Top Stories

On Thursday morning, construction crews demolished an iconic tree on Balboa Peninsula Point.  This tree was not only beloved by neighbors, but also had several species of federally protected birds nesting in it, and two types of herons, covered under the Federal Migratory Bird Act (which basically says you can’t mess with migratory bird habitats). A woman stood under the …

Last night, Duffy, Peotter, and Muldoon stood by helplessly as Diane Dixon abandoned her pledge for reform and fiscal responsibility and voted to increase taxes, increase spending, and increase our public employee union size– all in one fell swoop.  By doing this– again– she has completely betrayed all of her campaign pledges and also her campaign runningmates.  The spending bill last night– …

During the last election cycle, we voted in four new people, ousting the current mayor. The theme behind it all? That the current city council was overspending. The sitting mayor was ousted by a resounding two-thirds of the population who all demanded fiscal responsibility. Now, it has come time to put the money where their mouth is. The annual budget …

Did you know that newly elected councilwoman Diane Dixon has proclaimed the entire peninsula area as a “nuisance area” and a “crime problem”– both of which require disclosures according to the California Bureau of Real Estate? What do you think that will do to the value of homes in and near the Balboa Peninsula area? FACT #1: Last year, Newport’s crime …

When Dixon initially came out and tried to restrict the bars open past 11pm, she said this: Basically, she said there were three options: 1) Restrict already-existing late-night businesses 2) Create a voluntary group that works with her 3) Saturate the peninsula with police officers Well, #1 and #3 didn’t sound very good, so I got all the bar owners together and they all …

As many of you may [or may not!] know, I have been working with the bars and restaurants on the peninsula, and also the ABC, or Alcoholic Beverage Control in order to protect them from council ordinances proposing new regulations to places open past 11pm, and the tripling of the police on nights and weekends. As accusations from naysayers have recently been flung about, …

I was recently contacted by a concerned real estate agent asking whether or not the newly-elected Mayor-Pro-Tem Diane Dixon’s actions would require a disclosure on real estate sales in the Balboa Peninsula area. Before going into the answer, let me lay out the problem: Dixon has repeatedly called crime on Balboa a “serious problem”, and repeatedly referred to our local …

When we had our first post on Facebook in Dec, 2013, I had no idea where this was going… or frankly, what I was doing.  All I knew is that we had some really awful policies being passed by the then-current city council, and I wanted to do everything I could to let people know about them so that we …

BREAKING: Weather outlets throughout the world are confirming a “Strong to Very Strong” El Nino this year, and some are predicting an “Extreme El Nino”.  Last years call for a weak El Nino was true in the technical sense, as we kept catching Yellowtail throughout the wintertime– a happening that is virtually unheard of. What’s that mean for us in Newport?  A year filled with …

Tonight, Council voted to reject the proposal by Councilwoman Diane Dixon to ban Jet Packs in the harbor.  Dixon’s proposal carried no actual line-items whatsoever, just an outright ban.  Was it the noise?  Safety?  No– she just wanted to ban them completely without any other qualifications. I spoke on behalf of reason: We already have noise ordinances.  We already have wake ordinances. …