EDUCATION Newport Beach boy turns soap hearts...

EDUCATION

Newport Beach boy turns soap hearts into profits

After attending at two-day school workshop on how to make soap at

school, 10-year-old David Penner of Newport Beach decided to turn his

new-found interest into a profitable business. He sold more than 100

soap hearts prior to Valentine’s Day and will give 20% of the profits

to the American Heart Assn. in honor of his grandmother, who survived

a heart attack in November.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District decided to move toward

constructing a new building at Newport Harbor High School due to the

instability of Loats Theater and Robins Hall. Both structures were

determined to be seismically unsafe according to a study conducted by

structural engineers. The board voted, in a 6-1 vote with Trustee Tom

Egan dissenting, for a new building that will maintain the current

facade instead of retrofitting the old ones.

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at christine.carrillo@latimes.com.

NEWPORT BEACH

City will look at luxury resort plans at Marinapark

Councilmen Steve Bromberg, Tod Ridgeway and Don Webb will form a

committee to examine a developer’s plans for a 110-room luxury resort

on the peninsula at Marinapark.

Residents who attended Tuesday’s City Council meeting to support

preserving the Port Theatre were surprised to learn that an item on

the agenda wasn’t really about preservation. The city postponed

voting on whether to designate three city theaters as “landmarks,” a

designation that would give their owners more freedom but would not

bestow and historical or preservationist status.

A fire station in Santa Ana Heights would use at least $3 million

in funds set aside for redevelopment of the area. Though a handful of

residents have protested, saying that they should not pay the full

cost of a station that will serve other areas, county supervisors

gets the final say.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.

BUSINESS

Ribs and burgers to replace Aysia 101 in Newport

It was a week in which Newport-Mesa learned it had attracted two

new restaurants and a health conscious-grocer.

A San Bernardino-based restaurateur plans to install two

family-style eateries on Mariner’s Mile to replace the failed Aysia

101. Rib house Tony Roma’s and Irish-themed Bennigan’s are expected

to open in June at the 2901 W. Coast Highway address.

Also, San Diego-based healthier-foods grocer Henry’s Marketplace

announced it would open a third Orange County location, in Costa

Mesa, within the month.

Henry’s would go in as an anchor tenant in Costa Mesa Square,

which is located at the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Nutmeg

Place. Occupying a 25,000-square-foot space, Henry’s will offer fresh

fruit and produce, a deli, bulk foods and vitamins.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

paul.clinton@latimes.com.

COSTA MESA

Huge turnout cancels redevelopment meeting

A fired-up crowd of industrial property owners packed an

auditorium in the Police Department Monday night to protest the

city’s tentative plans to add its properties to the downtown

redevelopment zone. But the overflow crowd was more than the

auditorium could handle, forcing the Redevelopment Agency to cancel

the meeting and try again in a larger venue in March. The city is

contemplating adding 434 acres to its downtown redevelopment zone.

The city also released information that the Redevelopment Agency

owes more than $41 million in principal and interest on five

different debts. Some of the industrial property owners charge this

is overwhelming evidence that, if the new areas added to the zone,

the agency will use the property taxes it collects to pay off its

debt instead of reinvesting in the area.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.

PUBLIC SAFETY

State says violent crime dips 25% in Costa Mesa in 2002

Crimes dropped in Costa Mesa in almost every category during the

first nine months of 2002, the state Attorney General’s office

reported Tuesday.

Violent crimes plummeted 25.2%, according to the preliminary

report. The only category that increased was thefts.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety. She may be reached at (949)

574-4226.