Laura Dietz: Looking to preserve the rainbow’s end

June Casagrande

Laura Dietz fell in love with Newport Beach the first time she saw

the place in 1981. By 1988, the San Francisco native was able to

fulfill her dream of moving here and, ever since, she says she’s been

dedicated to maintaining Newport as a place for “very high-end

lifestyles.”

“This is the end of the rainbow; it doesn’t get any better than

this,” the Cameo Shores resident and candidate for Council District 6

said.

To help preserve that, Dietz’s list of priorities for the city

include containing John Wayne Airport expansion, preserving water

quality, hammering out a workable Local Coastal Plan and revitalizing

areas of the city such as Mariners Mile. But perhaps the main theme

of Dietz’s campaign is senior care, inspired in part by her work with

her own mother.

“There are opportunities in the area behind Hoag Hospital to

create senior housing, from independent living to assisted living,

that will help the people who help build Newport Beach stay in the

city they love and stay with their families,” she said. In addition

to the fact that the area offers perfect proximity to Hoag, it also

provides the opportunity to create high-rise senior living facilities

without obstructing anyone’s view.

She also sees a great deal of potential when she looks at the

Mariners Mile area -- a place where she thinks she can offer a

creative solution.

“I call them ‘boutique hotels’ -- small, high-end hotels that can

attract business to the area” -- helping neighboring restaurants

without adding too much traffic, she said. Central to this plan could

be pedestrian overpasses over Coast Highway.

Such overpasses could also solve the dangerous pedestrian problems

in Corona del Mar, she said. “We should look into our possibilities

of making that happen there,” she said.

The Local Coastal Plan is another hot-button topic for Dietz. She

said the city can look to the lessons of a recent lawsuit in Malibu

to find ways to meet Coastal Commission requirements for beach access

while protecting private property owners as much as possible.

But every issue, Dietz said, falls under one, all-important

umbrella.

“We need to take a close look at how our city conducts its

business and whether it’s being done ethically,” she said.

“Everything else falls under that.”