Newport Beach mayor hosts community members for a morning coffee klatch

About a dozen Newport Beach residents joined Mayor Will O’Neill last Friday morning for his first “Coffee and Conversation with the Mayor,” event at a Starbucks on Coast Highway.

Since the coffee retailer was honoring veterans during the month of May, O’Neill offered complimentary coffee to local vets and other residents as part of the open conversation agenda.

Among the topics discussed were residential burglaries, the proposed steep increase in mooring fees and veterans’ concerns.

A Newport Beach resident who asked not to be identified brought up the growing problem of home intrusions in and around her neighborhood. The resident asked O’Neill to encourage his colleagues on the City Council to approve needed crime prevention technology — license plate readers and drones — for the Newport Beach Police Department while planning the city’s budget.

“We plan to do so,” O’Neill said. “Our entire police department budget is expected to be $78 million next year. Within that budget will be the new technological capabilities.”

The mayor further explained the city had lagged behind in public safety technology and that city officials had recently toured the Beverly Hills Police Department, which had spent more money on advanced technology for their police department with successful results.

“The automated license plate readers will pick up stolen cars and cars involved in crimes,” O’Neill said. “Last year the NBPD received body cameras.” He added the importance of using American-made drones for security reasons and said they are in the process of being located for purchase.

“The number one crime issue is burglary,” O’Neill said. “The crews out of Chile and Los Angeles County purposely figure out when no one’s home, because they don’t want [to be charged with] a robbery [a break-in when a victim is inside], they’d rather have burglary. A major reason is that burglaries are typically not prosecuted as aggressively, and the penalties are typically not nearly as severe as for robberies.”

Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill speaks with residents during a coffee he hosted at a local Starbucks on May 31.

(Susan Hoffman)

The proposed 500% increase to mooring fees was also brought up. Newport Beach resident Barbara Griffith asked O’Neill why he had not responded after the Newport Mooring Assn. had reached out to him about the issue.

“It’s not on the agenda yet, but we will make sure there is plenty of notice when it will be,” O’Neill told her.

“Im asking you to be a good leader like you were during COVID,” said Griffith.

“What is a fair market rent?” O’Neill asked her.

“Same as dock owners,” responded Griffith. “In my opinion, it’s a discrimination issue, pushing out the little guy. The discrimination occurred by the city toward mooring holders is still going on because the city refuses to listen to our community. The harbor belongs to everyone, we’re all using the same body of water. Why aren’t we all paying the same price?”

Griffith suggested there should be a forensic evaluation by the city based on the emails received about the mooring increase and with a proposed resolution for everyone to pay the same amount as dock owners, who pay $400 per year regardless of the size of their boats.

Stephanie Wade, a Marine veteran and member of Orange County Veterans Advisory Council, attended the gathering to bring awareness about issues affecting vets. “The first thing people ought to remember is that the cost of war continues long after the war,” Wade said. “We’ve lost more post-9/11 veterans to suicide than were killed in action in all our post-9/11 conflicts.”

O’Neill said he hopes to host a future meeting in Newport Beach on behalf of the O.C. Veterans Advisory Council, the body that advises the county Board of Supervisors about veterans and military-connected families.