Editor,
Regarding the proposed artist live/work project:
Entrusted with an invaluable commodity, our open green space, three council members voted to put a large, three-story apartment in one of the barely developed portions of our canyon. Big mistake. Ever hear of the domino effect?
A visitor to our shop in the canyon commented that he liked the canyon better than the beaches of Laguna, because open space in an urban area was an even more rare joy for him.
The city had a compact with the canyon community, an agreement about how to limit development and preserve its ambiance. I guess all city agreements aren’t worth much, are they? This single building will nearly double the population of the area. How would you like that in your neighborhood?
This apartment complex will be three stories above the creek, 36 feet of wall right next to the stream. It will be a monstrous shadow over many residents late in the day and block views from the road.
Here is the kicker. How many more buildings of this size do you think there will be in five or 10 years? Every landowner out there who feels he has been denied the same right to maximize the profitability of his or her property will sue the city. It will be a row of tall buildings from El Toro Road to the festival grounds.
How well has the artist’s live work concept succeeded? Of the three that I know of, not at all. Units are sublet or are entirely unaffordable. Cheap housing that attracted artists left in the mid ‘70s and hasn’t been seen since.
Most people don’t realize how fragile our village is. A simple majority on our City Council can ignorantly or corruptly change everything we hold dear about our city.
See it for what it is: a clever argument to persuade kind hearted folks to help starving artists. It is more. The consequences, the betrayal, the loss of a legacy is staggering because it will lead to much more of the same.
To help artists, give them affordable workspace or mandate that the canyon be preserved as an artist’s enclave with a light industrial requirement or control rent.
They still have not broken ground on this project because it is not a sure thing. Don’t give up the fight to preserve the canyon.
Tex Haines, Laguna Beach
The author is owner of Victoria Skimboards.
Tex,
Thank you, for bringing this matter to the attention of the public.
Most people are consumed making a living to remain, in this beautiful place that important issues that invariably adversely affect a quality of life here may slip by the 24,000 people who reside in Laguna.
You say THREE people on City Council voted favorably to put a 36 foot high apartment complex in the canyon?!
Please provide names of those who mistakenly support development of the open space we hold dear to our heart. What can or is being done to stop this development?
I respect Tex, a real home grown business hero who has made life in our town better for all, a creative entrepreneur who deserves to be heard and listened to carefully. I supported the project because I support property rights, and generally if you can make it through the city and the Coastal Commission the worst abuses usually get stopped. If anything the approval process imposes too many restrictions. But if Tex is not satisfied with the modifications and restrictions the DRB and state Coastal Commission imposed then that concerns me. It was my understanding the city staff and the canyon community are working on a new master plan. Or, was that just campaign year platitudes? There is already mixed development in the canyon, it is a real challenge to find a better balance going forward, as Tex rightly calls on us to do. Didn’t we hire a bunch of new planners and consultants? Didn’t council member Zur Schmiede run as the urban development technocrat who would bring new solutions and solve old problems? Tex is sounding the alarm, and in the old cartoon series this is when Mighty Mouse is supposed to save the day. Where is the leadership city hall promised?
“Where is the leadership city hall promised?”
Laguna Beach gets the Pathetic Politicians
IT deserves. If you are not part of the local Political CABAL, very few citizens seem to care or know about the Hypocrites
that run and win over and over again.
ROB is this CABAL’S New DOG. DOGS are loyal to their master rather than the citizens that foolishly elected this BUM.
I tried to WARN our citizens about who Rob, and Toni, and Kelly really are, and it didn’t take long for Little ROBBY to roll over and get himself patted by his Masters! I have to wonder where LITTLE ROBBY’S favorite place to be patted is?
Rob has LIED to my face multiple times since I rightly called him for the DOG he has become.
WOOF WOOF