Newly released data indicates it’s a tale of two parts of Orange County.
Looking at a map of new reported COVID-19 cases, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach on a population adjusted basis led the way in March.
A very different story emerges at the end of April, as both affluent communities, along with much of South OC, rank well below average for the county. Meanwhile, new cases in North and inland OC have flared up, according to data provided to the Business Journal late last week.
For more, see next week’s print edition.
Last week’s Insider noted the lack of OC representation in President Trump’s economic revival task force for the U.S., announced on April 14; our Rick Reiff saw a similar theme in the state’s economic recovery team, released days later. His report:
FivePoint CEO Emile Haddad brings open mindedness and well-honed survival skills to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 task force.
“I lived in a country and watched a lot of people suffer 11 years of civil war because people put themselves into a box that their ideology was right and everybody else’s was wrong,” said the Great Park Neighborhoods developer, whose journey from 1980s in Lebanon to the American Dream culminated in a 2017 Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Haddad accused cable news of stoking dissent during the pandemic: “I think there’s a disconnect between what you’re hearing on TV and the political rhetoric and what you’re seeing from people. I see more coming together … Everybody’s in the same boat.”
Haddad and Chipotle Mexican Grill CEO Brian Niccol are the only OC execs on Newsom’s Bay Area-weighted task force; OC would have seven reps if the 80 business and labor appointments aligned with population.
And even Haddad has a Bay Area tie-in. He said he developed a good working relationship with then-San Francisco Mayor Newsom while planning FivePoint projects in S.F.
Haddad has plenty of ideas to share with the task force, but he’ll do a lot of listening, too: “Nobody has the answers right now. This is totally uncharted waters.”
As the former agent for NBA star Dennis Rodman, Brea’s Dwight Manley also saw a lack of representation—of his prior client—in ESPN’s 10-part “Last Dance” documentary series covering Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, whose initial episodes were released to great fanfare last week.
“The first two episodes seemed to be a lot of MJ and Scottie [Pippen] background,” Manley told our Peter J. Brennan, while also noting he was still happy to watch regardless.
“I can say that having all theaters and sports teams shut down, [its release] is like Divine Intervention, which that three year stretch of the Bulls was most certainly. The Bulls from 1995-1998 were the Beatles, Elvis and the Stones … all in one.”
The ex-agent has since moved into real estate, with downtown Brea a focus for Manley Fanticola Properties. The firm last week said that despite recent issues facing the restaurant industry, Ruby’s Diner is still moving ahead with plans to open “its largest location ever” on Birch Street.
