POLITICS Bidding for a lease Firing yet...

POLITICS

Bidding for a lease

Firing yet another salvo in the continuing battle over the closed

El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, the Los Angeles City Council on

Tuesday voted unanimously to seek a lease of the El Toro property

from federal officials to build a regional airport. The land is

already up for bid in an online auction that opened Jan. 5.

The U.S. Navy and federal Department of Transportation have

already quashed any hopes that they’ll cooperate to allow an El Toro

airport, but L.A.’s move still angered airport opponents such as the

El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which plans to step up its

anti-airport lobbying efforts.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Man allegedly shot dead by stepson

A 69-year-old man was shot and killed in his Costa Mesa home

Wednesday morning, and his stepson surrendered to police a short time

later.

Arthur Lee Hayes was found dead in his Jasmine Lane home after an

anonymous caller asked police to check on his home. His stepson,

50-year-old Dennis Thomas, was formally charged with murder on Friday

and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

* A man who bought a yacht from a local couple shortly before they

disappeared in November will have to stand trial on unrelated grand

theft charges, a judge ordered Wednesday.

Skylar Deleon, a 25-year-old Long Beach resident, will face grand

theft charges in connection with unpaid repairs done on a boat he

owned in 2003. He purchased a 55-foot cabin cruiser from retired

Newport Beach couple Tom and Jackie Hawks at about the same time the

couple disappeared. He has not been charged in connection with their

disappearance.

* A disabled, 60-year-old Costa Mesa woman was fatally injured

Thursday night when a car hit her wheelchair as she crossed Broadway

at Westminster Avenue.

Claudia Young, whose father is former Newport Harbor High School

football coach Al Irwin, was commonly seen wheeling herself around

the Eastside neighborhood, where she lived with a caretaker. The man

who hit her was not cited.

COSTA MESA

Interim planning commissioner appointed

The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday appointed former Mayor

Sandra Genis as an interim planning commissioner, so the commission

will have enough members to hold a meeting, which is set for Monday.

The Planning Commission’s business had been on hold because two

former commissioners left after winning seats on the council in

November, and a third commissioner took a leave for medical reasons.

Genis will serve on the commission for one meeting, because in

February the council will appoint a new slate of five commissioners,

who will serve two- or four-year terms.

* The council also voted Tuesday to delay approval of a new

emergency medical services subscription program, which would offer

households membership at $36 a year. Those who pay the fee would not

be charged for emergency medical calls, but nonsubscribers would be

billed $300 for each emergency medical run to their house.

Questions, such as how the charges would be collected and whether

a new fee would be equitable to all residents, led council members to

postpone action on the new fee.

The city now pays for emergency medical services from its general

fund and does not charge residents extra fees, but nonresidents are

billed either $185 or $295 per emergency run, depending on the extent

of services they need. The proposed subscription program is one idea

to combat the city’s deficit spending.