Great choice for landslide overseer

City officials could not have picked a better choice for the position

of Community Recovery Coordinator for the Bluebird Canyon landslide

than Bob Burnham.

The new, temporary position will be crucial to getting Bluebird

Canyon and its residents back to normal, as much as possible.

Burnham not only lives in Bluebird Canyon -- he was evacuated

along with his family -- but served in the sensitive and demanding

post of City Attorney for Newport Beach for some 22 years.

In that capacity, he handled some dicey issues, including keeping

a lid on the number of flights at John Wayne Airport, an

investigation of a former police chief, and the aftermath of

accusations of embezzlement lodged against a former utilities

director.

He also played a leading role in obtaining stricter environmental

regulations to clean up Newport Harbor and the Back Bay.

As such, he has trained well for his new job, which will include

assisting the city in obtaining federal and state financial

assistance, working with displaced residents, and managing overall

reconstruction efforts in the beleaguered canyon.

Burnham was considered a model city attorney, and the community

will be served well by this level of excellence and competence as it

embarks on a disaster recovery effort of this scale.

The fact that Burnham is so well-respected and known locally will

mean that he will get plenty of cooperation and assistance from the

many city departments that will be involved.

He will have his hands full.