Week in review

The Balboa Village is set to get a make-over after the California

Coastal Commission approved an extensive Newport Beach plan to revamp the

area, including the Balboa Pier.

The commission did put a few caveats on its approval. Among them, the

city must submit a plan to manage traffic during construction and

restrict work to the nine months between Labor Day and Memorial Day so it

does not interfere with summer beach crowds.

City planners will take the next step Tuesday: bringing the plan

before the City Council.

The $8.8-million project is set to begin in November, if all goes

according to plan.

-- Daily Pilot staff. To reach the newsroom, call (949) 642-5680 or by

e-mail at o7 dailypilot@latimes.comf7 .

A crystal-clear plea

Costa Mesa Councilman Chris Steel on Wednesday pleaded not guilty for

the second time to two counts of felony perjury charges.

Steel said he is determined to fight the charges leveled against him

by the Orange County district attorney that accuse the councilman of

allowing a resident to sign 2000 election nomination papers for his wife.

Steel is also accused of signing for a legally blind woman during the

1998 elections. The councilman said this week that he was not about to

give up now and is determined to clear his name.

Both Steel and his attorney, Ron Cordova, said they were encouraged

when a Superior Court judge last month threw out a civil case brought

against Steel by resident Michael Szkaradek, who made similar

allegations.

In other news, a brush fire blackened about 10 acres of Crystal Cove

State Park on Tuesday afternoon. The fire that lasted about two hours

broke out off the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor between

Newport Coast Drive and Laguna Canyon Road.

There was no damage to homes. One firefighter was injured while

working on the fire but escaped with a cut to his foot.

-- Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached

at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .

A defensible report?

The Newport Dunes resort won a dubious honor last week, when its

swimming area was singled out by environmentalists as one of the county’s

trouble spots for bacteria contamination.

During 2000, some part of the resort’s lagoon had a posted warning for

144 days, or almost 40% of the year.

Dunes management wasn’t talking, but RV users weren’t shy -- several

said they weren’t told about the posting until they tried to go for a

swim.

The report was released by the National Resources Defense Council on

Wednesday .The report also said postings and closures in Orange County

jumped 75%, to 881, when compared with 1999.

A posting at the Dunes has been in effect since July 25.

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

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .

Nothing new for Costa Mesa

Although many audience members at Monday’s City Council meeting seemed

pleased by the mention of district representation, their intrigue was

quelled when the council killed the possibility by a 3-2 vote.

Councilman Gary Monahan and Chris Steel spearheaded a motion to allow

Costa Mesa residents to decide the future structure of the city’s

government. The changes they proposed were directly electing a mayor,

adding two more council members and electing officials by district.

Monahan said he was in favor of directly electing a mayor, but said

his main motivation for bringing up the changes was to allow the voters

to decide.

Monahan said he had no opinion about the other two options. Steel, on

the other hand, wanted to see council members elected by district and

didn’t support the remaining options.

Although more speakers voiced support for Steel’s idea than Monahan’s,

neither councilman got his wish.

Mayor Libby Cowan and Councilwomen Linda Dixon and Karen Robinson did

not support any of the three proposals. Their majority vote halted any

momentum the arguments may have built.-- Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or by e-mail at o7

lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .

Scoring well on another round of tests

The release of Stanford 9 test scores last week showed mostly good

signs for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

In their fourth year of testing, students in second through fifth

grades showed improvement in all four areas tested -- reading, math,

language and spelling -- the best news of all.

More troubling for school officials, while all of the schools in

Newport Beach are above the 50th percentile mark, there are a number of

schools in Costa Mesa struggling below it.

Still, even that worry had the proverbial silver lining: Several of

those same schools showed the greatest test gains in the district.

“We put some after-school programs, some training of our teachers,

which seems to be paying off,” Supt. Robert Barbot said. “What else we

can do is see what has not been productive.”

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

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 danette.goulet@latimes.comf7 .