MAILBAG:

It’s too bad that the Parks are Priceless people have chosen to distort facts.

A new city hall located just north of our Central Library will be below the view plane established by a City of Newport Beach ordinance.

This view plane ordinance, approved in 1976, protects ocean and bay views of the homes east of MacArthur, and of persons driving down MacArthur Boulevard. It is absolutely ludicrous for the Parks are Priceless people to claim that these views will be blocked or interfered with. They are taking advantage of some concerned citizens who lack the knowledge to understand this matter. The City Hall in the Park Committee has made every effort to inform the electorate that view protection is a major element of the “Yes on B” campaign.

RON HENDRICKSON

Member, City Hall

in the Park Committee

Getting the runaround for even small matters

It is so disappointing trying to make a change and get something small straightened out with City Hall.

I tried nonstop to relay a new “Hotel California” in my condominium complex. This is where people are living in the garage and the remainder in 1,100 square feet.

I called everyone from Supervisor John Moorlach’s office to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher to the City of Costa Mesa.

You name it, I think I called it. My homeowner’s association I am told can’t do anything until January, when they have a board meeting — and I don’t even think they know what to do.

No one seemed able to give guidance or cares that some 20 people live in this condo. The final result was to call (916) 445-4782 state information!

So you learn that’s why nothing ever changes, why we go back to work, shop, make our way through the daily mire.

You win, Costa Mesa City Hall! You will be pleased to know my fire’s burnt out. Is your rhetoric for PR only?

What happened to your newly enforced clampdown on hotel living? Do the police just pick and choose the ordinances they want to enforce?

CAROLINE BOND

Costa Mesa

We can’t forget plight of caged chimpanzees

I’m not surprised by a new study showing that young chimpanzees have better memories than adult humans.

Chimpanzees are amazing beings who boast a repertoire that includes tool use, culture, and complex social and political lives. Now we find that they outshine clever college students on some cognitive tests. These examples may fill us with scientific wonder, but our expanding knowledge of chimpanzees raises important ethical questions as well.

Neither the knowledge of our commonalities nor the capacity to suffer have prompted adequate protection for chimpanzees. They teeter on the brink of extinction in the wild. U.S. labs may keep chimpanzees in cages about the size of a kitchen table — sometimes for decades.

More than 1,000 individuals endure miserable lives under these conditions.

I hope that this story will inspire more people to reflect on the plight of our chimpanzee cousins. Despite coming in second in this most recent match-up, humans are certainly bright enough and compassionate enough to see that we must retire chimpanzees now held captive to sanctuary homes where their well-being is the sole priority.

DEBRA DURHAM

Virginia