Banning Ranch Development Denied!

A HUGE STORY!
Better late than never, right?  In what is certainly the biggest story in our little slice of the world in many moons, the California Coastal Commission overwhelmingly denied the ddevelopment plans for the Banning Ranch oil field in West Newport Beach at the end of many hours - some reports say 8 hours, others say 13 - of discussion and testimony late last night.  The vote was 9-1!

LOTS OF FREQUENT REPORTS
I confess that I was not watching the live stream of the event, although several friends did text me with highlights and I did see a few images and videos via Facebook throughout the day.  But, that's OK, because there were plenty of very smart folks onsite, poised to report the results of the event.

LOTS OF TIMELY, EXCELLENT COVERAGE
When I head the news - just before 11:00 p.m. last night - I immediately began checking media for reports.  First up was Hannah Fry's excellent coverage, just before 11:00, HERE.  I also checked the Orange County Register and found Lauren Williams' report, HERE, that was timestamped just after 6:00 p.m., so it had been modified for the final result without changing the timestamp.  Win to the Daily Pilot.  There is also a Los Angeles Times story, HERE.  Television was all over the story.  Channels 2/9 had the story at 11:03.  KABC had it a couple minutes later.

THE FUTURE?
Nobody yet knows what the future holds for that chunk of land.  Murmurs of lawsuits, or re-filing in 6 months, float around the ether.  I guess we'll see.

LONG, HARD-FOUGHT BATTLE
The fact remains that, for those activists at the Banning Ranch Conservancy and many others who have battled tirelessly for years trying to save that piece of coastline from development won a huge victory last night.  And it wasn't just a squeaker, either.  Kudos to all those folks who have worked on this issue over the years, and to those who attended this final meeting on this issue yesterday.  Rumors of "cheating" - a Newport Beach official, or former official, may have permitted early admittance to the auditorium so prime seats could be occupied by imported "supporters" of the project - floated around.  It apparently didn't make any difference.

STEVE AND JIM WERE NO-SHOWS
An interesting sidebar - Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer apparently had filled in speaker cards but failed to present themselves when the time came.  I'm not sure what to make of that - maybe they actually can read public opinion and chose not to oppose it in this case.

OOPS... TIMING IS EVERYTHING
In a bit of ironic timing, the first issue of Stu News Newport - the latest venture for former Daily Pilot publisher Tom Johnson - came out today and there was a featured interview with a Mike Mohler, Senior Project Manager of the Banning Ranch development.  This was the same fellow Tom had on his radio show last Sunday.  Oops!

 A BELLWETHER?  WE'LL SEE...
 Regardless, this is a huge victory for those who would preserve open space for future generations.  And, this may actually be the beginning of a broader movement that will influence the upcoming election in Costa Mesa.

A Little Fun Watching Our Neighbors...

NEWPORT CANDIDATES GET WARM FEET
Wednesday night four candidates for the Newport Beach City Council attended the most recent - the 10th iteration - of the Feet To The Fire Forum series, hosted by the effervescent Barbara Venezia, who shared the moderator duties with former Daily Pilot publisher and current President of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Tom Johnson.  They made a good team.

 HANNAH FRY DID ALL THE HEAVY LIFTING
I had planned to give you a blow-by-blow of this event, but Daily Pilot reporter Hannah Fry beat me to it!  She hot-footed it out of the Robert B. Moore Theater as soon as the forum ended and met her deadline.  Ah, the exuberance (and skill) of youth!  Not only was she quick, but she captured the essence of the event accurately.  You can read her excellent coverage of the event HERE.

A LITTLE SCHMOOZING AT 6:00
I arrived early and joined the schmooze-fest on the patio outside the entrance to the theater.  I found a small crowd gathered, including a few Costa Mesa residents offering lovely chilled water, cookies and some food for thought.

SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES
I was introduced to three candidates for the Newport Unified School District Board of Trustees, Amy Peters, Michael Scharzmann and Leslie Bubb, shown here listening to my friend, Newport Beach resident and renowned architect, Gordon Glass.

BARBARA KICKED IT OFF
When the meeting began shortly after 7:00 p.m., Venezia made the opening comments to the small crowd - Fry estimated around 50 and that's probably pretty close - and introduced the participants, Jeff Herdman, Mike Glenn, Phil Greer and Fred Ameri.  As Fry mentioned, none of the Dave Ellis team showed up for this event.

MUTUAL RESPECT OBVIOUS
I'm not going to attempt to echo Fry's coverage, except to observe that the forum ran quite smoothly and all the candidates present seemed to actually respect and enjoy each other.  Venezia and Johnson had good chemistry between them, so the questions had a good flow to them.  And, each candidate was given plenty of time to answer.  Even though Herdman and Glenn are opposing each other for the District 5 seat and Greer and Ameri are opponents for the District 7 seat there seemed to be no rancor between them.  It was very refreshing.

THE ELLIS INFLUENCE
One thing not covered by Fry was the the discussion of consultant and political king-maker Dave Ellis' influence on local politics.  That thread popped up throughout the forum and it was clear that the candidates up on the stage were not happy at all with the influence he has had on Newport Beach politics, particularly following the last election where four of his candidates - "Team Newport" -  successfully captured seats on the council.

RECORDED FOR PLAYBACK LATER
This event was recorded by Newport Beach TV and will be broadcast within a week.  Radio Station KOCI-FM , 101.5 on your FM dial, will also include the audio of this event in its rotation soon.

LOOKING FORWARD TO THURSDAY'S EVENT
I came away from this meeting primed for the Costa Mesa Feet To The Fire Forum on Thursday night.  I expect the discussions might be a little more lively and, perhaps, a teeny bit less cordial, particularly if everyone who was invited shows up.  I do know that Lee Ramos was in the auditorium for this event, as was Councilwoman Katrina Foley.

SEE YOU THURSDAY
So, see you there Thursday evening.  Meet and greet the candidates beginning at 6:00 and the actual event begins promptly at 7:15.  The Newport Beach event ran long - a full 90 minutes - and it seemed about right.  Thanks to the Daily Pilot for underwriting this event, and to Doug Bennett and the OCC team for hosting it.  The venue was comfortable and will certainly accommodate a much larger crowd Thursday.  There's plenty of parking immediately adjacent to the theater at the Arlington Drive entrance to the OCC Campus.  I parked in Lot C, the lower right corner of the map below. 

Two Women In The News...

SOME EARLY MORNING READING FOR YOU
Before finally hitting the sack this early Sunday morning I'm moved to point out the interesting juxtaposing of two articles in the Daily Pilot online yesterday.

PROFILES OF ANNA VRSKA...
The larger article, HERE, is titled, "Political newcomer making waves in Costa Mesa" and profiles activist Anna Vrska, a virtual unknown in political circle only a few short months ago.  Bradley Zint's excellent article provides us with a very up-close look at the young woman who has stirred things up recently with her inquisitiveness, tenacity and analytical acumen - and her willingness to ask frank and sometimes aggressive questions of local leaders and staffers.  To describe her as a breath of fresh air would be to dramatically understate her impact on local political discussions lately.

...AND MARY HORNBUCKLE
The other article, HERE, which appears online beside the first one, is titled, "Hornbuckle to lead Coast Community College board", in which Hannah Fry makes brief note of the election of Mary Hornbuckle as President of the board and provides a short summary of her history in our community.  Let me fill in some of the blanks for you.

A LIFETIME OF SERVICE
Mary Hornbuckle has lived in Costa Mesa for nearly a half-century.  She holds a BA degree in Organizational Management from what is now known as Vanguard University.  She served on the Costa Mesa City Council for a dozen years, including two as mayor.  She has served on the boards of  Girl Scout Council of Orange County, the Costa Mesa Senior Center, the Costa Mesa Community Foundation and Girls, Inc.  For her outstanding community service she has received many awards, notably the 2001 Orange Coast College Hall of Fame Award and the 1997 Woman of the Year from the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce.  She has served the community longer than Vrska has been alive.

AN INTERESTING CONTRAST
I mention these two extraordinary women in this post because, in the case of Hornbuckle, you see a woman who has dedicated a huge portion of her adult life to the community in which she lives and continues to make positive contributions through her leadership and energy, while Vrska is just leaving the starting blocks on what might be a very bright future in community activism and leadership.

FUN WATCHING ANNA LEARN...
It's going to be interesting to watch Vrska in the future.  She acknowledges that she doesn't have all the answers, but has demonstrated the intelligence and tenacity to look for them and her fearlessness makes that pursuit interesting to watch.


...WHILE MARY FACES BIG CHALLENGES
Meanwhile, Hornbuckle faces challenges on the Coast Community College Board that will require all her experience and test her extraordinary leadership skills.

GOOD LUCK, LADIES
We here at A Bubbling Cauldron wish them both well...