In summing up Laguna Beach’s proposed $68.5 million annual budget, for the first time involving a two-year projected spending plan through June 2016, City Manager John Pietig tempered the good news about a recovering local economy with a prescription for caution moving forward. Revenue sources that account for most of the $48.5 million general fund [...]
Editor, Re: “Closing in on New View Rules,” April 19 edition. Please: Establish a hierarchy of priorities wherein views are at the top, and trees are nice but definitely less important. Establish an ordinance that is challenge-proof, has teeth, is fair and especially, is enforceable. If there is to be some concession granted for preserving [...]
Editor, This is your pilot speaking. If you look out to your left, you can see we are now passing over the beautiful city of Laguna Beach. Flight crew, please prepare for landing. I read the letters in the paper a few months ago about the rash of planes flying over south Laguna and I [...]
By Justin Swanson | LB Indy A preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday, March 8 for Saeid Maralan, the former Laguna Beach rug merchant charged with 14 criminal counts involving sexual abuses, was postponed yet again at the behest of defense attorney John Barnett. A new date is set for April 12. Barnett requested more [...]
“Stonehenge,” one of the first houses built in south Laguna, was spared from possibly being bulldozed in a 10-2 vote by the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday, Feb. 6, which reversed the recommendations of its staff and an earlier decision by the Laguna Beach City Council to demolish the bluff-top cottage. South Laguna Civic Assn. [...]
Teresa Rodriguez of Santa Ana broke into tears upon hearing that she had won the Women’s Opportunity Award from Laguna Beach’s Soroptimist’s chapter. The single mother of a 5-year-old son is struggling to build a life for her son and herself. She is in second year working part time for the Extended Opportunity Programs and [...]
Editor, To my dear clients and friends who have given me so much joy here in Laguna Beach: thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support of me and my business over the years. I wanted to let you all know that my trajectory has changed for now, due to a downturn [...]
Editor, I have not paid as much attention to local politics as I should have until recently when I became familiar with the proposed Social Host Ordinance. Whatever your opinion on whether a “SHO” is right for our community, we should all be greatly concerned about the process in which it has been brought to [...]
Editor, We have heard for years that in Laguna Beach one person can create havoc. Is it true that Audrey Prosser, a member of the local Democrats, does not like Mayor Jane Egly and caused the group to refuse endorsing her for election? Is it true that county Democrats never contacted Bob Whalen, a long-time [...]
Editor, Thank you for including information about the dangerous section of trail connecting the fire trail from Top of the World neighborhood to Arch Beach Heights and council plans to review the situation (“Looking for Safer Footfalls,” Aug. 24). Having lived in both neighborhoods during my four years as a Laguna Beach resident, I can [...]
By Robin Zur Schmiede Recently, Laguna Beach locals have been reminiscing in print about infamous Design Review Board experiences. Residents and visitors alike might wonder if these stories are the norm for a Design Review decision today. They are not. In the past few years, the Design Review process has greatly improved as a result [...]
Leslie Juarez, 27, of Laguna Beach, was arraigned Tuesday in the death of a motorcyclist and injury of another motorist, the district attorney’s office announced. A preliminary hearing was set for Aug. 2. Juarez is charged with vehicular manslaughter, causing great bodily injury, and driving with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit [...]
Still angry about a recent car break-in at his Top of the World home, web marketing entrepreneur Michael Beresford was not about to be victimized a second time. Leaving NetScope Inc.’s Coast Highway office about 6:30 p.m. for an underground parking structure, Beresford last month came upon a flashlight’s shaft illuminating the cabin of his [...]
A 36-year-old man apparently living the high life, hopscotching for months between Laguna Beach and Costa Mesa resort hotels by using purloined credit card information, was arrested last week by Laguna Beach police. On Monday, April 16, Harold Eric Larson, 36, of Orange, entered not guilty pleas in Newport Beach’s Harbor Court to 20 felony [...]
The school district is offering early retirement incentives to teachers and staff to reduce personnel costs due to budget constraints and state funding cutbacks. And some departing employees may not be replaced, district officials said Tuesday. Whether or not the district goes through with the golden handshake, which would credit employees with two extra years [...]
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 [...]
