Kobe buys a house in the area

Lakers all-star Kobe Bryant has purchased a home in one of the

luxurious gated communities of Newport Coast.

Bryant, currently sixth in the NBA in scoring with 25.7 points per

game, bought the $4 million Mediterranean-style home last week, a Newport

Beach real estate agent said.

Bryant, 23, and wife Vanessa, who is from Huntington Beach, bought the

home from sports agent Dwight Manley, said Strada Properties partner

Chris Brigandi.

Brigandi, who was not Bryant’s agent on the sale, said he showed the

NBA star about 15 to 20 homes in the area.

The home will be Bryant’s third, the agent said. It won’t be his

primary residence.

Bryant is the second NBA star to move to Newport Beach. Former Laker

Dennis Rodman has a home here.

Measure F ruling upheld on appeal

Almost exactly two months before the Great Park initiative goes to

voters, a state appeals court read the last rites to South County’s

previous airport-related measure.

The 4th District Court of Appeal, on Friday, upheld an earlier ruling

that March 2000’s Measure F, which would have required a two-thirds vote

for any new airport, jail or landfill, was unconstitutional.

The San Diego panel validated Los Angeles Judge James Otero’s ruling

that the initiative was “fatally flawed� and in violation of the state’s

constitution.

The ruling does not affect Measure W, the Great Park initiative set to

go to county voters on March 5.

South County groups had battled to appeal Otero’s ruling. The El Toro

Reuse Planning Authority, a coalition of South County cities fighting the

county’s airport plan, will weigh whether they want head to the state

supreme court.

But anti-airport leaders said Measure F, which passed on a 67% margin,

was a political victory that shifted support from an airport to a park at

the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Measure W would undo 1994’s Measure A, which laid down the

airport-ready zoning at the base.