Our community views our natural resources differently depending on your reason for moving to this special town. Some folk cannot get enough of our ocean, whether you simply love to look at it, or walk near it or perhaps swim or surf in it. Others love the physical beauty of our hills and canyons. We enjoy hiking, biking, and, at times, just sitting looking out over our beach town and thank our lucky stars that we get to live in such an amazing place.
When we think about our natural resources, we think of our “bluebelt” and our “greenbelt,” and we must be very thankful to those who, 30 or 40 years ago, had the insight and determination to save and protect these treasures in perpetuity. One thing you can say about our little hamlet is that when this community puts its mind to it and unites around a common cause, the result is always a win for the residents now and for future generations.
There is another natural resource that has been woven into the fabric of Laguna Beach since the beginning. It is a resource that is synonymous with Laguna Beach and is so important to this community that without it we would be just another beach town. This third resource is our creative community. It is our artists, craftspeople, musicians, writers, and performers of all stripes that make Laguna so very special. We have now come to a time in our history when this community needs to come together and save the remnants of our creative residents before they are forced out altogether by a lack of affordability or nowhere to create or both.
Communities are often judged by how they treat their creatives. Please take a moment to consider this amazing place without them. Not so great. If you happen to know a working artist, then you most likely know their plight. Let them know how much they mean to the cultural fabric of Laguna. Most importantly, let your city council know that you care about the artists. That you care about our cultural heritage and future.
As residents, it’s time again to step up and save yet another precious resource that brings so much vibrancy and authenticity to our town.
Jorg Dubin, Laguna Beach
Great letter and appeal Jorg, but sadly our city council doesn’t care about our art legacy and creative’s struggle to grow and sustain business. Whalen and Kempf only care about themselves. Somehow they benefit from bond deals and overdevelopment. They refuse to self investigate. That lack of transparency screams volumes.
Tony Fisch, what a nasty bit of character assassination.
Chris, You seem to have a favorite description for anyone with an opposing view as to the motivation, or effectiveness of our City Council members Whalen and Kempf. You have accused me of “Character Assassination” and now You accuse Tony Fisch of the same.
The fact that many residents have a different assessment of their (Whalen & Kempf’s) performance and actions do not qualify as “Character Assassination” as You indicate. We residents are watching, We residents are conscious, We residents are apprehensive. It is Us the Residents who keep getting stymied in our attempt to have our voices heard by our current City Council “Majority”.
Our Council needs to listen, and work for Us the Residents. We, the residents do not need another Parking Structure. We, the Residents do not want to purchase Laguna Canyon Road. We, the Residents do not want to purchase Pacific Coast Highway. We, the Residents want Term Limits placed on the ballot. We the Residents want access through ZOOM to voice opinion at CC Meetings which We cannot attend in person.
It is not character assassination to question our current City Council’s multiple “end arounds” that have occurred over and over again within the current and former regime’s jurisdiction. So how about it, will our CC Majority continue to ignore Us the Residents? Unfortunately, this seems to be the method of functioning with our current CC Members, save George Weiss.