IN THE PIPELINE:

There are a few items I wanted to cover this week, all things that I think represent positive moments for the city.

First up, Richard Reinbolt e-mailed me about the passage of Councilman Keith Bohr’s proposal to allow Alice’s Breakfast in the Park to stay for two more years, which you may have already heard about.

“Councilman Keith Bohr led off with a very thoughtful recommendation indicating that it wasn’t the over 1,900 signatures on the petition as much as it was the passion of the speakers on Oct. 6 and Alice’s 28 years of service to H.B. The other council persons all responded positively and, except for a couple of members admonishing her to continue to hold up her end of the bargain (repair, termite spraying), Alice received a unanimous vote to extend her current lease ’til September 2010.”

Reinbolt was also kind enough to mention that he thought some of my columns might have helped stem the tide, but respectfully, I’m far more inclined to take stock in that petition that was presented. It was powerful evidence of what the public felt — and Reinbolt created it. Excellent job, Richard — you helped make a difference, and in my opinion, the community is better for it.

Also, the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitor’s Bureau Board of Directors recently appointed Stephen K. Bone as president and chief executive of the bureau, and so we welcome him. A graduate of the College of Wooster and Columbia Law School, Bone is the former president and chief executive of The Robert Mayer Corporation, where he was responsible for all entitlement, development, operations, marketing, management and financial activities of the company. Quoting from the formal announcement about his appointment, “Bone’s vision and leadership led to the development of ‘The Waterfront’ project in Huntington Beach, including the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort (1990), the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa (2003) and a residential development (2005).”

In addition to helping to create the bureau, Bone was founding co-chairman of the Orange County Tourism Council and founding chairman of both the Orange County Film Commission and Orange County Coast Watch. He has been chairman of the Orange County Business Council and of the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce, and has served on the boards of Orange County Coast Keepers and the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, as well as on the advisory board of The Collins School of Hospitality Management.

I spoke with Bone recently about his goals for the city, and I liked what I heard.

“I want us to be emphasizing more about surfing culture: the laid-back attitude that Huntington Beach was always so famous for,” he said. “We need to do a better job of conveying that to people, both locals and tourists. The people in the community itself are the stakeholders here, and we’ll be reaching out to locals to get their opinions and ideas about how to market the city.”

Bone also told me that he wants to reach out to the international market more, targeting the European leisure market as a group he feels will fully embrace the Surf City concept. As far as the recent push under his predecessor to create lots of Surf City USA® licensing opportunities, Bone said he’d rather focus his energies in other areas.

“There was good thinking there, but for now, economic times being what they are, I think we need to get back to basics. I don’t want to spend too much time worrying about licensing as much as I want to spread the word about the magic of Surf City. We have an incredible story here, and our job is to get that story out.”

Go get ’em, Steve.

Finally, the kind of local story we need more of. Christopher Hernandez, on the brink of reaching Eagle Scout status in the Boy Scouts, was required to create a leadership project that would benefit the community. He had the idea of building a memorial garden at his former school, St. Bonaventure. The garden would be placed in honor of a much-beloved teacher at the school, Maureen Martinelli, who passed away last year. Then, Christopher learned about a family at St. Bonaventure that wanted to place a statue at the school for their son, George “Joey” Meyers. Joey, who passed away in 2006 at just 23, had attended St. Bonaventure. So Christopher decided to expand his leadership project to include the statue for Joey, too. Families of St. Bonaventure School generously supported the project, and just a couple of weeks ago, the project was dedicated during a ceremony in the school’s courtyard where the memorial now stands.

I know Christopher would want to acknowledge the Jimenez family for contributing all of the plants, and to the Kincade family who helped with the cement — so thanks to you good folks. And thanks to Christopher for creating such a special “living” landmark in the city. I’m sure you made the Scouts proud. I know you made the rest of us proud, too. Special projects and stories like this are (in my opinion) woefully under-covered in today’s world. As you hear of them, please feel free to let me know about them so I can provide some coverage.

Next week, in honor of Veterans Day, In The Pipeline will focus on some incredible local vets.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 14 books, including the new “Huntington Beach Then & Now.” You can write him at chris@chrisepting.com.