Short-Term Lodging Drains a Town of Community

Editor:

Our sister city, St. Ives, in Cornwall, England, is a popular seaside town filled with artists and writers drawn to St. Ives by its extraordinary natural beauty and rustic charm, very much like Laguna Beach.

Unfortunately St. Ives is suffering from “ghostification,” a process where neighborhoods disappear as a town is taken over by “holiday lets” and by second homes (holiday bolt holes) that stand mostly empty, which means the gradual decline of its community.

This is a future I fear for Laguna Beach. Allowing any form of short-term lodging (STL) now will make holding the line against the future proliferation of Airbnb, VRBO now HomeAway, next to impossible. Neighborhoods as we know them will be in danger of disappearing as participating homeowners and the city alike are seduced by the money generated by STL. It is just a matter of time.

It’s no use just being against short-term lodging. We must take action. Our voices must be heard.  Please show up at City Council at public comment (6 p.m.) and voice your opinion against STL in all our residential areas and support the Planning Commission STL ordinance. Better yet make the moratorium on STL permanent.

Charlotte Masarik, Laguna Beach