NOT SO FINE: If you’re in a...

NOT SO FINE: If you’re in a hurry, and must park your car illegally, you might try Costa Mesa instead of Anaheim. Newport Beach recently surveyed parking fines to decide how much to raise its own rates. It found that parking in a red zone in Anaheim will cost you $42, but just $21 in Costa Mesa. Park in a loading zone in Anaheim and it’s $57; it’s just $20 in Laguna Beach. . . . And a violation for parking 72 hours? It’s only $21 in Huntington Beach, but a $57 fine in Anaheim. Plus, in Santa Ana, it’s an automatic tow.

HOT TOPICS: The state Republican Party has chosen the Anaheim Hilton and Towers for its annual fall convention, set for Sept. 17-19. It promises to be a long agenda: Polls show Gov. Pete Wilson, one of the featured speakers, badly trailing the Democratic front-runners going after his job. . . . More bad news for him Monday: Democrat Kathleen Brown, the state treasurer, has amassed a $3.52-million war chest for the 1994 governor’s race, nearly nine times what Wilson has raised so far (A18).

FIRST ARREST: Robert J. McDonell made his first collar as Newport Beach’s new police chief (B3) just moments after being sworn in Monday--handcuffs on a longtime friend, Fremont Police Chief Craig Steckler. It was just for show. . . . Police in the two cities are longtime rivals in a 120-mile relay race. Newport Beach won this year, but at the post-race party, Fremont stole the plaque. A picture of the handcuffed Steckler was sent to Fremont, with orders he would be held hostage until the plaque was returned.

CLOSER TO SUNRISE: When tickets for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s eagerly awaited “Sunset Boulevard” went on sale at Century City’s Shubert Theater on Sunday--at sunset--nearly 500 people were already in line (F6). The lucky first? Paul Arenson, a 20-year-old UC Irvine student, who’d been waiting there almost 12 hours. Arenson had a desperate need for tickets--they were for his mother. The U.S. premiere opens at the Shubert on Dec. 2.