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Newport Beach’s City Hall is a building which produces no revenue and costs the taxpayers of Newport Beach well over a half-million dollars each and every month simply to pay down the debt created with its construction and payment plan. While the Irvine Company gave us the land for free, we managed to turn the “New City Hall Project” from …

The Jet Packs in the harbor are cool– nobody is denying that.  However, should they be here in our harbor? Many boaters use the channel that they operate in, and some complain that the Jet Packs tend to be in the way, with newbie drivers flying and spraying seawater all over the place– so should they be banned? I think …

Today is the peak of the Big Swell, with the swell pushing in from dead-south, bringing 10-14ft waves to the big beaches and 20ft waves being generated at The Wedge– estimates which many claim are noticeably low. Last night’s swell overtook much of the sandbars in the area north/west of the Balboa Pier, creating a lake-like scene, shown here: The peak today will be …

The storm that we’ve been tracking for the last week is finally arriving this weekend– and we aren’t talking about boxing.  This Saturday through Wednesday we will see higher than normal swells, with the Wedge seeing waves up to 20 feet high. Monday or Tuesday will likely be the biggest waves, but we’ll start seeing major increases as early as Sunday morning, …

By now, you’ve heard about the water crisis throughout California.  For many reasons, our water supply is simply too low.  In Orange County, we have a reservoir that we pump most of our water from, but we are only allowed to pull 72% from the OC’s reservoir, meaning still need to import 28% of it from northern water supplies– the same supplies that …

One of the items in Tuesday’s City Council meeting was whether or not to add more police to Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula, which councilwoman Dixon has repeatedly referred to as having a  “crime problem”.  This is part of Dixon’s “Lights Out” proposal, and 1,746 signatures were submitted to show public disapproval.  All were summarily ignored by council. First, let’s start with the police …

At least one Newport Official is now facing the music in regards to his questionable behavior and missing contribution reports with the Newport Beach City Hall project.  The original City Hall project was set to cost $46m in cash, but ballooned to over a quarter-billion dollars by the time city officials were done with it. The project not only resembles an …

Do you remember when people called us crazy when we called for an audit of City Hall, the project that ballooned from a $46m cash project to a quarter-billion-dollar debacle, saying that corruption was unlikely and that this would just be a waste of money? Dixon promised an audit, but instead just asked the city to review themselves.  Unsurprisingly, the …

After upsetting the entire community with the original “Lights Out at 11pm” proposal, Dixon has decided that it is better to execute her will through increased police force, and is now attempting to hire on additional police units to patrol the area which is already very well covered by police. This idea is purely illogical for the following reasons: 1) Balboa has …

This Throwback Thursday has a place to visit!  Jump in to get some awesome food at a discount, and grab some 40th year anniversary memorabilia while you are at it!  The staff is doubled-up on this day and is able to quickly seat people who visit.  When I visited last Thursday with a co-worker, we immediately found seats at the bar …