THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:DeVore stands ground on plants

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An earthquake that hit Japan on Monday reportedly damaged a nuclear power plant, but it hasn’t shaken Newport Beach Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s resolve to allow new sources of nuclear power in California.

The incident has raised questions about whether nuclear plants should be located in areas that experience frequent earthquakes, such as Japan.

DeVore last week filed papers for a statewide ballot measure that would remove the ban on new nuclear facilities. He said Wednesday he’s not concerned by Japan’s earthquake mishaps, which various news reports listed as 1.2 tons of radioactive water spilled and 400 barrels of nuclear waste tipped over.

That wouldn’t happen under his initiative because it doesn’t allow plants to be built in quake-prone areas, DeVore said.

“We have a substantial seismic-safety exclusion zone in our initiative that excludes … roughly half of California’s terrain” from being the site of a nuclear plant, he said, adding that the Japanese plant was older.

Also, he said, according to an article from Bloomberg News Service, the amount of radioactivity in the spilled water is about the same amount that’s naturally present in 12 adults.

“I just don’t see this as germane,” DeVore said of Japan’s quake. “If anything, you have a massive earthquake, the plant gets knocked offline like it’s supposed to do, nobody’s injured as a result of the damage and life goes on.”

He has until Nov. 13 to gather 500,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot in 2008, and he’s working on raising about $2.5 million to fund the signature drive. DeVore thinks it’s unlikely nuclear plants would be built in Orange County because land costs are too high.

Donations for Marines’ families

The Newport Harbor Republican Women are seeking donations that will help Marine families with the necessities of life.

The 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, which the city adopted in 2003, later this month will face their third deployment to Iraq in two years. A committee made up largely of former Marines has raised money to assist their families, especially while the unit is overseas, with expenses. They plan to get gift cards that will help the families make ends meet.

To donate money for gift cards, write a check to the City of Newport Beach, with “1st Battalion, 1st Marines” on the memo line. Mail checks to Mary Newton, 460 Vista Trucha, Newport Beach, CA 92660. For information, call (949) 759-3469.

Fireworks on ballot?

Every Fourth of July, a handful of Costa Mesa residents bring up the nuisance and danger they say are created by fireworks, both the “safe and sane” kind and illegal ones. And inevitably someone brings up a 1990 advisory vote in which city voters opted to ban fireworks. That vote, however, was nonbinding, and apparently a fireworks ban won by such a slim margin that council members didn’t take any action.

Now, City Councilwoman Linda Dixon wants to put the issue before voters again. She asked at a Tuesday council meeting to have the council decide at a future meeting whether to place a fireworks initiative on the ballot, possibly for the February presidential primary.

She also suggested the council look at boosting the city’s hotel bed tax by 1% and using the proceeds to somehow benefit community youth and sports groups, which raise money by running fireworks stands.

Lobby for community garden

Costa Mesa’s green-thumbed residents continue to lobby the City Council not to shut down the community garden at Hamilton and Charle streets, or at least to provide them another patch of dirt first.

The council voted July 3 to negotiate with a developer that wants to include the garden parcel in a project that will include town homes and a Walgreen’s. Councilman Eric Bever, who suggested selling, said he’s committed to finding a place to move the garden, but residents are still worried. Replacing the garden with condos won’t improve the Westside, they told the council.

“There’s plenty of pollution right there,” gardener Mike Viljak said. “I think we all know plants act as a filter, they clean the air, they produce more oxygen. I think that’s an excellent place to have the garden…. Don’t turn Costa Mesa into ‘Grosta Mesa.’ ”

Bever has proposed moving the garden to Fairview Park or the farm on the Segerstrom Home Ranch property, but neither idea has been vetted.