WEEK IN REVIEW

A sound success on hall’s opening night

The $200-million Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall held its opening night Friday to a slew of celebrities and Newport-Mesa ticket holders.

Plácido Domingo performed along with the Pacific Chorale and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carl St. Clair. After the show, an outdoor lights display created by Richard Wilson and a pyrotechnics show dazzled guests.

Opening night was not the end of the road for the new concert hall as the Building on the Vision campaign still remains about $50 million short of the $200-million goal. The most recent announced gift was an additional $10 million from Henry Segerstrom, who made the lead gift of $40 million.

The four proposed high-density preliminary master plans and one final master plan are in the area surrounded by Sunflower Avenue, Bristol Street, Sakioka Drive and the 405 Freeway. Public comments included concerns from the Costa Mesa Housing Coalition regarding the lack of units for low- and very-low-income housing, which the commission decided was a policy issue for the City Council.

NEWPORT BEACH

Newport Harbor community mourns black swan Rupert

The community on Wednesday began mourning the death of Rupert, a black swan who had lived around Newport Harbor for about 15 years. Rupert was killed when a Newport Harbor Patrol boat accidentally struck him on the way to an emergency call.

A Harbor Patrol spokesman on Thursday said that though the boat was heading to where a dead body had been reported in the water, patrol deputies must always get to calls quickly in case there’s a chance a life could be saved.

Gay Wassall-Kelly, a Balboa Peninsula resident who cared for Rupert for more than 10 years, said the Harbor Patrol rescued Rupert many times over the years, and the community has expressed condolences. A Hawaiian paddle-out ceremony to scatter Rupert’s ashes is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 30.

No formal proposal for permit parking has been brought forward, and such a proposal would likely meet resistance from the California Coastal Commission. A commission spokeswoman said the group generally frowns upon requests to limit beach parking or hours because its mission is to increase public access to the coast.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Arrests made in investigation of body found in harbor

A 17-year-old girl and a 21-year-old man were arrested in Louisiana on Friday on suspicion of killing a Huntington Beach woman earlier in the week. The body of Barbara Anne Mullenix, 56, was found stabbed and floating in Newport Harbor on Wednesday.

Capt. Dan Johnson of the Huntington Beach Police Department identified the man as Ian Allen, a Huntington Beach resident. Mullenix’s teenage daughter had been reported missing following her death, but because of the girl’s age, Johnson would not say whether Mullenix’s daughter was the girl arrested.

POLITICS

Politicians remember Sept. 11 terrorist attacks

Newport-Mesa’s elected officials on Monday recalled the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and discussed what has been done — and what remains undone — to make the nation more secure. Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher recounted how he was set to meet with then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on Sept. 11 to tell her he foresaw an imminent attack.

Once he heard planes had crashed in New York, Rohrabacher said, “Immediately I knew exactly who had done it, where it was planned — a complete comprehension of the magnitude of what was going on.”

He and Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell said more needs to be done to prevent future attacks against the United States.

Campbell said the biggest threat to the U.S. now is Iran, which is pursuing nuclear weapons, but he stopped short of saying military action against that nation would be necessary.

EDUCATION

Teachers union refuses to endorse incumbents

The Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers declared this week that it would not endorse any incumbent in the November school board election. It’s the first year the teachers union has opposed every board member.

The union, which has never backed a losing candidate, voiced its support for new challengers Sandy Asper, Karen Yelsey and Michael Collier. Asper and Yelsey are facing longtime board members Judy Franco and Serene Stokes, respectively, while Collier is running for an open seat.

BUSINESS

Tourism on rebound 5 years after Sept. 11

The travel and tourism industry has seemingly rebounded in the five years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Although the attacks slowed the industry, it had been on the rocks before Sept. 11, 2001.

John Wayne Airport traffic has continued on an upward path since 2000, which were even lower than 2001 and 2002. Though numbers at the airport are apparently healthy, the amount of tourists taking road trips to Newport is also rising, which could be due to longer waits at airports.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“I personally grabbed the congressman in front of me, and I said, ‘Look, the two of us are going to sing “God Bless America” right now,’ and he said, ‘I’m with you.’ It was almost like a movie — everybody starts turning around and coming back and joining hands…. We sang ‘God Bless America’ right there on the Capitol steps.”

— U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, remembering Sept. 11, 2001, when he and some 300 congressional officials gathered on the Capitol steps just hours after the terrorist attacks

“Because of you, arts and music will continue to flourish in California.”

— Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at Thursday’s dedication of the new Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

“Our patrol boat was responding Code 3, lights and sirens, to the body ... and as they came to a certain section in the water, Rupert came swimming out…. It’s tragic. We were going to try to save a person, and we very likely killed Rupert.”

— Sgt. David Ginther of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol, on the death of Rupert, the black swan that was struck and killed by a patrol boat on its way to a rescue call

“There’s no downside to having a swan.”

— Tod Ridgeway, Newport Beach city councilman, on a businessman’s offer to buy new swans for the harbor

“Primarily, the issue that bothers us the most is the late-night issues when the beaches are supposed to be closed and we wind up with people coming in. Those are the people who tend to leave six-pack beer bottles, condoms, that kind of stuff right in front of your house…. [At] 2 and 3 in the morning, you can hear car alarms going off, people shouting and laughing.”

— Ken Drellishak, member of Balboa Peninsula Point Assn. board, on a request that the city limit street parking near the beach

“These projects have the ability to do a lot of good for Costa Mesa. If we were to develop anything high density, that is the place to have it.”

— Bill Perkins, Costa Mesa planning commission chairman, on the proposed North Costa Mesa High-Rise Residential Project