Surf City turns away MTV

City officials are balking at a request by pop cable channel MTV to

host summer programming from Surf City beaches.

Others feel that this is exactly what the city needs.

“I think it would be great for the city,” Surf City resident Julie

Plozai, 22, said. “People that watch MTV are going to be the people

taking vacations here.”

But city officials aren’t interested.

“Bringing a whole lot of kids in the summer is really not

something we need to do,” Mayor Cathy Green said. “We’re already so

filled up in the summer, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

MTV producers had hoped to air nine weeks of their summer

programming from a beach house stationed in Surf City. Popular

programs such as “Video Clash,” “Spankin’ New Music” and “Total

Request Live” would have been aired from a spot near the Huntington

Beach Pier.

“I think it could be a good opportunity, provided that it was

something that the city wanted to do,” said Doug Traub, president of

the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau. “It would give

us national exposure for a prolonged period of time.”

Traub, who has worked with the city to promote it as an overnight

tourist destination, said he succeeded in negotiating with MTV to

shrink the amount of filming time, but that city officials were still

hesitant, given reduced resources.

“Staffing is down this year, and Downtown residents have a hard

time already with all of the events we have,” Police Chief Kenneth

Small said. “For me, the issue is how many people, where are they

going to park and how are we going to find the resources to handle

it.”

Traub said that MTV may also look at the state beaches for a

locale.

A Huntington State Beach lifeguard supervisor, Lt. Mike Brousard,

said that no request has been made yet by MTV, but did say they would

consider the issue.

“It’s hard to say now, but if they put an application in, I’m sure

we’d entertain it seriously,” Brousard said.

Plozai, who works at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, is sure

that it would draw needed attention to the city and plans to speak to

that effect at the next City Council meeting.

“If [MTV] comes, I will be down there on my break every day,” she

said.

City passes law on what demonstrators can carry

The City Council on Monday passed a law that will prohibit

demonstrators from carrying objects that can be used as weapons.

“Specifically, the ordinance is concerned with what types of items

people can utilize at any type of rally or public assembly,” City

Atty. Jennifer McGrath said. “The focus was public safety and making

sure people can’t utilize objects that can become weapons.”

Stakes holding up signs, for example, will be limited in size and

width. Metal bars will be banned, as will piping, large slabs of wood

and baseball bats.

Certain things seen as harmless were removed from the list, such

as plastic signs and inflatable devices.

“I took out some of the stuff I thought that the council and the

public found were questionable,” Police Chief Kenneth Small said. “It

had things in there like signs or banners constructed of anything

other than paper.”

The city of Los Angeles has a very similar ordinance, McGrath

said.

“This is a tool to enable [police officers] to diffuse a situation

before it becomes violent,” McGrath said.

The ordinance will require a second reading at the next City

Council meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the council

chambers.

Residents will have a say in search for manager

Residents are invited to take part in the search for a new city

administrator at a public forum later this month.

City Administrator Ray Silver will retire in July after 13 years.

Silver took over as city administrator in 1997 after serving for

seven years as assistant to former City Administrator Michael

Uberuaga. Before coming to Huntington, Silver served as city manager

in the cities of Coronado and Upland, and as director of planning and

land use for San Diego County.

The City Council interviewed five firms on Monday before settling

on the L.A.-based executive search firm Maximus.

City officials are hoping to solicit input from business owners

and residents to be used in the recruitment process.

It will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Huntington

Beach Central Library’s Talbert Room. The central library is at 7111

Talbert Ave.

For more information, call (714) 536-5577.