Mailbag: Think carefully about who and what you vote for

What Measure H will do is restore our right to vote on the land use/housing element plan of the Newport Beach General Plan. Daily Pilot readers may recall that back in July of 2025, the Newport Beach City Council voted to approve this plan without a vote from the citizens of Newport Beach. This was in direct violation of the Newport Beach City Charter, which guarantees our right to vote on such a plan.

It is being said that if Measure H passes, the city of Newport Beach will be subject to the state’s “builder’s remedy,” or a takeover by the state of all land use and housing within our city. This simply will not happen due to the fact that we already have a “non-voter“ approved certified Land Use/Housing Plan on file with the state.

If Measure H passes, what will happen is that the city will be sent back to the drawing board to develop a new land use/housing plan that must be approved by the voters.

The “No on Measure H” mailer that arrived in our mailbox, paid for by the Republican Party of Orange County (and I’m a registered Republican!), completely misleads readers into thinking they are voting for “affordable housing” in West Newport, Dover Shores/Westcliff, Newport Center, Coyote Canyon and the airport area. Absolutely wrong! And it implies that “work force” housing will “destroy our quality of life for Newport Beach.”

Don’t be fooled by this completely misleading mailer. Again, Measure H simply restores our “right to vote” on any land use/housing plan that is developed by our city.

Jeff HerdmanNewport Beach(The writer is a former member of the Newport Beach City Council)

Elections are near and we need to think about what kind of mayor we want for Costa Mesa.

I am a resident of Costa Mesa’s District 1 and on two different occasions a couple weeks ago I sent an email to the district’s councilman, Mike Buley, with questions about his run for mayor. I asked if he supported a charter for Costa Mesa, if he was supported by previous councilmen/mayors Jim Righeimer and Steve Mensinger, would he try to appoint a new councilman to District 1 if he was elected mayor, and lastly, I asked if he still supported Donald Trump like he confirmed to me via email when he first ran for city council.

He did not respond to any of these recent questions.

Make of this what you will, but I think it does not bode well for Costa Mesa to have a mayor that might answer affirmatively to these questions.

Supporting a charter is a problematic issue. We have been through this before with Righeimer and Mensinger and it was a power grab with no benefit to Costa Mesans. Fortunately, it failed.

Appointing a new council member if he became mayor would give him an opportunity to put another of his ilk on the council and I don’t think we want a city council like the one in Huntington Beach which supports Trump.

In addition, he obviously doesn’t seem to feel the need to communicate with all of his constituents, particularly those that might not agree with him, and as mayor he might only represent those of his choosing.

To avoid the above problems and get the kind of mayor who will provide sound representation and leadership for our city, I am supporting Loren Gameros for mayor of Costa Mesa.

Our Newport Beach City Council has delivered unrivaled homelessness reduction, crime prevention, and quality of life increases. Not long ago, bad California policy and federal appellate decisions forced an extensive response to homelessness. But this council has cut homelessness by 90%.

Contrary to the horrible policy out of Sacramento and weak enforcement in Los Angeles County, Newport Beach City Council leadership took a different path. They fully funded and fully staffed our police and fire departments while achieving recognition of our fire department as being in our nation’s top 1%.

Parks have been upgraded at $1+ million per year. City debt is down tens of millions while unfunded pension liability is down by $100+ million. The council’s conservative budgeting has produced consistent surpluses without raising a single tax.

These results alone justify re-election for all four incumbents: Joe Stapleton, Erik Weigand, Robyn Grant and Lauren Kleiman.

I (Mario Marovic) am raising my daughters here and have invested serious money in real estate and businesses to improve this community. I watched our police prepare for and respond to July Fourth, and I cannot overstate my respect for the department. I personally had to spray down sidewalks in front of my Newport Beach businesses because people were using public rights-of-way as bathrooms. Every incumbent has taken these issues seriously, responded to local business needs, and earned the support of our rank-and-file police officers and firefighters.

I (Will O’Neill) served with all four incumbents. We steered good policy together, and they have improved it. As in my own elections, the question for voters is not whether candidates are friends with mayors from decades ago. It is whether Stapleton, Weigand, Grant and Kleiman are pushing solid policy and whether we are safer than we were four years ago. We undoubtedly are.

This is not the time to change horses midstream. Protect the Newport Beach we know. Vote for re-election, and let’s get back to basics.

Mario MarovicWill O’Neill Newport Beach(Marovic is a businessman and O’Neill is a former N.B. councilmember/mayor who chairs the Orange County Republican Party)

If the president of the United States meant it when he said Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego, that is one more sign he is no longer fit for office. No sane leader offers up American cities as a price to pay. If he didn’t mean it, then we deserve a president who can speak clearly and responsibly. Either way, the words were reckless, and Californians heard them.

Huntington Beach sits between Los Angeles and San Diego. When the president calls those cities “a small price to pay,” he is talking about our neighbors, our families, and our region. Whether he meant it or simply couldn’t find better words, it disqualifies him either way.

Americans deserve a president who protects our cities, not one who offers them up. It would be great to have a president someday who can speak like an intelligible human being again.

Re: ‘Go back to Mexico!’ Woman’s racist rant disrupting Laguna Beach proposal goes viralI’ve lived in Laguna Beach for 42 years. Crescent Bay and Crescent Bay Park used to be one of our secrets. Along came MTV’s “Laguna Beach,” soon followed by the explosion of social media, and there are no longer any secrets.

Residents are subjected to never-ending rudeness, noise, public alcohol use, litter, harassment and more from “visitors.”

However, the engagement party at Crescent Bay Park was none of these things. A respectful, sweet event with a small group of people with minimal impact.

I understand how residents in the immediate vicinity of the park might get frustrated dealing with constant human traffic, but in this case I suggest the only person who needs to leave is the woman yelling while walking her dog. Maybe Newport would be more to your liking?

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