“Sometimes we call our citizens, in a...

“Sometimes we call our citizens, in a nice way, high-maintenance.

They expect a lot for their money, so Mark [Harmon] is used to

working in a community that expects a lot for their money.”

-- Dave Kiff, Newport Beach Assistant City Manager, on the hiring

of Mark Harmon as the city’s new general services director.

“It was the coolest inflatable penguin, and everybody just loved

it. It’s just really neat seeing something out of the ordinary once

in a while.”

-- Julie Mattson, a Newport Beach resident who noticed the penguin

above the Lido Theatre and later saw the movie, before the city made

the theater take the inflatable creature down because it violated

Newport’s sign ordinance.

“Avocados were a difficult one. People don’t always like to eat

them plain, so we couldn’t have eating contests. I thought, ‘They are

fairly round; you can throw them; you can catch them.’ I had to use

my imagination.”

-- Erin Koenig, coordinator of the Orange County Fair’s Kids Park,

on the difficulty of incorporating avocados, this year’s agricultural

theme, into her part of the fair.

“I realized that these weren’t just bodies. These were bodies of

Jewish people. I was Jewish, and these might have been some of my

relatives.”

-- Leigh Steinberg, Newport-based sports agent, at conference for

teenagers, recalling a moment from when he was in grade school and he

came upon a group of boys laughing at a book containing pictures of

Holocaust victims.

“We view it as an opportunity to be supportive of a community

where we are one of the major employers. We wouldn’t pay that kind of

money for exposure in Newport Beach. It wouldn’t be a very good

investment.”

-- Michael Stephens, outgoing Hoag Hospital chief executive, on

the hospital’s $100,000 donation to Newport Beach’s centennial

celebration.