we will not have to get into your “bate and switch Alt. #3 – cement time share”. The most telling tale from Glaab was his statement: “To accommodate traffic on the 405 in the next 20 years – we will have to double the size – which is not possible!” OK, one Toll lane is going to make up for doubling the size of the 405? Ya think mom will buy that?
So, What’s up Dock? Ooh…#2….OK? Don’t you just love progress? Dreamers? Folks without another agenda? Those public servants always looking out for the public good?
Cry yourselves a river Winships – and put a boat dock on it.
Well done, ‘Ships! The dock tax thing is new to me. There’s no sense of entitlement like a wealthy person’s sense of entitlement.
I’m glad I read your article all the way through, Ron and Ana . I had been warned by an insider that Glaab is one of the four “hard cases” on the OCTA Board; a lover of the Toll Lane Alternative 3, who thirstily drinks the OCTA staff koolaid! (We have to remember to distinguish between the highly-paid OCTA staff who institutionally favor toll lanes, and the 16 voting members of the Board – mostly elected officials – who will be making the decision, and many of whom are amenable to reason.)
The four Board members who have been most stubbornly shilling for toll lanes are these four:
1) Santa Ana Mayor-for-life Miguel Pulido, who accidentally let the cat out of the bag recently that he is expecting the toll revenue to be a slush fund he can use for his pet project of a Santa Ana streetcar (not what ANY of us OC taxpayers voted for when we approved Measure M)
2) Tustin Councilman Jerry Amante who has already, for years, been saddled with the nickname “Toll Road Jerry” because of the tolls he pushes for over in his neck of the woods;
3) My own HB Mayor Don Hansen, a far-right Republican in whom I had higher hopes, who’s been traveling the county trying to sell Alternative 3, and is now trying to placate angry Costa Mesa with his brain child which contains a couple of concessions to that town and he dubs “Alternative 3 Lite” (sounds about like “Rape Lite” to me);
4) And this Laguna Niguel Mayor Paul GLAAB who’s currently Chairman (don’t worry, the Chairman doesn’t carry any extra power) Thanks for letting us know what he has written. The fact he can call himself Chairman does lend some extra weight to most readers when he pens a propaganda piece like this.
It is very Orwellian spin to claim that the toll lanes pay for themselves. The toll lanes could NEVER HAPPEN if it weren’t for us [taxpayers / voters / drivers who can’t afford the tolls] ponying up $1.4 billion for all the freeway-widening work. These toll lanes would ride on top of taxpayers’ shoulders like some kind of parasite. And under that scenario, after paying $1.4 billion of our sales tax money AND putting up patiently with FIVE DISRUPTIVE YEARS OF CONSTRUCTION – we would receive ALMOST NO BENEFIT AT ALL – we’d be going from five free lanes one of which is a carpool lane for 2+; to five free lanes none of which are carpool lanes. THAT IS NOTHING, for the cost we are being asked to bear.
I’m glad you agree – with Alternative 2 we will be getting what we paid for, what we voted for, we’ll be getting our money’s worth: TWO NEW LANES, PERIOD – with a carpool lane on the left (that will soon also be “continuous access!”)
Remember, not all of the Board members are bad guys, and a lot of them are listening to the public, or their own consciences and logic, and are going to oppose Alternative 3. WE NEED TO MAKE SURE ALTERNATIVE 3 DOES NOT GET NINE VOTES, then it won’t happen. That means at least 8 of the 16 members have to oppose it. I’ll be introducing all these members on this blog shortly, with their contact info. (And I also hear No405Tolls.Com will be unveiled within the week.)
This piece of Glaab’s in the Daily Pilot needs to be responded to. I think you, Ron and Ana, would be perfect for doing that. We’ll be in touch.
Oh, here’s Glaab’s propaganda piece in case anyone wants to see:
http://www.dailypilot.com/opinion/tn-dpt-0708-commentary-20120702,0,5901705.story
Wow — the head of OCTA doesn’t even know the actual name of the 605 Freeway!
Unless it has recently changed, the 605 is not the “San Gabriel Freeway”; it’s the “San Gabriel River Freeway.” The clue to the gentleman from South County is that it does not go through, or even near, the city of San Gabriel (which is north of the 10, about halfway between the 605 and the 710), but follows the path of the San Gabriel River. Fullerton and Cypress are among the cities in its watershed.
Using the names rather than the numbers of Southern California freeways is an exercise that is fraught with peril for the ill-informed, Mayor Glaab, and does not confer confidence in the rest of your facts. (Appropriately so, too.)
My second-favorite part of the piece is this:
Reactions:
(1) Tell that “not generating revenue” line to Amante and Pulido.
(2) Those of us who don’t have $20/day to spring on tolls are apparently not included within the category “people.”
My favorite part of the piece, though is this:
By “one regular lane,” Glaab (or whoever wrote this for him) means a non-carpool lane that doesn’t require a toll.
Alternative 3 means that we eliminate the existing carpool lane and add a “regular” lane — and then we also add two toll lanes. Put aside the “add two tolls lanes” part for a moment. Glaab’s argument is that simply to remove the carpool restriction from the existing carpool lane of the 405 satisfies the requirement to “deliver one regular lane in each direction along the 405.”
In other words, he thinks that the portion of the proposal that the voters voted on could be satisfied by simply (1) getting a bunch of black paint and painting out the diamond lane signs, (2) repainting some yellow lines as white ones, and (3) maybe having to pry off some Botts Dots. There’s your delivery of one regular lane, voters!
Oh, and then separately, not funded by Measure M2, they’re also going to build two toll lanes down the freeway, but that’s not your concern, because they satisfied your concern with some black paint, white paint, and a metal spatula. The rest of it — the expensive part — is none of your business and they’re going to claim that it uses none of your money.
I literally cannot wait to see Glaab being deposed and eventually cross-examined about this in court. (That’s when you’ll hear that “GLAAAAAAAB” sound, Vern.) They’d better hope to find a judge from Newport Coast who spends a lot of time driving to LA. My suggestion to the opponents of the plan is to file suit in the West Justice Center in Westminster; don’t let them go to the Harbor Justice Center in Laguna Hills!
Yeah, Vern. Hizzoner, Amante, loves those toll roads and the stipend he gets. We just keep pushing back at him.
just got back from the club so ron and ana’s piece is timely. first, a couple of facts about newport. our hoa rules up here in pelican do not permit the parking of yachts in the drive way and even if they did most trailers are simply too small to handle something seventy five feet or bigger. as such, we, who choose not to live on the water, need those moorings and docks. and, really, why should we pay when the city, the chamber of commerce and all other sorts of media get to use pictures of our boats in our bay to encourage tourists to come to our little beach side community and spend money which pays for the police that keep those college students in line. (and if you read the reports, most, if not all the rowdy ones are from places like berkeley and columbia or, dare i say it, a community college; you never see a usc trojan in trouble for being drunk and disorderly)
there are so many ways that we already contribute and now you want to tax our boats in addition to preventing us from having our own lane on the freeway.
ron, ana, i am going to assume that you are very nice people, i mean vern likes you, but with the sort of opinions you are currently expressing, maybe you should consider moving to huntington beach
They were in favor of the dock tax? I guess I had a hard time reading that first part. Until I saw the name GLAAAAAAAAAAB
I’m certainly no fan of Glaab, but Laguna Niguel has never installed red light cameras, and has actually banned them. You must be thinking of San Juan Capistrano, Mission Viejo, or Aliso Viejo.
willie deville – And of course we are going to assume that you belonged to wrong frat on 28th Street. You probably had an apartment next to Felix Chevrolet. With George Tirebiter nipping at your heels every time you step out to go to Julies.
Anyway, we got here 1952 to Lido Isle. In those day we had the Pioneer and Goodwill parked by the bridge. You “inlanders” that come down and live 5 miles away on the mountain tops of the Irvine Ranch…that was never designed for anything but cattle grazing…..has our dander up. We were surfing 18th St, 40th Street and our secret surfing spot in front of now Kobe’s house in 1959..when the folks moved to Cameo Shores. We could look out the window then and touch the water…not just look at it.
No, we never liked your quasi elitist – “I live at the beach…..mentality….ever!” If you are not too cheap…(which obvisously you are)…you can buy us coffee at the Starbucks at Crystal Fascist Island South….sometime! Meanwhile, you have a boat?
Bet it is a row boat! The kind we used to take across to the Pavillion parked on the beach on Balboa Island back in the 60’s! Arrogance…..glad we nailed your hide…..deservedly so. Friend of McCaffrey’s are you?
Red Light Cameras & Speed Cameras – Database of Intersections …
http://www.photoenforced.com/
Database of red light camera and speed camera locations. Search for locations by city, state and camera type. … Lagrange, Lafayette, Lagrange, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Laguna Hills, Lake Balboa, Lake Charles, Lake Crest, Lake Forest …
You see that Laguna Niguel is not on that list of red light cameras. It would give your story more validity if you didn’t make stuff up like you always do.
“Living in Newport Beach has always been a live and let live type of existence. ”
Now that is a ludicrous statement that starts your story.
If you have been on Lido since the 50’s, then you certainly know what the Newport PD radio call of “NIN” meant. For those of you not familiar with that acronym it meant “N***er in Newport” and there was always a quick and overwhelming response by the police. Newport has been the defendant in well over a hundred lawsuits claiming civil rights violations in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
I think it’s more accurate to say “Live and let live” if you’re the right type.
Your case against the 405 Toll Lanes (with which I agree) would be much more valid if you didn’t fluff it up with all of your horsefeathers.
*Everyone loves to pick on the Sea Kings and the Sailors……..You guys are just jealous as usual. The first part of the story….is “inside baseball” and as you can see… the petty jealousies and elitism abound within our borders. Hey, not everyone can have their own TV show. “In The OC”…..can they? The moorings and buoys and whisper issue is legend. The same old fart-a-roos have had sway for too long. They lock in every slip and mooring and then of course are shocked when someone asks them to pay for it. They figure they can pass them on to anyone they choose also.
“Tell them…Willie Boy is here” is sadly not as isolated as we might like….for those of us that have lived here seemingly forever.
first, unlike vern, ron and ana simply do not get the joke.
second, the elitism you decry is the elitism you display. if you really want to talk about roots, lets talk about parking at the monarch bay shopping center before dawn, running across pch and climbing down the bluff at salt creek before the irvine company guards caught you or surfing trestles when it was still patrolled by the marines and the coast guard
third, i know about felix chevrolet and the 901 club because my friends went there, i was somewhat further up north at a location that let me surf campus point, rincon. jalama, moss landing and 42nd street.
newport has changed but it really is not much different, there are the elites, the assholes, the flashy money, the quiet money and those who keep a low profile
willie deville – You didn’t say Scotsman Cove…did you? Nah….that was county property! Should have known you were a Santa Barbara liberal…..should have known.
You probably secretely wanted to go to Chico State……and smoke dope with Bob Dylan down at Big Sur….. Hey, we surfed Carmel Beach in the dead of winter – no wet suit…..try that if you will.
Hey….proud as punch of you.. that you were able to control your passions!
Hey Willie……looks like you got the approval of the Winships !
Resist the urge to shoot yourself.
Vern,
You have made the strongest arguments, “after paying $1.4 billion of our sales tax money AND putting up patiently with FIVE DISRUPTIVE YEARS OF CONSTRUCTION – we would receive ALMOST NO BENEFIT AT ALL – we’d be going from five free lanes one of which is a carpool lane for 2+; to five free lanes none of which are carpool lanes. THAT IS NOTHING, for the cost we are being asked to bear.”
Five lanes would remain five lanes at the end of this. The only benefactors would be the elites able to pay the buck a mile toll lane fees. No toll lanes on our 405!
*Don’t forget Robin……the Germans were only happy…..At War….or Rebuilding!
Good points..all.
GODWIN ALERT! GODWIN ALERT!
*For those who have imagination:
http://www.vanishingpoint2000.com/vpstory.cfm
…that is close to reality.