THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:

All roads may lead to Rome, but Newport Beach’s are nicer, says Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle.

At the City Council meeting Tuesday night, Daigle informed those in attendance that Newport Beach has some of the best roads around, scoring better than most county cities on an assessment study, and only a couple of points away from Irvine. Newport Beach got an 84, while most others, including Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach, scored in the 70s or lower. Irvine scored an 86.

This was a testament to the aesthetics surrounding roads, on the medians, and the quality of the roads themselves, Daigle said.

At the end of the council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Ed Selich closed the proceedings by dedicating it to local activist Phil Arst, who died last week. Selich had some kind words to say about the man who started the community organization Greenlight and spearheaded the initiative by the same name.

Selich also read some words about Arst from the Daily Pilot obituary to end the meeting.

Tran joins law firm

As if he isn’t busy enough, Assemblyman Van Tran has taken a new position with the law firm Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. to be the “as of counsel.” In this role, Tran will be the point person in building relationships with the representatives of the numerous Asian and Pacific Islander communities in California.

Tran has a background working at law firms, prior to his California State Assembly Service. He was a managing partner at a Westminster law firm before being elected, and he graduated from UCI with a bachelor’s degree in political science before attending law school at the Hamline University School of Law in Minnesota.

POLL: YOUNG CAN DO IT

An internal poll from Democrat Steve Young’s campaign is claiming the challenger has a shot in November of taking down incumbent Republican Rep. John Campbell.

The poll that Young commissioned showed that when respondents were first asked whom they would vote for, Campbell took a lead of 46% to 32%. But the tides changed.

When respondents were briefed on issues and later asked whom they would support, Young came out the victor, 43% to 37%.

The poll sampled 400 voters in South Orange County, with 47% Republicans and a margin of error at 5%, according to Young.

Young’s campaign is using the poll for fundraising.

“The political landscape is changing in our area, and apparently voters are tired of taxation without representation since Campbell won’t bring anything to our district for the projects that we need,” Young said.

Efforts to reach Campbell for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Young said the results surprised him, as he expected to be about nine points away from Campbell, nowhere near where he ended up.

“I fell off my chair when we got to the end of the poll,” Young said.

MAJOR REVENUE NEEDED

Neither an increase in the hotel tax nor the business license tax will generate enough revenue for new major projects in Costa Mesa, city officials said during Tuesday’s City Council study session.

Council members would be “tinkering in the margins at best if [they] bring up these,” said Finance Director Marc Puckett.

An increase in either tax carries with it pros and cons, some of which council members will surely weigh before the public at their Tuesday Council meeting.

Mayor Eric Bever and Councilwoman Katrina Foley bumped heads over the hotel tax — a tax issued to all Costa Mesa hotel guests who stay less than 30 days.

Foley advocated increasing it, noting that a 2% increase would bring the city closer to the county average and add up to $2 million in annual revenue.

However, more than half of Costa Mesa’s sales tax revenue comes from city visitors, and Bever said he’s been told the city’s hotel tax, the lowest in the county, has proved attractive to traveling businessmen.

Foley quipped Bever was satisfied with the status quo when he continued to debate the merits of increasing taxes on visitors and allocating the money to specific projects — an idea that would require two-thirds approval from residents in November.

Costa Mesa has had the slowest revenue growth out of five neighboring cities.

“We are down in all sectors, instead of, oddly enough, fuel stations. Which has a double-digit increase,” Puckett said to council chuckles. City Manager Allan Roeder emphasized that city leaders are not looking into possible tax increases because of the economy. It’s because state law only allows for tax increases to appear on general election ballots every other year, he said.