Inside Scoop

It’s good to know some Newport Beach residents still care about the

well-being of their city officials.

At Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting, City Hall gadfly and Corona

del Mar resident Dan Purcell thought it was time to speak up for his

maltreated government members. No, he wasn’t worried about verbal attacks

on the city’s leaders. It was their honorable backs and behinds Purcell

had been thinking about.

The chairs on the dais “must be really uncomfortable,” said Purcell

during the meeting’s public comment segment. “They are filthy, yellow

and way out of style.”

Well, Dan, let’s not get into style questions here because, frankly,

the rest of City Hall could also use a make-over.

But fortunately for those who spend hours listening to mitigation

measures, project planning and environmental reviews, Councilman Dennis

O’Neil has also been thinking about the state of the chairs.

At his request, $10,000 in this year’s budget was earmarked for a new

set.

“The council finds the chairs uncomfortable,” City Manager Homer

Bludau said. “Not because of the subject matter, but because for sitting

in them for four to five hours, they are not the most comfortable

chairs.”

Bludau added that a consultant with a demonstration chair would attend

Tuesday’s council meeting and that the city clerk’s office has had some

models so Newport Beach’s distinguished leaders could test them out.

OK, the blue-gray chairs with the tall, cushy backs may have some

rather conspicuous yellowish spots right about where Newport Beach’s

heads of government take their rest.

But has anyone bothered to look at those swiveling leftovers from the

1960s that city staff members have to endure? They don’t have a tall

back. So no place for resting heads. And while they might have been light

gray at some point, it’s difficult to tell what color they are now.

Yellowish-brown?

Bludau said there are no plans to get new chairs for those sitting

directly below the dais.

“Maybe, if there is money left over, we might look at it,” he said.

“But the people behind the dais need to get served first.”

All right then. As for INSIDE SCOOP reporters and the ever-present

Purcell -- we’ll just stick to the red and blue theater seating. See ya

there.