Gains & losses

GAINS

Boulevard dialogue

Beach Boulevard, the commercial spine of Surf City, could use a

make-over, and city officials want the public’s opinion on the right

look. The city will hold public workshops Nov. 4 and 5 to discuss the

possibilities.

Standing up Downtown

A group known as Huntington Beach Cares stepped up after the City Council

last week formally adopted the power of eminent domain over Downtown

residential property. The group must gather 10,000 signatures by

mid-November to qualify for a March ballot referendum. If passed, the

measure would stop the city from using its newly acquired authority to

purchase homes by force.

Bond gets an A

After taking input from his staff and reviewing a copy of the resolution,

John M.W. Moorlach, treasurer-tax collector for Orange County, gave the

Huntington Beach Union High School District’s $123-million ballot measure

an A grade.

LOSSES

Not enough time

Huntington Beach is known as a politically active city, but residents and

workers complain they can’t fully participate because of the times some

public meetings are held. A committee whose aim is solving Downtown’s

many controversies begins at 8 a.m., while the Public Works Commission,

which tackles thorny issues such as parking and traffic, meets at 5 p.m.

Teens lost to crash

Investigators continue to search for the cause of a plane crash that

claimed the lives of two Huntington Beach teenagers. A Cessna piloted by

Erik Marshall Lind, 18, crashed on a hill north of Ventura. Lind, along

with his passenger, Tyson Michael Stearns, also 18, were heading home

after stops in Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez.

Seeking repairs, repayment

The owner of a strip mall has asked the city to pay for damage done to

his building after a shoot-out there last month that left a Huntington

Beach police officer wounded. Kenneth A. Reynolds filed a claim against

the city earlier this month for $1,220 to repair bullet holes in the

walls, ceilings, and windows of stores caught in the line of fire during

the shooting at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Bushard Street in early

September.