NEWPORT BEACH City may rethink how hotels...

NEWPORT BEACH

City may rethink how hotels are evaluated

In the wake of legal pressure from Greenlight, City officials

might reconsider their method for considering hotel projects in the

city. Greenlight officials say that, if the projects are more than

40,000 feet over what the general plan allows for any site, the

matter should go to a Greenlight vote.

* A desolate patch of concrete between the Arches Restaurant and

the Arches Bridge could provide some parking relief to Mariners Mile.

City Councilman Don Webb said he wants the city to work with property

owner Caltrans to discuss putting city-run parking there.

* John Wayne Airport’s 2003 passenger levels were the highest in

the airport’s history. More than 8.5 million travelers passed through

the airport last year.

* Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends have added a new event to

its annual Earth Day Walk. This year, after the walk, there will be

an Estuary Awareness Day with informational exhibits, live music and

crafts for children.

-- June Casagrande

POLITICS

Campbell accuses Maddox of dealing with Democrats

A campaign mailer from 70th District Assemblyman John Campbell is

telling GOP voters that 68th District Assemblyman Ken Maddox, one of

Campbell’s opponents for the 35th district senate seat, cut a deal

with Democrats to pay the salary of one of his staffers.

Maddox said he asked assembly Democrats for the money because his

office’s budget was cut and he didn’t want to fire a good employee.

He said he’s not worried about how the mailer will affect his chances

in the March 2 primary.

* Two Republican candidates for state offices reported boosts to

their fundraising in campaign finance reports filed last week.

Reports covering Jan. 1 to 17 showed 70th Assembly District candidate

Chuck DeVore added $117,000 to his coffers, bringing his total to

nearly $296,000.

DeVore said that gives him “cash parity” with Cristi Cristich, the

leading fundraiser in the race with $298,000.

A candidate for the 35th district senate seat, 68th District

Assemblyman Ken Maddox, reported raising nearly $13,000 during the

period, edging his $260,000 cash total a little closer to the

$420,000 his opponent 70th District Assemblyman John Campbell has in

the bank.

-- Alicia Robinson

PUBLIC SAFETY

Two men in custody

for boat burglaries

Police arrested two 20-year-old men early Wednesday in connection

with several boat burglaries in the harbor since October, officials

said.

Matthew David Lewis of Costa Mesa and Justin Christopher Little of

Newport Beach may have been connected with most if not all of the

more than 50 burglaries on boats docked along several miles of Coast

Highway, Harbor Island Drive and Bayside Drive.

The arrests happened after a patrol officer scrutinized a boat

yard Wednesday morning in light of the recent burglaries and caught

the men walking up to their car with a stolen plasma television

valued at $10,000. Both men are being held in Newport Beach city jail

in lieu of a $150,000 bail and face felony burglary charges.

* The Costa Mesa Police Department will use a $157,000 state grant

from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the Business,

Transportation and Housing Agency to fund more sobriety checkpoints

and an additional DUI enforcement team on weekends.

-- Deepa Bharath

BUSINESS

Homes out of many majority’s range

With housing prices in Orange County continuing to climb, only 18%

of households in the county could afford the median priced home in

November, data from the California Assn. of Realtors showed. In

December, the median price for a single-family home in Costa Mesa was

$599,500, up 42% from the same month in 2002. Local real estate

experts said because so few homes are for sale, prices will continue

to climb.

-- Alicia Robinson

COSTA MESA

City approves modified 1901 Newport proposal

City leaders bucked public opposition and approved a modification

of the original proposal for the 1901 Newport Boulevard condominiums.

It’s now up to developer Rutter Development to decide if the modified

plans are feasible. The approved plans call for 145 units, 415

parking spaces and a subsidy of about $1.5 million.

* The fair board decided not to shift the handling of the bidding

process for the swap meet at the fairgrounds to an outside

consultant. Bob and Jeff Teller created and have been running the

Orange County Market Place for the past 35 years. It will now be up

to the fair’s executive committee to decide how to handle the bidding

process.

-- Deirdre Newman