From the Newsroom -- Tony Dodero

I always love getting out to the annual Mayor’s Dinner sponsored by

Speak Up Newport.

It’s a good place to catch up with old acquaintances, many of whom

knew me way back in my days as a wide-eyed, much thinner and energetic

reporter for this newspaper.

Hard to believe that was about 10 years ago now.

Just a few of the folks who I got to rub elbows with again on Thursday

night at the Newport Marriott were former Mayor Evelyn Hart, former

Public Works Director Don Webb, longtime Speak Up Newport organizer and

city leader Jo Vandervort, former Cannery Restaurant operator Bill

Hamilton and his wife, Helen, Police Chief Bob McDonell and his wife,

Lana, and onetime Newport Police officer and now Sgt. Tom Gazsi.

And, oh yeah, I’d like to hoist a toast to police Lt. Rich Long for

being so cordial to my wife and me.

Speaking of Hamilton, he says the new owners of the historic Cannery

restaurant are getting set to reopen, probably by the end of the week.

It’s always good to see county Supervisor Jim Silva and his wife,

Connie, though I worried in this very pro-El Toro crowd that Silva would

catch some heat for his comments a week earlier regarding the Measure W

Great Park initiative.

If it passes, Silva says he’ll change his vote on El Toro. That’s a

brave statement, but I’ve always known Silva as a guy who respects the

majority opinion. And if he believes a majority of his county

constituents don’t want an El Toro airport anymore, I’m pretty sure he’ll

give that a lot of credence next time he votes on the issue.

Forget the politics though for now, the Silvas need lots of good

thoughts these days as their son, Chad, an Air Force pilot, is spending a

lot of his time right now flying near the Middle East. There was plenty

more folks who I ran into at this local star-studded affair emceed by our

very own Peter Buffa. It would take my whole column to name them all.

Still, we can’t forget the man of the hour, Mayor Tod Ridgeway.

Ridgeway showed that night in his State of the City Address that he isn’t

going to sit back and take the criticism from the anti-growth forces in

town anymore.

On the issue of building moratoriums and the like, Mayor Tod shot back

that the city must continue to grow. It cannot be controlled by Nimbyism,

nor can its citizens ignore the needs of the entire county, he said,

noting that his father instilled in him a sense of social conscience.

He pointed out that property values in Newport are growing far out of

reach for the common folk, citing a letter he received from a young

couple who wanted to buy a house in their dream city, only to find a

980-square-foot home on the peninsula for $580,000.

Ridgeway is bound to incur the wrath of Greenlighters with his

comments, but either way, it looks like he’s not going to be deterred on

getting his message out.

Me thinks it’s going to be a VERY interesting election next November.

***

Don’t ask me why, but the Daily Pilot newsroom has suddenly become a

popular place for tours for elementary-age children.

This week, we had a band of pre-Cub Scouts pop on by. On Tuesday,

Tiger Scout Pack 720 dropped in to tour the newsroom.

Then, on Thursday, the Tiger Scouts of St. Joachim Catholic School

came in for a tour. They were Anthony Carrese, Ryan Harris, Daniel

Dolewski, Robert Boullon, Ryan Davis and Jordan Mazzarella.

Thanks Tigers for visiting our newsroom and livening it up last week.

***

Despite my disappointment that my Rams lost the Super Bowl on Sunday,

I still had many reasons to celebrate this weekend.

The biggest celebration for me took place Saturday, Groundhog Day, as

my wife and I had a party to wish our little groundhog, Kristen Elyse, a

happy first birthday. The second of our two girls, Kristen is a real

charmer.

Speaking of charmers, so is little Richard “Nolan” Dunn, the son of

longtime Daily Pilot sports writer Rich Dunn.

Little Nolan, as Rich and his wife call him, was born on the same day

as my girl. Happy birthday to you too, Nolan.

Finally, it was exactly one year ago today that we returned to

delivering the readers a Sunday edition of the Pilot.

Thanks to all the major players who have worked hard on this edition

each week for the last year: especially Jennifer Mahal, features and

Sunday editor; Young Chang, feature writer; Joey Santos, art director;

Roger Carlson, sports editor; and Community Forum and Assistant City

Editor James Meier, who produces the Q & A features each week.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the mix of news, features, life and leisure,

sports and commentary that we’ve offered up on Sundays.

I know we’ve enjoyed producing it for you.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage, please send messages

either via e-mail to o7 tony.dodero@latimes.com f7 or by phone at

949-574-4258.