The recent City Council candidate forums have been quite revealing. Although many Laguna Beach residents support Measure Q, only two candidates, Jerome Pudwill and Ruben Flores, stated their support for it. Measure Q was created as a protection for our community against the current pro-development majority on the Council. Please read the letters and guest columns in the Indy by David Raber and Gene Felder showing how Measure Q protects our city from over-development. Pudwill and Flores were also the only two candidates to clearly oppose the ill-conceived parking structure at the Presbyterian Church grounds, which would concentrate more tourists in the center of town. As Pudwill put it, “if you build it they will come.” The forums also provided a further opportunity for us to see why Peter Blake should not be re-elected: every time he opened his mouth, he launched personal attacks on anyone who disagreed with him. This Trumpian ugliness must stop, and has no place in Laguna. Please vote for candidates whose first priority is to protect the interests of Laguna Beach residents. We need some development and some tourism, but not the trend toward making Laguna bigger and louder that we are seeing now.
Roger Owens, Laguna Beach
