Women’s conference organized

Alicia Robinson

As the only female member of the Newport Beach City Council, Leslie

Daigle is using her position to put the accomplishments and concerns

of her gender in the spotlight. She has organized the first Orange

County Conference for Women, a September event featuring about 20

local woman discussing health, business and activism.

“It’s really an opportunity for women to learn and network,”

Daigle said. “A real theme of it is to honor and recognize the past,

but also to look to the future.”

ESPN sports analyst Ann Meyers Drysdale -- an Olympic silver

medalist and the only woman ever drafted by the NBA -- will be the

keynote speaker, and other speakers will include former Newport Beach

Assemblywoman and state Senator Marian Bergeson, Nancy Gardner of the

Surfrider Foundation and governmental affairs consultant Christine

Iger.

Daigle said she’s hoping between 300 and 400 people will attend

the conference this year, and she plans to keep the conference going

in the future.

“We wanted to start modestly and see what kind of legs it has,”

she joked.

The Orange County Conference for Women is slated for Sept. 14 at

the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach. For information or to

register, visit https://www.ocwomen.org.

El Toro ‘great’

sale completed

The proverbially eternal springs of hope may be drying up when it

comes to an airport at the El Toro Marine Air Corps Station. About

3,900 acres of the former military base officially changed hands

Tuesday, when buyer Lennar Corp. closed escrow on the $649.5 million

property.

That means plans for the Great Park -- 1,316 acres for public use

that will include wilderness areas and a museum -- can move forward,

said Maryann Maloney, a spokeswoman for the Great Park. The next step

is demolishing the old runways, which should happen in December or

January, she said.

“I think [Tuesday] certainly was the most significant milestone

yet in this process,” said Irvine Mayor Beth Krom. “If all goes well,

we expect to see the first features of the park within the next three

years.”

Rep. Chris Cox, who is awaiting confirmation to the Securities and

Exchange Commission and earned few friends in Newport Beach for not

pressing for an airport at the base, called the sale “the most

successful base closure in history.”

“The Pentagon will receive two thirds of a billion dollars in this

transaction,” Cox said in a statement. “At the same time, the people

of our community will be able to enjoy over 3,000 acres as parks,

open space, and wilderness. Furthermore, an additional $400 million

will be paid to the city of Irvine to transform the former military

base into parkland.”

On Tuesday seven architectural firms hoping to head the park

project toured the base, and a firm is likely to be selected in

September or October. Lennar will develop the rest of the property

with about 3,400 homes, commercial and industrial space and a

cemetery, among other uses.

Newport-Mesa residents and officials who fear further expansion at

John Wayne Airport had pinned hopes on El Toro as a place for a

flight alternative, but a 2002 countywide vote crushed those dreams.

Budget vote divides Republicans

Orange County Republican legislators often stand together against

what they call Democrats’ profligate spending and attempts to

increase taxes, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s $117.3 billion

budget -- signed Monday -- is an exception. Costa Mesa Assemblyman

Van Tran voted against the budget, complaining that it continues to

ignore a $5-billion deficit and even increases spending by 13.5%

compared with the previous year.

“There are some good items in the state budget this year, there’s

no doubt about that,” Tran said Wednesday. “But the bottom line is,

we all know the ultimate problem that our state faces is the looming

and chronic deficit.... We are elected to [the Assembly] to address

this issue.”

But Newport Beach Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who voted for the

budget, apparently had no such qualms. He emphasized that although

there are unnecessary expenses in the approved budget, Republicans’

three-week holdout resulted in a $1.7 billion reduction of the

expected deficit and shrinkage of proposed fee increases.

“When you look at what the governor proposed to spend and how

close this budget is to that, you realize that we won. This budget

reflects the governor’s priorities,” DeVore said.

“I would ask my colleagues who held out, what more do they think

they could have gotten?”