Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
Just like the Lights Out at 11pm, Dixon brought the fire rings proposal up for a vote at the last minute. Unlike the Lights Out proposal, the city had it posted for LESS than 72 hours. All 72 hours are legally required by the Brown Act, but the page holding the information was offline for a whopping 23 hours. Despite this very clear legal requirement, the city decided to continue with the meeting instead of rescheduling it. Rescheduling is required by law.
Regardless, tons of people showed up. The fact that the meeting was likely illegally held was brought up more times than I could count. City officials stated that it was their belief that a simple notice 72 hours in advance (even if it disappears) was sufficient. I do not believe that the Attorney General of California sees it that way, as notices are not intended to vanish and then re-appear. We shall see what the AG says about this in the coming months.
Regardless, after more than an hour of public comments, Mayor Selich and Councilmen Peotter, Muldoon, and Duffy all voted against re-voting on the Fire Rings which had woodburning restored by a vote 6 weeks ago.
Some residents questioned why we couldn’t simply put them back where the rings were previously. Peotter and Curry exchanged verbal blows over this: Curry accused Peotter of attempting to expand the footprint of the fire rings. Peotter correctly explained to Curry that he (Peotter) would love to do that, thanks to Curry’s actions and getting the AQMD involved, we now have a legal obligation to place the fire rings at a distance that is far enough apart to please the Big Government agency that was enlisted thanks to the previous council’s actions. If we are going to keep the fire rings– even in the same quantity as we had before– we now must space them a bit further out. That is no fault of the current council, who is simply trying their best to restore what we had prior the previous council’s actions.
This is an excellent presentation. Many thanks to all four members who voted to support the fire rings for standing strong on this matter.
If you are keeping tally (we are), the minority council people who voted in support of Dixons measure were, of course, Dixon and Curry. The shocker who joined them was Petros, who switched sides from his previous vote.
Thankfully, the majority ruled, all four other members had the fortitude to continue advocating for what an overwhelming majority of constituents prefer: Woodburning beachside fire rings.
Great job, Mayor Selich and Councilmen Duffy, Muldoon, and of course, Peotter
