Editor,
Up until three months ago, I was a central Orange County resident since 1981. For the majority of those years, my perception of Laguna Beach was that it was a sleepy artist village with high priced homes and a laid back atmosphere. Hippies and gay people seemed to drive the decision making in Laguna. During the summer, Laguna was a no-no unless you were prepared to deal with horrendous traffic. After living here for 90 days, a few first impressions as a resident:
Traffic during the summer is as expected – horrendous. The city has done a tremendous service with the buses, though.
Not only high priced homes, but high priced rents. I don’t know many artists that can afford to live here long-term.
Laid back atmosphere unless someone kicks the NIMBY hornet’s nest. The short-term lodging and marijuana dispensary issues have brought the NIMBYs out in force – a sea of white shirts at the City Council meeting, no less.
Paying for a second tier city employee’s house? Really?
City issues never seem to get resolved after decades – Temple Hills sidewalk, downtown layout, marijuana, south Laguna visitors, etc. Delays in city government are amazing for a village of 23,000. Energy and money spent by the city on analyzing situations seems wasted.
The City Council seems to bring up anecdotal issues when pondering decisions vs. acting on city departments’ work. Must be an election year.
There seems to be two groupings of residents – the long timers who are very friendly and enjoy Laguna for its quirky nature and the quasi-rich who enjoy Laguna for its panache.
Diversity in Laguna is non-existent. White. White. White.
Homeless has been an issue in Laguna as long as I can remember. It goes in cycles depending on the left or right leanings of politicians.
Overall, after 90 days Laguna Beach seems to be the sleepy village that I always thought it was, but the NIMBYs and city decision makers seems to want to create drama where there really is none in a town the size of a half-filled Anaheim stadium.
Steve Schumacher, Laguna Beach
