WEEK IN REVIEW

The Estancia High School’s girls basketball team was saved from the

possibility of a lost season when Mobil Oil Co. agreed to donate $4,000

to compensate the team for its potential fund-raising losses.

The team lost its biggest fund-raiser of the year when the company

denied permission for it to have its annual fireworks stand behind a

Mobil gas station at Harbor Boulevard and Baker Street.

The property had previously been owned by C.J. Segerstrom & Sons.

Mobil, which bought it within the last year, cited safety reasons for not

allowing the fireworks.

The girls protested in front of the station Monday morning, but had

their protest cut short Tuesday, when the school’s principal met with

Mobil representatives to discuss the situation.

The donation was then worked out and the girls will do gardening work

around the school in return for it. They’re going to tend a rose garden.

In other news, Hillgren Square owner Peter Desforges announced that

construction at the square is part of a $2-million make-over.

The East 17th Street square, which includes Mi Casa Mexican

restaurant, Garduno’s Express Cuisine and Celestino’s quality meats, will

be remodeled with gabled slate roofs, pitched copper-clad steeples,

repaved and re-striped parking areas, a promenade set off by concrete and

stacked stone columns, colorful awnings and landscaping.

-- Jennifer Kho covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 jennifer.kho@latimes.comf7 .

Steel still facing felony charges

Costa Mesa Councilman Chris Steel will continue to face felony charges

for allegedly signing nomination papers for a legally blind woman in 1998

and allowing another resident to sign for his wife in 2000.

The Orange County district attorney has charged Steel with two felony

counts of perjury relating to those incidents. Steel’s attorney made a

plea Friday to reduce the charges to misdemeanors, arguing that Steel’s

alleged actions do not warrant the felony charges. But Judge Edward Laird

denied the motion. Steel is expected to be arraigned on the charges July

10.

Also, West Newport residents met with Newport Beach Police officers

Wednesday night for a public forum on Fourth of July arrangements on

Balboa Island. Officers said there are several changes in patrolling and

enforcement strategies this year, based on suggestions from residents and

their own review of previous years’ plans.

More police officers will be assigned to foot patrol this year.

Building officials will also remain on call to monitor the situation at

oceanfront rental homes, where several out-of-control party crowds were

spotted throwing firecrackers at passers by from rooftops.

-- Deepa Bharath covers cops and courts. She may be reached at (949)

574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .

Upper Newport Bay project continues on

The Back Bay dredging project cleared another major hurdle.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the

environmental report on the project at its Tuesday meeting.

The $35-million project won’t begin until 2003, but intense planning

and efforts to finance the project are continuing. Newport Beach lobbied

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) to help secure a $22-million

contribution.

On Thursday, that lobbying began to pan out as the federal government

secured $600,000 to be used toward the project, which is being

spearheaded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

-- Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at o7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .

Money matters in Newport--Mesa

When the Newport-Mesa Unified school board met last week, it meant

good news for district employees. The hundreds of classified employees --

which do not include teachers or administrators -- will see a welcome

surprise on payday this month with a 3% raise retroactive to last summer

and an additional 3% effective this July 1.

That 6%, with a promised additional 2% next year, will just about

bring them up to the mean which they currently fall short of by about

7.5%, said the California School Employees Assn. union president Cindy

Means.

While we’re on the subject of money, the school board also approved

the tentative district budget, totaling a bit more than $144 million. As

it stands before further tinkering -- the budget is balanced with

expenditures under $143 million. But that still has time to change.--

Danette Goulet covers education. She may be reached at (949) 574-4221 or

by e-mail at o7 danette.goulet@latimes.comf7 .

Yacht controversy not sunk yet

Owners of a 55-foot boat that has Balboa Island residents talking

docked their yacht alongside a pier in front of their two island homes

last week. While residents have argued that parking the boat parallel to

the beach would, among other things, block many views, the owners docked

it parallel to the pier, which is perpendicular to the beach.

Newport Beach Councilman Steve Bromberg, who requested temporary

docking to see how it affected the view, said as far as the law goes, it

would appear the boat can legally dock there.

City officials had previously ruled against allowing owner Lodwrick M.

Cook to park the boat parallel to the beach.

Also, the city’s first Greenlight vote looks to be imminent. City

Council members this week approved a 250,000-square-foot expansion for

the Koll Center.

In November, about 60% of the city’s voters approved the Greenlight

initiative, the city’s slow-growth law.

-- Mathis Winkler covers Newport Beach. He may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 mathis.winkler@latimes.comf7 .