Hello, it’s Wednesday, November 15th. My caller is Carol Cormaci and I provide you with this week’s TimesOC newsletter with a look at the latest news and events.
An estimated 60% of Costa Mesa’s approximately 110,000 citizens are renters and are at the mercy of landlords who would possibly try to evict them for a variety of reasons. Some evictions may be due to smart reasons (such as non-payment of rent), while others may not.
The City Council, recognizing that evictions have been rampant lately, voted 6-1 at a meeting last Tuesday afternoon to implement a new emergency order to protect tenants, according to a report by my Daily Pilot colleague, Sara Cardine.
The new law requires all landlords to give tenants 60 days, provide the tenant with one month’s rent at fair market value, and notify the city of the eviction within 3 days of issuing an eviction notice.
The council’s resolution refers to a new state law passed in September, Senate Bill 567, which will go into effect in April and prevents landlords from moving low-income tenants, only to update them with new ones who will pay a higher rate.
Costa Mesa Neighborhood Improvement Manager Nate Robbins quantified the recent concerns. Between July 1 and October 16, 41 families reported receiving eviction notices. Over the next nine days, news reached the city council of another 22 evictions, affecting 76 people.
On Oct. 27, the city heard from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District about four school families who had been forced from their homes and were living on the streets.
“Authorities estimate that, at the current rate, the city will see between 160 and 170 additional evictions over the next year,” Cardine reports.
Once the eviction is in their hands, many other people simply pack up and leave, whether or not the eviction complies with existing state and local laws, Robbins said.
“A number of those families had explanations as to why they should raise their rent because the benefit they earned was absolutely invalid,” he said.
The new law allocates $300,000 of federal investment from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act to help rental organizations already operating in the city expand their services to tenants facing eviction. Another one-time investment of $250,000 from ARPA will go toward legal purposes similar to leasing, adding court records and enforcement of warrants. The board also approved an annual amount of $600,000 to pay supervisory staff.
Councilman Don Harper cast the lone dissenting vote. “I don’t like penalizing homeowners who would have possibly invested all their savings in anything and then penalizing them when we don’t have to,” he said.
To read Cardine’s full report on last week’s City Council hearing, click here. You can watch a video of the assembly here.
• Several campuses in the Tustin Unified School District, which were closed for several days due to last week’s hangar fire, are expected to reopen today. The district closed schools due to air quality issues caused by the fire; Instead, academics participated in virtual learning. On Friday, the Tustin City Council unanimously approved an agreement with the U. S. Department of the Navy. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security, which owns the assets where the massive World War II hangars have been for decades, has been asked to begin rehabilitation procedures. According to a report by the City News Service, the agreement calls for the U. S. Navy to be able to protect the U. S. Navy. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security is calling for immediate administrative assistance and an initial $1 million to address the effects of the fire on the health and safety of the Tustin community.
• Chevron agreed to pay Orange County $1. 25 million to plug last year’s Talbert Canal oil spill. On Oct. 6, 2022, a team of contractors working for the county’s Department of Public Works was improving the canal’s flooding capacity when an employee drove a segment of sheet piles into a deserted pipe. County officials say the oil company, which has owned the pipeline since the 1940s, failed to properly purge its contents when it was abandoned in the 1960s, according to this article about the settlement.
• The Huntington Beach City Council has been building staff in recent months and lost its most sensible administrator last week. Al Zelinka announced his resignation as city administrator, citing the need to care for an elderly relative. It was the second time in less than two years that Surf City lost a city manager. The Director of Public Works, the Director of Community Services and Library, the Director of Community Development, the Director of Administrative Services, and the Director of Finance also left Huntington Beach in calendar year 2023. In other cases, Array H. B. News, a federal ruling on the governed opposed the city on Monday in its lawsuit with the state of California over housing mandates.
• A student at Corona Del Mar Middle and High School was suspended for 3 days for comments made to another student that included the words “Free Palestine,” according to this Los Angeles article. The incident occurred about a month after stikas were spray-painted on a Jewish student’s locker and after Hamas militants introduced an attack into southern Israel, sparking an ongoing war. Authorities are investigating the stika incident, which is being treated as a hate crime. In an Instagram post, a woman claimed that her 13-year-old son, her old nephew, who she claimed was the suspended student, had been called a “terrorist” by a student and that her nephew had responded by repeatedly repeating, “Liberate Palestine. “
• A $50 million donation was made through philanthropist Richard H. Pickup to identify a new brain conditioning center at Hoag. Construction of the center is expected to begin this spring on Hoag’s lower campus, according to the Daily Pilot’s report on the donation. “He is making wonderful advances in understanding brain fitness and Alzheimer’s disease,” Pickup said in the statement released through Hoag officials. “They’re the latest in technology, but there’s still a lot that’s unknown about the brain. I am hopeful that Hoag’s Passionate Experts will move this medicine box forward and give others beyond Orange County a position they can look to and trust. “
• A vigil is planned tonight at 7 p. m. at the end of the San Clemente Pier for a woman whose body was discovered in Laguna Beach early Sunday morning. The body of the victim, Tatum Goodwin, a waitress at Carmelita’s, was discovered in a secluded domain near Ocean Avenue by an employee of the structure around 8:20 a. m. on Sunday. An investigation into the cases of his death is ongoing. The City of Laguna Beach released this in connection with the incident.
• A 6-year-old female died following a car crash in Fountain Valley last week. Fountain Valley police said they responded to calls about a crash at the intersection of Newhope Street and Heil Avenue around 12:15 p. m. Friday. . An Infiniti G37 sedan traveling south on Newhope Street when it collided with a Mercedes C300 sedan turning left from Newhope onto Heil Avenue. The Infiniti broke apart in part after hitting a light pole. The little woman who died at the scene was a passenger in that car. The drivers were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to this Daily Pilot report.
• Avila’s Ranchito in Huntington Beach was temporarily closed due to an early-morning kitchen fireplace last week. Located in a shopping mall three hundred blocks from Main Street, El Ranchito has occupied a storefront situated between the Makin’ Waves hair salon and the Rockin’ Fig Surf headquarters since 1999, the latter of which suffered smoke and water damage. You can find the Daily Pilot’s full report on the fireplace here.
• An 18-year-old Costa Mesa is facing a homicide rate for his alleged connection to a fatal shooting Friday. The fatal shooting of Costa Mesa resident Raymond Gonzalez, 35, occurred in the 2800 block of Mendoza Drive, and police said it was a gang-related homicide. Ryan Ivan Ramos was due in court Tuesday after he and a juvenile were taken into custody by Costa Mesa police.
• A visiting woman Theo Lacy, a maximum-security criminal, was locked in the visiting domain overnight Saturday. While waiting to see an incarcerated person, the woman fell asleep in a cubicle and was forgotten when the doors closed. The woman’s phone wasn’t charged, so she couldn’t call for help once she woke up. As a result of the incident, some adjustments were made: now supervisors must physically verify the visiting domain after the end of the day’s visiting hours. The criminal also plans to install an emergency phone on the domain.
• A third alarm chimney caused $1. 5 million in damage Saturday afternoon to a shopping center in the 15,000 block of West State Street in Westminster. According to a report from City News Service, a firefighter fighting the fire was treated at the scene and taken to the hospital with an undisclosed health issue. An investigation into the cause of the chimney is underway.
• Luciana’s Ristorante in Dana Point is celebrating its 40th anniversary in a historic old house in the Lantern District. My colleague Sarah Mosqueda interviewed owner Jorge Luhan II, who explained that the restaurant’s legacy began with a restaurant run by her mother Lucía “Lucy” Luhan, who opened What’s Cooking? Bistro in Newport Beach in 1976. She offers a menu of classic family recipes prepared with new ingredients with the help of her mother, Mary Vallera. Luciana’s Ristorante opened in 1983 as a great place to eat. In 1991, Lucy Luhan moved permanently to Italy, leaving Luciana in the capable hands of her son.
• Pop conductor Enrico López-Yáñez joined the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. López-Yáñez made his debut at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on a recent weekend with a two-night performance of “Music of Star Wars,” which included songs by John Williams and Michael Giacchino. “I’m very pleased that other people have been so welcoming in adopting some of my new concepts and my new technique for things as they seek to adopt what has worked so well for so long,” López-Yáñez told Mosqueda. “I think it’s a challenge for any new director to join an organization. “
• The Girl Scouts of Orange County kicked off the holiday season last week by visiting the Orange County Adult Day Care Center in Santa Ana. The women were there to deliver goodie bags to seniors served through the center, which also has locations in Anaheim and Buena Park and provides care for adults living in the home who need help during the day. The engaging Girl Scouts also sang Christmas carols and made Christmas crafts with the elders.
• The Angels signed Ron Washington to a two-year contract with his manager, it was announced last week. Washington is the 23rd manager in Angels history, and the fourth since the Mike Scioscia era (2000-18), according to this report from Washington, 71, who will step down as third base coach for the Atlanta Braves, coached the Texas Rangers from 2007 to 2014.
• It’s no secret that the UC Irvine women’s soccer team is brave. On Friday, they beat the UCLA national champion 1-0 in an NCAA tournament. LA Times Kevin Baxter, in this commentary, delved into the Scott-trained Anteaters. Juniper, and the reasons for his clever fortune on the football field. “Now, no matter how smart you are or how seeded you are, if you have to go through Irvine [on the tournament court], you’re not going through to make it all the way to the second round,” Baxter writes.
• Led by senior Ryder Dodd, the JSerra men’s water polo team defeated Newport Harbor 16-10 in the CIF Southern Section Open Division on Saturday. Top-seeded JSerra (27-0) kept his season undefeated, pulling away in the second round to deprive No. 2 Newport Harbor (26-4) from its third name directly CIF, the Daily Pilot reported.
• Laguna Beach High girls tennis earned its first CIF name in 18 years on Friday afternoon. Top-seeded Laguna Beach beat No. 3 Calabasas 10-8 for the CIF Southern Section Division 2 title. The big win is attributed to the arrival of new players this season. Coach Robert Klugman later said of the team: “It will bring them memories for the rest of their lives. “
• The Balboa Island Museum will host its annual Denim and Diamonds fundraiser on Friday night at the Balboa Fun Zone. The hours are from 6 p. m. to 10 p. m. Organizers promise food, an open bar, carnival games, entertainment, an auction and more at this cowboy-themed event. Tickets are $200 and can be purchased online at balboaislandmuseum. org.
• Laguna Playhouse Youth Theater presents Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” this weekend. Show hours are 10 a. m. and 7 p. m. Friday; 1:00 p. m. and 6 p. m. Saturday and Sunday. The theater is at 606 Laguna Canyon Road. Tickets, which cost between $21 and $27, can be purchased here.
• The UCI Symphony Orchestra presents its first concert of the season on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 8 p. m. The orchestra, under the direction of conductor Dr. Geoffrey Pope, kicks off the holiday season with an evening of music through composers. Pope will participate in a pre-concert verbal exchange beginning at 7 p. m. Cheng Hall at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. General admission is $21; seniors, $18; Students and youth under the age of 17 can enter for $8. Tickets can be ordered here.
Thank you for reading today’s newsletter. If you have a memory or story about Orange County, I’d love to read it and share it in this space. Inquire to restrict your submission to a hundred words or less and come with your call. and city of existing residence.
I thank you for making this newsletter as productive as possible. Send us themed tips, your memories of life in OC (welcome photos!) or comments to carol. cormaci@latimes. com.
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Carol Cormaci is the editor of the Times Community News’ Daily Pilot in Orange County and writes the TimesOC newsletter. She is originally from Southern California and is proud to be a UCLA Bruin. In the past she served as editor of 3 former Times Community News. publications: Glendale News-Press, Burbank Leader and La Cañada Valley Sun.
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