Losing a mayor, safety and money

Living in Newport Beach can really make dreams come true, and it has

for Mayor Steve Bromberg, who will be leaving the council to become a

Superior Court judge.

Congratulations, Steve!

Sadly for us, this means the third City Council appointment in 19

months. You would be hard pressed to identify another city in Orange

County or probably even the state that has experienced this much

turnover. The next time you go to the polls and vote for the

candidate that is touted as being the best by the fire and police

employee’s unions, think again! They don’t seem to be making it

through their terms, and it is costing us our rights to

representative government.

There is always such a plethora of topics in Newport Beach, that

it is challenging to stay focused, but I am going to try.

To begin with, I hear (haven’t seen) that the city has composed a

five- to 10-year building plan that encompasses what we need to

repair and replace, how much and when. Of course there has been no

mention of how to fix our harbor, and as I thought, we ended up with

pennies from Washington. Unfortunately, we received only $2 million

of the $66.7 million that was allocated for Orange County.

Getting back to the multi-million-dollar list, of paramount

importance is the desperately needed pedestrian bridge over Newport

Coast Drive. Three truck accidents are three too many. Join the

mothers at Newport Coast Drive and watch as their children are

delivered to them across six lanes of incredibly high-speed traffic,

with cars and trucks making right-hand turns into them as they

quickly jump back onto the curb. As you stand there, you will

literally feel the earth move under your feet. It’s frightening! The

$1-million loop road did almost nothing to improve safety, and given

that Newport Coast is such a fiscally responsible part of town, do we

really need to ask to put this at the top of the list?

Regarding the project to build a new city hall, it looks like we

have reached the $50-million mark, and we have yet to receive

schematics or to place a shovel in the ground. Remember this is $50

million in principle and $100 million of debt over the next 30 years,

without a vote by the taxpayers. The city is circumventing the spirit

of our charter by using certificates of participation instead of

bonds.

This latest figure came as a result of meeting with the financial

advisors. The city was informed that it would need insurance to get a

AAA rating and a first and last payment, which totals an additional

$8 million. Clearly the cost of $760 per square foot, quoted by

Councilman John Heffernan, has now been blown out of the water. We

can probably be looking at upwards of $800 per square foot to build

the economic engine of redevelopment of the peninsula -- a.k.a. City

Hall. Compare this cost with the county average of $350 per square

foot and the lease cost of $1.50 per square foot at Newport

Technology, up the street at 500 Superior. It is another example of

how inefficient government is when competing with private industry.

And finally, kudos to students at Estancia, Costa Mesa, Newport

Harbor, Corona Del Mar and Huntington Beach high schools, who, as

part of their service projects, spent a gorgeous Saturday with the

elderly and the sick in three of the four nursing homes in Newport

Beach. They brought joy to so many! Doug Owen, bishop of the Corona

del Mar ward of the Mormon Church, accompanied them. He informed me

that the Newport Beach temple is near completion and to mark our

calendars because we are all invited to the open house from July 23

to Aug. 20.

It’s another first in our city of Newport Beach.

Keep our soldiers safe!

* DOLORES OTTING is a regular contributor to Sunday Forum and is a

community activist.