Rehab

With help from an anonymous donor, a local nonprofit organization aims to bring in $200,000 in donations at an annual fundraiser, said an event official Wednesday. The Circle of Life Breakfast, the biggest fundraiser of the year for New Directions for Women — a Costa Mesa group that provides rehab and recovery services to women — is scheduled for March 28 at the Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach. Last year, the event netted about $80,000. This year, an anonymous donor has pledged to match contributions dollar-for-dollar, said Becky Flood, the organization's chief executive officer.

Three Newport Beach rehabilitation home operators appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week in their fight against the city. They lost in two recent judgments by U.S. District Judge James Selna, who ruled in January that the city didn't cause the operators financial harm by enforcing an ordinance regulating the homes, and in October that the city's law does not discriminate against disabled people. "We think that the judge made several errors in his rulings," said Steven Polin, the attorney representing the group home operators.

"Take me to rehab" is the new mantra of celebrities in pop culture today. It's no wonder that rehab homes are popping up like Starbucks on every corner. In a culture that looks for easy answers, this is the latest fad in recovery. Out-of-control Britney Spears shaves her head, Lindsay Lohan allegedly crashes her car into a tree, and it's all OK because they go to rehab. Nicole Richie was in rehab in Corona del Mar. Her second stint there. "She loves it," reports the National Enquirer, "they don't replace one drug with another or make her go cold turkey to detox."

Newport Beach will give the public another chance next week to speak out on a proposed ordnance aimed at tightening restrictions on drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes in Newport Beach. Community members may voice their opinions on the issue at 7 p.m. Tuesday during Newport Beach City Council’s last meeting of the year at Newport Beach City Hall at 3300 Newport Blvd. The city’s special legal counsel on the rehab home issue will also speak at the meeting on parts of the proposed ordinance that could change based on feedback from the public and councilmembers.

Former Newport Beach Mayor Steve Rosansky turned his chair over to successor Ed Selich Tuesday night and called the rehabilitation home debacle that has dogged him in recent months “one of the thorniest issues our town has ever faced.” Rehab home activists who have continually accused Rosansky of having a monetary interest in the rehabilitation industry in Newport Beach over the past months were noticeably silent on the matter Tuesday, instead focusing their energy on a proposed ordinance to curb the spread of rehab homes.

Who does Newport Beach City Councilman Steve Rosansky think he is kidding? The number of rehab houses in Newport now totals more than 100 and is still growing because the city is encouraging it, not because talks with other cities are needed. For more than five years, the city has refused to enforce its own zoning code, which would regulate any and all houses converting to residential treatment homes, also known as rehab houses. These rehab homes provide treatment to drug and alcohol addicts.

My heart was pounding like a jackhammer reading the Daily Pilot article (“Director defends rehab clients,” Dec. 15). So I took it as a sign that I had to respond to the obvious arrogance and ignorance pervading those upset by Sober Living by the Sea’s existence in their back yard. I am a Newport Beach resident and am proud to say I walk the streets of our pampered surroundings with nine years of sobriety under my belt. I shutter to think where I’d be today if the community of Van Nuys would have turned its nose in the air upon my arrival to Twin Town Treatment Center.

NEWPORT BEACH — Angered activist residents have blamed officials for what they call a city inundated with drug-recovery homes. They’ve accused former City Atty. Bob Burnham and Mayor Steve Rosansky of profiting from drug rehab, and they’ve suggested the city manager and current city attorney are covering up for past malfeasance. They told the council this week they believe residents have suffered damages of more than $250 million because of inadequate regulations.

Costa Mesa City Council is wasting time As a longtime resident of Costa Mesa, I am finding it humorous that the seating arrangement for our council members even warrants an entire article in the Daily Pilot ("Musical chairs, but little harmony," March 8). Our elected representatives are wasting time on this snit over who sits where. Have any of my fellow residents noticed the potholes in our streets, the ill-timed traffic lights that keep us waiting forever to turn into our housing tracts when there is no traffic on the road at all, the illegal immigration and crime problems our residents are forced to endure, the growing gang problems, the growing graffiti problems?

Local surfer and Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital surgical technician Joe Griskonis will paddle today from Newport Beach to Catalina and back on a paddleboard to raise funds and awareness for Matt Oka’s rehab and recovery. Oka, 21, broke his neck when he hit a sandbar diving into the ocean at Newport Beach on the Fourth of July. Griskonis assisted in Oka’s surgery that day, and the two have since become close friends. Oka receives help from a physical, occupational and recreational therapy program at the Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center in Downey.

The family of a man who died after being transferred from a Newport Beach recovery clinic is suing the clinic for wrongful death. Brandon Jacques was 20 when he died of cardiac arrest last April after leaving treatment at Morningside Recovery, according to his family's civil complaint, filed March 29 in Orange County Superior Court. His family is seeking an unlimited amount in damages. Jacques first sought treatment for his alcoholism and bulimia at A Sober Way Home in Prescott, Ariz., but only made headway in addressing his drinking while there, his family said in the lawsuit.

Morningside Recovery cannot add beds and or move its facilities within Newport Beach until a lawsuit between it and the city is resolved, an Orange County Superior Court judge has ruled. In rejecting Newport's request to immediately prohibit Morningside from operating as a rehabilitation home, Judge Sheila Fell decided last week to essentially maintain the status quo. "Morningside Recovery wants to comply with the Development Agreement," Morningside counsel Mary Helen Beatificato said in a statement Wednesday.

Costa Mesa is accepting applications for no-interest, single-family home rehabilitation loans. The loans are federally funded and available to single-family homeowners who need mechanical, electrical, plumbing or roofing repairs. The loans can also be used for windows, security, health and safety benefits, or improve readiness for a medical emergency. Eligibility is based on family size and income, with loans limited to one per household. The maximum loan value is 85% of the home's current market value.

NEWPORT BEACH — In a move that exposes the city to another court challenge, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to revoke an agreement with rehabilitation home operator Morningside Recovery. The drug and alcohol group home company, which has seven locations in Newport Beach, repeatedly violated its contract that allowed it to operate in the city, officials said. With its facilities potentially out of compliance, Morningside could sue the city or apply for state licenses, city officials have said.

Newport Beach is considering axing an agreement that allows a recovery home operator to do business in the city, but the move wouldn't automatically shut down any of the company's controversial group homes, city officials said. The City Council is slated to review how Morningside Recovery has responded to a 30-day warning period during which it accrued 20 violations against its zoning agreement with the city. The council could vote to pass an ordinance revoking Morningside's development agreement, which would leave its facilities out of compliance under the city's 2008 group-homes law, but the facility would still have options to stay in Newport Beach, said City Attorney David Hunt.

NEWPORT BEACH — The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to issue a formal warning to Morningside Recovery. The operator of group drug- and alcohol-rehabilitation homes has committed "a high number of violations" of its zoning agreement with the city, according to a first annual review by city staff. From the period of Sept. 28, 2010, through May 27, 2011, Morningside received 21 written warnings, 17 notices of violations, nine administrative citations and two parking citations, according to the report.

In response to the online article, "Police Restructuring Plans to be Presented" (June 9): I am worried about cuts to the Police Department and public safety in our community. Our Police Department has worked closely with our neighborhood here on the Eastside to reduce speeding traffic and to reduce criminal activity in our more densely populated areas. How will these cuts impact us and the city at large? And will they turn back all of the efforts our neighborhood has made with the city to reduce crime and speeders on our streets?

COSTA MESA — Two foreclosed homes are on the market for first-time homebuyers through a public-private partnership between the city and a national nonprofit organization, Mercy Housing. The two homes, in north Costa Mesa at 3004 Harding Way and at 975 Paularino Ave., were purchased for $1.4 million with funding from the federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act, according to a city press release. The homes were both foreclosed and vacant by February last year, said Ben Phillips, Southern California regional director for Mercy Housing.

NEWPORT BEACH — The Newport Beach Planning Commission approved the Frog House and nearby businesses' applications Thursday night to change their properties' zoning, and if the City Council agrees, the businesses will be able to stay. The nearly 50-year-old surf shop and its eccentric owner T.K. Brimer drew about 30 supporters to the Council Chambers, but none of them spoke because the commissioners approved the application without contention. "Our focus has always been to do the right thing for the city and the individual," commission Chairman Earl McDaniel said after Frog House fans applauded.

Three Newport Beach rehabilitation home operators appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week in their fight against the city. They lost in two recent judgments by U.S. District Judge James Selna, who ruled in January that the city didn't cause the operators financial harm by enforcing an ordinance regulating the homes, and in October that the city's law does not discriminate against disabled people. "We think that the judge made several errors in his rulings," said Steven Polin, the attorney representing the group home operators.