Briefly in the news

“Can Clean Water and Urbanization Ever Mix?”

“Eye on the Economy: Continued Boom or Bust?”

“Hard Choices: Housing and the Orange County Community.”

These are the topics for the 2000 Coast Magazine Distinguished Panel

Discussion Series at the Newport Beach Public Library this fall.

The first discussion will take place Sept. 15. It will focus on the

impact of urban development on local beaches and bays as well as measures

being taken to balance growth, urbanization, recreation needs and the

preservation of natural resources.

Panel members include environmentalist Jack Skinner; Orange County

Health Care Agency’s Larry Honeybourne; Orange County CoastKeeper

director Garry Brown; and Richard Watson of the Orange County Building

Industry Assn. Newport Beach Deputy City Manager Dave Kiff will moderate

the discussion.

On Oct. 20, the second panel will look at new directions in the

county’s hospitality, technology and retail sectors and how these fields

impact growth, quality of life and economic development.

The panel will include venture capitalist Charles D. Martin; Four

Seasons Hotel general manager Mehdi Eftekari; and South Coast Plaza’s

Werner Escher. Coast Magazine publisher Jim Wood will lead the

discussion.

The last panel, on Nov. 17, will discuss the role of government and

business in creating housing alternatives and regulating housing costs.

The panel will include Scott Bollens, chairman of UC Irvine’s department

of urban and regional planning; Orange County Community Housing

Corporation director Allen Baldwin; and Jeffrey Prostor, president of the

Orange County Building Assn.

All forums will begin at 7 p.m. in the central library’s Friends

Meeting Room. The library is at 1000 Avocado Ave. Information: (949)

717-3801.