INSIDE CITY HALL Here are a...

INSIDE

CITY HALL

Here are a few decisions coming out of Tuesday’s Costa Mesa City

Council meeting:

NEWPORT BOULEVARD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

Libby Cowan pulled this item from the consent calendar, where it

would have been automatically approved without discussion, because

she wanted to focus more on creating a pedestrian-friendly

environment in the Newport Boulevard/19th Street area. She suggested

delaying a vote on the item until a latter day, but her colleagues

rejected that notion. The environmental study and design of

improvements for Newport Boulevard passed 3 to 2, with Cowan and

Mayor Karen Robinson dissenting.

WHAT IT MEANS:

The city will use a grant approved for the environmental study and

can keep its cooperative agreement with Caltrans. The study will

explore adding an extra lane to Newport Boulevard northbound in the

Newport Boulevard/19th Street area.

WHAT WAS SAID:

“The grant does not obligate us to construct an extra lane,”

Councilman Chris Steel said. “There’s no harm to do a study.”

BOULEVARD BANNERS

The council decided to postpone selecting a banner design for

temporary street banners to be installed along Newport Boulevard

because Robinson was absent from this part of the meeting.

WHAT IT MEANS:

The decision will return to the council in the future. In the

meantime, Cowan directed staff to look into whether the combination

of the street banners and the banners that will be installed in June

to commemorate the city’s 50th anniversary celebration will cause too

much clutter.

-- Compiled by

Deirdre Newman