It will forever remain a mystery to me why some candidates move into Laguna Beach with a desire to fix it. They never say “improve” it, they say “fix” it. And apparently with no tools earned through experience, but ostensibly through something called “new thinking and new approaches.” All we have to do is follow along and we’ll suddenly have the benefits of “inclusion, and fairer rules, and less government.” Care to tell us what you’re talking about: Is it possible to be any more ambiguous? And then you attach the word “liberate” to your candidacy. Masterful!
Liberate Laguna? I think not.
Speaking as one voter who lost two 75-year-old Eucalyptus trees to Ms. Kempf’s attempts to help liberate the neighborhood known as upper Bluebird from those nasty invaders, I confess to a personal bias. I worked to protect a great many more of those trees but ultimately lost. However, irrespective of what Ms. Kempf has said, it was never about safety. It was about a view. And I will be the first to exclaim in this newspaper when this candidate supports any cause that doesn’t first benefit her. Because I’ve yet to see it.
Oh wait, she did support the program that replaced 11 of the missing trees in our neighborhood. We have a scavenger hunt every October where we try to find them.
I too care for my community, my neighborhood, my peace. I sweep in front of my house, I help the neighbors out with their trash, I have helped others clean up the hillsides and plant trees within our neighborhood’s common ground. And yes, I attend city council meetings, and I vote, and sadly all my politics are local. But I daily work to improve our future. I would posit that if you too care about the beauty and the history and the lifestyle that Laguna has to offer; those very things that brought you here in the first place, vote for the candidates with whom you agree; those that are truthful about their values. Not those that cloak their intentions behind platitudes.
Two candidates running for city council who have daily placed the community ahead of their own self-interests are Ann Christoph and Toni Iseman. They deserve your vote. And that vote can protect us from those that offer “new approaches to Laguna’s complex challenges.” In fact, who even talks like that?
Big money and out of town donations, are only for those with big egos. And the candidates that favor big development will not take the hint when we simply tell them they’re not welcome. We must vote.
Mace Morse, Laguna Beach
