Political advisors know, the most deceptive lies are half lies, when repeated often enough, they will be perceived as truth by voters. “Laguna could have become another Miami” is the imminent threat that strangles this City at its core, and everyone keeps believing it. I ask, where are all those Miami’s on the California coast? California is not Florida.
The treat of, if you don’t vote for us or our issues, “Laguna will become Miami” fear-poisons every election for at least 25 years. In the same vain this is used to over-regulate our City, resulting in everything staying stagnant till it dies. The latest symptom of such deception politics, 50 years of discussing the Village Entrance without defining its function. Millions spent on out-of-towner consultants, to finally exchange one parking lot for another, with 122 less parking spots, no public bathrooms for $12 million, included the crowning achievement to renovate a sewer house for $1 million.
Laguna and the nature it is nestled in are not the same. Laguna did nothing to enhance nature, in contrary, nature now provides all of Laguna’s leftover value. You only can have people living in this shantytown without using their downtown, because of Laguna’s plein-air-quality surroundings. Imagine, taking solely the town and placing it into Riverside. No one with an income of more than $30,000 would choose to live there.
What we resist persists. The current presence of big builders is another symptom of resisting progress and refusing to ponder on a future vision. In a healthy flourishing town such builders could not have infiltrated. What about Montage Hotel and The Ranch? Would the movement against construction want to scrap them too? These buildings are organically designed and integrated with nature and the City. The reason that those against construction conveniently forget those Laguna marbles, is because construction is replacing the Village Entrance as deflection from the real issues. Do the old folks of Laguna really want to test how long they can keep the status quo in “their town?” If these smoke and mirror tactics keep decaying Laguna’s economic viability, then this town will set the perfect condition for a multibillion dollar company to sweep it up and built a Laguna Beach Disney resort-style town. But this does not seem to bother the old folks, because they will be gone, having achieved exactly the opposite of what they intended.
Michaell Magrutsche, Laguna Beach
You mention: “…this town will set the perfect condition for a multibillion dollar company to sweep it up and built a Laguna Beach Disney resort-style town.”
Hello! That’s happening right now.
What do you call a mega-developer like Mohammad “Mo” Honarkar and his plans (before the city right now) to level entire blocks near downtown to build OC-style resort hotels? Have you seen the plans? (You can find early schematics and see for yourself at: http://www.LagunaMatters.com)
But you have it all backwards. The only reason it didn’t happens decades ago is because those “old folks” you disparage have fended it off and fought for tough building guidelines, preserving our unique, eclectic and irreplaceable buildings.
What has “set the perfect condition” for this type of unwanted development invasion is the $150,000 being pumped into the campaigns of the two candidates the 5 mega-developer sponsors believe are best aligned with their agenda.
If you like the idea of a Disney resort-style town that you describe, then vote for their candidates, Peter Blake and Sue Kempf.
If that sounds wrong for whatever reason, vote for any of the other ten candidates.
You are responding out of context. I see we have all regulations in place. Look at the Montage, the Ranch, SusiQ. Would you consider them also anti Laguna. For being so long stagnent Laguna’s business is really hurting allowing the bigger guys to come in and swoop up all stores in a block that can not longer survive. Laguna is more and more dead. Day and Night and everyone secretly smokes. I am not pro or against construction, but Laguna City is decayed. Natur is the beauty, not the City. This is just my opinion.
Understanding, not just knowledge is the key here.
Michaell