TOP 10 STORIES OF THE YEAR:

1

SCHOOL SITES

Of any public controversy this year, few achieved the anger and staying power of the one spurred by the Huntington Beach City School District’s considering what to do with four closed public school sites.

District board members put out a request for proposals this summer to look at what to do with the closed sites of Gisler, Burke, Le Bard and Kettler Elementary Schools, whether to sell, rent or lease. Along with that request, they gave the two Christian private schools now on the Gisler and Burke lands notice that their leases were up in two years.

Within the month, the district was seeing packed board meetings attended by Huntington Christian School and Brethren Christian Junior/Senior High School parents, not to mention residents worried about the loss of land for community activities like sports teams and Boy Scouts meetings.

District board members insisted they were just doing their jobs, trying to make sure taxpayers got the best financial use out of their land, but angry residents were convinced that open space and functioning private schools would be traded for some quick cash from housing developers. They formed savehbcommunity.com, a website devoted to fighting any selling of school sites, and handed out fliers at board meetings to get more to sign on to their petition.

Ultimately the district received 18 proposals to buy or lease the land, and they quickly winnowed those down to seven — four to sell one or more sites to developers, and three to lease one or more sites. Two of those leases were proposals from the schools already operating on the sites, though principals of those schools said they were also looking around for new campuses in case the deals fell through.

Even the City Council got involved, as it voted in November to have city staff prepare to buy any land it was entitled to. They cited a need for open space and sports fields, which state law gives them priority to purchase if the sites go up for sale. Opponents of selling the land told the council if the property had to go up for sale, they wanted the city to buy it.

None of the land is formally up for sale or rent yet. Right now, the district is waiting on new appraisals of the land, which board members say they need to make an informed decision. With that expected to be done in January, the debate promises to continue anew in the coming year.

2

SURF CITY NIGHTS

Downtown Huntington Beach became home to a weekly street fair and farmer’s market with the first of the Tuesday Surf City Nights closures of Main Street March 6.

The weekly event was contrived as a way to test the feasibility of permanently closing off the first three blocks of Main Street to make a pedestrian promenade. There were also five weekend street fairs that served as test closures as well.

The program was popular and approved to continue running past the initial weeks of closure. Adjustments were made to help buffer the costs to the city by sharing expenses with the Downtown Business Improvement District.

For now, plans for a permanent closure are taking a back seat to continuing Surf City Nights into the next year.

3

SHEA PROPERTIES BATTLE

The long fight over a proposed housing development near the Bolsa Chica Wetlands handed the developer a partial victory in a continuing battle.

Developer Shea Homes and its environmentalist opponents the Bolsa Chica Land Trust waged a war of words that lasted through three California Coastal Commission meetings. At stake was the largest piece of undeveloped land still up for grabs in Huntington Beach, an area Land Trust members said was mostly wetlands or protected habitat. The developer, on the other hand, saw it as the future home of Parkside Estates.

Land Trust members won the first round in May, using PowerPoint presentations to argue that Shea had filled in wetlands under cover of normal farming activities on the land. The commissioners asked their staff to go study the allegations; when they came back with a report in July, staff largely agreed with the Land Trust, saying much more space should be put off limits for development.

But Shea representatives said they weren’t given enough time to respond to the much harsher staff report, so they got commissioners to push back a final decision to November. Though the commission’s staff still largely agreed with Land Trust demands, the commission itself saw differently, voting to strike one purported wetland from the map and shrinking some buffer zones. On the bright side for opponents, another disputed area was left as wetlands, and the total map kept about 10 more acres development-free than Shea’s plan.

The fight isn’t over, however. The November vote merely drew the general outlines of where building can occur, but even Shea employees say it would take at least two years to break ground. Opponents pledge to fight them every step of the way.

4

SPAY NEUTER LAW

It was also a year of political dogfights as City Councilman Keith Bohr’s proposal in April for the mandatory spaying, neutering and microchipping of dogs and cats set off one of the fiercest battles the council chambers saw this year.

Bohr first unveiled the proposal in April, arguing that preventing animal births would ease animal overpopulation and ease the pressure to euthanize dogs and cats at crowded shelters. He said he got the idea from animal rescue workers when he visited the county shelter with which Huntington Beach contracts.

But the meetings that followed became increasingly rancorous. Animal breeders, breeding clubs and self-described responsible owners railed against the proposed ordinance, calling it a punishment for pet owners who followed the rules. Others said exceptions for the health of the animal were too small and could seriously harm some pets.

Animal rescue workers spoke in defense of the ordinance, and at some meetings people on both sides questioned their opponents’ motivations, or complained that too many of their opponents were from out of town. At the height of the debate, Bohr found himself defending his proposal on national TV to Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly, who slammed him for “nanny-state governance.”

But just as the harsh rhetoric reached its peak, the council came in with a compromise: no mandates, but rather extra fees for those who don’t sterilize their pets and give them a tracking microchip. Those who do would get the financial incentive of lower licensing fees, and some talked of using any extra funds for an education effort. With previous votes on the mandatory plan closely split, the compromise passed 7-0.

A majority of the most outspoken people on each side said they could support such a plan, but the council still has to work out the details. They are scheduled to discuss such a detailed ordinance in January.

5

‘WALL OF DEATH’

An innovative wall meant to protect homes while preserving views left many residents and a housing development on opposing sides.

Hearthside Homes erected a glass wall in a community in Huntington Beach, but faced criticism when former Mayor Connie Boardman found four dead birds along the wall.

Activists came to the defense of the birds, calling for the wall’s destruction, but Ed Mountford, a senior vice president with Hearthside, said a compromise was in order.

A fence and ribbons were put up as temporary solutions, with positive results according to Mountford. But residents and Boardman believe the temporary solution is just that, and a better compromise is needed to minimize bird deaths.

6

DANNY OATES

The many neighbors, classmates and parents of 14-year-old Danny Oates called him an exceptional young man with a huge heart and boundless energy, which helps explain why so many residents and loved ones turned out to remember him after his sudden death in August.

Oates was riding his bike with a friend down Indianapolis Avenue near Everglades Lane to pick up his class schedule at Sowers Middle School when a Ford pickup truck veered across the road and hit him, then slammed into a cinder block wall, police said. The friend was unharmed, though driver and Huntington Beach resident Jeffrey F. Woods, 20, was hospitalized.

Hundreds came to the quickly arranged memorial at Le Bard Park, having earlier covered the site of his death with loving messages and pictures. Classmates, members of his soccer and baseball teams, and fellow Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguards all praised the boy whose loss they still had trouble grasping.

But the story of Oates’ death didn’t stop with mourning, as parents and other residents raised a public outcry about safety conditions on thoroughfares that pass the handful of schools near where he was struck. They aired their grievances at a pair of community forums called by Councilman Don Hansen, and as a result the City Council voted for new traffic safety measures this month, including permanent radar-equipped speed limit signs along Indianapolis Avenue.

No charges have been brought so far in the crash, but police spokesman Lt. Dave Bunetta said the investigation would likely wrap up next month.

7

DOMOIC ACID

Scientists were puzzled in April when a rash of sea animals began dying off of Southern California’s shores. More than 60 sea birds died off in droves and a number of sick sea lions washed ashore in Huntington Beach.

Tests revealed the cause of the deaths as domoic acid, a natural neurotoxin produced by certain strains of algae. While the toxin is naturally occurring, the levels of it in the water were at twice the recorded levels.

The toxin built up in filter-feeding organisms such as anchovies and sardines. The marine mammals like sea lions and dolphins as well as birds that ate the toxin-laden fish would seizure uncontrollably.

The die-off fizzled out about the middle of May. Scientists are trying to identify the nutrient in run-off that produces the toxin.

8

GRAFFITI VANDALISM

Graffiti, often seen as unsightly and a nuisance, turned violent in Huntington Beach this year.

Huntington Beach has had its share of problems with graffiti. Reported cases have increased steadily and police have assigned two anti-graffiti employees to deter the problem. Yet the issues with graffiti extended to violence when former sheriffs deputy Ronald Chavers was stabbed after approaching a 16-year-old caught in the act.

Chavers, 42, of Rancho Cucamonga, received medical attention at UCI Medical Center in Orange. He was released soon after.

Luke Artinger, a teenager from Huntington Beach, will be tried as an adult and faces 13 years in prison if convicted of charges of assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder.

Vandalism became personal once again in August when Steve Stafford saw young men vandalizing a racquetball court. He attempted to call police, but was seen by one of the young men. He repeatedly punched him before running away. Police were unsure if they would catch the perpetrators because they had little to go on with the case.

Stafford often walks his dog in the area and reports any vandalism he sees. He intends to continue his efforts despite the incident.

9

COLD CASE HOMICIDE

A 23-year-old homicide case is never easy to crack, but advances in DNA evidence got a never- before- considered suspect charged with the murder of a Huntington Beach resident. Making the case even more striking, the accused man, Gerald Su Go, was in Canada — deported there after finishing a U.S. prison term only a few weeks earlier.

Go, now 51, was charged in late October with the 1984 murder of Elizabeth May Hoffschneider in her Huntington Beach apartment while committing burglary, robbery and sexual assault. A DNA match of material from the crime scene pointed to him, police and prosecutors said.

Police said he lived in Orange County from 1984 to 1987, then fled the country after being convicted of a 1986 assault and attempted rape in Costa Mesa, but before his sentencing.

Go eventually was caught in 2004 and served two and a half years in prison; he had to give a DNA sample as part of his parole terms, and the match in October with evidence from the Hoffschneider case came too late, authorities said.

He was already in Toronto, where Canadian police arrested him as Huntington Beach officers looked on.

The Orange County District Atty.’s Office may not get to prosecute Go for a while; as a Canadian citizen, he has the right to fight extradition from his home country, which could take months or even years.

10

DOG BEACH

The retail outfits that support Dog Beach were almost leashed and taken for a walk after complaints against the stands garnered enough interest from Community Services and council members.

Preservation Society of Dog Beach President Martin Senat felt the heat as his fundraising booths were called unsightly and was told to move off the bluffs, out of the heavy traffic.

The fundraising money is used to keep Dog Beach running smoothly, without which, Senat said, the beach would be chaos. Many people equated the move with the end to Dog Beach.

After an outpour of support for Senat’s program, city officials are compromising.

Senat will replace his tables with covered booths, but will remain in the high visibility of the bluffs to maintain the business.

The Friends of Dog Beach educate visitors to keep the beach safe as well as encourage people to clean the mess left behind by their pets.