Community leaders and residents piled into the Orange Public Library’s community room last week for the Old Towne Preservation Association’s annual State of Old Towne Forum.

The evening had four speakers, each updating the audience on happenings in the city’s historic core:

Mayor Teresa “Tita” Smith:

The mayor started her talk by taking a look at Old Towne’s place in the city financially. Despite being primarily mom and pops, the Old Towne shopping district generated $648,000 last year in sales tax compared to $2.6 million from the Outlets at Orange and $1.7 million from the Village at Orange.

After highlighting some noteworthy developments from the rest of the city, Smith turned her attention to Chapman University. She said she feels the city and school have made great progress in their relations over the last year, but drew a hard line when it came to the school’s continuing expansion.

Smith will be termed out in December 2018, ending 14 years on the City Council. Before then, she said she wants to see finalized the city document outlined how Chapman University can develop in the future.

Smith said she would not support any further expansion east of Center Street, saying the school’s nearly finished Center for Science and Technology is already too much.

“I’m going to insist that there be no growth for Chapman east of Center Street,” Smith said. “It’s just way too big, too tall, across from single family dwellings – which are mostly owned by Chapman, I get that. But I do not want to see anything that big going up on the eastern edge again. That’s my commitment to Old Towne and to our legacy.”

Orange Police Department Chief Tom Kisela:

Kisela began his talk by discussing Chapman University parties, saying there has been a reduction compared to recent years.

“From our standpoint, we’ve seen a reduction,” Kisela said. “We haven’t seen the big parties. A couple of years ago, every Friday night there was probably three or four parties that were in excess of 150 to 200 students. We’re not seeing that.”

The No. 1 issue for the Orange Police Department, Kisela said, is homelessness. The department fields 6 to 12 calls about the homeless a day, which can tie up two officers each for 30 to 40 minutes, Kisela said.

The situation is difficult to address, Kisela said – police can take action when people are breaking the law, but sleeping on benches or in many other public spaces is not illegal, he said. Additionally, the nearby riverbed, where many are living, lies outside of Orange’s jurisdiction, Kisela said.

Crime in Old Towne is down 7.5 percent, Kisela said. The department received about 4,000 calls for service in Old Towne last year, 130 of which were crimes. A majority of those crimes were auto burglaries, and in many cases, people had left their cars unlocked.

Jack Raubolt, Chapman University vice president of community relations:

Raubolt highlighted the recently improved relations between the school and the city, along with Chapman’s efforts to house more of its students on campus.

Chapman’s new president, Daniele Struppa, has pledged to reach an at least 50 percent on-campus housing ratio. A major component of this, Raubolt said, will be the Villa Park Orchards Association Packing House development, which proposes a five-story building with about 400 beds for students.

The school recently purchased 2.14 acres of vacant land behind its Panther Village – where the 5 freeway meets Chapman Avenue – from the city for $6.5 million for more student housing. Raubolt said the school many construct a new residence hall behind the village, or it could demolish the village and combine the two lots to form a high-density student building with housing, food options and more.

Chapman is also looking to replace its 140-bed Davis Apartments with a new 540-bed hall.

Following up on the reduced party problems Kisela mentioned, Raubolt credited a number of factors, including pre-orientation tours for students focused on appreciating the community, a Student-Neighbor Relations Committee and improved communication with neighbors. Additionally, the Neighborhood Advisory Committee – a group comprised of Chapman staff and community leaders – has been revamped to include representatives from more areas of Orange, and will now meet four times a year.

Bill Crouch, Orange’s director of community development:

Crouch covered some of the latest developments in Old Towne and beyond.

Residents with historic homes can benefit from a council decision late last year to remove the cap on Mills Act contracts, which provide tax relief to residents who maintain and renovate their property to preserve its historic nature. The average property tax reduction is $2,970 a year.

Crouch also mentioned the city will be looking to update its demolition ordinance to ensure it does a better job of protecting the city’s historic resources from being demolished.

Residents can also expect, Crouch said, significant community outreach this summer to gather input on a proposed update to the preservation standards that protect Old Towne’s historic nature and limit exterior modifications to the homes.

Jay Haas has done it all in golf, from learning the game from his uncle, Masters champion Bob Goalby, to captaining the winning U.S. Presidents Cup team with his son, Bill, getting the winning point in 2015. The Wake Forest graduate also won an NCAA individual title in 1975 as well as team titles in 1974 and 1975. He turned pro in 1976 and won nine times on the PGA Tour before joining the Champions Tour where he has won 18 times, the most recent coming in October at the Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club. It was his second victory in Orange County, following his first title at NBCC in 2007.

What’s your best moment in golf?

Being the Presidents Cup captain and having Bill on that team and winning the final point on the last day. It’s pretty hard to top that. Recently, winning at Newport Beach (Toshiba Classic) with my wife, Jan, caddying for me, that was pretty special as well. I’ve been very blessed to have a great career out here and to manage to play this long. There have been a lot of highlights, but those are a couple that come to mind.

Who has been your biggest influence?

Probably my uncle, Bob Goalby. He started me in the game and kind of nurtured me as I went through the game. We talk all the time and he just lives and dies with every shot I hit. He’s the guy that sort of got me going, so I’d have to say Bob, in addition to Billy Harmon, who has been my teacher for the last 25 years or so. He’s also my best friend, so those two guys have kept me going over the years.

What’s your favorite event on tour and why?

Hilton Head, because I met my wife there and have played there a bunch of times. That’s probably our favorite place that we went to on the PGA Tour. How could it not be?

 What’s your best tip for amateurs?

The most common thing I see with amateurs is they’re not taking enough loft around the green. They’re not schooled in the use of a lob wedge around the greens and how to utilize that loft. And then when they’re in the bunkers they don’t open the club enough; they don’t trust the fact that they can swing hard at it and it won’t go very far. So I say swing hard and open up the clubface. The higher the handicap the more it seems they shy away from using that lob wedge. But that’s a club that can really save them some strokes.

What do you do to take your mind off the game?

We have eight grandchildren now and our ninth is coming in January, so we’re usually in the car going to see one family or another and see the grandkids. They’re all 6 and under and they’re a ton of fun to spend time with them. As I’m traveling, I realize I’ve traveled for 40 years, basically, and so it’s nice to not go anywhere unless it’s for 20 minutes in the car down the road to see those young ones.

Tom Byrum has seen plenty of competition on the PGA Tour. After competing in more than 500 events in nearly three decades, and winning once, the South Dakota native now plays on the PGA Tour Champions. At 56, the Texas resident still gets a kick out of watching his brother and former PGA Tour winner, Curt, on Golf Channel during the year. Byrum nearly won his first Champions event in November when he lost in a playoff to Scott McCarron in the Dominion Charity Classic during the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.

What’s your best moment in golf?

Of course, getting my one PGA Tour win at the 1989 Kemper Open was a big one. But I also have good memories with my brother before I turned pro. I was never as good as he was in high school or college. I started late, but in college at New Mexico I was getting better. We were having a chipping contest and I was winning and getting on his nerves. A little brother can rub it in pretty good when he gets ahead, so it was a fun memory. I was probably 18 and he was 20. We were competitive but he always wanted the best for me. He always watched out for me.

Who has been your biggest influence?

My dad, who has since passed away, and my brother. I’ve also had great support from my wife and mom and all that my family has afforded me. Your wife will listen to you and your brother will listen to you, too, and then tell you to suck it up and get it done. Same with our dad; we had a pretty tough dad, so he always wanted the best for us but he always made us work for it.

What’s your favorite event on tour and why?

My wife and I really like the week of Pebble Beach; staying in Carmel is really fun. Whenever there’s an event in Seattle we love it, too, and stay in Bellevue. In Texas, where we live, we have the Hill Country but not the kind of scenery with the ocean and mountains, so we really enjoy that kind of view when we get it.

What’s your best tip for amateurs?

Many amateurs don’t recognize that their lie in the rough isn’t good enough to hit a wood; they should hit a 7-iron and then have a wedge or a 9-iron shot left to the green. So the tip is distance doesn’t necessarily dictate what club you hit out of the rough; it’s more the lie.

What do you do to take your mind off the game?

I like to hunt and fish. We try to find something other than golf to do. I’m always looking for quiet time to relax.

Two Aliso Viejo soccer teams, AV Adrenaline and OC Leopards, traveled to Carson City, Nevada, to win first place at the Western States Championships, March 25-26.

Both teams played two games. The OC Leopards, a boys team representing the U9 EXTRA age group, coached by Ken Mangat, faced harsh weather conditions during its first game, at 9 a.m. The mountains were snowy. Playing Palos Verdes, the team had to get used to the ice on their cleats, wearing thermals to keep warm.

“They were out of their element but they quickly adjusted,” Mangat said.

His team won, 1-0, holding the lead from the beginning in a solid defensive effort. His team then played Manteca in the finals, winning 3-0, devouring pizza after and celebrating first-place medals.

“The kids enjoyed every minute of the experience,” Mangat said. “It was a once in a lifetime thing.”

The other team, AV Adrenaline, a girls team representing the U11 EXTRA age group, coached by Elliott Sarabia, played Pasadena Altadena in the first game. It was even at first, and the team was shutout in the first half. “The second half, we came out and absolutely took it to them,” said Sarabia, whose team edged out the 2-0 victory.

“The second half, we came out and absolutely took it to them,” said Sarabia, whose team edged out the 2-0 victory.

In the finals game, they played Thousand Oaks. The team played its best ball of the season; it was knotted 1-1 at the half,  but the team surged forward in the second half to win, 4-2, in a dominant fashion.

“They were just absolutely ecstatic,” Sarabia said. “We had set challenges and goals for them at the very beginning of the season and these athletes hit every one of those check marks. Every time we put a challenge in front of them, they hit it and exceeded expectations.”

Both teams made their communities proud, as two teams coming from Aliso Viejo showed the talent level coming from South Orange County.

“I think we’re right on par, if not better than anybody, especially in the Western United States and probably the nation,” Mangat said. “These kids have the athletic talent and the drive to compete at any level, and I think the fact that you have two Aliso Viejo teams being able to go to a tournament like this and dominate, it really speaks for itself.”

“We’re giving our players an opportunity to compete on a more national level, which is really exciting because it motivates them to want to get better,” Mangat said. “Hopefully these two teams have set the stage for continued success in Aliso Viejo as well as South Orange County.”

By JIMMY GOLEN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — The Kenyans are back in Boston after a relative lull that saw them shut out in the world’s most prestigious marathon twice in the past three years.

More surprisingly, so are the Americans.

Geoffrey Kirui won the 121st Boston Marathon on Monday, pulling away from three-time U.S. Olympian Galen Rupp with two miles to go to give Kenya its first men’s victory in five years. Edna Kiplagat won the women’s race to complete the Kenyan sweep.

They were followed closely by Americans who grabbed two of the top four women’s spots and six of the top ten for men — the first time that’s happened since the race went professional in 1986.

“It’s so exciting to see Americans being competitive here,” said Rupp, the Olympic bronze medalist who was making his Boston debut. “It’s a real exciting time. And it’s awesome to see American distance running on the upswing and being competitive in these races.”

Kirui finished in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 37 seconds to claim a silver trophy, a guilded olive wreath from Marathon, Greece, and the $150,000 first prize. Rupp was 21 seconds back, and Japan’s Suguru Osako 30 seconds behind him.

Rounding out the top 10 were runners from California, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.

“American distance running is looking good today,” said sixth-place finisher Abdi Abdirahman, a Somali immigrant and Tucson resident who is a four-time Olympian. “We have the podium for both men and women, so the future is great.”

Kiplagat finished in 2:21:52 to win her Boston debut, adding the victory to two world championships and wins in London, New York and Los Angeles. She pulled ahead of Rose Chelimo of Bahrain in the Newton hills to win by 59 seconds.

American Jordan Hasay, making her first run at the 26.2-mile distance, was third and Desi Linden was fourth — the first time since 1991 that two U.S. women have finished in the top four.

“It keeps happening. We keep getting closer. We’re putting more numbers in there and it’s just a matter of time,” said Linden, the 2011 runner-up by 2 seconds. “When Americans break the tape, it’s going to be a big deal here.”

Kenya had won either the men’s or women’s race every year since 1991 before being shut out in 2014 and again last year. In fact, Kenya had taken both titles six times since 2000, so dominating the top 10 that Boylston Street began to look like a Great Rift Valley training run.

But Ethiopia has surpassed its East African neighbors on Patriots’ Day the past four years, earning its first sweep in 2016. Then, in December, Kenyan Rita Jeptoo was stripped of her 2014 title for failing a drug test and it was handed instead to Ethiopia’s Buzunesh Deba.

For Kirui, even when he was running shorter distances, he had his eye on Boston.

“In my mind, I was sure that one day I would win this race,” said Kirui, 25, who was running just his third marathon. “To come here to Boston, I knew I was going to face my colleagues who have run many times here. … I knew I would challenge some of the champions who have been competing here.”

The American drought reached more than three decades from the time Greg Meyer won in 1983 until Meb Keflezighi ran down Boylston Street to raucous chants of “U-S-A!” in 2014, the year after the finish line bombings killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. (No U.S. woman has won since 1985.)

Keflezighi, 41, said he plans to enter the New York Marathon, which he won in 2009, one last time in the fall before retiring. In his last competitive Boston run, he finished 13th in 2:17:00 despite pain in his quad muscles.

“The crowd got me through the finish line,” he said.

Also running on Monday was Ben Beach, who completed the race for an unprecedented 50th time in a row. And Kathrine Switzer, wearing the same bib number — 261 — that she wore when she entered the all-male race 50 years ago, using only her initials, K.V.

The warm temperatures that hit 79 degrees at the 20-kilometer mark in Natick slowed the runners, but the strong tailwind was a boost — especially in the wheelchair races.
Marcel Hug won Boston for the third time, outpushing 10-time champion Ernst Van Dyk down Boylston Street and finishing in 1:18:04 to beat the course record and world best by 21 seconds. Fellow Swiss Manuela Schar shattered the women’s mark by more than five minutes, winning in 1:28:17.

The winners’ times on the point-to-point Boston course are considered a world best and not a world record because of the possibility of a supportive tailwind like the one on Monday.
“The wind is so important,” Hug said. “The roads were good. Everything was fantastic today.”

Earlier Monday, city officials announced plans for memorials to mark the sites where two bombs exploded during the 2013 race.

Also in the field was Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, who ran for the 18th time in 2013 but has skipped the races since the bombings so he could be available in case of another emergency. Evans, who completed his 52nd marathon overall, said he wanted to show that Boston is back to normal.

“If I can come back,” he said, “everyone can.”

HONG KONG – Runway darling Irene Kim brought her street style and pastel pink hair to Hong Kong for the opening night of Seoul 10 Soul pop-up at I.T in Causeway Bay. 
Sporting a blue-and-white outfit, the South Korean-American model and Estée Lauder global beauty contributor joined 10 of South Korea’s most promising designers to celebrate the launch on April 13.
Organized by Seoul Design Foundation and I.T Group, the month-long pop-up aims to promote South Korean fashion internationally. The Hong Kong iteration follows appearances at L’Eclaireur Paris and Excelsior Milano last year, and the series continues at London Fashion Week in September.

Yunhee Kim, fashion and creative industry division director of the Seoul Design Foundation, explained that “people know K-Drama and K-Pop, but K-Fashion isn’t well-known yet. We want to help these designers reach the global market and support them with events around the world.”
RELATED: They Are Wearing: Seoul Fashion Week 2017 >> 
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have fashion “It” girl Irene Kim in the room. Kim is a fierce ambassador of South Korean fashion, sharing looks and words of encouragement with her more than 886,000 followers on Instagram.
“When I first started walking in the shows in Seoul Fashion Week, there was

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While not exactly a bastion of designer labels, Latvia has wholeheartedly embraced the buy-now trend for runway shows.
Participants in the most recent round of Riga Fashion Week were encouraged by Baltic Fashion Federation representatives to offer buy-now runway looks. Alise Trautmane, who presents her Narciss collection and is a former Latvia Designer of the Year winner, was one of the first to offer buy-now looks.
During the five-day event, which ended earlier this month, attendees at each show were told beforehand whether the upcoming collection was a buy-now one, and if so, where it was being sold. “It was a little commercial. That had never happened before but it supported the designers. They were acknowledging, ‘Why not shop the collection?’” Trautmane said. “About 400 of the 600 people at the shows were potential clients.”
Having recently stopped doing trade shows, an increasingly popular cost-cutting measure for independent designers, Trautmane said eliminating wholesale is another. With a store in Riga, as well as e-commerce, Trautmane also recently cofounded with Sai Kong a co-sharing store/space called Dreams on Air that features 30 designers in New York City. “I already publicize all the [runway] looks on social media. It doesn’t make sense to tell customers,

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Married to the Mob is collaborating with Fila.
The women’s streetwear line, which was founded by Leah McSweeney in 2004, worked with Fila on a limited-edition assortment for spring.
“Fila is an iconic brand that I was wearing back in the Nineties,” said McSweeney. “It really is a great marriage between MOB and Fila.”
McSweeney said she stayed away from the brand’s signature color palette (red, white and blue) and used mostly black, white and gray with accents of orange and lavender. The collection, which is priced from $25 to $100, includes T-shirts, tanks, long-sleeve shirts, hoodies, jackets, bodysuits, bathing suits, sports bras, shorts, joggers and leggings. The pieces incorporate both Married to the Mob and Fila logos.
The line will be available mid-April on Married to the Mob’s e-commerce site and Zumiez. Later in the month, it will roll out to Freshly Dipped, The Clearport, Rime NYC, King & Duck, Premium Goods, Dolls Kill and Cncpts.
Married to the Mob has previously collaborated with brands including Nike, Burton and Lacoste and Fila has capitalized on its heritage over the past few seasons by dropping capsule collections with Urban Outfitters.

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THEORY EXCHANGE: In recognition of Earth Day, Theory will introduce Theory for Good, a garment-recycling program where clients donate their used Theory clothing and receive credit toward their next purchase.
All clothing donations will be provided to Year Up Inc., a national organization that provides a one-year intensive training program, featuring six months of skills training and a six-month corporate internship to young adults who are disconnected from the economic mainstream. Year Up has served more than 16,000 students to date across 22 cities nationwide.
Theory for Good launches at all Theory U.S. retail locations on April 22 and 23.

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Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Titian and “Mona Lisa” herself — coming soon, to a handbag near you, if you happen by the Champs-Élysées, 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, or any of the 150 Louis Vuitton outposts where the brand’s new, flashy Jeff-Koons-has-his-way-with-the-Masters collaboration will be housed beginning April 28.
In a big, splashy, celebrity-laden party at the Louvre on April 11, under the gaze of Mona herself, Vuitton formally presented Koons’ collection of handbags and small leather goods, which had been on full view on the brand’s web site throughout the day. In pictures, at least, the bags look amazing. They’re a lot of fun, a little outrageous and beautiful — if your idea of beauty veers somewhere between bucolic romp and steely eyed Leonardo da Vinci diva, and whose doesn’t? They’re all marked with a little bunny charm indicating, “Koons worked here.” As for the rights to the paintings, just like “Happy Birthday” and “Hamlet,” these masterpieces fall under public domain, including the 500-year-old “most famous painting in the world,” whose legally co-opted image graces everything from refrigerator magnets and T-shirts to endless artists’ homages and satires. Still, the cost of this enterprise to Vuitton is unimaginable — and its anticipated returns,

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