After a two-year hiatus prompted by the pandemic, the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce returned to the Montage Laguna Beach to present its 2022 State of the City Luncheon on Tuesday.
Mayor Sue Kempf headlined the event presenting the results of a city council-commissioned survey of Laguna Beach residents and business owners. In a break from tradition, City Manager Shohreh Dupuis outlined the City’s accomplishments in 2021 instead of the current mayor.
Among the many highlights were the LB CARES grants distributed in January 2021 to 240 local businesses hurt by COVID-19 restrictions, adding lifeguard services year-round in some of the City’s most popular beaches, and passing a Downtown Specific Plan that will loosen parking requirements for some new businesses.
Dupuis also led a question and answer session including department leaders: Police Chief Jeff Calvert, Community Development Director Marc Wiener, and Public Works Director Mark McAvoy.
Despite the pandemic’s ongoing impacts on the hospitality industry, Laguna Beach city coffers saw a 1.3% revenue increase last year. The City Council passed a 2021-22 operating and capital improvement budget totaling about $108 million.
“We are predicting in the next fiscal year we should be able to have a balanced budget and our revenues should be able to match our expenditures,” Dupuis said.
Dupuis added that her staff is projecting similar revenues for the next four years under existing economic conditions.
“Now if there is a recession, god forbid, next year… our revenues would actually become lower than our expenditures and we may have to look at some cost-cutting measures but hopefully we will not get there,” she said.
Dupuis launched into her presentation by sharing a continued decrease in violent and property crimes in Laguna Beach.
“Under the leadership of Chief Calvert… our crime rates continue to decrease. In 2021, we actually saw a 3% decrease in violent crimes and a 7% decrease in property crimes. And that’s while we responded to almost 50,000 calls,” Dupuis said.
Later in the luncheon, Calvert commented that the highest number of arrests are released to driving under the influence and public intoxication. Laguna Beach police continue to work with the California Office of Traffic Safety to deploy additional DUI patrols and checkpoints, particularly along Coast Highway. Untreated mental illness among people of all socio-economic levels is among the biggest public safety risks at the city, county, and state levels, Calvert said.
On the development front, Dupuis said she anticipates Rivian should be able to open its electric vehicle showroom and event center at the vacant South Coast Cinemas building by the end of this year. City officials recently stewarded a critical deal with Rivian and adjacent commercial property owners to allow construction equipment staging in a parking lot behind the former City Cleaners building on Ocean Avenue. The arrangement allowed Rivian’s contractor to speed up its remodel.
With a fresh community data set at her disposal, Mayor Sue Kempf took aim at critics of the local business community.
“At council meetings, I sometimes hear comments that pit the residents against the business, I never understand this thinking,” she said.
She highlighted the demographics of Laguna Beach business owners who responded to the Polco survey: 73% were residents and 71% have operated in the City for more than 10 years.
“So not only are many of these business owners also residents but they also have their money and livelihood invested in our community,” Kempf said.
The November general election will be consequential with at least one initiative on the ballot, said J.J. Ballesteros, outgoing chairman of the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce. He encouraged residents to do their due diligence on the proposal and then vote their conscience.
“It is our right as residents to let our city officials know how we feel and that’s how it should be,” Ballesteros said. “I just hope we realize the City gets so many things right than the alternative. The pandemic response, the fire response just a few weeks ago in Emerald Bay was outstanding.”
