Meet the council applicants

Tonight the Newport Beach City Council will appoint a replacement for former Mayor John Heffernan, who resigned his seat last month. This will be the fourth time the council has appointed a member to its ranks since October 2003, when Councilman Steve Rosansky joined the council. Since then, Councilwoman Leslie Daigle and Councilman Ed Selich have earned appointments.

Last week, the Daily Pilot contacted the five applicants and asked them three questions:

1. Why should the City Council choose you to fill the empty council seat?

2. What single issue or topic do you most want to tackle if you are appointed?

3. Do you support the controlled-growth agenda of the city’s Greenlight activist group?

Their answers follow.

We encourage readers to read the responses carefully. If one applicant stands out, contact your member of the council and show your support. The council members can be reached by calling City Hall at (949) 644-3309 or via e-mail at these addresses: Mayor Don Webb, don2webb@earthlink.net; Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, lesliejdaigle@aol.com; Councilman Dick Nichols, nbcouncil@ranichols.info; Councilman Tod Ridgeway, tridgeway@city.newport-beach.ca.us; Councilman Steve Rosansky, parahdigm@aol.com; and Councilman Ed Selich, edselich@adelphia.net..

DANIEL WAMPOLE

AGE: 57

FAMILY: Married, Carole; son Spencer

EDUCATION: High school; a “self-made man”

JOB: Owns an employment agency, Legal Network, and a bowling alley in Yorba Linda; also does real-estate investing

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Largest collector of Toys for Tots in Orange County for 16 years; Newport Beach Communications Committee; Newport Coast Advisory committee; president, Newport Ridge Homeowners Assn.; vice president, The Point at Newport Ridge Homeowners Assn.; Newport Coast Committee of 2000, which oversaw the annexation of Newport Coast into Newport Beach

1. The seventh district is largely composed of Newport Coast, and there never has been a resident of Newport Coast on the council. I have extensive working knowledge of most of the issues in Newport Coast and many of the issues in Newport Beach, including extensive knowledge of the issues in our harbor, and I am an avid boater. I’m looking to serve the people for many years to come.

2. The new city hall. No. 2 would be the Newport Coast community center.

3. I support sensible growth in Newport Beach.

DOLORES OTTING

AGE: 53

FAMILY: Husband, Tony

EDUCATION: Bachelor of science, Salem State College

JOB: Real estate

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Newport Beach Environmental Quality Affairs Committee; Newport Harbor Republican Women; Balboa Bay Republican Women, Federated; board member, Harbor Hill Assn.; council president, Sunbridge Family; ran for City Council in 1996 and 2004

1. The City Council should appoint me because I recently ran for City Council, and I was a very close second to former Mayor John Heffernan, who won by 3,125 votes. I received 17,108 votes or 45% of the votes cast, which shows I had support throughout the city. Also, John Heffernan’s parting request in his resignation letter was “that the City Council does the right and fair thing and appoint Dolores Otting ... as [his] interim replacement pending the upcoming City Council elections this coming November.”

I have been a dedicated community volunteer and voice of the residents for over a decade. I share many of the same views and positions as Heffernan. I strongly believe in doing what is right for the residents and what is right for the city, and that is how I will base and form my decisions. I believe in open government and public participation equating to government of the people, by the people and for the people.

I have lived in Newport Beach for over 17 years and truly loved every minute of it and all the people here. I am a businesswoman and realize how important the business sector of our community is. I have a very common-sense approach to business and government. Appointing me to the City Council will make over 17,000 people happy and will tell them that their vote did count.

2. Besides the general plan being distributed to the residents in understandable bite-size pieces so they will comprehend what they are voting on this November, and the dissemination of a citywide public improvement plan, I would like to spend the next nine months concentrating on an emergency-warning and disaster-preparedness plan.

It was only seven months ago that Newport Beach had to evacuate the City Hall and people fled the Balboa Peninsula due to a tsunami warning. The fact that we have both islands and a peninsula, and much of that at sea level, I feel it would be invaluable for me to spend the rest of the year working with the city and fire department to attain and implement the best emergency-warning system and disaster-preparedness plan for our residents and children. There are over 400 children a day who attend school on the peninsula; their safety will be my top priority.

The National Weather Service declared Dana Point as being the first city in Southern California to be “TsunamiReady.” Huntington Beach has also since achieved that status. I want to see Newport Beach attain the same. I also want to incorporate a mass-calling system that can simultaneously dial thousands of numbers and notify residents of an emergency. We need to be added to the list of cities that implement mass-calling systems and sirens as warning systems. We need to show our residents and our children that we care.

3. I support the right to vote! I feel that the voters in Newport Beach are some of the most intelligent, educated and informed voters in the county. The residents of Newport Beach voted and passed Measure S, which now gives them the right to vote on projects that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

Thanks to Measure S, they will never ask, “How did that happen?” There are some who feel having the residents vote on projects is usurping power from the City Council. I feel, however, that as public servants, it is about serving the needs of the residents and not about losing power.

I would like to be part of the solution in the city that starts to educate our residents about “smart growth” and the benefits it can have for all of us, including emergency response, less traffic, less congestion and more open space. Just because there is Greenlight and Measure S does not mean that the voters cannot vote yes, and it does not mean that Greenlight cannot endorse smart growth.

NANCY JONES

AGE: N/A

FAMILY: Widowed, 3 children, 6 grand- children

EDUCATION: UC Santa Barbara

JOB: Retired

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Vice chair, Heritage Committee; Newport Beach Centennial Committee; Hoag Hospital 552 Club; volunteer, Toshiba Senior Classic; World Affairs Council; Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (UCI Extension)

1. As a resident of Newport Coast, I would like to encourage my neighbors to become more involved in the life of the city, and I think another woman would bring balance to the council.

2. The City Hall complex.

3. I have not yet spoken with the key people of the Greenlight group, and would need to learn more of the background of their rationale before I could respond.

SCOTT PEOTTER

AGE: 49

FAMILY: Linda, wife of 25 years; children Kristen, 22, Brian, 17, and Allison, 15

EDUCATION: Bachelor of science, architecture, University of Illinois; licensed architect

JOB: Owner of Aslan Companies Inc., a project management, entitlement and architectural firm

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Planning commissioner from 1990 to 1998, serving as chairman twice. My wife and I have been involved with Voyagers Church for 10 years and Mariners Church before that. I have been an assistant scoutmaster for my son’s troop for six years, where he has followed in our family tradition by recently achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. I was chairman of our association’s architectural committee prior to becoming a planning commissioner.

1. The City Council needs a fresh look at several of the difficult issues that face our community -- issues like allowing residential development in the airport area and redeveloping city hall. As an architect, business owner and planning commissioner, I am well equipped to deal with these difficult issues starting tomorrow.

2. As an architect and planning commissioner, I would like to be involved in the civic center rehab and financing. It is important that we are responsible with taxpayers’ money while providing a facility that will serve this community for another 50 years.

3. Our quality of life in Newport depends on a delicate balance between property owners’ rights and the environment. We as homeowners and property owners want to be able to expand our homes without a vote of the people, but we also want to be able to drive to work without having to spend hours just getting in and out of Newport Beach. I believe that we elect our council to make those choices and strike that balance.

KEITH D. CURRY

AGE: 50

FAMILY: Wife, Pamela, married for 23 years; daughter Julia, 21, graduate of Corona del Mar High School and now a senior at Concordia University in Irvine

EDUCATION: Master’s in public administration, bachelor’s in political science, certificate in urban studies, Cal State Long Beach

JOB: Managing director, Public Financial Management Inc., Newport Beach, a national financial advisory and consulting organization focused on state and local governments

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Chairman, Newport Beach Facilities Financing Committee; Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce; Concordia University Building Fund Cabinet; Mariners Church; Lincoln Club; Reagan Administration Alumni Assn.; and president, National Assn. of Independent Public Finance Advisors.

1. I bring over 30 years of experience solving problems facing cities and local governments. I understand the fiscal environment in which cities must operate, and I bring a financial perspective to ensure Newport Beach remains one of the most fiscally sound communities in the state. I will work to ease traffic congestion; preserve our beaches, harbor and bay; and maintain the high quality of life we enjoy in Newport Beach. In 2006, the general plan update will be the most important issue before the council, and I will strive to ensure the plan reflects community input and enhances the long-term economic and environmental strength of our city. High-performing city councils are known by their ability to forge consensus on complex issues, and I look forward to working with the other council members in a spirit of collegiality and in listening to residents, regardless of differences on the issues.

2. First of all, residents of Newport Beach expect a high level of performance from their city government. I want to focus initially on a long-term capital plan for our city facilities, including construction of the Newport Coast Community Center, City Hall and the Oasis Senior Center. I also want to ensure that Newport Beach receives sufficient funding and flexibility from the proposed reauthorization of Measure M to fully and quickly implement our traffic synchronization program and relieve traffic and parking congestion, particularly near the beaches and peninsula.

3. I did not vote for the Greenlight initiative; however, it is the law in our community, and if appointed I will work to implement its provisions in a good-faith way that is fair to all stakeholders. As a “built-out” city, it will be important for the City Council to look at all projects in the context of Greenlight as we seek to rehabilitate our older areas. As we approach the finalization of the general plan update, I believe property owners and residents can work together to reach consensus on the land-use practices that will preserve our quality of life for future generations. If appointed, I will work to bring all interested parties together in a manner that protects property rights and reflects the legitimate concerns of our fellow neighbors. I pledge to look at each project individually on its merits.