NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL WRAP-UP

-- Compiled by June Casagrande

Here are some of the decisions coming out of the Newport Beach City

Council meeting on Feb. 26.

WHAT HAPPENED:

An item that lumped in a lease for the Girl Scout House on Balboa

Peninsula with a lease at the nearby Marinapark mobile home park didn’t

turn out to be such a good pairing after all. While the question of

whether to approve a one-year lease extension for the Girl Scout Council

of Orange County proved a no-brainer, the Marinapark lease was a little

trickier. Marinapark residents and their attorney protested the short,

one-year term that also accompanies rent increases of about 100%.

WHAT IT MEANS:

The Girl Scouts, who have already been promised a new home on the site

in the event that a luxury resort is built there, can rest easy for at

least a year, if not for decades to come. The Marinapark lease

discussion, though, revealed some factual inconsistencies between

residents’ account of their original agreement and city officials’

account. Led by Councilman Gary Adams, members agreed that staff should

provide them with enough information to determine what’s fair and legal.

WHAT THEY SAID:

“Marinapark is my home, and it’s all I have,” resident Daniel Shea

said. “It would be a tremendous hardship for you to increase these rents

at such a pace.”

Vote: 7-0 to approve the Girl Scout House lease extension.

WHAT HAPPENED:

A contract with Waste Management of Orange County to pick up trash in

Newport Coast set off a complex, passionate debate. Some residents said

the city’s plan to pay for the coast community residents’ trash pickup

conflicts with city rules and unfairly favors the wealthy, newly annexed

community. Officials responded that, as most other areas in the city

where residents get free trash pickup, the costs are paid out of taxes.

Taxes collected from Newport Coast will indirectly pay for that service,

they said.

WHAT IT MEANS:

The city will take over paying the trash hauler $13.03 per home to

pick up trash curbside in Newport Coast.

Vote: 7/0

WHAT HAPPENED:

A contract for $40,603.63 was approved to buy 53 computers from Dell

Marketing.

WHAT IT MEANS:

The computers will replace aging machines in the city’s public

libraries.

Vote: 7/0

WHAT HAPPENED:

City parks that are in high demand during peak summer hours have new

restrictions on when and who can reserve them.

WHAT IT MEANS:

Reservations at Inspiration Point, Lookout Point and Peninsula Park

will be allowed only after the Labor Day weekend until just before

Memorial Day weekend. At those parks, as well as at Ensign View Park and

Galaxy View Park, no reservations will be allowed for groups of 20 or

more.

Vote: 7/0

SOUNDING OFF

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to come in here and denigrate

other elected officials.” -- City Councilwoman Norma Glover to airport

activist Russell Niewiarowski, who placed on the overhead monitor an

image of Irvine Mayor Larry Agran depicted as Pinocchio, wearing a button

that read, “I lie.”

NEXT MEETING

WHAT: Newport Beach City Council meeting

WHEN: 7 p.m. March 12

WHERE: Newport Beach City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd.