CITYSCAPE ROUNDUP:

The city planning department will host a public workshop on its shopping cart containment ordinance passed earlier this year. The ordinance, which is meant to keep abandoned shopping carts off the streets, asks businesses to comply by developing containment and retrieval plans for stray carts. Businesses looking for some extra assistance in meeting the new rules can go to the workshop 11 a.m. to noon Nov. 29 at City Hall, Room B-8, 2000 Main St.

Code enforcement personnel will give an overview of the ordinance and help attendees draw up a cart containment and retrieval plan. Business owners can ask direct questions of city staff at the event. For more information, call Neighborhood Preservation Manager Bill Zylla at (714) 536-5274.

Planning Commission to discuss new senior center

The City Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss next week the proposed senior center planners intend to build at Central Park. Members already got a brief overview of the project at a study session Nov. 13, but took no action. This next meeting on Tuesday is also a study session, meant to walk commissioners through the environmental impact report on the project, which was released in updated form this month. As a study session, the meeting will have no vote on the issue. The commission is scheduled to vote on the final form of the environmental impact report at 7 p.m., Dec. 11, in the City Council chambers.

Local firm receives research grant from NASA

A Huntington Beach firm won a research grant from NASA meant to stoke cutting-edge space research from small companies. Hyper-Therm High-Temperature Composites, 18411 Gothard St., won a Small Business Innovation Research grant worth up to $600,000 over two years. The money gives the company the chance to develop a mechanical fastener made of ceramic composites, for use in heat shields for “hypersonic” planes that go several times faster than the speed of sound. Grant money comes from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards. Nationwide, 120 projects out of 243 proposals got funding from the program this year.

The “Phase II” grant to work on creating a usable product follows an earlier six-month grant to prove the concept works. The ceramic fastener could be up to 30% cheaper than the metal products it replaces, said NASA Dryden technical representative Craig Stephens in a prepared statement.

Lawmakers earn perfect scores from Chamber

Both State Sen. Tom Harman and Assemblyman Jim Silva got perfect scores from the California Chamber of Commerce for the legislative year 2007, each voting with its preferred position 14 out of 14 times.

“I am proud to have earned a perfect score from the California Chamber of Commerce,” Harman said in a prepared statement. “Small businesses are the backbone to our state’s economy, and I believe it is imperative that California continue to become more business friendly.”

This year marked the 32nd time the Chamber compiled a legislative report card.

For more information, go to www.calchamber.com.