city council district 6 v corona del mar & newport coast
Nancy Gardner
councilwoman v newport beach, california
DECEMBER UPDATE
THE UBIQUITOUS PRESENCE OF
STYROFOAM
Since 2004, the Irvine Ranch Water District has had a debris boom across San
Diego creek during the low flow season. On a regular basis they remove the
trash, dry it and weigh it. 12,100 pounds of trash have been collected, made up
of 3% metal, 3% glass, 4% paper, 23% plastics, 26% rubber, and 41% Styrofoam by
weight. When you think of how light Styrofoam is, this is an amazing figure. I
was a little puzzled by the amount of rubber, but then I remembered all the
tennis balls I’ve collected during cleanups. Either tennis players have a really
hard time keeping the ball in the court, or too many dogs aren’t doing a very
good job of fetch.
LEAF BLOWERS
Coming up with a good alternative to noisy leaf blowers is a challenge.
Sweeping has apparently gone the way of the dodo bird. We absolutely don’t want
people hosing off their patios and yards (drought, runoff, argh!). Models touted
by the AQMD (Air Quality Management Board) don’t stand up to commercial use (the
City tested them). When Claremont outlawed gasoline models, commercial gardeners
switched to electric. However, when homeowners wouldn’t let them plug into their
home supply, the gardeners went out and bought generators which were noisier and
more polluting than the banned blowers, pretty much defeating the purpose. EQAC
(Environmental Quality Affairs Committee) is researching what other cities
besides Claremont have done and hopefully will come up with some fresh ideas.
CITY HALL
For those of you who absolutely hate the design chosen for City Hall, here
is sort of good news. We didn’t really choose the design. We selected the
architect recommended by the design committee with the understanding that the
committee will work with the architect in improving what was presented, so
there’s still plenty of time to weigh in with your ideas.
EEL GRASS
We are finalizing the experts’ report which lays out a new approach for the
management of eel grass in the harbor, one based on the premise that while the
harbor provides habitat for marine life it is also an active recreational
boating harbor. Next step: a presentation to National Marine Fisheries, the
proponent of the current program that has proved so onerous to dock owners.
BEACH SAND AND BACTERIA
Growing up, I followed my father’s example on the beach. Go in the water,
catch waves, get very cold, come in and lie directly on the hot sand which is
the fastest way to get warm. Now I find that all this time I have been wallowing
in bacteria. People involved in water testing have begun to focus on sand as a
source of high bacteria counts and have done some analysis of dry sand. At one
site, they noticed a gull had pooped. When they came back a day later, the
bacteria from that one little dot had spread yards from the site, so maybe a
towel isn’t such a bad idea. And speaking of bird poop, when I was very young I
loved running to the end of the Corona del Mar jetty, hurtling from one vast
boulder to the next (picture the coming-down-the-mountain scene in Dharma Bums).
I wanted to share that experience with my grandsons–not racing but at least
hiking to the end of the jetty, but it was so slippery we turned back. There is
so much guano on those rocks we may be able to start mining it one of these
days. Talk about a yuk factor.
MORE ON THE DROUGHT
The California Department of Water Resources has warned that State Water
Project Contractors are likely to receive as little as 15 percent of what they
have requested for 2009, the second lowest initial allocation in the history of
the State Water Project. This would change if we get a wet year, so don’t pray
for surf, pray for rain.
FUTURE TOPIC SUGGESTIONS
This is a two-way process, so please don’t hesitate to contact me with your ideas and opinions.
Councilwoman Nancy Gardner
QUALITY OF LIFE Advocate FOR NEWPORT BEACH
City of Newport Beach - 3300 Newport Blvd - Newport Beach, CA 92663
Phone: 949.644.3004 - EMAIL: gardnerncy@aol.com
Copyright 2008 v Nancy Gardner v All Rights Reserved