Editor,
Making the reasonable argument that laden with packages and waiting on the street she would not take the trolley, Martha Lydick explains why loss of parking on Forest Avenue would force her to shop and/or dine in Fashion Island. And Laguna merchants themselves have succeeded in getting “Forest closure kicked to the curb.” Mayor Whalen, taking the role of the adult in a room full of complaining children, intones “the forces of ‘no’ in this room are just overwhelming sometimes. . . .if you can’t live with a little change in your lives. . .oh, my goodness.”
Any good manager knows that organizational change cannot be brought about by simply telling staff that change is going to happen. Change has to be explained carefully to people, and if they become convinced that it will benefit the organization, they will be motivated to “buy-in” to the change.
Whether the proposed street changes will ever be seen as beneficial to Laguna is, in any case, highly doubtful. But certainly they will never be acceptable to Laguna citizens unless those citizens believe that such changes will be beneficial.
Where is the city manager in all this? Laguna citizens deserve better than the confused and disorganized process they have witnessed so far. If these street and parking changes are truly desirable, their pros and cons should be fully presented to the citizenry in a clear, fair, and convincing manner.
Manfred E. Wolff, Laguna Beach
