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Consider what has happened in the past 60 days in Newport Beach. June 26: The city council passes the largest property tax increase in 40 years.  Taxes of up to $4,500 per year will be assessed against the new owners in Uptown Newport to pay for developer promised public...

These are not quiet times. A tumultuous election season is upon us at both the local and national level. At the national level, there is some concern that our democracy is being tested. The divisiveness that is being played out currently in our country affects the relationships...

Almost 130 years ago Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov was studying how digestion worked in mammals. He noticed that when he entered the room wearing a lab coat his dogs began drooling.  They thought it was dinner time. Pavlov then started ringing a bell while feeding Fido. Fido...

On Friday, August 17, the real opponents of the ballot measure being advanced by Team Newport will go to court to displace the phony arguments filed by Team Newport supporter Bob Rush. This ballot measure demonstrates how Duffy Duffield and Scott Peotter are using an amendment to...

As a taxpayer, I am fed up with the Newport Beach City Council who has postured as anti-tax conservatives and instead just passed the largest property tax increase in Newport Beach since Proposition 13. The council, including Scott Peotter and Duffy Duffield, voted to impose...

Election fraud is occurring in Newport Beach. On June 26 the city council put a charter amendment on the ballot purporting to require a vote before the city could issue lease obligation debt, which by definition does not require a tax increase. Newport Beach would be the only...

If you thought that Mr. Peotter and Mr. Duffield were ‘anti-tax, let’s vote on bonds’ councilmen, you would be wrong. Their anti-tax stance becomes remarkably flexible when one of their financial backers requests a tax increase, as occurred last month when they approved the...

Another week of chaos in Newport Beach. Scott Peotter was put on the Finance Committee, ensuring his dangerous and expensive “ideas.” previously dismissed by the Finance Committee will be brought back again and again. Peotter told the Finance Committee and its member Larry Tucker...

As someone who is occasionally critical of the city council, I think it is appropriate to offer a word of thanks when it is due. Last Tuesday, the council rejected Councilman Scott Peotter’s proposal to implement the City of Irvine political patronage model for the City Finance...

I couldn’t believe it when I looked at the “Birdseye Perspective” of the Koll Center Residences on the City of Newport Beach web site. In addition to the other problems with this massive project, it is completely out of character with the surrounding buildings with its size and...

Last week we celebrated the 42nd anniversary of largest taxpayer revolt in modern California history. Proposition 13 overwhelmingly passed on June 6, 1978 with 66 percent of voter support. Prior to Proposition 13, local governments set property tax rates, resulting in gouging...

By Camryn Eakes | Special to the NB Indy On a bright, stark white stage, dancers emerge from the wings, briskly walking in line formations, in rhythm and in silence. Dressed in neutral tones, they curve around and through each other. Militaristic lines become rapid, swirling...

By Heather Manning | Special to the NB Indy  When you hear the name Jane Lynch, you may think of the vibrant host of the primetime game show “Hollywood Game Night” or the acerbic Sue Sylvester from the hit TV show “Glee.” You may conjure up one of her characters from a...

By Barry Saywitz | Special to the NB Indy As the residential real estate market continues to remain strong, and the apartment rental market continues to boom, there are challenges that face both landlords and tenants when renting an apartment, condo, or home. For those tenants...

By Cassandra Reinhart | Special to the NB Indy Bruce Cook feels alive again. “I feel totally different and my whole appetite is different,” Cook said. “Things that I loved before I don’t even want to eat now.” Cook, of Newport Beach, received a kidney transplant from Laguna Beach...

By Jeff Glueck | Special to the NB Indy Many of you read my father’s column, “Deep Thoughts from Dr. Mike,” over the years in this newspaper. He loved Newport Beach, his home for 44 years, and loved sharing his thoughts, whether funny, sad, indignant, or irreverent. We lost my...

By Michael Toerge / Candidate for Council, District 6  As voters await the opportunity to vote on recalling Scott Peotter, I think it is important to engage in a conversation with the community on the steps we need to take to restore confidence in our city government and those...

Scott Peotter is soon to be recalled by the residents of Newport Beach.  Rather than offer any defense for his irresponsible behavior and ideas on the city council, Peotter and the puppet masters behind him offer only the argument that the recall would result in a cost estimated...

By Will O’Neill, Newport Beach City Councilman In between scooping ice cream for a hundred root beer floats and dancing with my daughter to the Tijuana Dogs in the Evelyn Hart Event Center at the OASIS Senior Center last weekend, I observed yet again the incredible people that...

As America reacts with disgust at the sexual harassment and assault record of Harvey Weinstein, the California Legislature, Fox News, and other political and media leaders, I have become exceedingly angry that our own City Council Member, Scott Peotter, was the only member of the...