Newport citizen of the year: Evelyn Hart

Former Newport Beach Councilwoman Evelyn Hart isn’t getting an award for her hospitality, but perhaps she should.

If you come to her house, Newport Beach’s 2007 citizen of the year will make you a cup of coffee, and she may offer her services as surrogate granny for the entire city of Newport Beach.

Hart learned Friday she’s been chosen by past citizens of the year to be the 62nd recipient of the honor, which will be presented at a dinner in June. The award was founded by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce in 1949.

There’s no question she meets one of the criteria — long-term, continuing commitment to the community. Hart served on the City Council for 16 years, has been on the boards of nonprofits such as Youth Employment Service and Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, was a governor’s appointee to the state Board of Behavioral Sciences and the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and now she works on airport issues with the group AirFair.

A resident of Newport since 1951, Hart said she’s not exactly sure why she was chosen as Citizen of the Year, but she recounted a few highlights from her council career: She represented the city in talks on the first airport settlement agreement and she encouraged the city to take a lead in the use of technology such as the Geographic Information System.

“Computers were actually just coming into their own, and Newport was one of the very first to have a GIS system,” she said.

She also was a proponent of the original Greenlight initiative, Measure S. Her biggest current project is the proposed rebuilding of the Oasis Senior Center, for which fundraising just began.

“I think this ought to be the Year of the Granny,” she joked.