Shame on the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa which have passed
strict bike-parking ordinances in a misguided attempt to rid public property of the homeless.
With nowhere to go and nowhere to store their few belongings, the homeless often pack a bicycle with their worldly goods. Then they have the audacity to park them everywhere. Locked to a tree, locked to a fence, locked to a signpost, locked to a bus stop. Everywhere, except locked to a bike rack.
Apparently that makes people mad. Vocal complainers want the government to do something about it. In a knee-jerk reaction, city officials are wringing their hands and overreaching the bounds of common sense in an attempt to appease complainers, couching their actions in the name of "quality-of-life."
In 30 days, when the ordinances go into effect, the government will not only spend taxpayer money on patrols, but will confiscate the offending bicycles. Why are the bicycles not parked in designated bike racks? Well, there are not enough of them.
Realizing later they should give people a chance to comply with their frivolous rule that bicycles must be parked bike racks, the cities came up with a plan to purchase and install more bike racks.
Spending yet more taxpayer money, a task force was convened to study how many parks and bus stops are being blighted by homeless-owned bicycles. The task force estimates it will cost nearly $40,000 to purchase and install more racks, and is hoping to secure grant money from a local transit authority to cover the cost. How many meals would that amount of money buy for the homeless? Plenty, but apparently that is not the priority of government officials.
Demonstrating the severity of the problem, a staff report revealed there are 30 parks within the city of Costa Mesa with a total of 38 bike parking racks. Gosh, no wonder the homeless don't use the bike racks.....they are full!
A lone councilman voiced his reservations, stating "I have a problem when solving homeless issues limits the liberty of the residents."
Shake that councilman's hand. Someone has to stand up to the absurdity.
There is no California. According to syndicated columnist, Victor Davis Hanson, "the state has two radically different cultures with little in common." I was amazed at the comparisons he made in this article. Hit the nail on the head in every instance. Thought provoking analysis. 
