INSIDE CITY HALL Here are some...

INSIDE CITY HALL

Here are some decisions out of the Newport Beach City Council

meeting on Tuesday.

FOURTH OF JULY

Moving forward on their plans to get tough on Fourth of July

mayhem in West Newport, city officials are asking residents of the

area to weigh in on a possible plan to restrict access to the

neighborhood to all except residents on the holiday. The city is not

yet even sure whether they have the legal right to do so, but as they

move forward to look for options, having a good measure of residents’

feelings will give officials more information about how to proceed.

Residents of the area are asked to contact their council members to

weigh in on how they feel about restricting access to the area on

July 4. Council members’ e-mail addresses are at

www.city.Newport-beach.ca.us/council.-

html. More information is available through the city manager’s

office, (949) 644-3000.

UNDERGROUND UTILITIES

Yet another area of the city is slated to have its utilities moved

underground. City Council members on Tuesday voted to take the first

steps toward creating an assessment district for the Bayshores area

to move utilities underground.

TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR

In response to a years-old financial crisis of the San Joaquin

Hills Transportation Corridor Agency, council members on Tuesday

voted to approve a merger of that agency with the Foothill/Eastern

Transportation Corridor Agency. More than a year ago, the Fitch

financial rating service had downgraded the San Joaquin Hills

agency’s bonds to below investment grade -- a financially devastating

situation that could have caused tolls to rise on the San Joaquin

Toll Road. The joint powers agency that operates the toll road agreed

that the only way to save it was to merge with the Foothill agency,

whose relatively solid finances would balance out that of the

troubled local agency. The San Joaquin Hills agency was in trouble in

part because the toll road and other projects bring in only about 70%

of the revenue they were expected to earn.

WHAT IT MEANS

The city is just one member in the Joint Powers Authority that

operates the agency. All must agree on the merger for it to take

place.

-- Compiled by June Casagrande