Police investigators are seeking the public’s assistance in locating a 26-year-old man suspected in a sexual assault of a Laguna Beach woman in April. Earlier this week, police obtained a warrant for the arrest of Babak Azadgilani, also known as “Bobby”, of Laguna Niguel, said Capt. Jason Kravetz in a statement. “Attempts to arrest him [...]
A throng of people with quarts of paint doused a boarded-up, ocean-front Laguna Beach structure with balloon-like messages, wall-length streaks and artistic giant-sized lettering last Saturday. The “graffitiers last hurrah,” was the description of Morris Skenderian, the property’s architectural advisor hired by owner Gary Groves to demolish the deteriorating former boathouse at the south end [...]
More than 60 people filled a room in the Community Center to capacity to participate in a committee meeting drafting a revised view ordinance in Laguna Beach on Tuesday. Committee members first shared their observations about 11 sample sites they’d visited and how rules under consideration needed stronger enforcement tools to remedy conditions, where in [...]
Whole Foods manager Richard Dinan was still talking to Laguna Beach police dispatchers, describing a shoplifter that had exited the store with more than $200 worth of groceries last week, when Detective Larry Bammer and a motorcycle officer showed up. Bammer, who was reassigned to foot patrol that day, was right around the corner from [...]
By Justin Swanson | LB Indy Fresh out of Boston’s Tufts University in 2009, history major and New York native Sam Kapcio made his way West for the first time. After exploring Southern California’s coast from San Diego through Los Angeles, he soon needed a job in order to remain in the Golden State. [...]
Just six weeks after its formation, the newly established View Equity Committee seems determined to deliver on putting teeth in a new city ordinance. But first they want a test drive, to understand how a potential view equity claim would play out under the model adopted by Rancho Palos Verdes, which passed one of the [...]
To improve pedestrian safety and battle the physical trauma suffered by nearly a score of people injured last year in collisions, Laguna Beach’s police department will conduct a crosswalk enforcement campaign Wednesday, Feb. 27 along the city’s 37 designated crosswalks on Coast Highway. Too many serious accidents occur each year from motorists failing to stop [...]
Violent crime in Laguna Beach declined 21 percent last year, while arrests for public intoxication and drunk driving rose 36.9 and 28.7 percent respectively, according to the police department’s annual report released this week. Eliminating the threat to public safety by drinking drivers remains a priority of the police department, said Chief Paul Workman in [...]
The Laguna Beach Police Department has been awarded a $90,000 grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety for a year-long program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on local roadways through special enforcement and public awareness efforts. While traffic deaths statewide declined by nearly 39 percent between 2006 and 2010 and DUI’s remain the [...]
Editor, With the latest proposed ordinance to empower the police to confiscate the skateboards of helmet-less riders of any age and require offending juveniles to undergo a “counseling session”, perhaps we’ve finally reached a Gladwell-like tipping point on the intrusion of civic officials into how parents raise their kids in this town. I have great [...]
Editor, Re: “Where’s the Fire?” Local Currents, Oct. 12 letters. This once again is David Vanderveen at his best, nailing truth about the proposed Social Host Ordinance (SHO) to a post in the public commons. I agree with David 100% and urge everyone to sign the petition asking all City Council and school board candidates [...]
With crowds of Laguna Beach skateboarders conspicuously absent, the City Council voted 4-1 this past Tuesday to finalize a local law that allows police to confiscate skateboards if any rider, regardless of age, isn’t wearing a helmet. The law will take effect on Dec. 13; the police department will report results from its enactment next [...]
The Laguna Beach Police Department is accepting applications for its next Citizen Academy, starting Sept. 6. The academy meets from 6 to 9:30 p.m. for 12 consecutive weeks. Applications will be accepted until Aug. 23. The course is designed to provide the public with a better understanding of the department and to help foster better [...]
Motorists with a disabled persons placard no longer can park without paying in unoccupied non-handicapped spaces in city lots, said parking supervisor Jim Beres. Placard holders, who had enjoyed that luxury, are still entitled to park gratis in any street metered space or in marked handicapped spaces within city lots, Beres said. Stricter enforcement in [...]
A 31-year-old Lake Forest man who allegedly swung a machete at a Laguna Beach teacher was taken into custody by law enforcement authorities in Irvine last Saturday afternoon, police said. Juan Vigil Portillo allegedly swung a machete at an Anneliese School teacher, who observed him acting strangely in the school’s Laguna Canyon parking lot and [...]
Ill Prepared Hiker Rescued from Hillside
A sheriff’s helicopter was used to extract a hiker who suffered an anxiety attack and was unable to move from a steep trail in Laguna Beach’s open space about 6 p.m. Sunday, June 9, police said. Lifeguards in an all-terrain vehicle coordinated the extraction from thick brush and a steep slope between Alta Laguna Park [...]
