Week in review

A Mormon temple slated to be built on Bonita Canyon Drive was back in

the headlines after an environmental report came out Wednesday. The

report, which says the project would have no significant aesthetic affect

on the surrounding areas, is now subject in a 45-day public review

period.

The city approved its next fiscal budget, a $153-million spending plan

that includes no big new projects. Officials are also considering whether

to create a budget committee to allow citizens more oversight in the

future.

And Community Development Block Grants that the city stood to lose now

appear secure. A change in the proposed federal budget has reversed a

plan to cut the grants to a handful of the nation’s wealthiest cities.

Finally, several attempts to replace the fireworks show at the Newport

Dunes have failed. City staff explored several options to put on a

fireworks show of their own, but legal liability and crowd-control issues

sent this dream up in smoke.

-- June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .

Now that that’s settled

More than a year of hard toil came to a satisfying end for Newport

Beach leaders last week as Orange County Supervisors and the Newport

Beach City Council approved an extension to John Wayne Airport’s flight

limits.

Supervisors joined the City Council on Tuesday in approving the

historic extension, which will now stretch to 2015. The mandatory

nighttime curfew would be extended until 2020.

City leaders who worked to build a coalition of neighboring cities

supporting the modest expansion of the airport said the extension was

“the single most important issue that has faced the city.”

With the approval in hand, city and county officials headed to

Washington D.C. to pitch their deal to the airline industry and the

Federal Aviation Administration.

The new package of limits would increase the number of noisiest daily

flights from 73 to 85, the annual passenger limit from 8.4 million to 9.8

million, gates from 14 to 18 and cargo flights from two to four.

-- Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and

politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .

Everything’s in this name

Costa Mesa attorney Gay Sandoval continued her uphill battle for a

seat on the Orange County Superior Court last week when she began the

legal proceeding to get her name placed on the November ballot.

Sandoval is vying for the judgeship left open by Ronald C. Kline, who

withdrew his name from the runoff ballot because of the controversy

surrounding charges he faces for alleged child molestation and child

pornography.

Sandoval, a former Daily Pilot columnist, initiated the campaign to

defeat Kline right after he was charged and succeeding in opening the

preliminary race to 11 write-in candidates. The combination of

challengers kept Kline from winning a majority of votes in April, forcing

the November runoff.

Write-in candidate John Adams was the lead vote getter in the primary

-- just ahead of Kline -- and his is now the only name that remains on

the November ballot in the race for Superior Court Judge Office No. 21.

Sandoval was the third-place vote-getter and has argued that her name

should be added to the ballot to fill the void left by Kline and give the

voters a choice.

-- Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .

An iffy budget that’s OK

Newport-Mesa Unified School Board members uttered one word a lot last

week: if.

There were plenty of “ifs” as the board OKd a tentative, $158-million

budget for next year. There’s the unknown state of the state’s budget to

worry about, officials said. Just how the state will end up spending its

money simply isn’t clear.

The 2002-03 budget’s spending is up about $17 million from last year,

with a moderate 1% increase in revenue from the average daily attendance

and 7% increase in property taxes.

Expenses include a previously agreed upon 3.5% compensation hike for

certified employees and a 2.5% increase for classified positions.

-- Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .

Of fireworks and the FBI

Costa Mesa again rose near the top of the list of safest cities in the

state, according to 2001 FBI statistics released last week.

Ranked 30th in California, the city was at the bottom of the big --

more than 100,000 population -- cities in Orange County. And crime rose

16.1%, including in all categories of violent crime.

But so far this year, police officials said, crime is looking to go

back down.

That is, if the Fourth of July is safe. And firefighters are concerned

that a record number of fireworks stands mixed with the record dryness

could be a problem waiting to ignite.

-- 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 .