Orange County Cities

Seven county cities still allow sales of "safe and sane" fireworks, despite a June Orange County Grand Jury recommendation that they take action to ban them. Following is a list of Orange County cities and whether personal fireworks are allowed there. City Allowed?

Irvine grew faster than all but seven other large U.S. cities between July 2011 and July 2012, with its population vaulting to nearly 230,000 last year, new census data show. The pace of growth was nearly five times as fast as the Southern California average. The increase continues a pattern for Irvine, where population climbed an average of 4.8% annually between 2000 and 2010. It rose 3.4% the next year and 4.2% last year, according to census data released Thursday. City officials see the numbers as proof that its meticulous planning has worked.

Population at Date of Date of 1987 City Incorporation Incorporation Population Anaheim March 18, 1876 881 242,200 Santa Ana June 12, 1886 2,000 227,400 Orange April 6, 1888 600 103,300 Fullerton Feb. 15, 1904 1,719 110,100 Newport Beach Sept. 1, 1906 445 67,800 Huntington Beach Feb. 17, 1909 915 186,800 Seal Beach Oct. 27, 1915 250 27,400 Brea Feb. 23, 1917 732 32,950 La Habra Jan. 20, 1925 2,100 48,500 Placentia Dec. 2 1926 800 39,150 Laguna Beach June 29, 1927 1,900 18,800 Tustin Sept.

A registered sex offender has filed suit against four Orange County cities, challenging the constitutionality of a law that bans sex offenders from using public parks, beaches and even some roadways. The suit is aimed at Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Lake Forest, which have all modeled local ordinances on the county's sex offender law, which bans offenders from entering county parks and other public facilities. It is considered one of the most aggressive sex offender laws in California.

Dragging Orange County's most controversial issue back into the courtroom, eight southern Orange County cities Thursday filed a lawsuit to halt plans to turn El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a major commercial cargo airport.

The upscale North County community of Villa Park tops the list for median household income in Orange County, leading second-place Tustin Foothills by nearly $15,000. In the past seven years the county's total median income has jumped by 46.5%, from $906,389 in 1980 to an estimated $1.33 million in 1987. The South County coastal city of San Clemente had the biggest increase, from $19,762 in 1980 to $31,109 in 1987. The smallest was Buena Park's 38.2% increase from $22,328 to $30,856.

For the second quarter (April-June) of 1987 (Taxable transactions in thousands of dollars) Apparel General Drug Food Packaged City Stores Merchandise Stores Stores Liquor Anaheim $7,418 $21,746 $5,988 $28,904 $5,725 Brea 8,414 30,163 561 4,116 503 Buena Park 8,029 22,991 3,942 7,135 1,383 Costa Mesa 36,643 104,803 2,586 12,293 3,639 Cypress 3,213 5,537 1,558 3,943 626 Fountain Valley 1,416 555 3,195 7,692 849 Fullerton 6,471 38,078 4,200 10,734 1,799 Garden Grove 2,920 21,015 4,467 18,882 2,183

Orange County cities are in a state of suspense, with all eyes on Sacramento as Wednesday's budget deadline approaches. Sooner or later, the need for a state budget will force a compromise between Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature. And, inevitably, there will be deep cuts to local government. But how great a hit cities will take is anybody's guess, and that will be so right up to the last hour of negotiations.

Hoping to speed the resolution of a dispute between cities and the state over beach curfews, state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) introduced a bill Thursday that would allow the nightly closures to continue. Bergeson said the legislation is, in part, a way to prod the state Coastal Commission to continue apace with efforts to negotiate a solution with city representatives from Orange County and other oceanfront areas.

But the lords of darkness (the censors) said, "Let no one approach this tree. Let no one dare pick this fruit." And a girl whose name was Blood Girl knew this history. The maiden bravely asked, 'Why can't I know this tree's miracle?' And she jumped over the oppressor's words of warning and approached the tree. She approached the tree so that the myth could bring us together in its image. Because the woman is the freedom that provokes action. And the hero is the unhindered will."

Costa Mesa cannot lay off employees by outsourcing their jobs to private companies until the city goes through proper legal steps, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday. In a preliminary injunction barring the city from implementing its outsourcing plans, Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann said Costa Mesa must follow necessary steps if it plans to replace 213 employees primarily with private workers. The city issued the layoff notices in March. City officials, meanwhile, said they believed they were in compliance with the law and should be able to execute their austerity measures.

At a recent talk to a roomful of "tea party" supporters, Orange County Republican Party chairman Scott Baugh excitedly described how the next big GOP movement could be taking root in their own backyard. In Costa Mesa, home to South Coast Plaza and the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the City Council has proposed cutting its workforce in half and outsourcing many of those jobs to private contractors. The radical cutbacks are being led by new councilman and longtime GOP activist Jim Righeimer, who says the layoffs are necessary to deal with rising government pension costs for employees.

Dana Point turned up the heat in its battle with the state over posted hours and locked gates at public access paths through a luxury bluff-top development by suing the California Coastal Commission. The city contends the state panel has overstepped its authority by pushing the south Orange County city to open the pathways through the compound, which is perched on a promontory above a secluded stretch of coastline. The city filed suit against the commission Monday, listing Headlands Reserve LLC, the developer of the gated community of 118 multimillion-dollar bluff-top homes, as a party of interest.

Jaci Woods is having trouble getting her neighbors to sign up for her WatchMail crime e-mail alerts. There's simply not enough crime in Irvine to warrant interest in dispatches about car burglaries, purse snatchings and stolen electronics. Woods and her husband moved to Irvine from Virginia in 1971, the year the fledgling Orange County suburb incorporated, back when just a few thousand families were settling into sparkling new homes surrounded by ranch land.

The mayor of Los Alamitos is coming under fire for an e-mail he sent that depicts the White House lawn planted with watermelons, under the title "No Easter egg hunt this year." Local businesswoman and city volunteer Keyanus Price, who is black, said Tuesday that she received the e-mail from Mayor Dean Grose's personal account Sunday and wants a public apology. "I have had plenty of my share of chicken and watermelon and all those kinds of jokes," Price said.

More than 500 Mexican immigrants arrived at a mobile consular office in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday to get controversial ID cards while hearing pitches from a bank and a real estate agent. Sponsored by a south Orange County immigrant advocacy group and the county's Mexican consulate, the event's main attraction was the chance to get a matricula consular. The card is accepted as valid identification by some banks, health insurers and airlines.

The Irvine Co. announced that it will dismiss 18% of its work force in the largest cutback in company history, to adjust to an era of slimmer real estate profit margins and a local glut of high-rise office buildings. The giant Newport Beach land development company said in a prepared statement Wednesday that it was dismissing 240 of its 1,343 employees as "the final step in an 18-month review and restructuring of management operations to respond to anticipated business activity."

Lake Elsinore locals are part of a rare breed in 21st century America. They desperately want a six-lane tunnel through town, and are delighted that massive new housing projects, a Costco and other development is coming down the pike -- in this case Interstate 15. Unlike many small towns that have fought hard to keep big-box stores out and preserve open space, this city of 31,000 in booming western Riverside County is eager for the bulldozers to arrive.

Reported crime in Orange County's major cities increased during the first nine months of 2002, with violent crimes -- particularly homicides -- rising at higher than statewide rates. The local increase in property crimes was slightly lower than the state average. In announcing the latest crime statistics last week, Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said he was especially concerned about the state's rising homicide rate.