In brief

A local environmental group distributed letters Tuesday to 2,000 bayfront

residents in an effort to draw attention to the city’s loss of $13

million in funding in the state budget.

Newport Beach-based Defend the Bay distributed the letters with the hope

that residents would “write a letter, make a phone call or send an e-mail

to voice their opinion” about the lost funding, said Bob Caustin, the

organization’s founding director.

The $13 million that was supposed to help fund Back Bay dredging under

Proposition 12 was recently allocated for other projects by the state

legislature’s budget committee.

The city is working to persuade Gov. Gray Davis to cut other programs in

the budget to free up money for Newport’s project.

“To be sideswiped and have the money go to Santa Barbara or some other

community is inappropriate,” Caustin said. “If that bay doesn’t get

dredged, it’s going to negatively impact the lower bay even more than it

already has.”