News: Council Member Nancy Gardner

city council district 6 v corona del mar & newport coast

Nancy Gardner

council member v newport beach, california

newsletter: june 2013

GOING, GOING—SOLD TO THE RUDE MAN WHO OUTBID ME
Did you know that several times a year the Harbor Resources Department holds a boat auction? Derelict boats, kayaks, even paddleboards that have been abandoned in the harbor are auctioned off, and there are amazing values with some dinghies starting as low as $10. There are some rules. It’s all cash, you have to take your purchase that day, and since they don’t want these treasures abandoned twice, you have to have ID so that if you should fail in your responsibility as a boat owner they can find you. I went because there were several paddleboards available, one like new that I hoped to get for a song, but it went for more like the whole opera. Oh well. There’s always next time.

CDM BYPASS
Those who have been here awhile will remember when Newport Coast Drive was first built—what an improvement it made for CdM traffic. Then a portion of Newport Coast Drive became part of the toll road, and the traffic was back. A suggestion has been made to put signs at PCH and Newport Coast Drive and at MacArthur and San Joaquin Hills Road to let people know that if they’re on their way south to Laguna or north to the airport area, for example, they can bypass CdM. I will be asking the CdM Residents Association to get feedback from their members. I also will ask the BID to get business reactions (I’ve gotten one already from a restaurant owner who said that he pays for his location because of all the traffic). If there seems to be any interest, we’ll widen the scoping.

SLURP
I had a very interesting meeting with Andy Rose. We were at a little celebration marking the completion of the dredging, and while he’s an accomplished sailor, what I know about sailing makes for a short conversation, so we got to talking about energy and a project he’s involved with. This is an anaerobic digestion system that takes food and green waste—both major disposal challenges—and converts them to biogas which can then be used to fuel CNG vehicles or be burned to generate electricity, with the residue making great compost. Very cool, but what is really cool—the system doesn’t take up acres of space (it can be as small as 3,000 square feet), it’s actually affordable—not as costly as many houses around here—and because it’s enclosed there’s no odor. Such systems will become particularly valuable because the practice of layering green waste at landfills will eventually be discontinued because of the methane gas produced. The next time I’m up in Monterey I’m going to get a tour of their project with its munching microbes.

ADOPT A . . . STORM DRAIN?
Maybe. The state has long had its Adopt-a-Highway program. Now Orange County is introducing Adopt-a-Channel which could be good news for our beaches since these channels are a major source of trash on our beaches. The idea is to have groups take responsibility for sections of channels and remove trash, install debris booms—whatever is needed to keep them clean. Disneyland is part of a pilot program in Anaheim, and the county is looking toward a gradual roll out.

BUDGET
I had a journalism student call me the other day. Could he interview me about the budget? Yes, but curiosity forced me to ask why he had picked a topic that is unsexy, to say the least. In old movies, you’d take her glasses off, and she’d still be plain. For the student, it was luck of the draw. The study session he came to was the study session we talked budgets. Two weeks before and he might have been writing about the three proposals submitted for the old city hall site. Two weeks before that, and he could have taken flight with the idea of a tide control structure across the harbor mouth. He who hesitates gets budgets. It takes a certain skill to make a wham bam story about money allocated for aging water main replacements, sewer diversions, tidegate retrofits, curb and gutter replacement—all the things that make the city nice but are about as exciting as long underwear. Also in the budget for the coming year, a proposed workforce of 736, down from a high of 833 in 2010, fewer than we had in 2003, with employees contributing over $4 million in pension contributions, up from $0.5 million in 2008.

FUTURE TOPIC SUGGESTIONS

This is a two-way process, so please don’t hesitate to contact me with your ideas and opinions. My email address for city business is: NGardner@newportbeachca.gov. Don’t worry if you forget it. I’ll still be using the AOL one, too.

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Council Member Nancy Gardner

QUALITY OF LIFE Advocate FOR NEWPORT BEACH

City of Newport Beach | 100 Civic Center Drive | Newport Beach, CA 92660

Phone: 949.644.3004 | EMAIL: ngardner@newportbeachca.gov