Economic Issues

Costa Mesa OK's Privatizing City Jail; City Workers Union Disses Weekly Coverage: Update

See the update on page 2 with the Costa Mesa City Council approving privatization of the city jail and the city workers union finding the Weekly's coverage of last night's vote lacking.ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 4, 1:05 P.M.: Those concerned about keeping their jobs at the Costa Mesa city jail have a full ... More >>

Target Describes Hell He Went Through From FTC-Shuttered Firm's "Smokescreen" Lawsuit

A Newport Beach-based company that provided legal advice to consumers and small businesses facing crushing debt filed a civil suit against four former "employees" accused of stealing client data, but the case was dismissed a year after it was filed--in November 2011.We'd Naval Gazed the complaint b ... More >>

Proof Bar Is Turning 7

Proof Bar

Federal Regulators Win Injunction Against Orange County Debt Relief Business

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this month won a temporary restraining order against Orange County businessman Jeremy Rommel Nelson and several debt relief corporate entities, including Nelson Gamble & Associates, accused of running consumer fraud scams.Without admitting guilt, Rancho Santa M ... More >>

Santa Ana's Gentrification Wars Get Solid Write-Up in the New York Times

What was...​We have trashed the New York Times' coverage of Orange County so many times that I can't even remember them--hell, you can start with this piece about OC's food scene, written by Southern California correspondent Jennifer Medina. But Medina is a dogged reporter, and in today's Times pe ... More >>

El Centro Cultural de Someplace Else

The nonprofit community center got a last-minute extension, but its supporters are still crying 'gentrification'

Union Boss: Costa Mesa Budget Cuts Are "Premature, Illegal"

Don Drozd: attacks on public employees are misguided​A day after Costa Mesa councilman Jim Righeimer claimed during a television interview that he has public backing for slashing the city's budget and laying off employees, a union boss fired back on the same show this morning. According to Donald ... More >>

[UPDATED: Shop Owner Response] Surf Shop Survives: Frog House Clears First Hurdle, Has More Challenges to Overcome

Chasen Marshall/OC WeeklyThe shop is small, but its roots in the Newport surf scene are deep.UPDATE, MAY 12, 5:03 P.M.: It's been a mentally draining--and sometimes sleepless--past six months for T.K. Brimer, owner of the Frog House in Newport Beach. Up until Tuesday night, when a city council vote ... More >>

How Do You Fill the Empty Toll Roads? Raffles!

Rush hour​The country's economic woes have reportedly extended to Orange County's toll roads, where ridership is down as once-paying drivers opt to ply the public lanes and apply the savings to offset rising gasoline prices.The agencies that operate the toll roads have responded with raffles and d ... More >>

Rocky

Bay Theater

Donald Rumsfeld: Pay Top Dollar To Eat With Him Tonight, Then Buy His Book And Follow Him On Twitter

"You should buy my book and follow me on Twitter!"​Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is bringing his comedy tour to the Richard Nixon Library tonight. Or maybe he's being honored for something. Or maybe it's part of his book tour. Whatever it may be that is bringing him to O.C., we' ... More >>

Loving, Loathing, Ignoring Medical Pot Clinics

​Several Orange County cities outright ban 'em, the County of Orange looks the other way at 'em and our neighbors in Long Beach hold lotteries to allow 'em.'em are medical marijuana dispensaries, and as California marches toward possible legalization of the devil's weed this November, existing cli ... More >>

KOCE Snags an LA Emmy for Bloody Thursday

​Bloody Thursday, a documentary about the struggle of the West Coast dockworkers during the Great Depression, has won a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award. The one-hour film debuted on Huntington Beach-based KOCE public television (channel 50).

OC's Trillion Dollar Man Worried USA is Heading for a Double-Dip Recession

0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds​All those daily Obama Administration assurances that the U.S. economy is heading in the right direction might just be wishful thinking or cynical public manipulation.Dr. Mohamed Abdulla El-Erian, the chief executive of Newport Beach-based investment house giant Pimco--t ... More >>

It's a Different Court for Mike Smith, Clippers Commentator Accused of Ripping Off Retiree

​Trial before a jury is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Santa Ana for Los Angeles Clippers color commentator Mike Smith, who pleaded not guilty in January to charges he stole $735,000 from a retired school teacher with an inoperable brain tumor.If Smith--a 44-year-old a former Clipper player who l ... More >>

Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Day

​Headline: Man Bites Ear in Fight Over Parking SpotComment by getalifeyou: They take our Country, they take our jobs, they take our medical benefits and now they want to take all the parking spots? Comment by thomas09: More third world values on display in Santa Ana...

"Lien on Me": Dildo and Fart Jokes Slammed Between Two Slices of Silly

www.davidbeatty.netSean Wing and Heather Williams in "Lien On Me"​Before we start, a moment of full disclosure: I've know photographer/playwright/actor/ director/screenwriter and filmmaker David Beatty for over a decade. He was a member of my late theater company, Rude Guerrilla, where he taught ... More >>

OCMAHS Give the OC A Chicano Music History Lesson

The late Bobby Espinosa was a vital part of Chicano music history​On Saturday, Chicano music lovers young and old (but mostly old--respect to my elders!) descended upon Santa Ana's Delhi Community Center for a concert teach-in. The lesson plan for the day was on the History of Chicano Music in ... More >>

Lou Correa Refuses His State Senate Per Diem

​State Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) is not accepting his $142-per-day subsidies for living expenses (called per diem), retroactive to July 1, when this session's budget impasse began.Correa joins three other legislators refusing their per diem, while a fifth has vowed to donate to a nonprofit fu ... More >>

Sander van Doorn to En-Trance Sutra Tomorrow

Capital T, small v​When Dutch techno-trance DJ/producer Sander van Doorn played Code in Newport Beach last October, the usually civil Thursday house night was so rammed (as van Doorn would say), promoters Giant had to turn people away.

The Freudian Slip in Santa Ana's Re-Renaissance Plan

Don Papi Pulido: Can't his peons keep their mouths shut?​Just printed out the massive environmental impact report on SanTana's Transit Zoning Code, the euphemistic name for city staffer's supposed replacement for their controversial Renaissance Specific Plan, a replacement so laughable it'll forev ... More >>

Experts Kick Around Obama's State of the Union Speech

Photo by Pete SouzaThe Prez​If you drop what you're doing and head over to Fullerton right now, you can catch a live viewing of President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech followed by a forum examining what the leader of the free world just said.The global anti-poverty group ONE in Orange C ... More >>

Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Concert

Barclay Theatre

[Trendzilla] Spring Hopes are Eternal

Obama, Economy, War, Swine Flu, Iran Election Crack Alamanac's Top 10 News Topics of 2009

Here are The World Almanac and Book of Facts Top Ten News Topics of 2009:​1. Obama Presidency Begins. With the U.S. at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Barack Obama swearing in as the nation's 44th president Jan. 20 in Washington, DC.her ... More >>

Free Dinner at Savannah Chop House; But Read The Fine Print

​My fascination with what was once David Wilhelm's might Culinary Adventures dining group continues since I keep getting unsolicited e-mail newsletters from them (I ate at one of his restaurants once and took advantage of an offer where I'd get a discount on the meal if I signed up for it, which I ... More >>

Grapes of Wrath

Tustin Library

Tale of 2 Police Forces: While Irvine's Fumes, La Habra's Bites the Bullet

To protect and serve . . . for less.​While their counterparts in "Safest City in America" Irvine fume over an employer-proposed wage freeze, officers who belong to the La Habra Police Association seem to have gladly accepted a deal that imposes what is essentially a 5 percent pay cut. "Although di ... More >>

Downtown Santa Ana Loncheros Find an Ally Against Renaissance Plan

 Taco Man appreciates those who help his preparers...​ My cover story on Orange County loncheros sparked an outraged letter from Sean Mill, longtime SanTana activist, sometimes-blogger for the wonderfully libelous Orange Juice!, and current SanTana planning commissioner. What got his attentio ... More >>

Moyers Picks Brain of Last Socialist (and Weekly Pal)

Saturday Night Live had this skit years ago where they presented a Fugitivesque TV show called The Last Liberal. With all the talk on Fox News and conservative talk radio about the rise of Socialism in Obamerica, Bill Moyers decided to go out and find The Last Socialist to get the other side of the ... More >>

Believe the Investment Advice From the Man With No Mustache

In mock congressional testimony, Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), said today the U.S. should only nationalize banks as a last resort, that focus should instead be placed on shoring up lending and staving off foreclosures a ... More >>

It's Official: This Recession May Make You Fat

Today is Mardi Gras (aka Fat Tuesday), so it's fitting that I'm writing about how unhealthy we're becoming as a nation - indeed, as a planet. According to the Guardian, the number of new cases of diabetes being diagnosed in the UK is growing at a faster rate than in the US. Now that is depressing. A ... More >>

Koo's Now Booking Shows at Santa Ana's Yost Theater

Chris Ziegler reported for us back in October about Koo's returning to Santa Ana and taking over programming at the long-dormant Yost Theater, and now shows are beginning to pop up on the venue's schedule. It's a move that generated some degree of grousing--particularly around November's SoundDownto ... More >>

Blow a Rack

Spin Tuesdays

[Trendzilla] Necklush Life

MUSINK Tattoo & Music Festival: Totally Canceled!

Curse you, recession! The MUSINK Tattoo & Music Festival, which was birthed from a three-day event this past February at the OC fairgrounds, has been completely scrapped; official word is that it's, unsurprisingly, "due to the current economic climate."The tour was planned for 25 cities, includ ... More >>

[Moxley Confidential] Chris Cox Says He's a Tough Wall Street Regulator, SEC Record Proves Otherwise

J Flynn Gallery Goes Bye-Bye

Weekly art critic Greg Stacy writes: "It is my sorry duty to report that we recently lost yet another fine local gallery, the J Flynn of Costa Mesa. Recent months have seen far too many local galleries close up for good, as the art world continues to suffer the effects of the ailing economy. In a t ... More >>

Gary Quite Contrary

As the video from June 26 reveals, Gary Rapport is ultra sincere as he tells a business group how important entrepreneurism is to the future of Wood River Valley, Idaho. But the newly hired Ketchum Community Development Corporation executive director abruptly resigned his post on July 8. And now the ... More >>

Southern Comfort

Delta Blues Project

Why Santa Ana Natives Fear the Hipsters

Tonight, SanTana officials hold yet another meeting for their much-vaunted, much-derided Renaissance Plan. A slew of different interests will attend, from loft dwellers who want to turn Orange County's largest city into another Aliso Viejo to activists who fear the Plan's gentrification purposes to ... More >>

Register, Times Slam Santa Ana Good--And a Challenge

If there's one thing that Orange County Register editorial writer Steven Greenhut hates more than Sheriff Mike Carona, it's city-controlled urban planning, and he ripped SanTana officials a new one and then some yesterday in a piece blasting the city's much-ballyhooed Renaissance Specific Plan. Prop ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

Aug. 9 - Aug. 15

SpongeTodd: Mr. Spitzer masters the freebie

Proving once again that the driest of bureaucratic documents often contain the most interesting things, Judy Lin of the Sacramento Bee digs through the disclosure forms that state lawmakers are required to file and discovers: ... from January 2005 to June 30, 2006, groups with business at the Capito ... More >>

The Ticket Wizard

Parking tickets are now handled by a mysterious OC company that makes justice and the law go . . . poof

The CPCs Hidden Empire

Where might you get ticketed by the Citation Processing Center

Slumlord Moonbeam

Do not continue reading if, like millions who clamor for the latest Multihousing Professional magazine, you do not want to know what's in the March/April 2006 issue. The cover boy is former California Governor/current Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, whose face is fuzzed out enough to make you wonder if h ... More >>

Burning Bush: The Issue

A year in Dubya-dumping by his conservative critics . . . and Howard Stern

Get soft on Crime

National group lauds OCs youth-crime prevention program

Beach Reach

Public access jeopardized at Crystal Cove