By Dave Raber
Laguna’s downtown, its small businesses, and the merchants and restaurateurs who run them are important to all of us. The false narrative that somehow Measure Q takes aim at small businesses in Laguna is a politicalized, sensationalized distortion of reality.
The idea that Measure Q would require a vote “Every time the business wanted to add a new product, service, or make a price change” is utterly false. Furthermore, Measure Q takes no jurisdiction over change of ownership or remodeling businesses.
Repurposing a commercial space is also completely exempt from any aspect of Measure Q as long as the building keeps its same height, size, and type of use. Even if there is a change in the type of use – such as retail converting to a restaurant – Measure Q allows all of the parking exemptions granted for that property to continue to be used by the new owner. In the case of more intensive use Measure Q requires that the City’s existing planning process analyze the details and determine the impact on other businesses and the adjoining neighborhoods. That is just common-sense city planning fundamentals.
For example, take the coffee shop proposal on Broadway at Forest. The largest parking lot downtown is immediately across the street, and there are no neighborhoods close by, so approval is an easy “OK.” For the proposed ice cream shop next to Jersey Mike’s, they made parking arrangements in the lot behind the store. For the proposed sandwich shop near Pearl and Coast Highway, the building’s historic preservation parking credits were authorized to make up for the additional parking required.
But let’s also look at other examples from downtown. We all remember the newsstand at the corner of Ocean and Coast Highway that went out of business because the city eliminated all nearby short-term parking due to giveaways for other businesses. Many other resident-serving businesses, such as Bushard’s, Starbucks, Laguna Art Supply, Factorum, Fresh Produce, Areo, and Ace Hardware thrive on the ability of residents to find parking places to drop in and shop.
This is not just a resident issue. This is also a real issue for businesses. Our town is more than just a place for visitors to pick up a few sandwiches on their way to the beach. People live here, like you and me, and we expect City Council to wisely make the tough decisions regarding planning the town’s future.
How? The City might want to ask those businesses that want to intensify to pay a pro-rated share of the infrastructure improvements. Or, they may propose taxing residents to underwrite more and more parking structures. Or, they may move away from intensification as the only solution, as other cities are doing. This is representative democracy. Residents can elect the council people who most closely represent their views on this important issue. Measure Q does not dictate a solution, but it does provide a reasonable measurement objective for the outcome – no more just ignoring it and stuffing more and more congestion and parking into the neighborhoods, or strangling existing businesses that need locals to park and shop.
Voting Yes on Measure Q tells City Council that you disapprove of just ignoring the problems that growth and intensification bring. Further intensification needs to be planned and in most cases, paid for. Measure Q allows City Council to bring as many sandwich, coffee, and ice cream shops as the market can bear, as long as they make their plans clear for how to effectively accommodate it. I hope that you will join me and the thousands of Laguna residents who have worked to put Measure Q on the ballot by voting Yes on Q.
Dave, you, Village Laguna aka Laguna Residents First need to stop trying to mislead the public. This form of gaslighting Village Laguna is engaging is bad for Laguna. Measure Q will not only hurt existing business, but it will make it next to impossible to remodel or expand and eliminate outdoor dining. I encourage anyone to go speak to any local business and see how they feel about Q. Do you own a small business in town? Do you know what it’s like to be up in the middle of the night wondering how you are going to make payroll? No, you do not. You are a professional activist and agitator disguised as a resident. You run a PAC, have committed fundraising fraud in the past all under the disguise of a resident.
The city tried to work with you on Measure Q and negotiate something that could be tolerable, but you chose to make zero concession regarding any of the language in the bill. You are so dug into the turn you must have…. well now you have dug your own grave.
Village Laguna, Laguna Residents First, Measure Q are bad for Laguna. Remember the charm house tours Dave? You claimed to be selling tour tickets to help people in need of charity. Which turned out to be fraudulent fundraising in which Village Laguna was using the funds to further their own political agenda and not help the less fortunate as they claimed. Instead, Village Laguna was illegally using the funds to make design review, planning, city council more difficult for citizens to get anything done. Is this the same brand of “truth” you are using. NO ON MEASURE Q
I read some very well written viewpoints and have to comment about his trotting out the old “a politicalized, sensationalized distortion of reality”, as this is meant to counter act us intelligent citizens as morons because we just don’t get it. Our needs for growth have to finally be met. I think it’s clear that we desperately need a dozen new retail building, some three stories for office workers, or lofts. And new hotels, restaurants, bars, gyms, etc. The commerical mix of Laguna is a joke because the wind bags have driven out restaurants, bars, gyms, even the drug store. The truth is The City’s had a strangle hold on anything new, and does seek to approve every little thing, so the qualified businessmen go else where without the nit pickers. Move on with growth, or die a slow death where y’all be the only ones at each funeral.
Seems like a Progressive racist measure. As in most Progressive actions, this seems very racist, similar views have been taken by Kevin De Leon (and this author voted for him in 2018). I guess the way to keep LB white is to throw up these measures. This specifically looks like an anti-Hotel Laguna issue. Seems you do not like minorities owning property in LB, so sad to see. Vote No on Measure Q, stop Laguna from becoming Berkeley and stop the racist behavior of the White Progressives (Village Laguna and Laguna Residents First) And Dave, don’t be a racIst. Welcome development, the place is turning into a dump. And one final thing, don’t say thousands of residents, you included Newport Democrats and Dana Point Democrats on your signed endorsement letter.