Mr. Curry goes to Washington

Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry shook hands with President Obama and ate lunch at the White House with about 200 mayors from cities across the country last week.

Curry and other mayors who participated in the United States Conference of Mayors’ annual winter meeting last week also got to meet Treasury Secretary Tim Geithener and visit the White House East Room. Curry got a lot of ideas from visiting with mayors ranging from Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago to the 21-year-old mayor of Muskogee, Okla., he said.

Curry talked about airport issues with the mayor of Arlington Heights, Ill., who told him about an upcoming conference in San Diego on airport air pollution. Newport Beach city officials now plan on attending the event.

Like Newport Beach, Arlington Heights has long struggled with issues relating to a nearby airport. The city is about 20 minutes from O’Hare International Airport.

Curry attended the conference at no cost to the city, he said.

FAIR BILL, AB1590, TO LAND ON ASSEMBLY FLOOR

Assembly Bill 1590 is scheduled to go before the Floor of the Assembly this week.

The bill, which was introduced by Assemblyman Jose Solorio and co-written by Assemblyman Van Tran, is designed to rescind an earlier bill that authorized the sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds.

The fairgrounds was auctioned off for $56.5 million to Craig Realty Group of Newport Beach during a live auction by the state Department of General Services, but 150-acre is not yet officially sold. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still has the option to halt the sale.