The City Council’s great mediator

On Tuesday, the Newport Beach City Council -- with two new members

-- elected the city’s new mayor. In just two years on the council,

Steve Bromberg will now fill the ceremonial post and lead the

council.

On Thursday -- just a day after riding an elephant off Newport

Boulevard in Costa Mesa as one of his first mayoral duties --

Bromberg sat down with City Editor James Meier in his 11th-floor

office in Newport Center to discuss the next year, his priorities,

his actions over the last year and his twice-annual gig as a Keystone

Cop.

Are you looking forward to your year as mayor?

Very much so.

What do you hope to accomplish during your mayor-ship?

Well, as you know, mayors in Newport Beach and a lot of other

cities have the tag of ceremonial, which is true to a large degree.

At the same time, the mayor’s a spokesperson for the city, its

policies and so on.

I want to see, and I think we’re just about there, the airport

issue closed. I think we’ll get our [Federal Aviation Administration]

letter soon. We’re still going to maintain a JWA settlement

committee. At least I’m going to do that to make sure that this

agreement is shepherded through properly. We’re going to have good

people on that committee.

What I’m looking forward to this year, keeping in mind that all

council people are on even footing, is a cohesiveness on the City

Council. We’ve had a pretty good cohesiveness so far. We now have two

new members and I want to make sure that if there’s anything that I

can do to be sure that we move forward as a team, unified -- and by

that, very clearly, I don’t mean that we all agree on issues. But

there’s no absolutely reason we can’t all work together as

professionals.

As a team, I’m of the belief from what I’ve seen that the Newport

Beach City Council is a model. People in Newport Beach, contrary to

what a lot of other folks say, take their politics very seriously

and, for that reason, I think that anyone on the City Council,

although we’re the ultimate amateur politicians, better had be very,

very prepared for what they’re doing because if we’re not, we’re

going to hear about that. I know because before I was on the council,

I was one of those. I come from civil activism on Balboa Island. They

take it very seriously.

Integrity is very important. At the end of the day, what do you

have left. That’s part of the reason why I think I’ve had a good

mediation and arbitration practice because as a neutral, if you are

determined not to be fair and have no integrity, you won’t get any

work doing that. So this is part of my training also.

There are many other issues I look forward to seeing happening.

The biggest issue after the airport is finished is the general plan

update process. I sit on the [General Plan Update Committee] and that

will be one of the most important issues we have in this city, next

to water quality.

Water quality is always mentioned, but I think sometimes it’s

understated. It’s our backyard and it’s one of the most serious

issues living along the Newport coast, or on the Peninsula or Balboa

Island. It’s incredibly important. And, again, we as a coastal city

have a responsibility. If we don’t take the lead, how can we ask the

inland cities to control urban runoff. And we are taking the lead --

301h waiver is a good example.

A very significant committee is the Coastal Bay Water Quality

Committee, which used to be the Harbor Water Quality Committee. A lot

of what you see come through to the council on water and

environmental issues comes out of that committee. I sit on that with

Tod Ridgeway.

Were you surprised there was one vote you didn’t get for mayor?

I went up to [new Councilman Dick] Nichols afterward. No one will

ever accuse me of not being direct or blunt. I have no time for

foolishness. I have two full-time jobs. I take this city charge very

seriously. I don’t even know the man. I’d met him two times. So after

the meeting, I walked up to him and I said, “Dick, if we have a

problem, let’s talk about it. Was there a specific reason you didn’t

vote for me?” and he looked me right in the eye and said, “I got

confused with the buttons.” And I’ll accept that. I take people for

face value. Until they show me otherwise, I’m going to believe what

they say.

We’ll see as time goes on. It’s not easy for someone coming on

City Council who has not been involved in real significant community

activism before. But that’s OK. That’s what a citizen politician is

all about and that’s what we are. Anyone who think we’re more than

that is missing the boat. And there’s a responsibility that goes

along with that and I accept that. You know, you get to a certain

level of politics above city, whether it’s county, state -- the

higher you go, it becomes more political. It’s different. It becomes

more political than actually wanting to do good.

At a local level, it’s different. You don’t see people in Newport

Beach for City Council going to higher office. That’s not the

direction. The only time I saw it was when John Hedges ran for

supervisor and he didn’t get it. People get on the City Council, in

my opinion, in Newport Beach to do good and make a difference. Rarely

have I seen someone get on the council because they want the

accolades. Usually the people who get on the council in this city

already have that. They’re comfortable with themselves. There’s

always going to be exceptions, but generally, that’s what I’ve seen.

Did you expect to be mayor this soon in your council career?

No, not at all. I didn’t even expect to be on the City Council

until I decided to do it. But I did not expect to be mayor pro tem

after a year and I didn’t expect to be mayor after two years. I’m

comfortable up there. I was on the Civil Service Committee for eight

years. I served as chair twice. There’s no comparison to that and the

City Council, but I’m comfortable with it.

What does it tell you that your colleagues have already made you

mayor?

They have confidence in me and that something I’m proud of also.

It’s serious business up there.

How will your mayor-ship differ from that of Tod Ridgeway?

Well, everybody’s different. I’m flanked by two mayors. I’m going

to have these guys in my ears, I’m sure. I’m not saying it’s better.

It’s just going to be different. We have a City Council policy, which

was written under the auspices of the Brown Act, regarding public

comments. When somebody comes up to address the City Council, they

are to have their few minutes and they should. It’s a public forum.

We also have a provision written in there that any council person

may comment on what that person has said if for whatever reason it

requires clarification or explanation. Many people come up and vent

and simply say something that’s not so. We’ve been doing that on a

limited basis and I expect to implement that regularly. I’m going to

encourage the City Council members to do it regularly also on the

sole condition that it be done responsibly. This is not to create a

debate with everyone who comes before us. It’s a serious job. I think

that everyone up there, with the exception of Don Webb, has a

full-time job.

You really helped broker the deal between the Mormon church and

the community when it came to the temple. What sparked you to make

that happen?

I really believe in community in the city. How many times have you

heard that Newport Beach is made up of a bunch of communities and

villages? It’s true. And what I saw happening here -- you were not

privy to the 500 or 600 e-mails; you got some of them, but not all of

them. Some of them were pretty ugly, on both sides. What I saw

happening, the issue of religion never came up, but I felt it was

only a step away.

I took this on as a major project because, No. 1, with all of my

experience and background in mediation, it might help a bit. And more

importantly, there was no question in my mind that if this steeple

came in at 100-feet, just on principle, there was going to be such

dissension in those neighborhoods for a long time to come. You would

have soccer dads and moms on the same fields not talking to each

other. It never got mean-spirited, but my concern was if it happened

that way, it would at some point in time.

That’s when Bob Wynn recognized that. Bob is a very good person.

He called. He indicated that Salt Lake City representatives wanted to

meet with me. This happened after it was appealed [to the council].

They sent two people out and I was very direct and very blunt. It was

not a club and a carrot meeting by any stretch of the imagination. It

was a very good meeting. But what I wanted to tell them -- they knew

something about Newport Beach, but they were not residents -- that in

my opinion, if it went through the way it did -- because there was

some taint to the way it occurred -- there would be some animosity

directed toward these folks in the future. It was a good meeting. I

offered to work with them any which way I could.

We had additional meetings with Weatherford Clayton [president of

the Newport Beach church’s stake center] and Wynn, at the same time

having numerous meetings with representatives from Bonita Canyon and

Sea Wind, and it came together.

We turned what was going to be a two council meeting civil war

into a 40-minute warm and fuzzy meeting. That was great. I’m proud of

that.

Was it the most ideal outcome you could have imagined?

To me, it was the perfect-world scenario. And I don’t know if

we’ll ever see anything like that again.

Now you were also behind the duck-feeding ordinance. Have the

ducks come back?

No. We still have ducks. We had an excess of 60 ducks. We have 22

ducks right now, but they’re behaving themselves. And it’s not the

ducks; it’s one person. I don’t know if she’s still feeding the ducks

or not, but I’ve heard from almost everybody who lives on The Grand

Canal that they can now sleep, they can walk instead of walking in 2

to 3 inches of duck stuff. So, yeah, it was a good thing. And now

there are 22 ducks and we’re fine.

It was causing major problems over the years. Even as we speak

now, from what was there before is embedded into the concrete. We

have power-washed it and it hasn’t come out. We’re going to have to

sand-blast it to get it out.

So we joke about the duck issue, but it was serious. It was a

health issue and it was a water-quality issue, in addition to a

quality-of-life issue as far as being able to sleep. They were fed at

3 or 4 in the morning.

What brought about the sale of your boat?

The last time I was on my boat -- I had my boat for 11 years --

was June 2000, when I announced I was going to run for City Council.

The deal I have with [wife] Ronnie is she gets me on weekends. She is

not an avid boater; I am. So the boat had been sitting and sitting

and sitting, so we sold it about two months ago. Sitting for two

years -- it’s the worst thing you can do to a boat. I just didn’t

have the time to use it. It killed me to get rid of it because it was

a beaut. They don’t make it anymore. But she gets me on the weekends.

That’s our deal and it works out very well.

Do you plan to get another boat once your council stint is done?

Most probably. Maybe even before. We’ll see. It’s not up there on

my list right now.

You play a Keystone Cop in the Balboa Island Parade every year.

What inspired you to become a Keystone Cop?

Every year for the last 10 years. Ten years ago, one of my

neighbors -- Ken Lindahl, who’s a police volunteer -- came up with

the idea and it was a great idea because 10 years ago is when the

fire station was built. That’s when we had our first parade, so it

was his idea to do this. Keystone Cops are the really goofy guys, so

he put it together for the kids and the residents. And it’s been a

tradition and we’ve been doing it ever since.

It’s interesting. When it all started, none of the four of us were

involved in anything prominent in the city, but what’s funny, the

four Keystone Cops -- one is Ken Lindahl, a police volunteer; you’ve

got Earl McDaniel, who’s a planning commissioner; you’ve got Mickey

Dunlap, a civil service board commissioner; and me -- make up a very

official group. We go over to Catalina every July 4 and we do their

parade. They invite us over. This is the fun stuff.

Any final thoughts?

I’m looking forward to it. I truly am. There’s always a lot to do

in Newport Beach just by the very nature of the city. It’s an

affluent city, it’s a smart city and the people here expect the best.

They don’t want second rate and part of my job is to continue that.

Also, I hope we can get back on track with the integrity issue.

There are people out there who are going to take shots at government

no matter what happens and there’s nothing anybody can do about that.

I can’t do anything about that. I truly believe that the substantial

majority of people in the city respect local government, respect what

we’re doing and support what we’re doing. Unfortunately, we don’t

hear enough from those folks. We hear from those who are unhappy with

an issue and that’s something I want to get past also, if I can. I

don’t know that I can. I’m out in front with everything. I hide

nothing. If I do something that’s wrong, I’ll own up to it and I

expect people that I’m working with and dealing with to do the same.

I practice what I preach. I expect people to be forthright and

honest.