New City Hall

o7Here are some items the council will consider tonight. f7 CIVIC CENTER FINANCING Tonight will be the council's third and final discussion of the new civic center before the council votes on the project Oct. 11. The council will hear about how to pay for the roughly $46-million project, which will include a new city hall, fire station and parking garage. City officials have proposed using certificates of participation, which are similar to bonds but would be repaid from the city's general fund, so homeowners wouldn't get a fatter tax bill.

The Newport Beach City Council could be poised to approve a multimillion dollar development agreement with the Irvine Co. by the end of the year, but some citizens are concerned the deal is moving too fast and without enough public input. “The public deserves more,” former Mayor John Heffernan said. “If it’s a hundred-page development agreement, tell me you can get that done in two meetings. City Council has not demonstrated to me they have done their homework.

Let's think of our families and youth. We are in desperate need of more playing fields in our area. Lacrosse is one of the fastest-growing sports in Southern California, but practice fields are limited, and often the kids are practicing in compromised space, sharing with several other teams. Maybe we do need more slips, I don't know. What I do know and care about deeply is that my son has space to play. KELLY PEDERSEN Newport Beach I have lived on the Balboa Peninsula since 1979 and therefore have some idea about what is happening there.

NEWPORT BEACH — The City Council will keep its control over employee pension boosts rather than giving voters a chance to weigh in. Councilman Keith Curry withdrew a proposal Tuesday for a ballot measure that would have let voters decide city employee pension hikes if they increase the city’s costs. He didn’t think there was support on the council, he said, and he doesn’t plan to pursue a valid measure without it. “I’m disappointed in having to do that because I think we’ve missed an opportunity to show leadership,” Curry said.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore stated a bill he will introduce in January to allow nuclear power in California will detail a process for dealing with spent fuel. “The people of California have been fed this fairy tale that the state can generate enough power from solar and wind, and it’s simply not the reality,” DeVore said. “ The policies we’ve put in place are not sustainable.” The bill will be a resurrected version of a bill that died in legislative committee earlier this year.

Life is funny. Sometimes it's funny in a "ha ha" way; other times it is funny in a strange way. A few days ago, my wife and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a trip to Lake Tahoe, where we spent our honeymoon. It rained on our wedding day, which is supposed to be good luck. After a 20-year stretch, I would not argue against the theory. We were supposed to get married outside in San Juan Capistrano. Fortunately, we chose a location that was flexible, and at the last minute the entire event was moved indoors.

Last week, I had a fairly lengthy phone conversation with a reader regarding Costa Mesa's planned enforcement of immigration laws. This caller ? I'm not sure calling him a reader is correct because at one point he said he planned essentially to boycott the paper, though he sounded less sure of that position when we hung up ? particularly was incensed by a couple of Joseph N. Bell columns on the issue. The crucial piece to the debate, he argued, is not race but strict enforcement of the law. I'll acknowledge there is an enforcement component to this debate, though there's no way to argue that immigration rules are the only laws that don't get strict, by-the-book attention.

Are you there? I’m not. I’m in Italy, which is far away, although cellphones have definitely brought it closer. I’ve been here a while so you’ll have to fill me in when I get back. I assume everything is still standing, everyone is happy, more or less, the 55 is still going nowhere and no decision yet on a new city hall in Newport Beach, which is about where we were when I left. Things are about the same here as the last time I was in Italy. It is a breathtakingly beautiful nearly impossible relaxing and maddening place, and that’s just the stuff that happens before lunch.

Young tennis player's story is touching The story "Gaytan-Leach motivated by rejection," (Sports, Nov. 30), was a well-written and unfortunately all-too-true article.   As a photographer for a statewide tennis publication, I have had the opportunity to see first-hand Cierra's stunning athleticism, her grace and poise on the court, her external beauty, and most important her inner beauty — the person she is. In all my years of photographing CIF, Easter Bowls, etc., I have never met a more sweet, gracious, genuine and downright likable teenager than Cierra!

Newport Beach voters will be busy over the next four weeks trying to figure out whom to vote into the unprecedented six council seats that are up for election. Those are important choices because the City Council, which for years has gained a reputation among a growing number of residents as a divisive group that was unresponsive to their needs, is at a possible turning point. We believe it is important that the council does become friendlier and more attuned to the community's needs.