BY TONY CHEONG — Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen has come out as gay in recent weeks.
And you know what?
In a sign of progress, it's been treated as… no big deal. So what? I mean, it barely made the news.
What IS making the news is that Nguyen is considering running for the 46th District congressional seat that will vacated by longtime incumbent Loretta Sanchez, who is running for a U.S. Senate spot.
The OC News is trying to get to the bottom of it. Look for an update in coming weeks.
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BY TONY CHEONG — Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen has come out as gay in recent weeks.
And you know what?
In a sign of progress, it's been treated as… no big deal. So what? I mean, it barely made the news.
What IS making the news is that Nguyen is considering running for the 46th District congressional seat that will vacated by longtime incumbent Loretta Sanchez, who is running for a U.S. Senate spot.
The OC News is trying to get to the bottom of it. Look for an update in coming weeks.
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I visited the Westminster Mall on a recent Saturday, and made two observations: 1) The mall looks great. It's clean, it's got a great mix of stores, including the usual variety of high end ones such as Macy's and it's easy to navigate; 2) Not too many shoppers on hand.
The latter observation is not new.
I've noticed it every time I've shopped there.
Mall leaders have been trying to change that for years. It's a daunting challenge. Consider: Just 20 or 30 minutes away are Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza and Newport Beach's Fashion Island, both world renowned. It makes me wonder if the Westminster Mall should try to position itself in a different, unique way. Shoppers searching for high end products are probably willing to drive another 20 or 30 minutes, don't you think?
Nevertheless, we've got ourselves a plucky little mall. It's at its best during the holidays, especially Halloween — with its family-friendly pumpkin patch — and Christmas, when it features sundry activities for children.
That's when traffic goes the other way; folks from South County trek to the Westminster Mall precisely for these activities. We need to expand on that.
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Stanton can breathe a sigh of relief.
A state bill proposing to reduce the Orange County Fire Authority Board — Stanton contracts with the agency — has been dropped.
Assembly Bill 1217 would have sliced the number of board members on the Fire Authority Board from 25 to 13. That means those cities and unincorporated areas not in the lucky 13 would lose a vote on matters of great importance to their communities.
Stanton was one of them. City Councilman Dave Shawver sits on the board.
Twenty three cities and two unincorporated areas contract with the authority.
But alas, the bill passed in the Assembly and died in the Senate.
Whew!
"The bottom line is simple," Shawver said. It assures local control…"