State decision could lead to lawsuit, budget hole in H.B.

The state Department of Finance is refusing to pay back millions of dollars Huntington Beach once loaned to its now-disbanded redevelopment agency, a decision that may lead to litigation and leave a large hole in the city’s general budget.

Following a decision in December by the state Supreme Court that declared the state’s redevelopment agencies (RDAs) unconstitutional, cities began submitting listings of legally binding agreements or contracts the disbanded agencies had to their county auditors and the state finance department for a review — and payback, said City Manager Fred Wilson.

Those listings included bonds or loans the RDAs had issued for various projects. The process was part of the agencies’ winding-down activities.

Part of the listing Huntington Beach submitted in February was $71.8 million the city advanced to its former agency over the last 20 to 30 years.

The state is now contending that the $71.8 million the city loaned to the agency is not repayable under the law that was passed to dissolve redevelopment, Wilson said.

“At this point, we don’t believe we’ll see any of that money,” he said.

–Mona Shadia, @MonaShadia, HB Independent

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Tourism conference: O.C. cities should work together

Sibling rivalries are expected, and to a degree, beneficial, but when it comes to tourism in Orange County cities, the message Wednesday was all about working together.

“Of course, we’ll keep working individually too — I still want to keep my job,” Gary Sherwin, president and chief executive of Visit Newport Beach Inc., joked while speaking at the fourth annual Tourism Conference, organized by the Orange County Tourism Council (OCTC) at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa.

Overall, speakers encouraged the audience — and each other — to work together to develop “The OC” as a global brand and destination for international visitors.

“We’re talking about this wonderful shared asset called Orange County,” Sherwin said to the audience. “When you hear ‘The OC’ anywhere in the world, you know what they’re talking about — they’re talking about us. And we take a lot of pride in that.”

Panelist Judith Bijlani, president and chief executive of the Laguna Beach Visitors and Conference Bureau, pointed to the county’s miles of beaches, many art museums and galleries, and shopping as several of the key components making up “part of the OC experience,” a tagline she encouraged local businesses to adopt.

–Sarah Peters, @SPeters01, Daily Pilot

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Mansoor accuses opponent of willingness to work with unions

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor speaks at a Surf City Tea-sponosored forum at the Huntington Beach Central Library on Monday. (SCOTT SMELTZER)

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) told a conservative group Monday that he believes his Republican opponent in the June 5 primary will bow down to unions and special-interest groups in Sacramento.

During a Surf City Tea-sponsored forum in the Huntington Beach Central Library, Mansoor said Newport Beach Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, who is running against him in the 74th Assembly District race, supports unions and raising taxes.

“That’s a clear difference between me and my opponent, who calls herself Republican,” he said.

Daigle said Tuesday that there is no basis to Mansoor’s claims.

“There’s nothing in my record of public service that suggests I’m a tax-raiser,” she said. “I would say that together with my colleagues, we’ve gotten more pension reform [in Newport Beach] than Allan [did when he was on the Costa Mesa council].

“Several of the employee groups are now paying their full share of their employee pension, and we’re in the process of working with police and fire, and we anticipate reaching an agreement by the end of the month.”

–Mona Shadia, @MonaShadia, HB Independent

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Crowd cries out against class sizes in H.B.

Overcrowding — of more than one kind — was the theme at the Ocean View School District’s board meeting Tuesday, as dozens of people came to protest larger class sizes while district leaders pleaded for the crowd to thin so the meeting could take place.

As the clock ticked past 7 p.m., an overflow audience of teachers, parents and students crammed the boardroom and spilled out into the adjoining rooms of the district headquarters. The visitors, some of whom circulated petitions and brought signs and balloons with slogans, showed up in response to the board’s May 1 vote to increase class sizes in the lower grades.

Starting this fall, student-to-teacher ratios in kindergarten through third grade will increase from 24-to-1 to 29-to-1 to help fill a state budget shortfall. The district adopted the current ratio three years ago after having limited classes to 20 students.

The meeting Tuesday was impassioned, as speakers took the microphone for nearly two hours to urge the board to reconsider its vote. For a while, though, it looked as if a meeting might not take place at all.

With the standing-room-only crowd exceeding the allowed capacity of 180 for the boardroom, Assistant Supt. of Administrative Services Mark Schiel and board President Tracy Pellman asked some people to leave so the meeting could legally begin. Minutes later, district officials called the Fire Department to keep an eye on the crowd for safety purposes.

–Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, HB Independent

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19th Street bridge back on map

The proposed bridge between Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach originally thought to be deleted from Orange County’s master plan is back after a vote by the Orange County Transportation Authority on Monday.

Following a motion by Huntington Beach Mayor Don Hansen and seconded by Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach, the OCTA board voted 17 to 0, with Supervisor Janet Nguyen abstaining, to pull back from deleting the 19th Street bridge from the county’s master plan, which dates back to the 1950s.

The change could be only temporary, OCTA officials said.

The board is expected to take up the issue again within six months, after OCTA staff work with the county, California Department of Transportation, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach on a traffic study to find other congestion-relieving options besides a bridge over the Santa Ana River in Westside Costa Mesa.

–Joseph Serna, @JosephSerna, Daily Pilot

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H.B. eateries hosting fundraisers for Brashears family

Marina High School has announced a series of fundraisers in the coming weeks for the family of Austin Brashears, the 2009 graduate who died Saturday in a crash in New Zealand.

Principal Paul Morrow said the school has partnered with a pair of eateries and plans to collect funds on campus to send to Brashears’ family, which is trying to raise enough to have his body transported back to the United States.

The first fundraiser is from 2 to 11 p.m. Wednesday at Hot Off the Grill at 16522 Bolsa Chica St. in Huntington Beach. All proceeds from customers who wish to donate will go to the Bring Austin Home campaign, as it’s formally known on PayPal. Restaurant management has asked that customers staple a document with Brashears’ name on it to their receipt for bookkeeping purposes.

Cherry on Top, a frozen yogurt shop at 7011 Warner Ave. in Huntington Beach, has a fundraiser planned from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday. The shop will donate 30% of proceeds from any customers who mention the campaign.

The school also plans to gather donations through a Miracle Minute fundraiser, in which the student body passes around a bucket for 60 seconds and classmates drop in donations. The date has not yet been set.

–Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, HB Independent

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Family, friends work to ‘Bring Austin Home’

When Austin Brashears was ready to take off for New Zealand, his mother’s boss lent him a small item for his travels: a backpack. The Huntington Beach resident had arranged a semester abroad, and he didn’t intend to spend all his time outside class lounging in the dorm.

“He was not going to be laying around playing Xbox,” said Debbie Kagawa, chief financial officer of Capital Resources & Insurance, Inc., where Brashears’ mother has worked for more than 10 years. “He was going to be out seeing people.”

Now Kagawa, who joined so many others in seeing Brashears off, is part of a group working soberly to bring him home.

Brashears, who graduated from Marina High School in 2009, died Saturday along with two others when their minivan rolled over on a New Zealand highway. The Boston University student’s family and friends have launched a campaign titled Bring Austin Home to raise the funds to fly his body back to the United States.

Kagawa, who oversees the campaign’s PayPal account, said more than $7,000 has come in since she put it online Sunday.

–Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, HB Independent

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H.B. native among 3 dead in New Zealand accident

Edison falls short of league title in softball

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Kendra Wood took pause afterward, searching for that little something extra to say. The Edison assistant softball coach was attempting to describe a key sequence that occurred – or rather, never materialized, for the Chargers, during the middle stages of their Thursday showdown against Los Alamitos.

“That fourth inning, not being able to get it done…” Wood said, before tailing off and going silent.

“We just needed that extra hit, that sacrifice fly,” she continued, still trying to sum up a crucial turning point in the game that came in the fourth inning. ”Something. Anything.”

In a game that determined the 2012 Sunset League champion, it was Los Alamitos which emerged with the crown. The Griffins led the entire way but had to fend off two big threats by the Chargers late, to come away with a 3-2 victory at Edison.

The outcome put the Griffins at 9-1 in league and 22-6 overall. Edison ended league play in second place at 8-2 and went to 23-4 on the year.

–Mike Sciacca, @MikeSciacca, HB Independent

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Inspections net 71 violations at massage parlors in H.B.

Recent inspections of 20 massage parlors in Huntington Beach uncovered 71 municipal code and building safety violations, and at least three parlors are facing temporary closure.

The May 5 inspections were part of an ongoing investigation regarding allegations of prostitution and human trafficking, according to a report posted on the Huntington Beach Police Department’s Facebook page. The social media posting was confirmed by Police Chief Ken Small.

No arrests were made for prostitution or trafficking.

“Everybody knows that trafficking is taking place,” Small said, adding that it’s often difficult to get victims to cooperate with police out of fear of retaliation.

Women involved in prostitution at massage parlors are often forced into it as a way to pay off the debt they owe to those who brought them to the United States, he said.

Employees performing massages with customers’ genitalia exposed were among the violations noted during the inspections, as were masseurs and businesses operating without proper licenses.

–Mona Shadia, @MonaShadia, HB Independent

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