Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
Following Dixon’s proposal to ban jetpacks in the harbor after Team Newport enacted measures to tax them out of business, Brad Avery joined in the pile-on by voting to ban the fledgling type of business from operating in the harbor. Now whether or not you like jetpacks is immaterial here, because this vote not only didn’t need to happen– but the way it happened was actually illegal. Here’s why:
1) The city decided that operating a jet pack business requires a special permit. Therefore, they never needed to ban this business to begin with. They could have simply refused to issue a permit. This ban was an ill-thought-out and politically-motivated “kick them while they are down” to a business that once thrived in Newport Beach until Diane Dixon and her Team Newport got involved.
2) The jet packs weren’t banned because they were noisy (they had zero noise citations). They didn’t ban them for creating wakes (they had zero wake citations). They didn’t ban them because they were dangerous (there were zero collisions with other boats or objects). The Newport Council banned jetpacks because they were “incompatible”. His direct quote is “I’ve never felt a jetpack was a compatible use in the harbor”.
3) There is a more disturbing problem: Brad Avery has a conflict– a big one. When Avery ran for office, he put down his main occupation as the job he has working as the director for OCC’s marine programs– the sailing hub off PCH. Out of this area, he runs sailing classes, sends people out on sailing boats, and also runs an organization on the side which sells boats. Finally, he has been the head honcho of a prestigious yacht club right here in Newport Beach (which I will not name, as they are not directly involved here, but their members know). Note that none of this involves jetpacks– only “traditional” boats and boating– two water uses which compete for the same space, and only one of which Avery gets paid to operate. So what were the jetpacks “incompatible” with? Could it be the same types of business that Avery makes income from?
Let’s put this in “landlubber terms”: If I hired someone to be my business manager and they got elected to council and they voted to shut down businesses which competed with my company for limited space, I think that would be an obvious conflict of interest. In Avery’s case, he is being retained to run a business, he was elected to council, and he voted to shut down a business type which competed for limited space, calling that business “incompatible”– although again, not a single citation was ever given to the jetpacks– he just doesn’t think they are “compatible”.
Now don’t get me wrong: I like Avery. I think he’s a nice guy. I think he simply did not think this through. Yesterday, I asked Avery repeatedly to reconsider his vote and recuse himself just as Duffy Duffield did (because Duffy has a business interest two doors down in the harbor, too). He refused. I let him know that I would be forced to file a complaint for a Conflict of Interest Violation with the Fair Political Practices Committee of California, and he said he completely understood why I would do that. So I did: http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-fppc-complaint-20170216-story.html
Once again, this isn’t about whether or not anyone other than Avery wants jetpacks in the harbor. This is about whether or not there is a conflict of interest for someone who is being paid to conduct harbor business in the same area as other harbor businesses when a vote comes up to ban those other businesses. I think it is clear that there is one. What do you think?
