Seeking respect for all podium speakers

Deirdre Newman

Dolores Otting is the Aretha Franklin of city government -- demanding

respect for residents from the City Council, where she feels it is

lacking.

The City Council candidate thinks it should be more inviting for

people to speak up at City Council meetings, not intimidating.

“I think it’s important to make City Hall a more happy place to

make people come,” she said. “There has to be more respect for people

who speak at the podium. Whether we agree or disagree, they need to

be thanked for their participating in government.”

Otting is running against incumbent John Heffernan in a district

that includes Newport Coast.

She started attending City Council meetings more than a decade ago

for business purposes and got hooked. She continued going to meetings

to follow issues she felt passionate about, and that passion never

waned.

“I don’t have children, so I have more time than someone who has

kids and a family,” Otting said. “Once I heard about something going

on, I cared about that.”

Eventually, people asked her if she was going to run for a seat on

the council. That was eight years ago. She ran but lost.

Undeterred, she is running again because some residents asked her

to when they heard incumbent John Heffernan might not, she said.

“They said, ‘You go to the meetings all the time anyway -- you

might as well go for it,’” she said.

Heffernan ultimately decided to run for reelection, so the two of

them are competing for the spot he holds.

Otting grew up in Saugus, Mass., north of Boston. She has lived in

Newport Beach for 15 years.

She and her husband operated a trash-hauling business -- 5 Star

Rubbish Service -- that got a franchise from the city in the 1990s.

They no longer have the business. She would go to City Council

meetings to keep an eye on the trash-hauling scene.

“Because in this business, there’s always someone that wants to

have the whole pie -- you had to protect yourself,” she said.

She is a staunch believer in open government. One area she would

like to shine more light on is the council’s handling of its sphere

issues -- which evolved from the city’s desire to expand its role in

several areas, including John Wayne Airport, redevelopment of Santa

Ana Heights, administration of tidelands in the city and

environmental protections at the closed Coyote Canyon landfill.

She is frustrated that an ad hoc committee is pursuing these goals

and doesn’t have to adhere to the same open-meeting requirements as

the council.

“ ... The public has no knowledge of what’s going on,” Otting

said. “The public needs to know. When do we get to know? I don’t know

what they’re doing. There’s no communication to us.”

Ad hoc committees in general are a pet peeve of hers.

“Every time there’s some [issue] of short duration, [the council]

starts an ad hoc committee,” she said. “They don’t have to [put it on

an agenda] or adhere to the Brown Act. Not that a lot of people would

want to go [to the meetings], but they should still have a choice.”

She also is an advocate of town hall meetings, because they invite

more public input, she said.

“In the 15 years I’ve lived here, the city has its top-10 list of

priorities,” she said. “Not once has anyone asked us what our top 10

priorities are.”