Thanks to City Council and School Board members for listening to the citizens of Laguna regarding the size of the LBUSD Master Plan–especially the pool.
Neighbors are especially hopeful since council members and LBUSD Board President Ms. Vickers now recognize what Dee Perry recognized long ago: the original Master Plan is out of scale for the neighborhood and needs a “do-over.” It was heartening to hear council members recognize the effort and importance of citizen input (sensiblelaguna.org and others) and engage with the audience by asking questions about topics citizens have researched.
Thank you, Ms. Vickers, for acknowledging the need for sound and light mitigation around a pool. Please be mindful that planting trees is not a suitable solution since they marginally attenuate sound and grow into views, as have palm trees along Park Avenue (replacing the telephone poles) and at the corner of Short Street. Better solutions are available, and citizens can research them for you, if you wish.
LBUSD board member Ms. Osborne clearly advocates ripping up the tennis courts to make room for an Olympic-sized pool with concessions, locker rooms, storage facilities, lights, fences, noise and more. Water polo is a big sport now and has grown in popularity, but so has pickleball (to mention another sport.) Tennis used to be the winning sport at LBHS. Lacrosse is coming on strong, and soccer has been growing for years. Football is a perennial favorite. The crystal ball doesn’t accurately predict the next big thing, and Ms. Osborne needs to recognize that little Laguna has neither the space nor the inclination by the general population to make this a world-class destination for all sports. If that’s the kind of city you want, resign and move to Irvine (USA Water Polo coming soon), LA, Las Vegas or Miami.
Sports certainly can play a role in producing well-rounded students and in developing mental and physical growth, but neither sports nor buildings should be the primary focus of education. An aquatic center is an inappropriate and unnecessarily expensive keystone for modeling the school district’s future.
Merton Hill, Laguna Beach
