Rosansky, Hansen
As we predicted on January 26th of this year, termed-out Newport councilmanSteve Rosansky‘s attempt to leave a legacy by pushing construction of the 19th/Banning Bridge backfired badly, leading to a final death knell for this ill-advised “paper” bridge on Orange County’s planning maps.
As I wrote back then:
Now that there is a $150 million price tag, opponents have a perfect argument to OCTA to either remove the bridge from their long term plan or show some funding source in the foreseeable future.
And by government standards, the death of the Banning Bridge was almost instantaneous. This idea had lingered on the Master Plan of Arterial Highways for over 50 years, but once a price was estimated for its construction, OCTA took quick action, first at the committee level, then at the board level.
As Sean Green writes at the Orange County Register
County transportation officials voted unanimously Monday morning to remove the 19th Street Bridge from the county master plan in response to severe community opposition and the $150 million price tag.
HB Mayor Don Hansen, accurately reading the overwhelming opposition from Costa Mesa and Southeast Huntington Beach, took the lead in the bridge’s removal. Rosansky objected, asking that it stay in limbo for yet another round of discussions and limbo, but nobody had patience for whining from Newport Beach.
Since this bridge was never going to be built anyway, the impact on the regional traffic flow is nil, but there could be a very significant impact on future planning, particularly for development of the Banning Ranch property just southeast of the mouth of the Santa Ana River. Nobody can pretend that future traffic will travel across this imaginary bridge. And after the Coastal Commission bitch-slapped the City of Newport Beach on their 
idea of constructing Bluff Road from Coast Highway through environmentally sensitive habitat areas, there’s a real question as to how developers might ever find access to new development on the bluffs of Banning Ridge.
So now we’ll have to see if Steve Rosansky wins an award from one of those green groups – Sierra Club, Conservation Voters, or some other such usual suspect. After all, the guy not only killed the Banning Bridge, but he also may have crippled development of one of the last open areas on the South Coast.
This is such a funny story…..back in 1986 I was running for Newport Beach City Council and this guy from Costa Mesa comes up to me at a Candidate Debate. He said: What is your position on the 19th Street Bridge? I said: “I don’t know….tell me about it.” Well, to make a long story short, the guy wound up giving me a $5 check for my campaign. Guess, I was less than convincing that I would stand against that dreaded bridge!
Well, congratulations to the OCTA Commissioners for finally finding the political will to vote down that dreaded 19th Street Bridge. The story is interesting in that is was all part of a Newport Beach Traffic Circulation Plan that was concerned about the extension of 55 Fwy down to PCH. Newport Beach didn’t want that happening lately!
Can you imagine the nightmare of extending that 55 Freeway all the way down to PCH and dumping all that traffic ….right there? Not a great idea. Well, sadly there are still Traffic Engineers in Costa Mesa and others that think they could tunnel their way under Newport Blvd. and still do the dirty deed. They are nutcases of the first order, but we don’t care what people do for a living…you understand.
Reality 101 says that eventually Harbor Blvd. will have to been widened somehow to allow the nightmare of cars that fill up that corner of 19th Street and Newport Blvd. every summer…waking hour. Even at Christmas and other big shopping days that traffic just grows and grows.
So how does this all formulate with the demise of the 19th Street Bridge? Well, it means that the Traffic Circulation Plans for three cities will now have to be re-written and new “problems/solutions” found. It has been a joke since the early 80’s and we guess that process sometimes – just never ends!
One last kicker……in 1972 Governor Jerry Brown (when he was with Linda Rondstat) had Adriana Gianturco as our Cal-Trans Boss. Jerry and Adrinana wanted what they called a then proposed Golden State Freeway – which would have run within eye shot of the Pacific Ocean from the northern border of California all the way to the Mexican Border. The people spoke and then Governor Moonbeam got his name! Thank God he has grown and mellowed through the years. Downtown Jerry Brown is now the best there is. Having said that, the 19th Street Bridge then became a mitigation factor because the then “Golden Bear State Beach Freeway”….was not adopted.
Go figure!
This is why we keep the Winships around. Where else would we hear this history?
Oh – apart from that they’re brilliant. If occasionally indecipherable.
They are definitely an ingredient that belongs in the OJB salad.
This is great news for people that live on the West Side. We get less traffic AND the illegal project that ExxonMobil and Shell Oil want to build is basically worthless. Now that the bridge is off the books, it’s now more important than ever to stop Bluff Road which is for more than 40,000 cars a day that will end at 19th street. If you are against the bridge, make sure to stand up against Bluff Road! Eventually the 400 acres of open space that still has a few oil wells on it will become the West Side’s back bay. Improved property values, less traffic, access to a beautiful 400 acre nature preserve, 5 minute bike ride to the beach, etc.
*Ah, Banning Ranch. We should have known there was an additional agenda to consider. We love the part about leaving the Oil Pumper scattered around the
Residential/Commercial mixed use facilities. This dog is not our fight, but we wish
you luck. You will be amazed at the resourcefulness of the Newport Beach Development Community, Chamber of Commerce and of course the Newport Beach
City Council….now or in the future. Banning Ranch will happen because we believe
there may be some residual Redevelopment Cash that needs to be used up before Governor Brown finally grabs it to fix the CA budget. If Dr. Jan Vandersloot was still
alive…you might have had a chance for a reduced mitigated project. But sadly, Dr. Jan is gone and there is no one that has all the dotted “I’s: and crossed “t’s” to make even Sub-Commandate Marcos or anyone else in command.. listed to reason.
If they can’t build a road through Banning Ranch then they can’t build the project. Newport Beach and the oil company owners were already told by the Coastal Commission no way. They also keep on getting in trouble for illegal mowing of endangered habitat on that land. ExxonMobil and Shell are responsible for the cleanup of any pollution they caused. If Newport wanted to make the city nicer they would force them to clean it up right before they sell it to a conservancy. That way it gets opened up to the public and the slightly toxic soil from oil production gets cleaned up. Forcing an oil company to be responsible and follow the law is perfectly acceptable.