EDITORIAL

Newport Beach voters spoke loud and clear this Tuesday.

Not only did they overwhelmingly approve the slow-growth Greenlight

measure, they just as dramatically sent the competing Measure T to a

crushing defeat.

And they elected three new councilmen, all of whom preached the need

for a more responsive, resident-friendly City Hall.

Steve Bromberg, John Heffernan and Gary Proctor were our picks for the

council. We believed when we endorsed them that they would bring

congeniality and compromise to a council that has been tangled in a

contentious relationship with the community it serves.

All three newcomers now have the opportunity, as well as the

responsibility, to listen to residents, to judge growth issues carefully

and to ensure the council is working for the best interests of the city.

So do the four sitting members: Gary Adams, Norma Glover, Dennis

O’Neil and Tod Ridgeway. Residents have made it clear that they are

unhappy with the current direction of the council and its policies. It is

time for council members to respond to those concerns and change their

ways. It is time for council members to answer to the people who voted

them into office.

Residents should not expect a united council to avoid debating the

issues, of course. We don’t expect that, either. Coming to a consensus

can be a arduous process. But done in the open, with thought and

precision, that tough process can realize dramatic results.

With Greenlight in place, council members can expect plenty of

opportunities for such debate.

Governing in a city with heavy political interests and businesses that

can put close to $500,000 into an election such as the debate over

Greenlight is not easy. It must be even harder when the council cannot

unite as a single voice to make difficult but important decisions.

Today, the council has the chance to become unified.

Today, with the votes counted, the city is in better hands.