Room for humor at the annual Newport Beach Mayor’s Dinner
Newport Beach Mayor Kevin Muldoon, center, shakes hands with former Mayor Keith Curry after giving the state of the city address during the 36th annual Mayor’s Dinner at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa on Friday.
For his state of the city speech Friday night during the 36th annual Newport Beach Mayor’s Dinner, organized by Speak Up Newport, Mayor Kevin Muldoon took some inspiration from the habits of President Donald Trump.
That is, Muldoon used Trump’s preferred communications medium — Twitter — and one of his frequent topics, a wall.
“We’re going to build a sea wall, a beautiful sea wall around Balboa Island,” Muldoon joked, pointing to a fake Tweet that he displayed behind his podium at the Marriott Hotel and Spa, where the dinner took place. The crowd laughed.
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“It will be great,” Muldoon continued. “And we’re going to make Catalina pay for it.”
But on a more serious note, he added, the city will be “disciplined in our spending and saving, gradually putting funds aside for the sea wall, so the city does not need to assess the residents or borrow money to pay for the project. We will live within our means.”
Muldoon called the state of Newport Beach “strong,” but added that challenges remain, such as the city’s unfunded pension liability.
Addressing that liability, pegged at an estimated $315 million this year, was one of the top priorities Muldoon announced when he became mayor in December.
“I am confident in our ability to solve these challenges and continue our proven tradition of sound fiscal management and well-run operations for years to come,” he said.
Muldoon pointed to upgrading the city’s traffic technology to make driving easier and the city’s upcoming update of its general plan, a state-mandated document that acts like a blueprint for future development.
“My goal is to incorporate as many residents as possible” in the general plan update, Muldoon said, so it “is truly the people’s general plan.”
He also pointed to the recent development of filming Planning Commission meetings, another of his priorities he stated last year.
Muldoon concluded his speech with tributes to five Newport leaders who died within the past year: former Mayor Milan Dostal, 87; former City Manager Robert Shelton, 93; former Mayor Dennis O’Neill, 78; Marian Bergeson, 90, who was the first woman to serve in the both the state Senate and Assembly; and Ralph Rodheim, 72, a harbor commissioner and Citizen of the Year.
That group, Muldoon said, represents “the best of us and made our city proud.”
Inspired by the ending of the Thornton Wilder play “Our Town,” which questioned whether most realize the sanctity of life as they live it, Muldoon urged Newport residents to be exemplary by remaining highly engaged and playing the “role of civility towards each other.”
Twitter: @BradleyZint
