Foothills Sentry October 2021

Page 5 Foothills Sentry October 2021 Circulation … 41,750 Published on the last Tuesday of each month and distributed to residences, businesses, libraries and civic centers. 714-532-4406 Fax: 714-532-6755 foothillssentry.com 1107 E. Chapman Ave., #207 Orange, CA 92866 © Foothills Sentry 2021 Publisher/Editor Anita Bennyhoff 1969-2013 Editor Tina Richards editor@foothillssentry.com Sports Editor Cliff Robbins sportseditor@att.net Graphic Designer Aimee Armstrong graphics@foothillssentry.com Advertising Sales Andie Mills advertising@foothillssentry.com 714-926-9299 Office Manager Kathy Eidson officemanager@foothillssentry. com ANNUAL SILK TREE POTTERY STUDIO October 23-24 9:00am - 4:00pm 2371 Silk Tree Tustin, CA 92780 Partial proceeds donated to American Cancer Society Steven Branfman with Patrick Crabb & Guests SALE & OPEN HOUSE Tanking up Dear Editor: The Costco gas station in Tus- tin proposal below the cut of your front page caught my attention. As a past dry cleaner (over 60 years ago), we used “perc” (per- chloroethylene) daily. It is a good chemical for dry cleaning clothes. Since California has regulated it out of business, I don’t exactly know how well the cleaners are doing. The new chemical prob- ably works, just costs them more, plus the equipment to change over – an old story. Anyway, it’s overkill to cite this study in a provocative man- ner as you did. Jeff Pine Orange Dear Editor: It figures there are NIMBY people ready to pounce on every opportunity to limit affordable access to fuel. I can’t remember the last time a station was added around here, while many have vanished, and the number of cars has skyrocketed. Costco has a lot of members who frequent their stores, so why not allow them gasoline access while they are there? It is a pretty lame excuse to say that we can drive three miles to Legacy and wait in line there. So, they have to clean up toxic dirt. It seems they did a lot of that at the helicopter base, and I don’t see that there were any shortages of buyers for those homes. Isn’t that where the Costco gas station is? Hmmm. Louie Kish North Tustin Dump the pump Dear Editor: I am writing in response to the Costco gas article. This is indica- tive of the times we live in, when personal convenience outweighs other people’s safety. The only arguments I have heard for the Costco gas station are from poli- ticians who say that it will cre- ate revenue, and from those who don’t live in the neighborhood saying that they can save money on gas. It doesn’t matter to them what environmental hazard it may be causing or the increased traffic in the area, with potential for more accidents. With the country moving away from gas and to electric cars, the need for the second mega gas sta- tion in Tustin is unnecessary. We, who live near the area and are concerned, hope that our Mayor Letitia Clark will try to do some- thing to stop this or at least have an EIR conducted. National lead - ers such as Katie Porter and Joe Biden are making a push against gas emissions. In raising our concerns, we have been called NIMBYs. That would imply that we want anoth- er mega gas station, but just not in our neighborhood. We don’t want or need a mega gas station in anyone’s neighborhood. It’s not worth it. Bill Strohler Tustin Dear Editor: I live across the street from the location where Costco wants to build its 32-pump gas station. Selfish individuals have called me nasty names - like NIMBY - because they want the conve- nience of yet another gas station in Tustin -- at my expense. I am worried about the health of my family and my neighbors. Everything about this gas stations frightens me: idling cars, toxic fumes, heavy traffic, underground tanks next to a flood channel, and now the release of toxins from the former Goodyear Tire building. At no time has anyone ex- plained to me how my family will be safe. Instead, every time I post or ask officials questions about its construction, I am told they are legally allowed to build. Data provided by Costco af- filiates claim the gas station will not cause a significant change in traffic, but they did a traffic study during a rainy day around Thanksgiving. They claim the gas station’s pollution outputs are within acceptable ranges, but the assumptions they made (data they plugged into a computer pro- gram) were far too low. Nothing about what I read in the reports to the city gave me any comfort. Instead of name-calling and bullying, how about providing real evidence that this gas station is needed, and it will not cause any harm? Denise Berg Tustin Ranch Both sides now Dear Editor: In the September edition of the Sentry, a letter writer takes the opportunity to instruct the readership on the purpose of his Santiago Greenways and Open Space Alliance (SGOSA) Face- book page. What he doesn’t tell the readers, is that SGOSA is his own creation, formed solely to promote and advance Milan Cap - ital’s goals regarding the Sully- Miller property. In this page, he continually and repeatedly tries to project a false narrative of being a proponent of protecting “open space,” as he calls it. His solution to the Sully- Miller property is that the only solution to this issue is for the “city or county” to find a means to acquire this property. Let’s analyze that statement for a moment. First of all, both the city and the county have refused to purchase this toxic property. (Remember, Milan dumped tons of toxic detritus for several years here.) The only way for these enti- ties to purchase this property would be by using our tax dollars. Wouldn’t that be convenient for Milan. Milan wouldn’t be held re - sponsible for the cleanup and re- moval of this waste, and Orange taxpayers would pay to help Mi - lan out of the incredible financial responsibility it now faces. The State of California and the Local Enforcement Agency (LEA) are, at this time, pursuing Milan to deliver a plan to reno - vate this property to the condition it was when Milan bought it. Let’s not buy into Milan’s propaganda once again, and let it off the hook for the tremendous ecological and visual damage it has done to this property. Hold Milan accountable for the cleanup and restoration of this area. John Reina Orange Dear Editor: In literature, as in life, a pro- tagonist is someone who affects the plot, propels it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. A good example of the same is Mr. Micawber of Charles Dick - ens’ “David Copperfield.” Mi - cawber is someone who will not let a good opportunity slip through his fingers, fails chronically, is ir - responsible in his actions, knows not of what he speaks and remains trapped in near-poverty, crushed by mountains of debt. Micawber is synonymous with someone who lives in hopeful expectation; his motto: “something will turn up.” He shows up periodically throughout the novel. The City of Orange has its own Mr. Micawber. Our-Micawber has Sully-Miller’s mountains of toxic material next to his prop- erty, which he has occupied for decades. He appeared in the Sentry again last month with another eternally optimistic scheme-du-jour –- his “something will turn up.” This time, our-Micawber proposes that the city or county government buys the S-M property or pays to have the mountains of toxic mate- rial removed. I have to admit that I can’t un- derstand the difference. In both cases, our-Micawber’s scheme gets the toxic material removed and you, our-Micawber and I are crushed by more city and county debt. Our-Micawber gets a clear view from his windows. Our-Micawber vigorously sup - ported development of the Sully- Miller property, and didn’t object to the toxic mountains that were placed on the property as a “nec- essary” part of a twice-failed plan for residential development. Like the protagonist he is, our Micawber appeared periodically during those times to move many of the storylines along. Like Mi - cawber, each failed miserably. Peter Jacklin Orange Unsaddle the horses Dear Editor: I wanted to express my thanks to Lynn Canton for a thoughtful and gracious letter on the loss of the Mara Brandman Arena. Like her, I am greatly saddened by the closure of this site. I knew Mara Brandman and I know how dedicated she was to creating a riding arena for the OPA community she loved. I am certain her heart would be broken that this venue was now being lost after all her efforts. I am mysti- fied and baffled how the people in OPA leadership, with money and land being offered to them, could not come up with a plan that ev- eryone could live with. What makes things more pain- ful, is that OPA leadership was aware that blocking the city- approved plan for this site via Measure AA would force the landowner to sell 30 acres for de- velopment, as the properties were already zoned and approved for housing. Now the chickens have come home to roost, and the rid- ing arena is lost. One year after the referen- dum, what has been gained for the people of OPA? Those who wanted to halt development have lost. Homes are coming anyway. Those in the equestrian commu- nity and the OPA-ETC have lost. Those who wanted to rid the area of the incredible eyesore on the Sully-Miller land have lost. The mess on that land remains, with no plan and no means to remove it. Those with serious concerns about the health of their fami- lies due to the ongoing sand and gravel operation on the site have lost. The sand and gravel opera- tion remains. As far as many of us in East Orange can see, everybody was a loser here. Mark Moore Orange