Noaki Schwartz
NEWPORT BEACH -- Promoting the reuse of the military base at El Toro and
keeping limits on John Wayne Airport are residents' biggest concerns,
according to a recent city survey.
The so-called "seven-minute" questionnaire, which has been in the works
for a year, was a preliminary effort to find out what community members
think about their city.
Mayor John Noyes, who spearheaded the project, wants to use it as a
springboard for a much larger phone survey that would include at least
600 residents.
Council members hope to use the results to more adequately fulfill their
constituents' "vision" of Newport Beach's future.
"People said they really appreciated being asked," said Deputy City
Manager Dave Kiff, who drafted the questionnaire.
The survey had been available at City Hall for some time, but only 60
residents took the "seven minutes" to fill it out. And while a wider
survey might produce varying results, the 60 concerned citizens had some
rather surprising opinions.
Although the traffic-inspired Greenlight initiative has been a hot city
issue, survey results indicated that residents polled are more concerned
about promoting El Toro, protecting the Upper Newport Bay and stopping
overdevelopment. Traffic concerns ranked fourth out of 11 choices.
"Overdevelopment goes to what we're pushing," said Phil Arst, spokesman
for Greenlight, the group that drafted the measure. "I think the other
Greenlight members would agree that El Toro and John Wayne are No. 1 and
overdevelopment is No. 2. Overdevelopment is the cause of traffic."
On how the council should spend money, residents again said promoting El
Toro, preventing the expansion of John Wayne Airport and cleaning the bay
were the highest priorities. Improving traffic flow ranked fifth out of
14 choices.
In addition, residents polled were split when it came to limited growth
or no growth in the city's residential and business community. Most said
they would prefer housing development over more businesses.
Another surprising point was that community members would like the
council to spend less money on library resources, arts and cultural
activities and parking.
Noyes said the library received perfect 10 out of 10 in overall resident
satisfaction, indicating that perhaps community members are completely
satisfied with the resources at city's four libraries.
As to cultural activities, proponents of the $12-million Arts and
Education Center said residents should not be concerned about city funds
going into the proposal.
