CITY ROUNDUP:

A closed Ralphs that residents feared would become a 99 cent store is now out of the hands of the supermarket giant, a move that observers say gives the landlord more room to bring in a store residents and neighboring stores want.

Ralphs has come to an agreement with the Ayres family, which owns the shopping center at Brookhurst Street and Hamilton Avenue, Ralphs/Food 4 Less spokesman Charles Barfield said. Ralphs is giving up its 15-year lease in exchange for what it considers adequate compensation, he said. Barfield declined to provide details on the deal.

“By closing on that deal, the Ayres family now has complete control of the property,” Barfield added. “I don’t believe there’s any restrictions on who could be a future tenant.”

Future tenants are exactly what residents and business owners worried about at a community meeting in March. Most who spoke that night said they wanted a boutique grocery store like a Trader Joe’s or Bristol Farms, but city officials told them no supermarket would ever lease to a direct competitor. That problem disappears with the Ayres family, which also owns the Huntington Beach Hotel, now in charge.

The city pushed to keep both sides negotiating, but it couldn’t tell anyone what to do, Economic Development Director Stanley Smalewitz said.

“In terms of Ralphs’ rights under the lease, they could rent to anybody they wanted,” he said.

But Smalewitz thinks getting both sides to talk may have prevented a worse outcome.

“We made sure that everybody kept coming back to the room and didn’t go into litigation that would last three or four years,” he said. “That’s something nobody wanted.”

Public meeting to focus on eroding levee

A public meeting on emergency improvements to an eroding levee on the East Garden Grove Wintersburg Channel will take place at 6 p.m. Monday. The Orange County Resources and Development Management Department has scheduled the event in the multipurpose room of Marine View Middle School, 5682 Tilburg Drive. Topics of the meeting include the levee’s condition, the permit process, and plans to install improvements. Call Phil Jones at (714) 834-2599 with any questions.

Discuss local issues, legislation with Harman

Residents who want to meet State Sen. Tom Harman will have the chance at an open house Nov. 1 in Costa Mesa. Those who attend will be able to tour Harman’s district office and discuss legislation and local issues.

The event will be at his district office, 950 South Coast Drive, Suite 240 and is open to the public.

Taxpayers Assn. gives senator an ‘A’ rating

The California Taxpayers’ Assn. has given Harman an “A” rating for the 2007 legislative session. This was the fifth year the group, which opposes raising taxes and government spending, gave Harman its highest rating.

Rep. gives remarks on Dalai Lama’s policies

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher commented last week on a visit by the Dalai Lama to the U.S. in which President Bush and Congress gave the exiled Tibetan leader a Congressional Gold Medal.

He spoke out against Chinese occupation of Tibet but said the Dalai Lama’s request for regional autonomy didn’t take a hard enough line against the communist country.

“The Dalai Lama has a big heart but he is a little naive if he thinks that the Chinese Communist Party will seriously negotiate or discuss anything with him or his representatives,” he stated in a release.

“He first presented his autonomy peace plan to the Chinese 20 years ago, and the result has been more and more repression. For example, the Chinese recently completed a railroad into Tibet flooding Tibet with Chinese.”