Not too long of a departure

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Don Webb hopes his life will become a lot simpler

come Wednesday. On that day -- Webb’s 62nd birthday -- he’ll call it

quits as Newport Beach’s public works director after 33 years with the

city.

“I don’t have to wear a pager,” Webb said, sitting in his office

Monday. “I don’t have to go to City Council [meetings] on Tuesday

nights.”

He won’t have to go for a while, at least. Webb said he would like to

return in a somewhat different capacity by November of 2002.

“If I can get the community’s support, I’d like to run for City

Council next year,” the Newport Heights resident said. He’d run for the

District 3 council seat, which is now occupied by Councilwoman Norma

Glover. Glover won’t be able to run again because of term limits.

Talking about his plan to move up to the dais, Webb points to his

qualifications for the job.

“I feel that I’m quite knowledgeable of the city,” said Webb, who has

become the city’s unofficial historian over the years and is just about

to finish walking all of Newport Beach’s streets -- that’s 200-plus miles

a piece -- for the third time with his wife, Jan.

“It would be totally different to be asking the questions instead of

answering them,” he said. “But hopefully I’ll be able to ask good

questions. . . . I think I can make the adjustment.”

While making it clear that he won’t endorse candidates as the city’s

top executive, City Manager Homer Bludau agreed.

“It would be a different situation for me to have someone who I have

supervised run for office,” Bludau said. But “I wouldn’t have any

difficulty with that, Don being the kind of person that he is.”

Bludau, who took his current job just more than two years ago, added

that Webb had helped him to get to know Newport Beach.

“There isn’t a better person to learn [about] the city than Don,”

Bludau said, adding that Webb would take him on tours during their

biweekly meetings. “He would take me out into the community and show me

the community through his eyes. It has been a wonderful learning

experience to spend time with him.”

Councilman Dennis O’Neil, who will also leave office in 2002 because

of term limits, said Webb seemed ideally suited as a council member.

“I hope he’s serious about running,” O’Neil said. “I wish him the

best.”

And Councilman Steve Bromberg, who took office in December, also said

a “quality fellow” such as Webb would do well as a leader.

“Don has the knowledge to be able to do it,” Bromberg said. “I think

he has the temperament to do it.”

Building things

Webb’s love affair with construction began when he played with

building blocks at his grandfather’s Atlanta home.

“I’ve always been interested in building things,” he said. “I’d pull

the building blocks out and spend hours building stuff.”

A career in civil engineering seemed a natural choice, Webb said,

adding that he did surveying jobs while attending the University of

Arizona in his hometown of Tucson and helped to build roads in Thailand

as a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after graduating.

While Webb first visited Newport Beach for the 1953 Boy Scout

Jamboree, he still had his doubts about the area before his move here in

1965.

Fraternity buddies had convinced the skeptical Arizonan to check out

the coast. But when he set foot on a sailboat in Newport Harbor, Webb was

hooked.

“Once you get a little bit of that saltwater in your blood, you can’t

leave it,” he said, adding that he moved to an apartment in the city the

year he arrived and hasn’t left since.

After four years with the Orange County flood control district, Webb

took a job as an associate civil engineer with the city. He became city

engineer in 1981 and was promoted to his current position in 1994.

Looking at a large aerial photograph of Newport Beach that hangs on a

wall in his office, he’s quick to point out projects he’s worked on.

On the top of the list is the Arches Bridge, guiding Newport Boulevard

across West Coast Highway.

“I spent close to 20 years on it and am very proud to say I had a part

in it,” he said. “Every place there’s something that I’ve worked on.”

Other achievements include 30 miles of bike trails throughout the

city, the Back Bay Bridge and the Pelican Wall along West Coast Highway.

There’s the McFadden Square redevelopment, city parks, his work on the

San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor and completing more than 90% of

the city’s circulation system.

“It’s been a real interesting career,” Webb said. “I like to have fun.

If you enjoy what you’re doing, that’s what life is all about.”

Of hats and grandchildren

That attitude seems to have rubbed off on others as well.

“For an engineer, he has a great personality,” Bludau said, adding

that Webb’s faith in fun has helped boost morale at City Hall.

At council meetings, Webb’s weakness for funky ties and his extensive

hat collection -- more than a dozen still hung in his office Monday and

he said he’s got about 200 in total -- often helped to lighten things up.

He’s requested that everyone who attends his farewell party on July 12

wear a hat.

“When [people] have a hat on, they seem to enjoy themselves more,”

Webb said.

For his part, Webb will probably pack a couple of straw hats when he

goes traveling in the coming months. First up is a trip to Georgia with

his entire family, which includes sons Don, 31, and Cameron, 28, and

their wives.

He also plans to do research on his predecessors, dig into family

history and offer his services to the city’s advisory boards.

“I plan on making myself available,” he said, adding that he’s already

made a set of building blocks any future grandchildren could play with.

So far, no little Webbs are on the way.

“Not yet,” he said, crossing his fingers as a mischievous smile

appeared on his face. He added that his sons warned him that every

mention of grandchildren will add a year to the wait.

And his son, Don, confirmed the rule.

“He can take care of his granddog -- that’s what he’s allowed to

express so far,” he said.

AT A GLANCE

Name: Don Webb

Age: 61

Occupation: Public works director for the city of Newport Beach since

1994; from 1981 to 1994 served as the city engineer

Family: Wife Jan; sons Don, 31, and Cameron, 28

Hometown: Tucson, Ariz.

College: University of Arizona