Pirate can’t scare new mayor

Dave Sullivan was sworn in as Huntington Beach’s newest mayor Monday, nearly 10 years to the day after he first took the oath of office.

Sullivan was unanimously chosen by his six fellow council members to serve in the city’s top post, ending the one-year reign of 34-year-old Huntington Beach High School teacher Jill Hardy. Councilman Gil Coerper was unanimously elected as the city’s mayor pro tem at the same meeting.

Sullivan was first elected to office in 1992, served two terms on the City Council that included a one-year stint as mayor in 1995, and then was reelected for a third term in 2002. Coerper was first elected to office in 2002. Both will be up for reelection in 2006.

After several brief commendations from city leaders, Sullivan gave a frank speech on his plans for the city, including a call for turning Main Street into a pedestrian mall and a renewed focus on developing the city’s tourism industry.

“We must work together to ensure the qualities that attracted us here are preserved and strengthened,” he said.

Sullivan also called for pension reform and said the city’s retirement system put Huntington Beach on a financial crash course.

“It’s absolutely unsustainable to have people retiring in their early to mid-50s on a significant portion of their salary,” he said. “I predict that we are in for a very unpleasant surprise -- thankfully, this council has not increased the problem.”

Representatives from the Bolsa Chica Land Trust and Huntington Beach Tomorrow praised the work of former mayor Jill Hardy and offered words of wisdom for the coming year.

One speaker, however, was not so accommodating.

Dressed in a pirate hat with pink wings on his back, a pterodactyl puppet on his right hand and a roulette wheel in his left, a man who identified himself as Will B. King told the council he would be watching from his home in Santa Monica and would return to the city if scandal began to brew.

“If things go wrong, I’m going to charter a bus with all my celebrity friends and grill you like breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he said.

Dave Sullivan didn’t seem intimidated.

“I’m grateful to be living in Huntington Beach,” he said. “And I’m grateful that the last speaker doesn’t.”

Free parking downtown during the holidays

If you’re shopping for Christmas gifts in downtown Huntington Beach this holiday season, make sure to ask merchants for a free parking voucher for the city’s parking structure.

From Dec. 12 to the beginning of the year, downtown merchants will be handing out vouchers good for two hours of parking. The City Council recently approved the plan, negotiated between the city’s Community Services Department and the downtown Business Improvement District.

The city will lose about $2,500 in parking revenue from the proposal but hopes to fill the gap with an increase in sales taxes.

Last year the city allowed the downtown merchants to hand out one-hour vouchers. Steve Daniel, president of the business district, said that program was successful and should be expanded.

Holiday toy drop-off sites

Combest General Store, 7881 Edinger Ave. in Huntington Beach, is an official Toys for Tots drop-off site for all holiday gifts for children.

General Store, which has served the community for 41 years, will be celebrating its 21st year with Toys for Tots.

For information, please call (714) 895-9977.

The city’s public safety officers will also be collecting toys for needy families. All fire stations in Huntington Beach, the civic center lobby and the police department lobby will serve as drop-off sites where the public can bring new, unwrapped toys or sports equipment.

For additional information, contact Martha Werth in the Fire Department at (714) 536-5419.

Visitor’s Bureau chief to appear on local TV show

Doug Traub, president of the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitor’s Bureau, will speak about the current climate for the tourism industry in Huntington Beach as part of a special segment of Supervisor Jim Silva’s television program, “The Silva Update.”

The program will air Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 4 and 10 p.m. on Time Warner Cable TV.

Silva will also interview Mark Feary of the Orange County’s Tourism Council on how the county’s tourism efforts coincide with Surf City’s campaign to attract overnight guests.

Silva will be termed out of his spot on the Orange County Supervisors at the end of the 2006. He is planning to run against Diane Harman in the republican primary for a chance to replace Harman’s husband Tom Harman on the California Assembly.

Poseidon weighs in on desalination guidelines

Nikolay Voutchkov, corporate director of technology at Poseidon Resources, was invited to join with two dozen desalination experts at the World Health Organization technical committee for creating international guidelines on safe desalination.

The invitation-only committee, composed of the desalination experts from the Middle East, Japan, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and the U.S., is selected based on peer recognition, and met in Kuwait earlier this month.

Voutchkov was also given an award for best overall paper at the International Desalination Assn.’s World Congress in Singapore.

Poseidon is in the approval stages of developing a $250-million desalination facility in southeast Huntington Beach. The City Council is scheduled to take up the issue on Jan. 9.