Guest Opinion: Let’s Talk Endorsement

By Gayle Waite

During political campaigns, messages from many specific interest organizations with varying numbers of members have become a very loud part of our environment. As the current President of Laguna Canyon Conservancy (LCC), I would like to discuss how much attention voters should pay to endorsements for Measure Q and Laguna city council candidates. LCC is an organization that started in the late 1980s, members including myself were part of the citizen protests and famous 7500 plus person March in the Canyon in 1989 that led to the creation of the 22,000 acres that comprise the beautiful open space that greets everyone when entering Laguna Canyon. LCC is also one of the founding organizations of Laguna Canyon Foundation, a 501C3 non-profit that today plays an important role in managing the open space and performs fire prevention work and trail maintenance.

LCC is a 501C4 non-profit with a mission to preserve and protect Laguna Canyon and takes positions on legislation and issues that will impact it. We do NOT endorse individual candidates but hope the ones elected will support preserving Laguna Canyon. We have an eleven-member Board of Directors and all of us reside in Laguna Beach.

During this past year LCC’s BOD and other environmental group members pleaded with the current members of Laguna’s planning commission, the city council and the Orange County Supervisor offices of Lisa Bartlett and Katrina Foley to try and save the large, majestic trees that lined the Laguna Canyon frontage road near the Art Festivals where a partial repair of the flood channel by Orange County Public Works is now underway. The City Council and City staff led us to believe attempts would be made to spare the historic trees, but the end result was a quick removal of all seven mature trees without exception. This type of disappointment with our elected officials’ decisions is part of the reasons the LCC Board of Directors unanimously voted to support Measure Q.  

We believe Measure Q will allow residents to have a say in safeguarding Laguna Canyon from over-development with projects that are too large in scale and not rural in design. We notified our entire membership and our broader list of interested parties of our support for Measure Q and have received many positive comments with only one negative email to date. Unlike some groups with leaders that speak out politically without consulting their general membership, LCC does inform its supporters about the issues and work the LCC BOD is involved in.

The LCC Board of Directors members feel comfortable that Measure Q is an appropriate response to development issues knowing that Newport Beach with its much larger land size and population has been thriving the past 22 years with a similar initiative in place that has resulted in only three projects needing to have a resident vote. Dana Point and Costa Mesa implemented smart growth initiatives in more recent years after several large projects were built that have had serious impacts on their most heavily traveled areas.

In summary, I suggest that you carefully examine the reasons for a particular group’s endorsements for or objections to initiatives and candidates before making your own choices. As one of my fellow LCC Board members aptly says, we need to remember Laguna Beach is a community, not a commodity. Please VOTE!

Gayle is the President of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy Board of Directors, a 38-year resident, 32-year real estate broker, a past president of the Laguna Board of REALTORS, past president of the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach and proud graduate of the city’s Citizens Police Academy and CERT programs.