Editor,
I once mistakenly didn’t check the references well enough on a renter. Five days later he approached me with a gun and aimed it at my head. I got my arm up in time and got shot twice in my upper biceps. The bullets are still in my arm.
I’m not sure how the short-term rentals are going to work when there is a constant flow of people coming in and out of these businesses. Even if you check the identity of the main lessee, you still have the problem of not knowing who is showing up with them.
During the Fourth of July we had STL people shooting what appeared to be Roman candles over our properties. When we called the police they told us they would respond as soon as they had a unit available; it appeared they were being overwhelmed by these calls. We had to sit there guarding our property from potential sparks landing on our homes. People coming in from out of town probably don’t understand the critical nature of our fire season; it’s not their little town and neighbors, it’s their time to have fun.
I get it that people want to come to our beach community. I understand people want to make money off of their properties. I just want the City Council to explain how they are going to guarantee our safety and well being.
Mark Evans, Laguna Beach
