THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:Briefing from the mayor

Banning Ranch will likely get residential development, City Hall may move to Newport Center, and John Wayne’s son is coming to West Newport, Newport Beach Mayor Steve Rosansky told about 45 residents at a meeting of the West Newport Beach Assn. on Wednesday.

Rosansky gave a brief update on a number of city issues and was peppered with questions, largely about drug recovery homes, during the meeting at City Hall.

Highlights of the talk included the news that Ethan Wayne plans to build an office building for the Wayne Foundation at 61st Street and West Coast Highway. Also, Banning Ranch property owners are planning residential development, but environmental groups may have an opportunity to buy the property.

And although the current location isn’t off the table, the council is looking hard for a city hall site in Newport Center.

“It seems like the sentiment in the city now is focused on Newport Center and not rebuilding here,” Rosansky said.

FINDING NUCLEAR OPTIONS

Newport-Mesa’s state legislators are laying plans to continue their mostly uphill battle in Sacramento, with new bills to limit courts’ punitive damage awards and stop shakedown lawsuits, reform the state’s regional water-quality boards, and create special prisons for drug offenders, among other issues.

Under one of Newport Beach Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s more interesting proposals, the state could begin finding new nuclear power plants, something that’s essentially blocked by current laws.

He wants to remove a provision that says the state can’t designate a site for a nuclear plant until there’s an official place to dispose of the plant’s waste — for example, if the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada is approved. DeVore argued that since it would be at least 10 years and likely more before a nuclear plant would be designed, built and then need to change its nuclear fuel rods, officials will have found a disposal site by the time it’s needed.

Why nuclear power? It’s the only way to produce the power the state needs and still be able to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets, DeVore said. Natural gas now accounts for 51% of the power on the state’s grid, he said, but using it produces a lot of carbon dioxide.

Last year the legislature set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and DeVore said that’s not possible without changing the state’s power sources.

“I just think we need to get the debate rolling now because I don’t see how we’re going to make our numbers,” he said.

Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran’s office this week announced one new bill that would tighten the protections against child pornography. The bill would change the six-year statute of limitations on child pornography crimes so it would begin when the offense is discovered, not when the offense is committed.

A SLEEPING FUNDING SOURCE

A plan to put hotel bed taxes from the Crystal Cove cottages into renovating more of the cottages — an idea that began floating around Newport Beach City Hall last summer — could happen later this month if the City Council approves. It’s set for discussion on the Feb. 13 agenda.

In June, the state began renting 13 cottages renovated in the first phase of the project at Crystal Cove State Park. There are plans to redo more cottages, and the bed-tax shift could help with the funding.

Of the 46 historic cottages, 22 were spruced up in the first phase. The remaining restoration has been estimated at $15 million or more, but no final figures are available. The bed taxes from the cottages — about $81,000 a year — would be a drop in the bucket, but a welcome one for Crystal Cove boosters.

FINANCIAL AID WORKSHOP

A workshop for high school and college students and their parents on financial aid and scholarships will be held Saturday at UC Irvine, sponsored by Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran.

Written information will be available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. The event is scheduled from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Calit 2 room of building 325 at UCI.

TALKING CLIMATE CHANGE

St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach will hold a discussion Monday on climate change. The church is at 2100 Mar Vista Drive. For information, call (949) 786-3278.

DISCUSSION ON ROE VS. WADE

Planned Parenthood chapters in Orange and San Bernardino counties will mark the 34th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision with an interfaith panel discussion Feb. 8 in Newport Beach.

Clergy members from area churches will talk about reproductive choice and religious faith and values. The program, “God, Women, Faith and Choice,” will be held at 7 p.m. at Temple Bat Yahm, 1011 Camelback St., Newport Beach. For information, call (714) 633-6373.