Citizen of the Year has spent decades serving Newport

Paul Watkins hasn’t shied away from community involvement in his 37 years as a full-time Newport Beach resident, but he still hasn’t grown comfortable with being in the spotlight.

The 69-year-old real estate attorney and 2015 Citizen of the Year is so hesitant to be a spectacle that he and his wife, Ronnie, devised a plan to divert attention from him back to the city that he’s had a fondness for since he was a young boy. During a gala in his honor Friday night at the Balboa Bay Resort, Watkins and his wife unveiled their navy blue T-shirts with the words “Celebrate Newport Beach!” emblazoned in white lettering across the front.

“I’m grateful for the honor and it’s much appreciated, but at the same time our goal is to highlight the community for which we have enormous respect and admiration,” Watkins said.

It’s Watkins’ long standing commitment to public service that led a panel of former Citizens of the Year to select him as the 2015 recipient, according to Steve Rosansky, president of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, which presents the award each year.

Watkins began attending Chamber Government Affairs Committee meetings in 2000 and joined the Board of Directors two years later — a position he still holds today. He has served on various city groups in the past decade, including the July 4th West Newport Safety Planning Committee, the Charter Update Commission and the Santa Ana River Trails Advisory Committee.

Watkins also served as a member of the West Newport Beach Assn. board of directors for 15 years, serving as president or co-president for five years.

Most recently, he was on the Land Use Element Advisory Committee, which came up with a proposed city general plan amendment known as Measure Y, which would have allowed more development in the main business district while limiting it along the residential cost. The measure was denied by local voters last year.

“Newport Beach is my home and my life,” Watkins said, adding that he is “undeserving” of the Citizen of the Year honor.

But former Mayor Rush Hill, who has known Watkins for about 15 years, disagrees with the award winner in that respect.

“It’s an unselfish commitment Paul has made to serve on public committees, boards and commissions to help continue and enhance the quality of life of Newport Beach,” Hill said. “Paul has that often rare, but classic feeling of responsibility to give back.”

Watkins’ fondness for Newport Beach began long before he lived in the seaside city full-time.

When Watkins was a young boy, his family would drive down on the weekends and most summers to their rented house on 44th Street in Newport Beach to get away from the smog-filled air that consumed Pasadena in the early 1950s.

He remembers that his family would exit the freeway in what is now Fountain Valley and take Brookhurst Street down to Pacific Coast Highway.

“We’d turn left on PCH and everyone would breathe a sigh of relief. There were smiles all around,” he said. “That was the genesis for me eventually wanting to get to Newport Beach and live there year-round.”

In 1978, his dream of living in Newport Beach became a reality. After graduating from law school and working in San Diego briefly, he took a job at a Newport Beach law practice and eventually purchased a home in West Newport on the oceanfront where he raised his two children, Nick and Kiki.

Even after three decades, his fondness for the city hasn’t wavered.

“This city is awesome in every respect,” he said. “When Ronnie and I come home from traveling, we always look at one another and say, ‘What a neat spot’. It really has it all.”