NEWPORT BEACH Dredging the proposed budget for...

NEWPORT BEACH

Dredging the proposed budget for Back Bay support

City leaders were dismayed to see that President Bush’s proposed

budget did not include funds for dredging the Back Bay. City

officials say they will again seek the help of Congressman Chris Cox

to obtain federal funding for the work.

* A lost cause for moving utilities underground on Balboa

Peninsula may not be lost after all. Mayor Tod Ridgeway is trying to

persuade property owners who voted against taxing themselves to pay

for the work to change their minds.

* Misconceptions about the Marinapark Resort project will soon be

cleared up. On Tuesday the City Council will get a report from staff

explaining the process and timetable for approving the project.

* The Newport Coast Advisory Committee voted to move forward with

plans to build a community center at Newport Ridge Park. The matter

will come before the council for approval sometime in the near

future.

-- June Casagrande

COSTA MESA

City Council gives OK to theater/arts proposal

The city council approved a basic theater and arts district plan,

rejecting an alternative proposed by Planning Commissioner Katrina

Foley that would have created an Arts and Music Scholar Grants

program. The goal of the plan is to emphasize the sense of place that

exists in the theater and arts district and provide a funding

mechanism for public improvements.

The council also approved a master plan for Town Center Drive,

which redraws the portion of Town Center Drive between Park Center

Drive and Avenue of the Arts as a pedestrian-oriented public plaza

linking the major arts venues within the South Coast Plaza Town

Center area.

* City leaders also approved a final plan for the Bristol Street

mixed-use overlay zone. So a city committee will continue working on

fleshing out the details for a law that would create an overlay zone

that could be applied anywhere in the city.

* Cinthia Beranek, 28, fell from the trio trapeze 18 feet above

the stage during Saturday’s matinee performance of “Varekai” at the

Orange County Fairgrounds. Witnesses reported that she hit the stage

hard, alarming audience members in the 2,600-capacity big top.

Beranek was treated at a local hospital for a broken wrist and is

doing fine, Cirque du Soleil spokesman Tim Choy said. He did not know

how long she would be unable to perform.

-- Deirdre Newman and Marisa O’Neil

POLITICS

Assembly candidate’s mailer condemned by congressman

Rep. Chris Cox on Friday denounced a campaign mailer from 70th

Assembly District candidate Cristi Cristich that used comments from a

letter he wrote her praising her candidacy. Cox said the mailer was

misleading and created the impression he endorsed Cristich. His

long-standing policy is not to endorse a Republican candidate in a

contested primary and the letter to Cristich explained that, he said.

The same letter was sent to Cristich opponent Chuck DeVore. Both

candidates sought Cox’s endorsement. Cristich campaign consultant

Dave Gilliard said he doesn’t think the mailer was misleading but he

won’t use excerpts from Cox’s letter again.

* Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed 70th District Assemblyman

John Campbell in the Republican race for the 35th District Senate

seat, Campbell announced Thursday. The endorsement is the first the

Governor has made in a legislative race this year, Campbell said. He

expected such high-profile support to help with fundraising but said

he doesn’t plan to ask Schwarzenegger to appear at an event like Rep.

Dana Rohrabacher’s Jan. 30 fundraiser in Huntington Beach with the

governor.

-- Alicia Robinson

PUBLIC SAFETY

Parent barred from school after altercation with teacher

A TeWinkle Middle School parent has been banned from campus for

seven days after he threatened his daughter’s teacher. The school

called Costa Mesa police school resource officers after a father

called his daughter’s math teacher out of class and verbally

threatened him while holding up a clenched fist and looking at him

face to face, police said. The parent had reacted in haste over an

issue he had misunderstood, school district officials said. Neither

police not the school district went into the specific circumstances

that led to the reported incident.

-- Deepa Bharath