What is Laguna Beach getting for $1 million dollars? If the Arts Commission has its way, it will be a garish aluminum structure measuring 47 feet in depth, 33 feet in height, and almost 70 feet in length. Looking something like a sequence of multi-colored mushrooms on stilts, it will be plopped down in the center of the just-completed Village Entrance Project. According to project renderings, newly planted trees and walkways will be ripped out to accommodate these circus-like aluminum tents. At its Aug. 26 public meeting, the Arts Commission listened as speaker after speaker spoke out against the project. Then, once public testimony had concluded, the commissioners read statements supporting the project—statements that had been written before the meeting. To add insult to injury, one of the commissioners then presented a resolution to forward the project to the City Council. As if anticipating public pushback, this motion was also written before the meeting. The resolution passed unanimously. Unless the City Council steps up and does the right thing by denying this recommendation, $1 million of taxpayer money (and likely thousands of dollars in annual maintenance costs) will go to fund an edifice that will forever define Laguna Beach. This is not a temporary art installation. This is forever. The City Council must not remain silent. The clock is ticking, but there is still time to preserve the Village Entrance common as the City Council will make a final decision, tentatively at its Sept. 24 meeting. How exciting it would be to have an anchor at the entrance of town to complement the natural beauty of Heisler Park. Our city deserves nothing less.
Randy Lewis, Laguna Beach
