OC Blog

Red County/OC Blog News Roundup -- June 30, 2007

Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain:

Where to see fireworks this Fourth of July -- OCR
Celebrate Independence Day with fireworks, outdoor concerts, food, early morning fun runs and other events for the whole family.

Man gets prison for high-speed crash -- OCR
'There is no bringing Brianna back,' mom tells driver. 'You have caused our family a lifetime of pain and needless suffering'

Woohoo! I got an iPhone! I got an iPhone! -- OCR
After 26 hours in line at Apple store, Mac addict gets what she came for.

Rainy season slinks away -- OCR
Santa Ana records only 2.2'' of precipitation.

Ex-choir director arrested on sex charges -- OCR
Albert Lee Schildknecht accused of molesting a 16-year-old student more than a decade ago.

Family of missing O.C. priest finds clue -- OCR
Crews are searching the Oregon coast for a priest and his companion after relatives discovered the names of the missing pair on a cheese factory guestbook.

Bumpy Black Star Canyon Road improved -- OCR
Recent repairs have made the road safer for emergency vehicles, recreational users.

Heavy holiday travel expected -- OCR
John Wayne Airport officials recommend arriving 2 hours early through next week during July 4 crunch.

Record white seabass speared -- OCR
The world record for a white seabass caught on rod and reel is 83.75 pounds. So when anglers see this, jaws are likely to drop and more concerted efforts will probably be made to pursue these kings of croaker along our coast.

Police fatally shoot driver -- OCR
Man rammed police cruisers at end of 3-mile chase from Newport Beach into Costa Mesa, officials said.

Foothill Ranch man will spend life in prison for torturing wife -- OCR
Prince Edward Maryland, 42, was sentenced today to 144 years and eight months in prison for beating and torturing his then-wife over a four-day period.

Chaplain answers toughest calls -- OCR
When Roger Rustad walked down the Mission Hospital hallway the nurses hugged him, their silent faces lined in sadness.

Capistrano sues Laguna Niguel -- OCR
Lawsuit seeks to halt development of ridgeline.

The ultimate PTA mom -- OCR
Anaheim's Jan Harp Domene, is set to serve as national president of Parent Teacher Association.

Motorcyclist dies in 91 freeway crash -- OCR
CHP investigating wreck.

Hong Kong theme park outsmarts the mouse -- LAT
As Disneyland sputters, a revived Ocean Park is making a comeback as the local choice.

Judge orders man to leave Irvine mosque alone -- LAT
Worshipers say they reported him to authorities after he asked to become a convert and began talking about jihad.

Prosecutors guilty of playing with man's compensation -- LAT
The law says James Ochoa is owed money for a false conviction. But the attorney general's office is hedging.

O.C. toll road to raise off-peak rates -- LAT
The limited increase comes months after a raise in the peak-hour tolls.

Brookstreet is getting a look from regulators -- LAT
The Irvine brokerage's founder says SEC and NASD officials have been going through the failing firm's records.

Shoppers hold the line -- DP
iPhone, which retails more than $500, causes stir among customers, who wait in line all night to buy it on first day of release.

Council contemplates community garden sale -- DP
The community garden at Hamilton and Charle streets in Costa Mesa could be on its way out. The City Council on Tuesday will decide whether to negotiate with a developer who wants to buy the 20,260-square-foot parcel

Newport City Council retains commissioners -- DP
Newport Beach City Council members installed nine people on city boards and commissions at their meeting Tuesday, mostly re-appointing sitting members to new four-year terms.

Newport Beach City Government: Lots Of Mouths To Feed

I spotted this post over at Newport Voices, comparing the size of Newport Beach city government to other OC cities in terms of city employees per resident:

As a follow up to a comment response from my previous post, I thought I'd do some research about the size of Government in comparison with Newport Beach's neighbors. It is very well known that our City Hall is overcrowded with Government Employees, which results in a "poor work conditions," and "poor worker morale" and is "an embarrassment for those work for the City or do work for City." This overcrowding has created trailers on the lawn of City Hall and, coupled with the impending Earthquake and/or Tsunami which will destroy our current City Hall, has spawned the huge effort to have the City Hall moved and rebuilt. It has also created a fun summer of the City Hall vs. Park debate/arguments/petition signing.

But before we do that, here are some facts, taken directly from the City's websites:

You can read the rest of the post here.

Close The Orange County Zoo?

That was the obvious implication fo Supervisor John Moorlach's comment about turning the OC Zoo's inhabitants over to the Santa Ana Zoo, so I called John to ask him if he was indeed calling for closing the OC Zoo.

He said no, but he wants the county to look at the zoo's operations, find out why attendance is on the decline and find ways to increase public awareness and attendance. And ultimately, if attendance doesn't grow, he'd recommend shutting it down.

I don't agree with Sup. Moorlach that "no one's coming" to the OC Zoo. The attendance figures in the Grand Jury report are inaccurate because the then-zoo director provided incomplete information. I think the first clue to the Grand Jury would be the precipitous 55,000 person attendance drop from 2003/2004 to 2004/2005:

"There's An Orange County Zoo?"

I heard that response from two different people yesterday when i brought up the subject of the Orange County Zoo. But individuals are very well informed people who know the county and follow local government and politics.

But they had know idea the County of Orange has a zoo.

I broach the subject because one of the many items on Tuesday's Board of Supervisors agenda was the Grand Jury's report on Orange County's zoos: the Santa Ana Zoo (operated by the City of Santa Ana) and the Orange County Zoo (operated by the County of Orange).

OC Sheriff's Department Joins Blogosphere

I saw on Tin Star blog the Orange County Sheriff's Department launched a blog on June 20.

I only scanned it briefly, but it will be worth checking out periodically see if they posts items of real interest.

Sheriffs Deputy Union Fights In Mailbox To Keep Harbor Patrol

The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs (AOCDS) is mailing to Newport Beach residents urging them to contact their councilmembers and Supervisor John Moorlach to express their opposition to transferring responsibility for patrolling Newport Harbor from the Sheriff's Department to the Newport Beach police.

Here is the mailer, which landed yesterday.

So far, according to my sources, Supervisor Moorlach has received 7 phone calls and the councilmembers a total of 19 calls. I don't know the pro/con breakdown.

LA Following OC's lead in transportation

After decades of trying to socially engineer people to ride busses and subways instead of cars, Los Angeles transportation leaders finally may be conceding that most people in Southern California have always and will always rely on their cars as their primary modes of transportation.

Today's article in the LA Times says that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is developing plans to add tolls on LA carpool lanes for single-passenger vehicles.

Kudos to OCTA for shaming MTA into doing something to fix their traffic problem other than continuing to pour hundreds of millions of dollars down a public transit rathole.

Guns & Money...Yuck!

This is outside the realm of OC, but once in a while it's alright to venture beyond the Orange Curtain.

I came across this article on private security contractors in Iraq. Like every aspect of U.S. involvement in Iraq, it is coming under attack from from the Left. Left-wing Congressman Henry Waxman, for example, is investigating the plans of one such firm, Blackwater, to build an 824-acre training facility in southeastern. Any enterprise involving guns and profit seems to be is ipso facto evil in the eyes of the Left, because it involves guns and profit.

Red County/OC Blog News Roundup -- June 29, 2007

Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain:

OC Business Group Rates County's Housing, Jobs Balance -- LAT
Irvine, Tustin, Newport Beach, Anaheim and Huntington Beach have received high marks for balancing housing and jobs from an Orange County business group, which also warned that a looming imbalance threatens the county's prosperity and quality of life.

Placentia Gets Horn Relief -- LAT
After upgrades along the rail tracks, the city gets a quiet zone designation next week.

Ficker Rallies To Build City Hall Next To Park -- DP
Newport Beach architect Bill Ficker is gathering signatures for a ballot measure that would build a city hall next to the central library on Avocado Avenue.

Editorial: Toward A Color-Blind Constitution -- OCR
Two school districts' racial-balancing plans are voided by the Supreme Court.

Alicia Robinson's Political Landscape: Assemblyman's New Addition -- DP (6/27/07)
Tran welcomes first child. Also, a ballot measure would cap retirement benefits new government employees could collect.

Immigration Bill's Result Relieves Local Officials -- DP
Many local lawmakers applauded the death of the immigration reform bill on Thursday that would have legalized millions of illegal immigrants and said the issue will spark debate in the 2008 presidential race.

Seal Beach Closes Its Privately Run Jail -- LAT
The O.C. city had been taking on increasing costs and responsibilities, officials said. The jail had repeatedly been cited by the state.

Parasol To Be Reincarnated -- OCR
In its next life, Seal Beach's architectural oddity will be a Mel's Drive-In, part of a chain of nostalgia-inspired restaurants.

Court Rules Against Schools Use Of Race -- OCR
The U.S. Supreme Court said many integration plans are illegal.

Inside Scoop: Shea Homes Suit Delayed -- OCR
A judge decides to wait and see what the California Coastal Commission has to say before hearing a lawsuit against Shea Homes.

Getting A Taste Of Anaheim -- OCR
R40 restaurants give participants a chance to sample.

JSerra In Midst Of New Debate -- OCR
Council to discuss signs and scoreboards appeal.

“…a modest bit of fiscal responsibility…"

After 430 miles of I-5 and a couple of road repair delays, I just walked in the door with my family from Sacramento.  Our road trip was delayed six hours by internal Democrat wrangling over the new tribal gaming compacts, pushing our adjournment from an expected 11 AM to a little after 5 PM. 

Getting into the L.A. area around midnight, I asked Diane to look up the L.A. Times via Blackberry to see if an article was running Friday that I thought might run.  It had.  The gist of the piece is that “Republican state lawmakers are rebelling in increasingly public ways…” against Governor Schwarzenegger.  I'm pleased to say that the Times quoted me as the lead-off GOP rebel:

"The governor, contrary to popular Sacramento mythology, has been growing government more rapidly than Gray Davis did during his administration," said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine). He pointed to a report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office that projects a shortfall of more than $6 billion by next year under Schwarzenegger's plan.

"What we are trying to do is exercise a modest bit of fiscal responsibility," DeVore said.

“…a modest bit of fiscal responsibility…" – is that too much to ask for?  The link to the piece is below.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
State Assemblyman, 70th District
www.ChuckDeVore.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-republicans29jun29,1,3968153.story?coll=la-news-politics-california