COSTA MESA — Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) has decided not to stand by Costa Mesa City Hall’s attempt to purchase the Orange County Fairgrounds and is asking the governor to drop the sale all together.
The statement comes as a blow to sale supporters, as Solorio has become the point person in the Assembly on the issue and was expected to carry or support legislation that would enact the city’s deal. Another politician could pick up the legislation without his support, but no one has stepped up yet.
Solorio, who has been heavily invested in the issues surrounding the sale and was expected to file legislation to allow Costa Mesa to buy the fairgrounds, said in a prepared statement released Tuesday that he made many suggestions to help address the fate of the 80 full-time state employees who work at the fairgrounds and has provided ways to strengthen the governance provisions in the deal.
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COSTA MESA — Mayor Allan Mansoor and businessman Phu Nguyen, his opponent in the 68th Assembly District race, will appear at an event in Anaheim later this month hosted by an Arab American networking group.
The Network of Arab American Professionals Orange County chapter, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that brings together Arab Americans, whose professions range from the fields of law and medicine to business and engineering, will host the two politicians at a Sept. 29 mixer.
Rashad Al-Dabbagh, a NAAP board member, said the 68th Assembly District has a large Arab American community, one that comes out to vote.
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COSTA MESA — The City Council on Tuesday plans to discuss increasing a city hotel tax in hopes of better promoting tourism.
If approved, 1% would be added to the Business Improvement Area tax in bills for the city’s overnight hotel and motel guests. The tax is in addition to the transient occupancy tax (TOT), which is also charged for overnight stays.
The Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau’s board of directors, which is made up of 10 participating hotel general managers, a representative from the City Council and a city staff member, would administer thax. The 1% increase would make the tax 3%, according to a city staff report.
UC Irvine officials announced Friday that they have agreed to halve the suspension of the Muslim Student Union but declined a formal request to lift it altogether.
The suspension was reduced from an academic year to half of an academic year.
The club, though not individual students, was suspended following an investigation into the alleged disruption of a February speech given by the Israeli ambassador.
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COSTA MESA – Seven elementary schools announced Thursday that they will not be able to provide matching funds for the city’s Recreation on Campus for Kids after School (ROCKS) program, a decision that will leave the city without enough funding to continue the program on affected campuses.
The principals of Kaiser, Adam, Pomona, Victoria, Killybrooke, College Park and California elementary schools informed the city that their Parents Teachers Associations (PTA) or Parents Faculty Organizations (PFO) will not be able to help the city fund ROCKS
The principals, who did not make the decisions, relayed the information to Costa Mesa city staff this week on behalf of their PTAs and PFOs, said Laura Boss, spokeswoman for Newport-Mesa Unified.
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COSTA MESA — Mayor Allan Mansoor has been trying to appeal to the Vietnamese American community, a key voting bloc in his bid for the 68th Assembly District.
Toward that goal he’s enlisted the support of a Little Saigon political insider, Daisy Tong, who he hired as his assistant.
Tong worked as a field representative for Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Westminster) during Tran’s first term, and now Mansoor is running for Tran’s old seat. Tran is termed out of the Assembly and is running for Congress.
Although there’s still a chance for a legislative bill allowing Costa Mesa to buy the Orange County Fairgrounds to be presented and voted on along with a budget bill, the deal might not go through after all, at least not at this point.
Assemblyman Van Tran said that while he supports keeping the fairgrounds in local hands, if the sale with Costa Mesa and its partner, Facilities Management West, does not guarantee accountability and transparency to the public and if it doesn’t ensure that the fair will remain in place indefinitely, he does not plan on supporting the purchase.
“I’m concerned with the entire package right now, frankly,” Tran said.
The Orange County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen is looking for volunteers to help put on the 19th annual Komen Orange County Race for the Cure, which is taking place Sept. 26 at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
At least 1,800 volunteers are needed to distribute water, food, monitor the race, assist participants, direct parking and traffic, encourage participants during the race, load and unload trucks, give directions and ensure things run effectively, according to a release issued by the organization.
The event is expected to have more than 30,000 participants, of which some are breast cancer survivors and activists.
There are also ways to help in the weeks leading up to the race.
For more information on volunteer opportunities, go to www.komenoc.org and click on the Race for the Cure link, or call (714) 957-9157.
—Mona Shadia
The Orange County Fairgrounds lease agreement between Costa Mesa and a private operator, Facilities Management West, has been released for public review.
The 81-page document, which is made up of 28 sections among other items, sets the guidelines for what Facilities Management can and can not do when it comes to maintaining, improving and operating the fairgrounds.
Facilities Management established a separate entity, calling it the OC Fair and Event Center LP, to enter into the lease with the city, explained Chris Blank, a resident and business lawyer.
Darnell Wyrick, president of Mesa Verde Community Inc., explains the ground rules for the Costa Mesa City Council candidate debates to Wendy Leece, left, Jim Righeimer, Susan Lester, Chris McEvoy. (Photo by Don Leach | don.leach@latimes.com)
COSTA MESA — The four City Council candidates who attended the first community debate are concerned about the city’s ailing budget, but each has differing views on how to solve it.
For Planning Commissioner Jim Righeimer, a conservative, higher hotel and business taxes will hurt the city’s friendly reputation and will eventually lead businesses and tourists to find somewhere other than Costa Mesa to spend their money. To solve the budget crisis, Righeimer said the city will have to renegotiate the Police and Fire departments’ salaries and benefits.
“We love our police and we love our fire, we just have to come together as adults, sit down and work out the deals,” Righeimer said during the forum. “This city will file bankruptcy if we don’t solve the problem.”
COSTA MESA — A graduate of Orange Coast College’s culinary arts program won first place this week in a contest in which four top chefs went up against one another to see who could create a chocolate vehicle that actually moved.
Award-winning Las Vegas pastry chef Chris Hanmer, a former resident of Costa Mesa, won $10,000 [...]
Marina High School football players practice Tuesday, Aug. 31 in preparation for the upcoming season.
Ocean View High School players practice Tuesday, Aug. 31 in preparation for the start of the season.
Project Self Sufficiency hosts a back-to-school celebration with free backpacks and school supplies at the Edison Community Center Monday, Aug. 30.
Weston Scott Kruger, a Newport Harbor High School graduate, was sentenced to 25 years to life Tuesday, and will be eligible for parole in 21 years because of credit for time already served.
The defense is planning an appeal based on certain jury instructions, including those to consider that a homicide occurred at the same time [...]
Newport Harbor High incoming senior Tracy Beblie won the 11th annual Safe Passage Summer Junior Open tennis tournament Thursday at the Home Depot Center in Carson, beating Jake Hoeger of Redondo Beach, 6-0, 6-4 in the final.
Beblie had knocked off No. 1-seeded Anthony Lee of Gardena in a semifinal, 6-0, 6-2.
Beblie, who played No. 1 [...]
Oktoberfest at the Old World Village in Huntington Beach will start on Sept. 5 and run through Oct. 31 on Wednesdays through Sundays.
CORONA DEL MAR — A Lynwood man was arrested this morning after police said he got behind the wheel drunk and, from a review of a police account, essentially played bumper cars down a Newport Beach street before coming to a stop on a front lawn.
Joshua Mario Muniz, 24, was arrested on [...]
COSTA MESA — Heather Ellis can’t help but get teary-eyed when talking about how it feels to wait while lawyers and judges argue over the fate of same-sex marriage rights in California.
“I don’t really know how to say it,” Ellis, 38, said. “It’s really odd that we have to go through this.”
Ellis and [...]
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