Consensus is serious business
S.J. CAHN, The Daily Pilot.
Nearly every elected city official I've ever spoken to has admitted that it typically takes about a year to feel up to speed on all the issues that come before city councils: traffic, zoning, development, labor negotiations, you name it. Most usually spend that first year fairly quietly, listening and learning the ropes before diving into the deep end of the civic pool.
By that measure, Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle is a quick study.
I got a taste of her learning curve at last week's council meeting -- yes, the one that included discussion of the City Hall. But it was less that debate than one earlier in the evening about the proposed Lexus dealership in which Daigle shined.
The Lexus dealership is in her district, so it was a natural item for her to tackle and to push as an important addition to the city. She did so by providing rational facts and a pretty spirited defense of a project that she, clearly, thinks is a winner for the city.
I got more of a taste over a breakfast Wednesday morning at the Lido Diner. From what she told me, the councilwoman's been busy since taking office in late September. An overly simple list would include: city technology, Santa Ana Heights developments, environmental issues, traffic, Back Bay maintenance and a science center, road repair and, of course, airport issues.
The wider theme of our conversation, however, seemed to be collaboration. Daigle says she's learned the importance of working closely with other council members, with members of city committees and with city staffers to get things done.
An initial lesson in this was when she worked on improving the city's website and other technologies, to "respond to public complaints about lack of public access" -- a goal any journalist can get behind.
Having heard from her constituents, Daigle then went to city staff members to get their input: Automating things online and putting reports in the public domain would make the city more efficient, they told her, and that would be good for the staff.
From there, she took it to the city committee that handles such issues and gathered its support. "And when it got to the council, it was very well accepted," she said.
If you click on the city's website, http://www.city.newport-beach .ca.us, you'll see the results. "I learned definitely to be prepared and build support," she said of that experience.
The lessons in collaboration go further too. Other issues she's focused on, including the environment, water quality, traffic and the airport, all are regional issues that mandate working with other cities, other agencies and different nonprofits.
"Let's look at our environment, let's look beyond Newport Beach," she said of how the city needs to proceed with addressing those issues.
Still, some issues want a more circle-the-wagons approach. One is the community center being planned for Santa Ana Heights, which will be owned by the city, built using county redevelopment funds, and run by the YMCA. It will also include an aquatics center that the city now is lacking.
"Some of the best swimmers in Newport defect to Mission Viejo," Daigle pointed out. Building a top-flight (should that be top-swim?) facility will bring good clubs, good coaches and good swimmers.
"We want to develop our community," she said.
Of course, having learned that she needs to build consensus, there have been meetings on the center (and the proposed Santa Ana Heights fire station that she's also working on) and surveys taken of residents.
Those surveys showed pools are a top demand of Newport Beach residents. See how getting consensus works?
Daigle, of course, is on the council because of consensus: She was appointed by four members to fill the seat vacated by Gary Adams.
At the time, there was some talk about her gender playing into her appointment, with Councilmen Tod Ridgeway and John Heffernan pointing out that having a woman on the council would bring some balance to the dais.
Daigle acknowledged this during our breakfast. And building off it, she's organizing a September conference at the Balboa Bay Club addressing women and their roles in public life. The keynote speaker is ESPN basketball analyst Ann Myers, and local notables include an interesting cross section of the community: Debbie Allen, Marian Bergeson, Nancy Gardner and Stephanie McClellan among them.
"Women are doing different things in Newport Beach," Daigle said. "It's an attempt to be inclusive."
I suspect you'll be hearing more about that as we approach the late summer.
I also suspect that residents will continue to hear more from Daigle. She faces her first election in 2006, and owing to her appointment, she possibly could be on the council for 10 years -- two more than the term limits typically allow.
A last thing. In our talk, I did get Daigle to acknowledge one downside, though I had to pull it out of her just a bit.
"It's pretty time consuming," she said. "There's a lot of issues, and I take really seriously representing 80,000 people."
That hasn't stopped her, though, from starting down the election road.
* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He may be reached at (714) 966-4607
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