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?”
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