Editor,
This project, proposed by Louis Longi and the Dornin Investment Group, will not fulfill the proposed advantage it claims will be achieved. There are many disadvantages of the proposal. It is already clear that the Council members of the city of Laguna Beach realize the intrusiveness of the proposed development as they assisted the residents of the canyon to write the Laguna Canyon Annexation Area Specific Plan (LCAASP) to protect the rural character of the canyon from this sort of intrusive development.
On the unlikely chance that the proposal succeeds, it will be the first of many structures to be considered for development to be built on adjacent land, the presence of which will cause numerous problems from greater traffic congestion and accidents on Laguna Canyon Road (already a huge problem), a greater likelihood of fires with the increased number of residents and automobile drivers and passengers, and ruination of the natural habitat of plants and wildlife.
If one of the goals of the proposal is to provide a residence for indigent artists, why exclusively favor artists, not non-artists who would like to live in Laguna Beach but cannot afford to do so? This community is made up of many more people who are not in the arts than who are. Artists are no more deserving of special consideration than others whose hard work and talents don’t result in adequate incomes.
Who will define which artists will be under consideration from among those who are visual, performance, musical, literary, etc.?
Close the keg of wormy problems by rejecting the Longi project.
Deana Pink, Laguna Beach
