INSIDE CITY HALL Here are some of...

INSIDE

CITY HALL

Here are some of the decisions coming out of Tuesday’s City

Council meeting.

FOURTH OF JULY

The council approved two measures to limit Fourth of July crime

and public drunkenness in West Newport.

As it has before, the city will reroute traffic during peak Fourth

of July hours on portions of Seashore Drive and the 100 blocks of and

alleys between 32nd Street and 54th Street, Balboa Boulevard, Back

Bay Drive and Newport Boulevard. That consent calendar item was

approved without discussion.

An item later on the agenda drew some comments. The item was a

second reading of an amendment to the city’s alcohol ordinance.

The ordinance will now prohibit stores from selling liquor out of

their parking lots or from trucks, tents or booths during the

holiday. The rules apply throughout the city.

WHAT THEY SAID:

“This is not prohibition,” Councilman Gary Proctor said. “This is

just prohibiting selling alcohol out of 18-wheelers from store

parking lots. It makes no sense that anyone would oppose this.”

MEETING TAPES

A long-standing concern of resident Dolores Otting that residents

can’t get cassette tapes of Planning Commission and council meetings

could change.

The council agreed with Otting that it’s time to look at

purchasing equipment that would allow the city to make tapes for

residents.

The problem is trickier than it sounds, though. Because meetings

in City Council chambers are recorded through the microphone system

for broadcast on cable television, the system is not compatible with

machines that use standard-size audiocassettes.

WHAT IT MEANS:

It was not an agenda item, so no vote was held. Instead, the

council asked staff to report back on the cost of buying the

necessary equipment.

WHAT THEY SAID:

“I think we ought to look into some kind of system that’s

compatible,” Mayor Steve Bromberg said.

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS

Open seats on five city boards and commissions have drawn a record

number of applicants -- 101. Of those, 31 applications are from

residents interested in taking over Shant Agajanian’s vacant seat on

the Planning Commission.

Agajanian stepped down last week because he was moving out of town

for work reasons.

The council will begin interviewing applicants for all the

positions, but cautioned that it will only be able to interview the

top third from the applications they received.

MARINAPARK HOTEL

A two-man council committee will help guide staff on dealing with

a tricky issue: lease terms for a possible luxury resort on the

city’s property at Marinapark.

The committee will consist of Councilman Tod Ridgeway, whose

district includes the site, and Councilman John Heffernan, whose

position as a Greenlight-endorsed councilman could represent

residents concerned about the project.

The committee will consider issues such as whether the state will

designate the area as tidelands and how to deal with mobile home park

residents who now live at the site.

They will also weigh in on hiring consultants to do environmental,

economic and financial studies of the project.

The hotel project is subject to voter approval. No date has been

set for the project.

-- Compiled by

June Casagrande