Letters to the Editor

Change is hard…but one thing that doesn’t change is our love for trees

If there is one thing you can say about the residents of Newport Heights, it is that they love nature and tradition and they do not “warm up” to many changes to their natural and traditional environment, especially if it has existed for more than 50 years. And that includes iconic buildings such as the Stuft Shirt restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway, the Tustin Road thoroughfare from PCH to 17th Street, the trees at Ensign Junior High, the overall lack of sidewalks and streetlights, the undergrounding of utilities, the widening of PCH and, most recently, the trees in Cliff Drive Park.

That is not to say that residents of the Heights always win their battles with the city or with the state and they don’t always agree with each other. But the passion is there for nature and for resistance to change, the same kind of zeal I witnessed at college campuses in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. Many members of the baby boomer generation, of which I am proudly a part, wanted to push democracy to new limits and rekindle a love for nature. After attending a meeting of the Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission this week (a thoroughly refreshing city department that I hardly knew existed), I came away remarking kiddingly to my friends and neighbors that I hadn’t seen such a group of “tree huggers/lovers” since my college days…pure nostalgia.

I do question, however, the city’s stance on views, mostly ocean views, that is. Where I grew up in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, ocean views, in particular, were sacred. The same is true of Laguna Beach and Del Mar, in San Diego County. I am not sure what the rule is in Newport Beach. From my experience of attending council meetings, views are a gray area. As Jim Mosher pointed out, according to city statutes, there is to be no blockage of public views, while the ruling on private views seems to not be a black and white issue.

I believe fully that private ocean views should be protected. For instance, I would not put up a second story that would block my neighbor’s established ocean view. But in some cases, it is difficult to say what comes first when we are talking about nature. Because as they grew, those public trees did block private views, even though the intention was not there. Once established, those trees (the speakers at Tuesday’s meeting proclaimed wholeheartedly) created a glorious haven for those who live in the Heights. They provide a backdrop that helps muffle car noise from the busy street below allowing the community to enjoy the park which serves as a venue for individual and group activities such as weddings, birthdays, graduation parties and city-sponsored gatherings. Tuesday’s meeting turned into a lovefest for Cliff Drive Park which is hard not to appreciate, with its beautifully colored plants and trees as well as its numerous contoured vistas.

Lynn Lorenz

Newport Beach