Who cares? The Newport Beach City Council

By Tom Johnson

I sat up last night and blogged on the Newport Beach City Council meeting.

Now, don’t get me wrong. They’re a fine, dedicated bunch. I appreciate my garbage being picked up weekly. I even appreciate them occasionally taking that extra can or two.

I also appreciate their concern for traffic, on keeping our neighborhoods clean and so on.

You know, if you know the council members, and I do, I also appreciate the fact that they’re willing to sit up there in front on Newport TV and all of our citizenry and handle the affairs of our fair city.

I watched from home and tried to blog on nearly every move from the council chambers.

I have to be honest, occasionally, the head falls and you realize sleep is just a nod away.

But wait, there’s another speaker.

Here’s my question, does Mayor Ed Selich or any of the mayors who preceded him ever just want to yell, “Enough is enough! I’ve heard it all, your arguments aren’t going to change my mind, etc. and so on.”

Water issues.

Who cares? Just turn on the tap and there’s all you need.

Who cares if Chronic Tacos serves tacos or beer? And so what if they don’t have enough parking?

We pass out CBDG grants. But who really cares?

Someone, make that two people, are running for the Building and Fire Board of Appeals.

Who cares?

We’re going to assign a task force to look at cycling safety throughout our city.

Really?

Put on a helmet, stay to the right and everything should be fine.

There are Environmental Impact Studies, business improvement districts, appeals and denials of permits.

We write complaints about our council members when we disagree with them.

We criticize them when problems come to our cities.

Yet, in all honesty, our council members make a commitment to us everyday to work hard to improving our city.

Last night was unique.

Our council interacted with our new city manager.

Dave Kiff.

Dave took control.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I loved Homer Bludau and consider him a good friend.

But tonight, as the council members questioned our city staff, led by Dave Kiff, I felt comforted that we have someone at the helm looking out for all of us.

As I sat there blogging to God knows who, I thought about these wonderful people: Keith Curry, Ed Selich, Nancy Gardner, Leslie Daigle, Don Webb, Mike Henn and Steve Rosansky.

Now I might not always agree with them on issues that face our city, but one thing I won’t argue is that their commitment to making Newport Beach a special place should not be questioned.

To me, they’re a special breed. And we should be thankful. They care.

Tom Johnson is the co-publisher of the Daily Voice. You can e-mail him here.

Comments

[Back Bay Bicyclist aka 3B]

"Everything should be fine" is not the case for the Newport Beach City Council and bicycling. Watch the Back Bay Road during the series of Jazz Festivals how shuttle vans and transportation buses speed past clusters of cyclists, runners and walkers. Newport Beach earns revenue-sharing with the Hyatt Resort by transporting the Festival visitors to church parking lots using a multi-use roadway in the state preserve. Newport Beach puts revenue ahead of risk. NBPD motorcycle police can regularly be seen chasing bicycles at the dysfunctional left-turn signal into the Back Bay. But during the Jazz Festival series, the police stay away from monitoring a traffic safety risk.

[Bicycling Outlooker]

The Newport Beach Task Force being entitled Cycling Safety could have a negative outlook. Bicyclists imply bike lanes and warning signs to motorists. Cyclists tend to be inferred as fast-pumpers who leave the right curb to be visible and use left-turn lanes. What are the implications for the Cycling Safety Task Force in bicycling?