Nichols a likely City Council topic

June Casagrande

It’s not on their agenda. They’re not yet sure whether or how they

plan to bring it up. But council members are certain that Councilman

Dick Nichols’ comments about Mexicans on Corona del Mar State Beach

will be the subject of much conversation at their Tuesday council

meeting.

“You know how public comments take about an hour? Well, I wouldn’t

be surprised to see them go on all night,” Councilman Tod Ridgeway

said.

The City Council agenda was finalized on Friday without any items

devoted to the Nichols matter. It’s possible that council members

will decide to put the issue on the agenda for discussion at a

subsequent meeting. But it’s even more likely that the topic will

dominate the early portion of the meeting devoted to council members’

comments.

“I find Mr. Nichols’ comment appalling,” said Ridgeway, who was

not certain whether he would take the opportunity at Tuesday’s

council meeting to voice his feelings. “We’re somewhat limited by the

Brown Act. ... But my feeling is that an elected official shouldn’t

make these irresponsible comments.

“A lot of us were brought up with tolerance,” Ridgeway said. “This

is incomprehensible.”

Civil rights groups are expected to turn out to speak or even

protest at the meeting since the topic has gathered national media

attention. On Thursday and Friday, Mayor Steve Bromberg was

interviewed by 10 news organizations.

“This thing has gotten really big,” Bromberg said. “We’re going to

try to deal with this in the way decent people should deal with it.”

Bromberg has publicly called for Nichols to voluntarily resign,

but Bromberg said he is not yet sure whether the council will take

any formal action.

The council has limited power to act on situations such as the

Nichols comment. They might choose to censure him or to impose

sanctions, including stripping him of assignments to council

committees and other bodies, such as the Newport Coast Advisory

Committee.

Nichols said in a phone interview on Tuesday that he opposes

expanding grassy areas at Big Corona beach because “with grass, we

usually get Mexicans coming in there early in the morning, and they

claim it as theirs, and it becomes their personal, private grounds

all day.”

In response to the public outcry, Nichols has reaffirmed his

statement, calling it “blatantly true.” However, he feels it was

taken out of context because the comment was emphasized over other

points he made about beach improvements.

* 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.