Some scary stuff is real and some is fiction. For example, some of the real estate developers and commercial landlords bankrolling the Liberate Laguna PAC and its candidates to the tune of $250,000 (between the 2018 election and the current one) have been talking about how big and scary Village Laguna is. One even referred to “30 years of iron control” and the city having been “a one-party town.” Wow. That is scary.
So, how much control has Village Laguna actually had over Laguna’s City Council during the past decades? Consider data on every election since 1996 – the last twelve elections. Over that time there have been 15 people elected to the City Council. Two (2) were members of Village Laguna. So, that means Village Laguna has never had a majority of City Council members in this century. In fact, 2 out of 15 is only 13%. Maybe 13(%) is a scary number for the Liberate Laguna.
Full disclosure. I am not a member of Village Laguna. But I, and many Laguna residents who are also not members of Village Laguna, share some of the same ideals about Laguna that its members do. Its website states: “Our mission is to preserve, enhance, and celebrate the unique village character and cultural heritage of Laguna Beach.”
Most people who live in Laguna have a choice of where to live. Within minutes there are “developer-liberated” clean and safe towns with excellent schools and lower housing costs. And yet, people pay a premium to live in Laguna. So, many must like what is here quite a lot. And much of that presumably has to do with the unique character of the community. If folks wanted what Liberate Laguna is selling, they could have located somewhere else. There are lots of those places, even along the beach.
There isn’t another Laguna Beach. As renowned international urban planner Andres Duany is quoted as saying of Laguna in 2014: “This kind of place is very fragile and very subject to destruction from the 21st century. We need to vaccinate a place like this.” By the way, he also said he opposes increasing parking because it would serve tourists rather than locals.
Consider local Village Laguna and developer-funded Liberate Laguna and decide which is scary.
John Thomas, Laguna Beach
