INSIDE SCOOP

-- Compiled by the Daily Pilot staff

Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan last weekend got an unexpected

chance to vote one more time on the controversial Home Ranch project.

As opponents of the project -- which most notoriously includes an Ikea

on the land north of the San Diego Freeway -- fanned out through the

community in search of signatures to force a referendum on the

development, one sidled up to Monahan’s Eastside home.

And asked his now-Vice Mayorness, who approved the plan last month

along with the council majority, if he’d sign the pro-referendum

petition.

Monahan not-so-politely declined. And understandably, given that there

was no mistaken identity involved in the seemingly strange request. No

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were you” kind of moment.

The man with the petition? None other than Costa Mesa resident Paul

Flanagan, who certainly would recognize Monahan.

After all, Flanagan’s the one who filed the letter that sparked a

district attorney investigation into whether the City Council violated

the state’s open meeting law during the Home Ranch negotiations.

Add another star to “Ocean’s 11”

As if there wasn’t already plenty of star power at the box office over

the weekend in the form of the “Ocean’s 11” cast of George Clooney, Brad

Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and company, throw a little Newport Beach

into the mix.

In the Steven Soderbergh-helmed film, a group of 11 men try to pull

off one of the largest heists ever: rob three Las Vegas hotels of $163

million. Well, you can figure that split 11 ways, that money’s going to

go a long way for each of the men.

So, during a quick discussion as to where one can spend a good couple

hundred thousand on a sports car, the film made reference to where else?

Newport Beach.

Now there’s some free worldwide public relations that must bring

smiles to those over at the Newport Beach Visitors and Conference Bureau.