Bob Wynn, meet Bob Dole
June Casagrande, Lolita Harper and S.J. Cahn
Remember how, during the 1996 presidential election, Bob Dole fell
off a stage during a campaign rally? And remember how his popularity
rating went up immediately after the incident? Well, apparently local
notable Bob Wynn remembers, too. The former city manager and current
representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on
Tuesday, attended a presentation in City Council chambers for Pieter
Bourges, who resuscitated Wynn after he collapsed at a local Ruby’s
restaurant.
It was the first time Wynn made the news since the controversial
Mormon Temple project was approved in the fall after a long and ugly
battle over the height of its steeple.
His tongue-in-cheek contribution to the proceedings: “With all the
sympathy I’m getting here tonight, is there any chance we could
change the height of the steeple again?”
Maddox gets a little more power
Assemblyman Ken Maddox got a little more power last week when he
was appointed Assistant Republican Leader by the Assembly Republican
Caucus.
“I went to Sacramento to fight for the families of my district. I
am honored to help lead my colleagues into the upcoming budget
battle,” Maddox said in a statement.
The Assemblyman, who now represents Costa Mesa and has announced
his intentions to fill Ross Johnson’s state Senate seat in 2004, will
be part of the party’s strategy sessions and will work with new
legislators to help them with their learning curve.
Putting the metal
to the pedal
Councilman Chris Steel is now leading the agency set up to
revitalize the Westside, and boy does he have some ideas for how that
should be done.
Steel was elected to chair the Redevelopment Agency, which was
created to revitalize economic and physical conditions in a specific
project area.
Steel, who has served on the council since 2000, was put into
office in large part by residents who have forcibly pushed for the
Westside to be turned from an industrial eyesore to a paradise of
high-end homes. Many of his supporters have called for the city to
rid that area of town from the various charities, liquor stores and
pawn shops that they claim lower property values.
While at the helm, Steel said he wants to target the so-called
“magnets” that he said draw illegal immigrants to the city and lower
test scores and property values. Although the position is largely
ceremonial, Steel will be charged with running the meetings, which
are guaranteed to heat up as the city gets closer to adding
territories to its redevelopment project area.
Given his penchant for letting people speak at will during council
meetings, look for redevelopment agency meetings to get longer as the
issues get more contentious.
Pledging the tough fight for his people
In his swearing-in speech this month, Orange County Supervisor Jim
Silva promised to continue to be tough on the county’s budget by
making “county government even more efficient, effective and
accountable to the taxpayers.”
But at the same time, he also pledged “to continue to meet our
obligations to the people of Orange County.”
Those obligations, notably, include high levels of public safety,
clean beaches (Silva, whose district includes both Huntington Beach
and Newport, said: “Orange County is known for our beaches. It is
part of who we are.”) and creative traffic solutions. They did not,
however, include an airport at El Toro, two words absent from his
speech.
Not that that should be taken to mean the death of the airport,
reports of which have cropped up in the media of late.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.