WEEK IN REVIEW

NEWPORT BEACH

Residents and skippers celebrate local tradition

The 99th annual Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade set sail this week with a pageantry of illumination reflecting this year’s theme, “Twas the Lights Before Christmas.” The Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce event drew big crowds who enjoyed the brightly decorated water crafts. Spectators waved and cheered as the boats passed by, sharing in the community spirit. A boat with a Grinch theme was one of the biggest crowd pleasers. Christmas carols, surf music and singing and dancing Santas added to the festivities. “It’s great to see that there are still things like this in our jaded world,” said Michael Wilcox, who has hasn’t missed a parade in the past 10 years.

City approves Irvine Co. deal including $6.3M of land

Newport Beach City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a multimillion-dollar development agreement with the Irvine Co., which agreed to provide four acres on East Coast Highway valued at $6.3 million.

Zoning for the area will merge two blocks of Newport Center, Fashion Island and San Joaquin Plaza to form North Newport Center Planned Community.

The deal includes about $43 million in development fees, road and park improvements, and other benefits from the Irvine Co. The development agreement also includes an option for Newport Beach to purchase property in the Newport Center block between Santa Rosa and San Nicholas drives for a new city hall.

 Rehab home activists said they will file a multimillion dollar-lawsuit against the city if Newport Beach doesn’t do more to reprimand homes where they say recovering addicts increase noise, trash and traffic on Balboa Peninsula.

The city’s largest rehab home operator also said it will fight new rules it said are “discriminatory.”

Both residents and rehabilitation home operators say they are unhappy with a proposed ordinance to curb the spread of rehab facilities in Newport Beach.

The council could approve new rules to govern rehabilitation homes in Newport Beach as early as January.

 Newport Beach City Council unanimously elected Councilman Ed Selich Tuesday as the new Mayor of Newport Beach and Councilwoman Leslie Daigle as Mayor Pro Tem.

PUBLIC SAFETY

ICE identifies 520 as illegal immigrants; officials rejoice

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Costa Mesa’s jail has identified 520 people who meet the criteria to be deported.

An average of 45 are held each month on immigration detainers. The 520 illegal immigrants were found through a filter of 2,045 people held for interview out of 5,396 arrests by police.

Costa Mesa police, ICE officials and some council members declared the program a success.

Opponents to the program state that relationships between the Latino community and police have become strained due to ICE and that deportation can leave children separated from their families.

EDUCATION

Parents of special-education students sound off at meeting

For more than two hours, Newport-Mesa school district’s special-education parents voiced their wide-ranging concerns and complaints to Supt. Jeff Hubbard Thursday night in a special meeting of the parents’ advisory committee.

A few central themes emerged from the parents: The process for choosing a students’ special-education plan is confusing and intimidating; the aides who work with special-needs children need to be better trained and there needs to be more of them; and parents need to be reassured people are being held accountable in the district for special education’s shortcomings.

Hubbard pledged to give any parent who asks a to-the-dollar account of where special-education money is going by the next parent advisory committee meeting.

He also acknowledged that not only do aides in the district need to be better trained, but Newport-Mesa, along with many other local districts, are having problems filling their positions because of the fights that have come to make up specialized education plan hearings.

POLITICS

Hispanic Caucus corrects local Rep. on his comments

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher retracted some heated comments made earlier this week, in which he erroneously blamed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for shelving a resolution he had co-sponsored.

The resolution, calling on President Bush to pardon Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, was introduced Dec. 6. Both men were accused of shooting Osvaldo Andrade Davila — a Mexican citizen who allegedly smuggled 100 tons of marijuana into the country — in the buttocks, receiving 10 to 11 years in jail.

“Instead of being proud Mexican-Americans who are defending our border, the Hispanic Caucus is portraying [Ramos and Compean] as simple, brutal cops who are committing police brutality,” Rohrabacher said at the time.

Rohrabacher retracted the comments later that week after the Caucus shot back that the bill hadn’t been shelved — by them, or anyone else.

“The CHC is not opposing or blocking this resolution,” the Caucus’ Chairman, Rep. Joe Baca (D-Rialto), said. “This resolution has bipartisan support, was introduced by a Democrat and has CHC members as cosponsors.”

“[The Caucus] contacted us to let us know that we did not accurately reflect their position, and I was very happy to hear that,” Rohrabacher clarified.

COSTA MESA

Aussie ambassador visits for Southern California tour

Shane Bourke admired Disney from afar as he grew up in Australia. This week the mayor of Wyndham, Australia, got to realize a lifelong dream to visit Disneyland as he also took in the sites in his sister city Costa Mesa.

During their diplomatic visit to Costa Mesa this week, Bourke and his family have seen a few other sights as well — a Mighty Ducks game, Universal Studios, and even an excursion to San Francisco. The two cities signed a sister city agreement in 1996, as an extension of a popular student exchange program with the city’s schools.