Surf City homeowners awarded $1 million

An Orange County Superior Court judge has awarded a group of 123

Huntington Beach homeowners $1 million for windows that were

improperly installed and built.

Homeowners at the Huntington Place development said their homes

were poorly built. Windows were permanently fogged up, walls were

cracked and became stained from water damage.

The award is the latest in a series of settlements and judgments

that the homeowners have received in the last four years. The total

amount so far is $4 million.

Homeowners claimed that the manufacturer, Weather Shield, made

faulty double-pane windows that were vulnerable to moisture damage

and fogging. The jury didn’t award damages for the fogged windows and

limited damages to work done by the building’s framers.

-- Jose Paul Corona

Dealership ordered to pay former salesman

A Huntington Beach Ford dealership owned and operated by

Florida-based AutoNation Inc. was ordered to pay a former salesman

$130,000 after he was fired for complaining that customers were being

cheated.

“We’re not commenting on the matter at all,” said Oscar Suris,

AutoNation spokesman. “It’s a situation we plan to appeal and there’s

nothing more to say.”

Arbitrator Ricardo A. Torres, a former Los Angeles County Superior

Court judge, found that Bruce Gillies was fired for complaining about

deals in which customer’s interest rates were raised without their

knowledge. The judgment includes $50,000 in punitive damages.

A statement issued by Gillies’ attorney said an AutoNation

attorney looked into Gillies’ complaints and ordered an end to the

practices, took action against the dealership’s management and

implemented oversight by an AutoNation regional executive.

The company attorney did not prevent Gillies from being punished

and in fact ordered his dismissal, according to the statement.

-- Jose Paul Corona

Job fair for Hyatt resort set at central library

The Huntington Beach Central Library will host a job fair for

those interested in working at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach

Resort and Spa.

The 519-room oceanfront hotel and conference resort is scheduled

to open in January of 2003.

The job fair is sponsored by the Hyatt and city staff and will be

held Nov. 7 through 9.

More details are available by calling the Hyatt Job Information

Line at (714) 374-0437 or by visiting www.huntingtonbeach.hyatt.com.

All available positions are posted on the resort’s Web site, and

applications can be filled out online prior to the job fair.

-- Jose Paul Corona

Heal the Bay beach grades a mixed bag

Huntington City beaches have been given an A grade or better for

water quality this summer by Heal the Bay, a nonprofit environmental

group based in Santa Monica. But state beaches in Huntington Beach

did not fare quite as well.

The group’s fourth annual Summer Beach Report Card data was

collected from 10 monitoring locations in Huntington Beach between

June and September. While all four city beach locations received high

marks, Huntington State Beach, south of Newland Street, received a C,

the state beach near Magnolia Street got an F and the same beach near

Brookhurst Street was given a B. The two monitoring stations at Bolsa

Chica State Beaches also received A grades.

-- Jose Paul Corona

Five tons of pennies raised in campaign

Five tons of pennies were collected during an annual campaign to

raise money to support anti-drug and anti-violence educations

programs in city schools.

Schools, the PRIDE foundation, Huntington Beach Police Department,

Bank of America, McDonald’s restaurants and Brinks worked together to

raise the money, which when counted will be between $18,000 and

$20,000.

Local schools collected four tons of pennies, while businesses

pitched in one ton. Schools will receive one dollar for every pound

of pennies they collected. Spring View Middle School collected the

most money and will get a check for $1,894. Kettler Elementary school

will receive a check for $929, and Oak View Elementary School will

get a check for $790.

-- Jose Paul Corona

Surf City receives flood-control grants

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has given Huntington Beach

the final grant payments for two long-standing flood control

projects.

The projects involved work in a large section of the Slater

Channel that was lined with concrete to repair damage that it

sustained during the winter of 1994 and 1995. The city received $2.6

million in federal funding for the $3.2-million project.

The city also received $1.25 million in federal funds to increase

the capacity of the Shields Storm Water Pump Station. The total cost

for that project was $2.6 million.

-- Jose Paul Corona