According to Michael Ray, writing here last week about the origins of the developer-funded Liberate Laguna PAC, Laguna Beach has a hitherto undisclosed class of victims. As he reports, a handful of the wealthiest real estate developers in the area “got tired of being bullied.” He seems to feel that an array of city agencies “are dedicated to making us and people like us miserable.”
Liberate Laguna proposes a remedy for disadvantaged developers. Spending tens of thousands of dollars, it asks residents to vote for Sue Kempf and Peter Blake. Liberate Laguna believes—correctly if we go by their public comments and, in Kempf’s case, her votes and statements while on the Planning Commission—that Kempf and Blake are the City Council candidates most sympathetic to the developers’ cause.
It is important to consider: what is it that Liberate Laguna hopes Kempf and Blake will do? It is hopeful that they will liberate us from the oversight exercised by the Design Review Board, which ensures that new development is compatible with the neighborhood, and, put frankly, is not ugly to look at or live next to. Mr. Ray, speaking on behalf of Liberate Laguna, wants “fixed rules,” in which case only “variances” would require consideration. What are the “fixed rules?” It would be up to the new Council to decide. Anyone wanting to open a business would just “get building plans approved over-the-counter.” Goodbye historic downtown. Soon we would look a lot more like Newport Beach and Irvine, where developers have had a much freer hand, and which Mr. Ray cites as models worthy of emulation.
Mr. Ray ends with the by-now obligatory attack on Village Laguna, which I joined two years ago, full of admiration for its work over decades to maintain the character and charm of Laguna. It is a shame that grass roots activism, by local residents who have accomplished so much, and who have a stake in and a vision for our community beyond mere dollars and cents, is so threatening to a handful of its wealthiest developers.
Scott Fraser, Laguna Beach
