Editor,
The parking fiasco on La Mirada Street was settled in the worst possible scenario for a city that yearns for more parking spaces, especially those that are easy to incorporate into the flow of traffic without jeopardizing the space needed for emergency vehicles. The right of way area that the property owner continually blocked and even fined $250 by the city, well that area will be paved over and no parking allowed. Is that called dysfunctional?
It appears that decision to pave and no parking was made before the actual council meeting. We never had a real chance to present our case despite having 17 legitimate signatures and clear photographs showing that this was not an either or but both is possible scenario. We even had a photo showing the car belonging to the homeowner parking in the area that they did not want parking. Members of City Council sat impassively and quickly voted for no parking. The order to pave and no parking was signed by staff before the City Council even met. It was a done deal because one of the signers of the “no parking” petition has a private driveway that can accommodate 10 cars. The other person, a former employee of city hall/elected official, has a wall that extends into the street and cuts the street by 13 or more feet – the street is 14 feet wide. The four houses beyond this point have concerns about emergency vehicles servicing them. Trash trucks have to drive down backwards. This person wanted paving/no parking so that emergency vehicles could navigate our street, which is silly since it always has been navigable for as long as we can remember. According to several people, this person has told them that if they have problems with the city that she can take care of it. Both of these folks also belong to Village Laguna. Isn’t that nice that they can do this?
John Peitig remarked at a previous city council meeting that there is no democracy in Laguna. I don’t know if he implied that because of the power Village Laguna has in city hall, their members on various committees such as Design Review, PTC, etc. to help their members. After all they are a mutual benefit corporation. Please carefully review the various candidates’ qualifications, affiliations/non affiliations, and integrity before casting your votes. This is a contentious race for City Council.
Ganka Brown, Laguna Beach
