Editor,
Lately, there’s been a concerted attempt to remake Laguna Beach, progressed by a very vocal minority. First, they wanted to close off Forest Avenue to traffic, disregarding one obvious fact: downtown parking and vehicular circulation would become an even bigger nightmare than it already is. Ideas are easy; implementation and adverse impacts entirely different beasts.
Although Park Plaza’s less disruptive, it’s a reflection of a mindset being pushed by a few unhappy campers, none of them long term residents: they want to change us into the image of what they think that we should be.
As a retired general contractor (I’m now an enviro-analyst) it’s typical of people with what we as builders called “remodeling syndrome.” New residents from out of town bought their dream home, then within a year or two decided it needed revamping.
Humorously, they often remodeled many times subsequently, never quite satisfied, as if there was still something not quite right. The people who lobbied heavily for the Plaza seems to be of the same ilk: There’s something wrong, something missing in our lives that their tweaking could fix. They know what would be best for us.
They’ve unfortunately called those who don’t want what they do as flat Earth types, xenophobic, afraid of change. It apparently never occurred to them that we understand what they cannot. “Community” isn’t just things, it’s also a place in the heart, a sense of time and place, the guts of a town’s character. We like where we live, warts and all, natives who’ve stayed along with those of us who moved here primarily because of its non-urban feel.
Community can’t be manufactured by putting up some chairs and tables in what’s basically an alley, sequestered in an asphalt and concrete compound. So near to Coast Highway that the noise and air pollution hardly stand a chance of becoming social change-drivers. Coughing and yelling don’t equal Laguna in my opinion. Creating such simulated environs isn’t a field of dreams, unless your dreams are urban in nature.
Laguna Beach is not irreparably broken. No it’s not perfect, but it still has some of the same funky coastal surf vibe that drew me here from northern OC and my native Long Beach. Ironically, not one of the proponents is a professional land use analyst or planner. Just people with an itch to change, an itch to fix what’s not even broken.
Roger E. Bütow, Laguna Beach
We get it your old cranky and probably part of Village Laguna. Just remember everything was once new and you have to build to make history. Sorry we’re not going to freeze time and stop progress to appease a small aging minority. Why at this moment of time must laguna not grow or change? Why not freeze time in 1920 when there was a dancehall on main beach, or bring back historic Laguna and rebuild the dancehall just as the residents before us did.
Village Laguna? No, I’ve never been a member nor wanted be, I’m not even a Democrat………go to the OCR article, it has photos of mostly empty chairs and tables.
Those sparsely populated with people are shots of tourists/visitors, NOT locals.
“You have to build to make history”? Wow, pretty convoluted phrase, takes a contortionist to write something like that……So you’ve decided that instead of calling us fearful, instead you marginalize using age demographics.
Change just for change sake? Look at the mess in Washington D.C, there’s an example of how well that works.
As for turning back the clock, there’s another false, fake fact allegation that I didn’t suggest…….
You equate stupid ideas like this with growth? Just another place for people to drink their Star-Yucks, check their cell phone, spend as little as possible, clog traffic, take up parking and sidewalk space, put increased pressured demands upon our community services: All so that a few take-out businesses can make an extra buck or 2?
That’s not growth, that’s myopic planning.
People move here because they love it, a few elitists have decided that they did too but now want to change what they loved about it in the first place.
And BD? I write using my real name, you don’t, so now who’s fearful or deceptive?
I don’t have to look an article for pictures of the plaza, unlike the complainers I am active in the community. I see people there everyday, and their coffee choice doesn’t anger me either. I do more than write letters and attend council meetings I hangout with tourists and locals alike and enjoy my time in Laguna. I am not afraid or angered by change or tourists.
Looking forward to community tree lighting tonight and the closure of Forest, the real Laguna community will be out coffee in hand taking up sidewalk space and parking you should probably stay home. I bet the plaza will be enjoyed by many tonight!
Roger, how do you reconcile your self-proclaimed environmentalism with advocating protecting cars and parking over people and plazas? You seem wildly out-of-touch with the reality of self-driving cars, shared economy, and the demographic trend of millennials owning less cars. Can you honestly say you’ve spent time in the plaza? If you had, you would have to agree that the lack of cars circulating on the street has made it amazingly clean and quiet. I also find it rich that you would herald community as a place in the heart, since your actions in this town have demonstrated no heart or sense of community, but instead an ongoing propensity to tear things apart, name call city officials, and spew anger. What exactly have you done for this town to foster community?