“I’ve spent so much of my life...

“I’ve spent so much of my life around the Back Bay, and watching it

in recent years, it’s been preserved so nicely.”

-- Donald Bren, Irvine Co. chairman, as he donated $20 million to

the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve, which includes a trail that passes by

the Back Bay.

“The big problem is that students don’t understand math. If they

can’t learn these skills, they are out of the picture for most

high-tech jobs.”

-- Matthew Peterson, chief technical officer at the Mind

Institute, a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit organization that develops

programming to help increase math literacy for students in

kindergarten through fifth grade.

“They’ve already got two of the seven [council members] who were

appointed rather than elected when they took office. If we get to

three, that’s nearly half, and I think it looks bad. It looks

incestuous.”

-- Allan Beek, a member of environmental citizens group Stop

Polluting Our Newport, on the Newport Beach City Council’s decision

to appoint a replacement for Mayor Steve Bromberg, who’s resigning to

become a judge.

“I know there are some people who are upset, but those are the

people who always tell us to follow the law. They don’t like to

follow the law unless it’s something that works for them.”

-- Steve Bromberg, mayor of Newport Beach, responding to criticism

that the City Council is going to appoint his replacement.

“That’s not like me. Something inside me really feels calm and

good about what I am doing. I don’t know what has happened to my

game, but ever since I’ve been here, my swing is ... unbelievable. It

feels really good.”

-- Paul Hahn, Newport Beach Country Club’s head pro, talking about

his practice rounds before playing in the Senior PGA Championship.