Still Walkin’ Don

Don Webb logged 33 years working for Newport Beach’s Public Works

Department before retiring in July 2001. But the retirement was

brief, as Webb’s volunteer work as a City Councilman keeps him quite

busy.

On Friday, City Editor James Meier visited Webb at his Mariners

Drive home to discuss the new joint-use Mariners Library project, his

council goals and the nickname he picked up during the 2002 campaign,

Walkin’ Don.

Upon retiring as Newport Beach’s public works director, you

immediately said you wanted to run for City Council, which you did

successfully in November. Why the rush to return to city government

after 33 years with the city?

Well, it really wasn’t a rush. There was a year and a half between

the retirement and the election, which gave me a year to travel and

reflect on things.

When you retire, you don’t just go home and sit in a chair and do

nothing. You want to have something to occupy your time with.

I’ve lived in Newport for such a long period of time and I really

wanted the opportunity to continue my service to the city and the

citizens. I picked up a lot of knowledge over those years related to

all aspects of the city and felt that I wanted to continue to share

that.

How different is it being on the other side of the dais?

I guess there’s a number of ways to look at that. Instead of being

a hired employee, I’m now a volunteer that’s been elected. It’s not

an 8-to-5 job anymore, however I’m finding that I’m spending quite a

bit of time -- maybe not 40 hours a week at the present time.

As a city employee, I was more focused completely on public works

projects. As a City Council member, it’s really necessary to focus on

everything in the city, all of the various aspects of city

government. So that makes me look a little differently at everything.

Like, as a public works person, I would look at a building project

and say “OK, this is a top priority.” As a City Council member, I

have to look at the building project and say, “Now, how does that fit

in with the overall bigger picture and are there some other options

we need to consider before or after that.”

I think that being a past city employee, I know that I’ve had a

number of calls from people with some specific concerns that they

wanted additional information on and I’ve been able to direct them

directly to the person that can solve their problem or taken it on

myself and asked a few questions to get the answers.

What have you learned so far as a councilman?

I think that through the campaign, I learned that people of

Newport really want a council member who’s responsive to their needs.

There’s always two to three sides of every story and issue, so we

have to really listen to all of the voices, but ultimately it’s up to

you to pull those together and make decisions.

I think it’s important for council members to work together.

That’s one of the things I hope to be able to do. As the public works

director, it was necessary for me to do a lot of coordination with

the council. In the past, I’ve known many of the council members, so

I have a head start.

I actually knew [new councilman] Dick Nichols. I first came across

him in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s through some of the issues that he

had. So I’m not working with any strangers up there and I think, for

me, it’ll be easier.

Why were you so involved in the campaign for a new Mariner’s

library?

Two years ago, I was appointed to the Citizens Oversight Committee

for the Measure A bond issue for the [Newport-Mesa Unified] School

District and got really interested in the school district-related

things and the upgrades of our various schools.

At that point, I heard about the possibility of getting a grant

for a joint-use library between the school district and city, and it

tied into some of the things that I was working on. This particular

library right now was built in 1959 and is showing signs of its age

and needs to have some substantial improvements made to the building

to bring it up to the 2000 standards or an opportunity like this one

to upgrade to a larger library.

We have a great main library on the other side of the bay, but the

Mariner’s library is the one that handles the needs of the people on

this side of the bay. So all of those things together just really

kind of fit to work toward getting a joint-use library.

The fund-raising group, Theresa Chase and Chris Wilkinson, just

did a fantastic job working with Marian Bergeson pulling together the

citizens. We had city staff, Lois Thompson and Darlene Gaetano, who

was the other one on the library side who, in putting the grant

together, worked through the issues with some of the community. I

think we came up with a really good application. There were 13

outstanding applications and ours was one of those.

It just seems like the right thing to do for the community and I’m

just glad I can be a part of it.

What are some of your goals on the council?

Well, I mentioned earlier that I want the council to be responsive

to the needs of the community because, probably in connection with

that, the most important goal is to get the general plan updated into

the 21st century. It was last significantly modified in 1988 and that

was just a modification. It was created in the early ‘70s.

It just needs to have a new look to review the various elements to

make sure they meet needs. There may be some areas that need changed,

with modified zoning. There may be some areas that need a totally

different use.

I think that this side of the bay is really short on active

playing fields. I think we really need to work toward putting

together some new playing fields. I hope to look at Sunset Ridge Park

-- I call it Caltrans West myself because over the years of working

Caltrans in trying to get that property into the city, that’s what we

called it. And there will be some opportunities in some of the vacant

land that’s called Banning Ranch as far as creating some larger

sports facilities. So that’s a goal.

Dredging the bay and water-quality issues are always important

issues. I’ve been involved in that since the first dredging project

in the ‘80s. It’s just a continuing process to make the bay better.

It’s so much better now than 20 years ago. Every time, it rained

and we’d be out sailing the weekend afterward, we had little islands

with floating debris and oranges from the orange fields that you’d

sail through. You see debris coming down, but it’s people all around

the county are becoming more conscious that the drains drain to the

bay. We’ve made a lot of progress, but we have a long way to go, too.

Though you’re only a couple months into your stint as councilman,

do you think you’ll see reelection?

You’ll have to ask me that question in three years. There’s a very

good possibility. It just depends how things go over the next three

years. I’m not going to say yes and I’m not going to say no.

David Ellis helped manage your campaign and that of three others

in 2002 and has since taken heat over making phony phone messages in

the last two elections. Would you use him again if you seek

reelection?

I really don’t know. It would depend on, again, the way things are

in three years and what changes have been made. I’m going to be an

incumbent, so that’s going to be a different situation.

I don’t condone the tactics. I did not use any in my campaign.

Has the name “Walkin’ Don” caught on much?

More than I ever dreamed. That and the straw hat. I’ve had a

number of people who see me on the street and will say “Hi Walking

Don” or “You really do walk.”

That was interesting during the campaign, over at the Harbor

Heritage Run, we had a Walking Don team. There was this one lady

walking her dog down the street and said “Who’s Walking Don?” I said,

“Well, that’s me.” She said, “That’s great, my husband said there

really wasn’t one and I knew there was and now I can go up to him and

say I’ve met Walking Don.”

I did make an effort during the campaign to cover as much of the

city as I could as far as knocking on doors. Over in Spyglass,

there’s this little, tiny cul-de-sac, and it was a couple of days

after the Daily Pilot ran the article and picture of me. I went

knocking on doors and two separate people said, “We just knew you

wouldn’t find our street. Here you are and we really appreciate it.”

I don’t know. I think it really worked. It makes you feel good

when you’re recognized. As a representative of the city, hopefully

people will feel comfortable coming up and talking about whatever

issues that they feel are important to share. That’s one of the

things that I want them to know -- that they can talk to me.

How much do you walk daily?

I try to do it at least five days a week for an hour or hour and a

half. So it’s about three miles. Every now and then, I’ll get walking

and pretty soon I’ll be quite a ways from home. Sometimes, we drive

and park on the peninsula and walk around there. Newport just has

some beautiful places to walk.

Any final thoughts?

I’m happy to be a councilman for Newport Beach and to continue my

involvement and service to the city.