Editor,
Art is all about aesthetics. Laguna Beach is an art town. Ergo, Laguna Beach is about aesthetics. Isn’t that really why we choose to live here?
Laguna has charming homes, beautiful beaches and great open spaces. It has clean air and wonderful light. So why have we allowed our utility infrastructure to become so ugly? Have we become desensitized to what has happened over time? Gaze upwards and take a hard look for yourself.
Look at the electrical nightmare, complete with unused hanging wires. It’s what the English call a dog’s breakfast.
A creeping ugliness defines our overhead wires and poles. Laden with high-voltage wires, house-voltage wires and hefty low-voltage communication wires for Cox, Verizon etc., our utility poles have become bigger and more unsightly over time. Old plein air paintings of the Crystal Cove historic district used to include electrical poles and wires, back in the days they were quaint and unobtrusive. Nowadays big ugly poles service the restored cottages. It’s an avoidable eyesore. Big poles and wires diminish the charm of any landscape. And Edison doesn’t seem to care.
Many poles are topped with unsightly transformers – and sometimes these catch fire. Some poles require guy cables to keep them up and are often adorned with big yellow plastic sheaths for better visibility. In the future, things will get worse as Verizon and other wireless firms implement 5G. Wireless 5G requires a dense network of towers to handle the increased bandwidth being offered. How would you react to a tower on every major street corner in Laguna Beach? See https://www.cio.com/article/3117705/cellular-networks/5g-could-require-cell-towers-on-every-street-corner.html
Laguna has been vigilant in preventing the proliferation of billboards and oversized signage. To our credit we have protected our vistas and horizons by preserving the surrounding greenbelt. Our trees are our look. Aesthetics are more important to our lives than we might realize.
The safety reasons for undergrounding are well known and well appreciated by most residents. Aesthetic issues are less discussed but are perhaps equally important. Along with badly treated trees, increasingly large utility poles and multiple wires are making our city ugly. Yes, the cost of undergrounding is high, but do we really want the aesthetics of our town to remain permanently degraded?
Chris Reed, Laguna Beach
