The Bell Curve -- Joseph N. Bell

Some weeks ago, I got a colorful brochure in the mail that I thought

at first was another collection of pirated pictures of the Great Park.

But it turned out to be both more interesting and closer to home. It

described -- and solicited attendance to -- a series of public workshops

designed to tell the Newport Beach City Council what local residents

consider the most important issues for the council to address in revising

the city’s general plan that is due this year for a make-over.

This seemed to me a reasonable use of democratic procedures, and,

perhaps, a kind of institutionalized platform for the old American

pastime of complaining, so I put the brochure in my check-out file and

promptly -- as often happens with that file -- forgot it. The brochure

popped up by accident the other day, and I was startled to see that half

of the scheduled eight workshops had already taken place. Seeking a

source to tell me how well the locals were responding to this

opportunity, I discovered that I was having breakfast on Monday with the

head honcho of this resident effort, my friend Robert Shelton.

So he filled me in, and I can report that workshop attendance has been

even better than expected, sessions are lively -- and not very many

surprises have turned up so far in the results. But a ton of information

growing out of these meetings will be processed to arrive at changes in

the general plan.

A little background first. This effort was launched publicly in

January at a city-sponsored Community Vision Festival. Some 400 locals

attended and were immersed in all sorts of interactive displays where

they could express opinions on a variety of questions that culminated in

writing a brief vision statement for the city. They were also asked if

they would like to be involved in a residents advisory committee. Some

250 participants said they would. A steering committee pared the list to

a more workable 38, and Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway asked Shelton to

chair it. Shelton’s qualifications for this job would more than fill the

rest of this column. They started when he became city manager of Newport

Beach in 1956, carried through well more than a dozen major civic service

roles that won him Newport Beach Citizen of the Year in 1980 and continue

today with his leadership in the Environmental Nature Center.

He stresses the effort to represent divergent views and locales on the

committee. “It was very important that there would be no

underrepresentation on this committee and that we could achieve a real

balance,” he said. “Citizen members are not expected to play the role of

professional planners or to provide a forum for some sort of showdown

between slow and fast growth. Just the opposite. We’re seeking a vision

that will accommodate a wide divergence of views.”

What the committee is looking for in these workshop sessions is what

Shelton calls “big picture stuff.” What they are getting too often are

problems with neighborhood stop signs. Common themes like traffic and

airport expansion have predictably emerged, but so, also, have

interesting digressions in viewpoint between such quite different areas

as Balboa Island and the gated communities on the mainland. Our class

distinctions may be exotic, but we do have them.

One of the odd results that has surfaced is the coining of a word to

explain a problem that could probably happen only in Newport Beach. The

word is “mansionization,” and it refers to the growing trend of

destroying $2-million homes to put up $4-million homes that are often

inappropriate to the area. Trying to explain this problem to someone in

East Los Angeles or Flint, Mich., would defy communication and might be

dangerous. But it does reflect the nature of some of the emerging

problems here. So is all of this resident involvement useful?

Shelton feels strongly that it is. He’s been through this same routine

twice before in Newport Beach and says “the process develops a reservoir

of well-informed citizens who are encouraged to participate in helping

govern their city. This is very healthy. It’s important that our citizens

know they have a lot of ultimate control of the manner in which their

community develops.”

If any of this fires you up, there is still time. Two workshops --

under the direction, as all of them have been, of the consulting firm of

Moore Iacofano and Goltsman -- will take place on April 8: the commercial

and airport workshop at the Upper Bay Interpretive Center at 5 p.m., and

the Councilmanic District 7 at the Central Library at 7 p.m. On April 10,

District 4 will meet at Harbor High School at 7 p.m., and the following

evening, District 3 will meet at the same time, same place.

If you want more information than the sketchy rundown here or an

update on the general plan process, you can find it at

www.nbvision2025.com.

“One thing,” Robert Shelton concludes, “is clear from the data we’re

getting. The people who live here love Newport Beach. They may gripe

about the details, but we haven’t run across anybody who is planning to

leave.”

* JOSEPH N. BELL is a resident of Santa Ana Heights. His column

appears Thursdays.