Candidates stump at forum

Marisa O’Neil

Newport Beach City Council candidates struggled to be heard above the

frequent roar of airplanes overhead Saturday, even as they discussed

airport expansion.

It was fitting in a way, since air traffic noise -- along with

local land development and water quality -- came up as an issue for

the city and for the candidates speaking at a forum Saturday

sponsored by the Little Balboa Island Property Owner’s Assn.

Incumbent Steve Rosansky and newcomers Dolores Otting and John

Earl Buttolph spoke at this campaign season’s first candidate forum,

held in a Little Balboa Island home’s back yard. The 10 a.m. forum

included three of the six candidates for City Council. Others were

invited but could not attend, organizers said.

“[John Wayne] Airport will determine our quality of life,” said

Buttolph, running against Rosansky in the second district, which

includes West Newport. “Our council must ensure [Newport Beach] is

not in the path of John Wayne Airport expansion.”

All three candidates cited the airport as the most important issue

facing the city. All said they were against expansion of John Wayne

Airport.

Otting, an outspoken City Council critic, and Buttolph both said

they support the Airport Working Group, which advocates a new airport

at the former El Toro Marine Air Base near Irvine. Rosansky said that

the city needs to preserve limits at John Wayne Airport because an El

Toro airport is “off the table.”

“We can’t rely on that,” he said. “We have to pursue other

options.”

A proposed 110-room luxury hotel in Newport Harbor came up as

another major issue in the forum. Again, the newcomers came out

strongly against it while Rosansky took a more moderate tone on the

project, which will appear on the November ballot.

“We need to hear what the people want,” Rosansky said. “That’s why

the project needs to go to a vote.”

Buttolph, an attorney who negotiated with the City Council to

subject hotels to a Greenlight vote, criticized the council’s

handling of the proposed Marinapark resort. A Greenlight vote is an

initiative proposed to Newport voters when the developer of a project

requests a major change to the city’s general plan.

“The City Council under Greenlight is obligated to approve

something before sending it to a vote,” he said. “In this case they

decided the law didn’t apply to hotels. It won’t be that way in the

future.”

Buttolph and Otting said the publicly-owned Marinapark land should

be preserved as a park.

“Save this last piece of public land that belongs to us for us,”

Otting said.

Otting, a former teacher running for the seventh-district seat,

told the roughly 25 people in attendance that she believes more city

business should be done in the open, in public meetings, rather than

in committees behind closed doors. She said she wants to be a voice

for residents’ wishes, even if that goes against the rest of the

council.

Rosansky cited his experience as a council member, urging people

to vote for him based on his record.

Buttolph, a widowed father of two teenage sons, said he wants to

preserve the unique character of the city’s neighborhoods. He cited

his ability to negotiate and said that council members need to show

respect to one another and for residents.

“I’ve seen people on the council act like some people are a

nuisance,” he said.

Incumbent John Heffernan, who will run against Otting, did not

participate in the forum. Nor did Catherine Emmons, who will run

against Rosansky and Buttolph.

Councilman Steve Bromberg, who is running unopposed in the fifth

district, was present at the forum but did not participate.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.