State of the city is ‘good’

June Casagrande

Mayor Steve Bromberg has been looking forward to delivering a state

of the city address for a long time just so he could say this: “The

state of the city is good. The state of the city is real good.”

His wish came true Wednesday as the Newport Beach Chamber of

Commerce held its annual meeting and State of the City address by the

mayor.

“The people in this city want the best, ask for the best, demand

the best, are willing to pay for the best, and it’s our pleasure to

give you the best,” Bromberg said.

A skilled lawyer and a perennial cheerleader for the city,

Bromberg presented plenty of evidence that things are good in Newport

Beach.

The John Wayne Settlement Agreement extension was at the top of

his list of reasons.

“There will not be open skies over Newport Beach and that was a

real danger for a while,” he told the crowd of more than 300 chamber

members and honorees.

Also no small feat, he said, the city continues to come up with a

balanced budget each year, despite the tough financial times that

make balanced budgets a rarity in city halls across the country.

“We have about $100 million in reserves -- 100-million bucks

sitting in the bank because we are conservative in how we handle your

money,” he said.

Of course, you can’t have a talk on the state of Newport Beach

without mentioning water quality. Though the city struggles to keep

pollutants out of the bay and ocean, Bromberg’s speech took time to

pause and appreciate the benefits of the struggle thus far.

“If you don’t look at it right after it rains, the bay right now

is cleaner than it’s been in 20 years,” he said. “That’s because we

work at it.”

Bromberg concluded his talk by acknowledging volunteers, in part

because the chamber meeting also serves as the group’s annual awards

ceremony.

Chamber President Richard Luehrs took the microphone at the end of

Bromberg’s speech to hand out trophies recognizing about 35

volunteers whose work has helped the chamber with events like the

Taste of Newport, the Police Appreciation Breakfast, the Christmas

Boat Parade and nearly a dozen other events.

He saved the best for last: The Golden Anchor Awards given to

Elaine “Izzy” Izzo of Future Image Make-Up Studios and to Kevin

Priestly of Priestly Chiropractic.

Izzo was honored for lending a hand in more than a dozen

capacities, including volunteering to do the hair and make-up of

young women leaving the Olive Crest home for abused children in Santa

Ana.

Priestly’s many contributions include donating chiropractic

services in exchange for stuffed animals to give to needy children

and X-raying Halloween candy.

“The business community does contribute a heck of a lot to the

welfare of this community,” Luehrs said.