Briefly In the News

Bluebird parcels bought by city

Five new parcels, totaling 3.2 acres will be added to the city’s inventory of open space.

The City Council approved March 23 the purchase of five parcels in Bluebird Canyon, for $510,000, including closing and surveying costs. The deal has been under negotiation for two years with the trustees of the late Warren Hopkins who owned the lots.

“It is a stunning piece of property,” Councilwoman Verna Rollinger said.

The city will pay engineering costs to separate the large southern piece of Hopkins’ holdings, which constitutes a single building site. The purchase price will be funded by a $318,399 appropriation from the Open Space Fund and $191,601 from the Capital Improvement Fund.

Kollenda to address Exchange Club

Pat Kollenda, chairwoman of the Arts Commission, will be the keynote speaker at 12:15 p.m. Thursday at the Exchange Club, at Watermarc Restaurant, 448 S. Coast Hwy.

For more information, call Katy Moss at (949) 494-0703 or Jim Rue at (949) 494-6684.

Half-price sale at library bookstore

The Friends of the Laguna Beach Library are celebrating Library Month by reducing the price of all books by 50% at the Friends’ Book Shop.

The sale begins Monday and continues throughout April at the shop below the library, 363 Glenneyre St.

For more information, call (949) 497-1733, ext. 6.

Financial planning workshops begin

Thirteen charitable organizations will offer free “It’s Your Money” workshops.

Focusing on a different topic each week, the sessions will be from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Fridays, today through May 21, at the Susi Q Senior Center, 380 Third St.

Peter C. Kote, chairman of the Laguna Canyon Foundation’s Estate Planning and Gifts Committee, will moderate. The program will provide information about fixed-income investments; annuities, variable annuities and mutual funds; long-term care insurance; asset managers, financial planners, stockbrokers, bankers and insurance agents.

For reservations, call (949) 497-8324.

Monarch butterflies topic will be at club

The Laguna Beach Garden Club will present Leslie Gilson speaking on the restoration of the Monarch Butterfly Grove in the Norma Gibbs Park in Huntington Beach at 9:30 a.m. April 9 at the Neighborhood Congregational Church, 340 St. Ann’s Drive.

For more information visit www.lagunabeachgardenclub.org.