Huntington Beach Local News

Cleaner, More Modern Trash Collection!
On July 3, 2006 City Council approved revisions to the existing solid waste contract with Rainbow Disposal to allow Rainbow to implement automated trash collection in Huntington Beach. This modern new system will bring Huntington Beach's recycling efforts to a higher level of efficiency.
What does this mean for Huntington Beach residents?
There will be no change to the existing trash rate. Residential curbside collection customers will receive 3 new, heavy-duty 95-gal. wheeled trash carts from Rainbow Disposal-one each for recyclables, green waste, and trash. Residents will be expected to participate in the recycling effort by sorting their waste into the proper carts.
Households will have the option to choose a smaller container size, and to request additional recyclable or green waste carts at no extra charge, subject to program regulations and limitations. Additional trash carts will also be available, subject to program regulations and limitations and a one-time fee of $75. The cart sizes and dimensions are:
95-gallon cart: 45.38" high x 28.70" wide x 33.75" deep
65-gallon cart: 40.125" high x 26.50" wide x 28.11" deep
35-gallon cart: 39.13" high x 20" wide x 22.96" deep
(The depth refers to the dimension of the cart from front to back. Wheels in back.)
When will the new collection system begin?
The new collection method is scheduled to begin in mid-2007.
Why doesn't the city just start the new system now?
The city cannot begin automated collection until its contractor, Rainbow Disposal, has the proper fleet and facilities in place. Rainbow is in the process of remodeling and modernizing its Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to accommodate source-separated recyclables. Additionally, Rainbow has ordered a new fleet of quiet, low-emissions trash trucks, which will be equipped with a hydraulic arm to lift the large capacity trash carts.
Why will residents be charged for recycling if they are sorting their own trash?
The existing rate structure will not change, including the $3.00 recycling fee. With the new system, residents will be expected to separate recyclable materials from the trash, and place all recyclables in the blue recycling cart. These commingled recyclables must still be sorted and processed by type (paper, glass, various plastics, aluminum, etc.) at the MRF. The fee will continue to pay for the cost of processing recyclables at the MRF. The advantage of the new system is that contamination will be greatly reduced, which allows Rainbow to recover more material. The result is less waste to the landfill and increased recycling for Huntington Beach.
What will residents do with their bulky items, such as appliances and furniture?
The city recognizes that Huntington Beach residents will need a method to dispose of excess waste and oversized items. The new agreement with Rainbow establishes the new "10/4 Pick-up Program," which will allow households to schedule special collections of up to 10 items per appointment. Each household may do this 4 times per year. Qualifying items include excess trash bags (that won't fit in the trash cart), appliances, furniture, and mattresses.

Coming in 2008 (or maybe 2009) to Downtown
Scheduled to open in the summer of 2008 is the Strand, a three-and-a-half acre project from the CIM Group located just north of Main Street overlooking the Huntington Beach Pier. The project will feature a 157-room boutique hotel operated by the San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre group with a signature restaurant and bar, as well as 3,000 square feet of meeting space; a below-ground parking garage with more than 450 spaces; approximately 40,000 square feet of office space; and 65,000 square feet of ground floor restaurant and retail space, featuring Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Ben & Jerry's, Ra Sushi and Johnny Rockets. Anchoring the casual scene will be a pedestrian plaza and a link to Main Street shopping and restaurants.

Just south of Main Street, Makar Properties has broken ground on a 31-acre oceanfront development called Pacific City. It will provide a vibrant center for oceanfront living, dining, shopping and upscale travelers. The 191,000 square retail promenade, which will open in fall 2008, will feature boutique-style shops, restaurants, office space and a gourmet grocery store and other convenient services. A new boutique resort, scheduled for completion in spring 2009, will have 178 rooms, as well as a day spa and fitness center.

Council OKs reality show on lifeguards
From The Wave: By DEEPA BHARATH and ANNIE BURRIS - STAFF WRITERS
A studio got City Council's permission to do a reality series about Surf City lifeguards for Court TV. You may not see bodacious babes in red bathing suits bounding down the city's shoreline in super slow motion any time soon. Those "Baywatch" images wouldn't be part of a 10-part series called "Beach Patrol," to be aired on the Court TV cable channel after the City Council gave its blessing to the production Monday night. "Beach Patrol," a reality show along the lines of Fox Network's "Cops," would stick to what lifeguards do on the job rather than their off-duty antics or personal relationships, said Huntington Beach Marine Safety Lt. Michael Baumgartner. The show will be filmed over the summer. A production crew from Burbank-based Evolution Film and Tape will follow lifeguards seven days a week, capturing their every move on the job, from ocean rescues and medical aids to jelly-fish bites and their interactions with beach-goers, Baumgartner said. "We look at it as an opportunity to showcase what we do as lifeguards and create awareness about beach safety," he said. Evolution Film and Tape also produces the popular reality show, "The Real Housewives of Orange County." City Council members gave city officials the authority to control what goes on film and to take out "embarrassing or unprofessional" portions, if necessary. The studio is also offering the city an $8,000 donation per episode to be used for marine safety programs. Susan Ievoli, a senior publicist for Court TV, declined to talk about the Huntington Beach production because it is "still being developed." "Beach Patrol," which airs in prime time, begins its fourth season July 16 with episodes of lifeguards in Honolulu, Ievoli said. Huntington Beach would potentially be featured for its fifth season. The show consciously steers clear of the type of sensationalism associated with lifeguards, and instead, focuses on their daily heroics and behind-the-scenes action from daring rescues to brawls on the beach, Ievoli said. "Their everyday lives are so dramatic," she said. "We don't feel the need to add more sensationalism to it. We just want to show their importance and heroism." If the show moves forward, it would be the first time Huntington Beach lifeguards were featured on a series-type cable show.

No closure for Bolsa Chica wetlands dispute
(From LA Times). For almost three decades, environmentalists and developers have sparred over the O.C. marsh. Battles have been won, but the war goes on.

By Ashley Powers, Times Staff Writer, July 15, 2007

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Like seasoned actors in a long-running play, both sides feuding here over a 50-acre swath near Huntington Beach's Bolsa Chica wetlands had refined their speeches and memorized the other's lines. After all, both environmentalists and development backers had almost three decades of practice sparring before the state Coastal Commission over various slivers of Southern California's largest remaining wetlands. Last week, as the two sides went back and forth over a proposed project called Parkside Estates, the ending was emblematic of past episodes in the Bolsa Chica saga: To be continued. The defining characteristic one of the state's landmark environmental success stories might be its lack of closure. The battle's epitaph has repeatedly been written: when the State Lands Commission bought hundreds of wetland acres in 1997, sparing them from becoming housing tracts; when workers began siphoning oils and heavy metals from the salt marshes in 2004; and last year, when the marshland and the Pacific Ocean were reunited for the first time in a century. But the more than 1,000-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve — pushed up against tract homes on one side and spilling into the Pacific Ocean on the other — was created through piecemeal victories in a decades-long display of an oft-repeated activist mantra: "The coast is never saved; it is always being saved."
With 95% of the state's coastal wetlands destroyed, preservationists are too invested in Bolsa Chica to shrug off any plan for construction nearby; each skirmish is treated as a potential Waterloo. In turn, with coastal property at a premium and the state's population expected to leap 75% by midcentury, developers still consider waterfront land a potential cash machine. To read full article, CLICK HERE

Riding High in the Vans Pier Classic
Seven of the top eight WQS surfers in the world are Americans, led by San Clemente's Patrick Gudauskas.
By Fred Swegles, SUN POST NEWS
After a pair of 2008 contests on American soil, U.S, surfers are at the top of their game in the ASP World Qualifying Series standings this week. Now – can it continue? San Clemente's Patrick Gudauskas remains No. 1 in the world after finishing fifth Sunday at the Vans Pier Classic, a 2-star WQS event held at Huntington Beach. He and San Clemente's Jason Miller tied for fifth out of 160 competitors. At the moment, seven of the top eight WQS surfers in the world are Americans, led by Gudauskas. Brett Simpson from Garden Grove is No. 3. Gudauskas' brother Dane is No. 11. San Clemente's Mike Losness is No. 16. San Clemente's Nathan Yeomans is No. 20. That's after two WQS contests in North America, one in Hawaii, one in Australia and one in Spain. It's a testament to the power of the surfing industry producing big-dollar WQS events in home waters carrying hefty WQS points. Most of the U.S. surfers' success so far is due to one big contest – the 5-Star O'Neill Sebastian Inlet Pro, won by Patrick Gudauskas in January in Florida. His victory there earned him 2,000 points. By comparison, Huntington Beach's Shaun Ward got just 500 points for winning the Vans Pier Classic on Sunday. Those points aren't enough to help Ward qualify for surfing's major leagues in 2009. But the Sebastian Inlet Pro has elevated a lot of U.S. surfers high in the ratings. In North America, the ASP is having nine WQS contests in 2008 – a 6 star, a 5 star, two 4 stars, four 2 stars and a 1 star. Brazil, by comparison, has eight WQS events – four 6 stars, two 5 stars and two 4 stars. No low-end contests. Europe has 13 WQS events – six 6 stars, one 5 star, two 4 star, two 3 star and two 1 star. The more big-points events that a region hosts, the better chance local surfers have to rise in the WQS. The next West Coast event, at Trestles from April 29 through May 3, is the 4-star Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro. There's talk of making it a 6 star in 2009. That would be good news for Patrick and Dane Gudauskas, their brother Tanner, Miller, Losness and other WQS hopefuls like Yeomans, who reached the quarterfinals of the Vans. Chris Drummy, another quarterfinalist Sunday, isn't a fulltime WQS surfer but no doubt would relish some higher-stakes competition, apt to attract more overseas surfers to California to try for big points. San Clemente's Trevor Saunders could also use higher-powered WQS events here as a launching pad. He was a finalist Sunday in the Ezekiel Pro Jr. division of the Vans, placing third. Tanner Gudauskas was a quarterfinalist, finishing ninth of 64 contestants.

Free shuttle service for down town Surf City Nights
If you have trouble finding parking in downtown on Tuesday nights, you can now give the red woody, called the OC Cruiser Woody Bus a try. There will be free shuttle service to Main Street during the Surf City Nights. Pick-up will begin at Huntington Beach City Hall in the north parking lot on the corner of Main Street & Yorktown Ave. The cruiser will drop off passengers adjacent to the Main Promenade Parking Structure in the heart of downtown. The shuttle is available every 20 minutes from 5 to 9 pm. The last pick-up downtown back to the City hall will be at 8:45

Local HB company going eco friendly
Huntington Beach Brand Advertising Firm Launches New Website Emphasizing Growth for Clients while Reducing Waste by Offering Solutions to Printed Advertising Materials. Huntington Beach, CA (PRWEB) April 7, 2008 -- Imagine an advertising firm committed to help reduce waste. Bolt Advertising, an advertising and brand agency in Huntington Beach has just announced the launch of their new website showcasing the agency's philosophy to create growth for their clients with information on how to reduce waste in printed advertising materials. www.boltadvertising.com includes creative samples and support materials including package design, brochures, and direct mail pieces. Bolt's website also includes case studies on recent projects, a media room for news stories as well as links to the firms blog. "Our objective," explains Bolt Advertising's owner Mark Buxton, "is finding creative, effective solutions that focus on expanding market share, and reducing our client's negative environmental impact. We like to keep communication fresh combined with a purpose. Our new website keeps our clients updated and focused on growth." Bolt Advertising's new website also presents environmental technology solutions in the advertising, design and printing industries. The website emphasizes the firms environmental business advertising and green branding consulting. FSC certified printing and recycled printing using environmental papers is also featured. Bolt Advertising, located in Huntington Beach, California is a creative advertising and brand agency that emphasizes creativity with a purpose. Bolt develops sales and communications support materials while using a variety of environmentally safe print technologies by further consulting businesses on green advertising solutions. Contact information is located at the firms website www.boltadvertising.com or contact