Lennar wins all four El Toro bids

Alicia Robinson

Opponents of plans for an airport at the closed El Toro Marine Air

Corps Station likely heaved a collective sigh of relief Wednesday

when the auction of the former base property finally closed for good.

Lennar Corp., a Miami-based real estate developer, was the winning

bidder on all four of the parcels, which went for a total of $649.5

million. Lennar placed the only bids on two of the parcels, and it

battled with two undisclosed bidders for the other plots.

“I don’t think there were any real surprises. Parcels two and

three have the bulk of the residential home sites,” said Emile

Haddad, Lennar’s regional president for California. “We now roll up

our sleeves and start the real work.”

The development is expected to include 3,400 homes, 45 holes of

golf, a university campus and 3.1 million square feet of research and

development, office and retail space.

Campbell unleashes

flurry of proposals

State Sen. John Campbell on Wednesday announced a raft of

ambitious legislation he’ll be working on this session, including a

taxpayers’ bill of rights, a reduction of the number of paid holidays

state workers receive, and a bill that would allow public-private

partnerships to improve state highway rest areas.

Of particular interest to Newport Beach voters is a bill that

would allow cities to obtain longer leases on parks from the state

Department of Parks and Recreation. Leases can now last 10 years, but

the bill would extend that term to 25 years. Newport Beach is working

on extending a lease for the new Sunset Ridge Park.

Campbell attempted to reduce the number of state holidays from 14

to 12 in the last legislative session, but that bill failed.

Tran suggests security trumps Brown Act

Hoping to prevent California’s tourist attractions from becoming

security risks, Republican Assemblyman Van Tran, who represents Costa

Mesa, on Wednesday introduced an amendment to the Brown Act that

would allow city councils to use closed session to discuss potential

threats to the security of private property. Under current law,

councils can discuss labor negotiations, pending litigation,

personnel issues and public property negotiations -- not private

property issues -- behind closed doors.

“Disneyland clearly presents unique security requirements the city

council must consider, and the freedom to deliberate in private is

necessary to effectively handle these issues,” Tran said. “This is a

concern with public attractions all over California and must be

addressed to provide the best protection for the public.”

Dean gives them

something to yell about

The “Dean scream” notwithstanding, Newport-Mesa Democrats are

ecstatic to have former Vermont governor Howard Dean at the helm of

the Democratic National Committee. Dean was chosen to head the

committee on Saturday.

“I’m very, very excited,” said Natasha Palmaer, who lives in

Corona del Mar. “You have so many political pundits saying the

Democrats need to come closer to the center, they don’t know who they

are, they need to woo the red states; and my feeling is no, we don’t

need to do that. We can go back to our roots.”

Those roots, to Palmaer, are protecting working people and

promoting affordable health care. Another Newport Beach Democratic

voter, Barbara Kohan, said opponents might be spinning Dean as more

liberal than he really is, but she still thinks he’ll give the party

some backbone, particularly on social issues.

“I think fiscally, no one’s liberal anymore,” Kohan said. “I think

he will move us a little bit to the left, which is where I think we

should be.”

Because he’s outspoken, Dean will also help Democrats call more

attention to scandals that happened on Republicans’ watch, including

the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, said Ed Tawil, a Costa Mesa

Democrat. He thinks that will help define the differences between the

Democratic and Republican parties.

“The Democrats’ messages sound like George Bush’s messages except

gentler,” Tawil said. “You’ve got to be different. You can’t stand up

and be the same and ask people to vote for you.”

Even though he supported John Kerry for president, Orange County

Democratic Party Chairman Frank Barbaro said he’s happy with the

choice of Dean for a number of reasons -- he’ll unify the party, he’s

a good public speaker, and what’s perhaps most important of all, “he

also has the capacity to raise a ton of dough.”

Tran to hold open

house in town

Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran will hold an open house Friday at

his district office to meet constituents and hear their concerns. The

event is scheduled from 3.to 6 p.m. at 1503 South Coast Drive, Suite

205, Costa Mesa. For information, call (714) 668-2100.