Bever

Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever this week extended his condolences to the family of a 17-year-old boy fatally injured during a fight in the El Metate Market parking lot Saturday night, and he praised police for their swift apprehension of a suspect. Javier Paz was killed during what authorities characterized as a gang-related incident. Scott Santana, 23, was arrested and charged with his murder. “I offer my deepest sympathy to the family in their grief,” Bever said in a news release.

Alicia Robinson Costa Mesa City Councilman Eric Bever says he wants to look into using eminent domain to bring in new ownership for the floundering Triangle Square shopping center, but the plan isn't likely to fly with his colleagues. The beleaguered center has had trouble attracting tenants since opening in 1992, and just this year it shed major retailers Niketown and Virgin Megastore. At the Tuesday City Council meeting, Bever said the council should consider condemning the mall as underperforming, and he ripped the Orange County Register for depicting Triangle Square as "the poster child for failed redevelopment projects."

Reversing his earlier stance, Costa Mesa Councilman Eric Bever is asking the City Council to reconsider last week’s vote to declare the entire city an economic recovery zone. The council’s 5-0 vote Jan. 19 paved the way for the city to receive $6.4 million in federal bond money through the Obama administration’s program to stimulate the national economy. The money would be earmarked for helping struggling local businesses bounce back and finance city road and other infrastructure projects at a low interest rate.

Years ago, while taking a political science class at a local university, a book title got stuck in my head: “Condemned to Repetition,” by Robert A Pastor. In his book, Pastor argues how some political leaders are inclined to make the same mistakes because they aren’t willing to learn from history. Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever is about to make the same mistake. Opening a new job center to solve the day-laborer issue is doomed to failure. Bever isn’t the first local politician to try this policy.

When Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever publicly offered condolences to the family of a 17-year-old boy killed during a fight last week, it struck us as a decent and classy move. It was especially praiseworthy given that the declaration came across our desks without our prompting. Police say Javier Paz was killed in what they characterized as a gang-related incident. Scott Santana, 23, was arrested and charged with murder. ?I offer my deepest sympathy to the family in their grief,?

Costa Mesa Councilman Eric Bever has backed away from supporting the city’s $96 million proposal to purchase the Orange County Fairgrounds from the state. In an open letter to the City Council dated Friday, Bever said he was pulling out of the proposal – although he had signed off on it along with the four other council members – because of concerns about whether the city could meet a new 30-day deadline from the state to find a buying partner. “I don’t support the process as it currently exits,” Bever said in an interview with the Daily Pilot.

Now that Costa Mesa has finally decided to grant a permit to a basketball league based in Santa Ana, there are a couple of loose ends to tie up, both of which could affect kids in the area. First, it is important to recognize and applaud the higher level of communication by someone we must assume is Costa Mesa City Councilman Eric Bever. At least twice, the person claiming to be Bever has posted comments on dailypilot.com about the permit issue. We have to assume it is Bever because we have no way of identifying him other than to ask him, which I did last week, but my call was not returned.

Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever has chosen Ray Garcia for the Mayor’s Award for his work in helping the city increase traffic safety. Garcia will be honored at Tuesday’s City Council meeting at City Hall. “He was instrumental in getting the speed limit on Adams Avenue reduced to 45 miles per hour,” Bever said. Garcia also helped get extra signage and an electronic speed warning radar put in on the major street. Last year the speed limit on the street was 50 mph. Every month the mayor chooses someone from the city he believes performed an outstanding service to the community and embodies leadership qualities.

I wonder if trick-or-treaters stopped by Costa Mesa City Councilman Eric Bever's house last night to get some goodies. If they avoided his house, I can guess why. Perhaps his costume was too terrifying for the kids. Or maybe his ideas don't coincide with the large majority of kids who love kicking a soccer ball at Paularino Park. At the Oct. 18 City Council meeting, Bever tried to convince his colleagues to change the status of Paularino Park from an "active" to a "passive" facility.

Deirdre Newman To replace former Mayor Karen Robinson on the dais, the City Council had two choices: appoint a replacement or call a special election. When deadlock struck for the second time between hopefuls Eric Bever and Mike Scheafer, the council found that it didn't necessarily have to choose -- it could have an appointment and a special election. After two hours of public comment and debate on Monday on Bever and Scheafer, the council opened up the floor to public comment again on a suggestion from Councilman Gary Monahan that the council consider appointing someone to serve six months, until a special election could be held in November.

CORONA DEL MAR - Corona del Mar High baseball coach John Emme took a bit of a chance saving his ace Andrew McCormack to open the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs. But the choice didn't seem like any sort of risk because of Billy Macdonald. The senior pitcher delivered a complete-game, three-hit shutout to help lead the Sea Kings to a 5-0 win over Beverly Hills (14-11) in a wild-card game Tuesday at CdM. "We rolled the dice and came up aces," Emme said. Macdonald struck out two and walked six. The CdM defense also played well.

Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever on Tuesday night voted against his own proposal that would have moved the public comments section toward the end of council meetings. The council voted 4 to 0 to keep the time, which is reserved for speaking on issues not on the agenda, near the beginning of the meetings. The move was met with applause from the audience. Councilman Gary Monahan was absent. Bever's proposal was an attempt to curtail what he deemed to be bad behavior from some commenters.

LOS ANGELES - Newport-Mesa Unified Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard was convicted Monday of two felony charges for misappropriating public funds during his tenure as the schools chief for Beverly Hills. A jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court found Hubbard, 54, guilty of giving to a subordinate $20,000 in bonuses and increasing her car allowance without required school board approval. He was acquitted on a third felony charge that he illegally increased another subordinate's pay. Just after the verdicts were read, Hubbard appeared stunned and placed a hand on his face.

LOS ANGELES — Newport-Mesa Unified Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard testified Wednesday that racy emails sent between him and a subordinate when he ran the school district in Beverly Hills had nothing to do with why he increased that subordinate's car allowance and gave her a bonus. Karen Anne Christiansen was a top performer, and he and members of the school board believed she deserved more money, he testified on the witness stand in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Prosecutors have alleged that the attention Hubbard received in a "special relationship" with Christiansen, then Beverly Hills Unified's facilities director, led him to enhance her car allowance and give her bonuses without the legally required school board approval.

LOS ANGELES - A former Beverly Hills Unified School District human resources official testified Friday that then-Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard became angry when she put in writing his directive to give another employee a raise without required school board approval. JudyAnn Allen-Mendez testified in Los Angeles County Superior Court that Hubbard did not follow proper procedure in 2005 when he directed her to give subordinate Nora Roque a $20,000 raise. "The job description, and the job itself and the pay, needed to be approved by the board first," the former assistant superintendent of HR told the court.

LOS ANGELES — A Superior Court judge said Tuesday that he will not immediately rule on whether Beverly Hills Unified must provide email records to a defense attorney representing its former schools chief, who is now superintendent of Newport-Mesa Unified. Judge Stephen A. Marcus told attorney Sal Ciulla that he needs to prove that the emails are essential to defending his client, Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard. Hubbard, 54, is facing two felony counts of misappropriating public funds when at his previous job in Beverly Hills.

LOS ANGELES — A judge on Friday denied a request to drop the felony criminal charges filed against the Newport-Mesa Unified schools chief. An attorney for Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard had argued that Hubbard was only following procedure when, in his last job as superintendent for the Beverly Hills Unified School District, he wrote memos to subordinates requiring them to make payments to Beverly Hills' former facilities director, Karen Anne Christiansen, 53. Though the request by Hubbard's lawyer, Sal Ciulla, was denied, the judge said he could see both sides of the case before allowing it to proceed to trial.

BOYS' TENNIS Corona del Mar 11, Beverly Hills 7 BEVERLY HILLS — Senior Shane Korber won 18 of 19 games for CdM at No. 1 singles in the Sea Kings' nonleague season opener. Senior Carter Wheatley and junior Alex Murray swept in doubles while sophomore Alec Adamson, a transfer from Illinois, won two of three singles sets for CdM. The Sea Kings play at Newport Harbor on Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Battle of the Bay. BOYS' GOLF Estancia 206, Millikan 218 COSTA MESA — Jake Knapp shot one-over-par 37 to earn medalist honors in the nonleague season opener for the Eagles at Mesa Verde Country Club Tuesday.

Editor's note: This corrects Joanna Clay's e-mail address. COSTA MESA — Jimmy Au, a Beverly Hills tailor specializing in suits for men shorter than 5-foot-8 — including some unnamed Hollywood stars — on Friday donated $50,000 worth of designer suits to a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit. The people at the Working Wardrobes headquarters on Pullman Street eagerly welcomed racks of labels donated by Au, which featured works of sartorial splendor designed by the likes of Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, DKNY and Ralph Lauren.

A judge in Los Angeles ruled Monday that there is enough evidence for Newport-Mesa Unified School District Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard to stand trial for alleged misappropriation of funds during his previous job as superintendent in the Beverly Hills schools district. Superior Court Judge Kathryn Solorzano set Feb. 7 as an arraignment date for Hubbard, L.A. Deputy Dist. Atty. Max Huntsman said Monday afternoon in a phone interview from the Airport Courthouse near Los Angeles International Airport.