A group of eight former Newport Beach Councilmembers, including seven former Mayors, have formed a group called “Recover Newport.”
Recover Newport members are former Mayors Ed Selich, Keith Curry, Rush Hill, Nancy Gardner, Mike Henn, Steve Rosansky and Don Webb, along with former City Councilman Tony Petros.
According to a press release announcing the formation of the group, Recover Newport’s mission statement is to “Promote creative ideas and safe solutions to aid Newport Beach’s recovery.”
With the national COVID-19 pandemic entering its 16th week, Newport Beach has not been spared the impacts of the coronavirus. Local businesses have been heavily impacted, particularly the tourism, hospitality and restaurant sectors, according to the press release.
The City of Newport Beach is in the process of developing a 2020-2021 budget that projects a $33 million revenue decrease, primarily from lower sales and hotel tax revenue.
Through their prior service to the City, all of the Recover Newport members have experience governing during the Great Recession and creating solutions to shepherd the City through that crisis with no reduction in the quality of services provided to its residents and businesses.
With this background and love for the City, the Recover Newport team will be offering support to the current City Council as they navigate their way through this crisis.
Recover Newport will also use its knowledge and expertise to investigate and propose innovative and creative solutions to deal with the crisis.
Recover Newport believes Newport Beach will come out of this crisis stronger than ever under the leadership of the current City Council and wants to assist and do its part to make the recovery as quick and as robust as possible.
