Surf City official takes new job

Economic Development Director Dave Biggs is heading up north, joining

former Huntington Beach Asst. City Administrator Bill Workman in

Redondo Beach.

Biggs will become the city’s new assistant city manager to

Workman, who currently leads the coastal Los Angeles County town of

50,000 as city manager. Workman said the two worked together often at

Huntington Beach City Hall and Biggs stood out strong among a list of

applicants who applied for the job.

“David came out head and shoulders on top because he’s got the

three things I’m looking for: experience, skills in the area the city

needs, and he is a person of very high character,” Workman said.

Biggs served as Huntington Beach’s economic development director

for 10 years, heading one of the largest redevelopment agencies in

Orange County through a period of growth in the city that included

the soon-to-be-completed rebuilding of the Huntington Beach Mall, the

construction of the Hyatt Hotel, affordable housing projects and a

business park on the north side of Surf City.

Workman said Biggs will now be charged with overseeing the

expansion of the Galleria Mall in Redondo Beach and handling

personnel and labor relations.

There are many similarities between Huntington Beach and Redondo

Beach, Workman said.

“He’ll still be dealing with the Coastal Commission on a regular

basis, working with our own AES power plant and interacting with an

active business community that participates in the public debate.”

Biggs grew up in Huntington Beach and said he enjoyed working in

his hometown.

“It became more than just a job -- it was a lifestyle,” he said.

“I urge the city to just keep moving forward. The world is moving

around you and this will remain a great place to live if the city

continues to keep forward with continued progress.”

Local brewing company on the tube

The nationally syndicated television program “Blind Date” taped

part of an upcoming dating at Brewbakers on Heil Avenue in Huntington

Beach.

The episode features Jennie from Surf City and her counterpart

Steven from Los Angeles, who sampled beers and bread at Brewbakers

before venturing off to further enjoy a Surf City blind date.

The timing of the show didn’t allow the couple to brew their own

“Surf City Brew” for which the owner, Huntington Beach resident

Dennis Midden, is known for.

The show will air on KCOP-TV, Channel 13, at 1 a.m. Friday.

The episode, taped in November 2004, originated at Brewbakers but

included stops at Duke’s and Hurricane’s.

No X-Games for Surf City this summer

The popular X-Games Surfing competition will not be returning to

Huntington Beach this year.

The city’s event planner Naida Osline said television station ESPN

opted not to return to Surf City after local swells were a dud in

2004.

“I think they had some bad luck with the waves a couple years in a

row,” she said.

The cable sports giant first included surfing in the competition

two years ago, introducing the Game, a contest where surfers from the

Western and Eastern coasts compete against each other on teams.

ESPN televised the event in 2005, making it the first-ever surfing

competition to be broadcast live on network television -- ESPN ran

the competition on its sister network ABC. Both stations are owned by

Disney.

“They were great to work with and it really looked slick on

television,” said Osline. “It was a big event media-wise, but I don’t

think there was a big draw from the public to attend.”

Replacing the X-Games, which fall one weekend after the U.S. Open

of Surfing in August, will be a newly rescheduled Assn. of Volleyball

Professionals competition.

“I don’t think the public will see a gap in events down there,”

Osline said.