Corona del Mar Library

The Oasis Senior Center located in Corona del Mar will be renovated in the next two to three years. It will be expanded considerable to better serve the nees of our community's seniors. The Corona del Mar Library which is now housed in a very old building also needs renovation as does the fire station that sits directly behind it. The fire station is inadequate to serve the emergency needs in Cornoa del Mar. It needs to be much larger so that it can house the paramedics in addition to fire. The Corona del Mar branch of the library is used primarily by seniors as all the childrens materials were moved to the Central Library less than three miles away.

The city of Newport Beach would like to relocate the Corona del Mar Library to the newly renovated Oasis Senior Center. In doing so, the fire station in Corona del Mar could be upgraded to provide the services required and the library would be more accessible to the residents it serves. Seems like a no-brainer!

It has become controversial as a result of semantics. Predicatably, residents are opposed to closing the library. The term "closing" does not accurately describe what the city plan would do, yet many continue to use the term. The plan does not close the library branch, it relocates it to the Oasis Senior Center. Again, it seems like an easy solution would be to not continue to use the term "closing." However, there are those who oppose the term "relocation" because they fear the city plan would lead to other activities in newly renovated senior center other than just those for seniors.

There will be hearings, outreach efforts and probably some editorials in the paper, over a plan that serves the interests of all involved, but if we cannot use our words to exchange ideas, how can we build consensus and move forward?

Newport Center Park

Tonight (May 22, 2007) at the Newport Beach City Council meeting the Council is going to consider whether or not to fund the initial phase of development for the Newport Center Park. Newport Center has been designated as a passive (view) park. As most people are aware, there are some in town that would like to see joint use the the property and relocate the City Hall on this site as well.

The Council asked the Parks Beaches and Recreation Commission to reconsider our previous decision as to whether Newport Center Park should remain a passive park and what other park elements should be added. The P,B&R Commission heard public testimony most supporting the continued designation of a passive park with some added amenities to "encourage people to use the park."

I found that particular suggestion a bit ironic. Should the City should spend millions of dollars on a park and be concerned with adding amenities to encourage people to use it? Some say that the city already has too many passive parks that go largley unused. I wonder if the City were to fund the construction of an active (sports) park in West Newport Beach it would need to consider what amenities could be added to encourage people to use it.