When a business expands, shouldn’t it mitigate the negative impacts created, and provide parking for employees and customers? Apparently, incumbents Blake and Kempf do not agree that landlords have that responsibility. The city council incumbents appear ready to waive the law for all landlords and grant variances. For Laguna Beach, it’s a death by a thousand cuts. If the change in business use is an intensification of use, is it not only fair to other businesses and adjacent neighborhoods for the expanding business to mitigate its negative impacts?
Granting variances on an ongoing basis will lead to more traffic and congestion, and degrade the quality of life of residents. It likely will be negative for existing Laguna Beach businesses.
Measure Q opponents sent a letter Sept. 20, 2021 to the City Council lobbying them to craft an opposing ballot initiative. The letter included a most radical suggestion that “grandfathered parking might be reduced or eliminated”. If successful, the value of such properties would surely plummet, and likely immediately lead to lawsuits against the City. By contrast, Measure Q honors all existing parking credits including historical, grandfathered, or for outdoor dining.
The Measure Q ballot initiative triggers a vote for a project not meeting the required parking. Meet the parking, and no vote is triggered. However, the ballot initiative allows parking credits if the Director of Community Development makes a finding “that commensurate public benefit can be demonstrated, and it can be shown that there is no impact to parking and noise in adjoining neighborhoods.”
Who do you trust? City insiders including landlords trying to maximize rents and profits. Or Measure Q, the initiative by and for residents. To support Measure Q go to www.LagunaResidentsFirst.org/donate. Laguna Residents First is California Political Action Committee 1421491 and donations are not tax deductible.
Gene Felder, Treasurer, Laguna Residents First
I trust city insiders and landlords trying to eke out a living and provide needed services to us in a city that was never designed for this many cars and doesn’t have extra parking, thereby incentivizing customers to walk a little further, or find alternative transportation. Not some NIMBY retirees who want to stop progress and freeze our town in time with laws that make it impossible to do business here, leaving us with antiquated merchants and empty storefronts. Definite NO ON Q!
Who Do I Trust? Certainly not the fools who were so enamoured of Priscilla Presley coming to Pagaent they had to be there to bask in the glow.
Here In Laguna ANYTHING is expansion, because the current norm is so dismal. Grow up Gene. Your crew has run probably 25% of retail out of town. Quit whining and run for Council or STFU
Billy Fried, I do not begrudge those mostly absentee landlords or the businesses making a living. What I and many others are against is crony capitalism. We have more than enough cafes, restaurants, bars to service the residents many times over. So why should our property taxes be used to subsidise the tourists to the tune of $25 million dollars annually? You and other business interests get a financial gain from the tourists at the expense of the residents. The sale tax, bed tax and all other taxes paid by the tourists do not begin to pay for the services they require. I have a novel idea why aren’t those that make a living off the tourists pay the true cost of tourism? We have abjectlypooblighting on the Gleneyrie crosswalks that may result in a pedestrian injury or death but rather than spending money to improve tho lot of the residents the troika of Blake, Kempf and Whalen lead by their apparent driver Dupuis are busy on a deal with the Presbyterian Church to spend 30$35 million an air lease for a parking structure above the Church property which after fifty years the Church will own. I notice you and your friends have been eerily quiet on the Great Giveaway. Have you no opinion on this?
Brian Hoffman, Measure Q is not retroactive. If existing businesses are going to fail the biggest reason is going to be because the landlords will jack up the lease rates hoping the retail store owners will leave so they can get a bar or a restaurant in its place. Thanks to the troika of Blake, Kempf and Whalen reducing the parking requirements for bars and restaurants from 10 spaces per 1000 sq. ft. to 3 spaces per 1000 sq. ft. There will of course be a glut of these places during the off season months so we will probably see more empty buildings. This has nothing to do with measure Q.
Chris Catsimanes- Measure Q is bad for Laguna. Landlords don’t “jack up” rent as you think. The market sets the rent and prices, try reading a basic econ book (other than a socialist manifesto). I’ve heard this trash from Toni before, maybe you should join her and retire. What do you think it is going to do for existing business as this town become more worn down and doesn’t attract any thoughtful growth, people/business are going to move out and the quality of visitors you attract will go down with. It is the actions of Toni Iseman, you and the likes of Village Laguna that have caused us to have an influx of day tripper that might take up parking and spend only a few bucks buying a sandwich or ice cream. If we had a world class destination, people would fly in from all over (not drive and park) and spend tons of money in town on expensive hotel, restaurants, and buy art from local artist. Which in turn would relieve the financial pressure on residents while providing better city serviced for those same residents. We have seen the largest tourism spike during Toni Iseman’s 20+ years on city council, so go thank her for all the day tripper you complain about.
(repost) Aren’t you that guy that just squatted on a restaurant property on a Saturday night that I read about in the Stu?! You showed up distributing this poor guy’s business and locals that were trying to have a nice Saturday night out, just because you were “trying” to prove a point. Just to be escorted away by the police, now it looks like you were the one that was misinformed. Quit trying to arbitrarily interrupt the law or measure Q, you’re not making any sense and it makes you look like a dork.
NO on Measure Q!!
Chris,
Ahh the tell. It’s an anti-tourist campaign.
By what measure do you assert we have enough restaurants and cafes? Sounds like nothing more than a subjective opinion, one that is not shared by many who live here. Let supply and demand do its thing. Retail is tough here. Amazon is a killer. Restaurants are the only brick and mortar that can thrive. I know you don’t like them, but young people do. They like to go out!
And your assertion that we subsidize tourists is hogwash. The city has received about $13.6 million in TOT revenue in Fiscal Year 2021-22. The city keeps 100% of it and has 100% discretion on how to spend.
About $4 million is allocated toward the City’s Capital Improvements Program, $7.4 million toward government services (police, fire, marine safety, public works, etc.), and $2.2 million toward Measure LL related programs (programs that enhance City services). All the TOT revenue is spent on City services (local services), benefiting both residents and visitors to the community.
the Montage alone doubled our TOT revenue and tripled our overall discretionary funds. Overnight visitors are good. Besides resting their weary heads, they dine, shop, support our artists, and are such a relatively small number there’s no way they impact traffic. So stop demonizing our lovely tourist bureau, Visit Laguna. Any bump they can add to our nearly 80% year-round occupancy is financial mana from the heavens. And their funding comes from an additional $2.2 million generated by yet another room assessment. This revenue is also allocated to programs coordinated by the Arts Commission, Laguna College of Art and Design, Laguna Playhouse, Laguna Art Museum, and Cultural Arts Grants. In other words, money that supports our local artist economy.
Day trippers contribute $8.1 million in parking revenue. $3 million of that goes to funding parking enforcement and operations, leaving a 62% gross profit margin. Not too shabby. In Fiscal Year 2021-22, $1.1 million of the profits were used for the Neighborhood & Environmental Protection Plan; $2 million goes to the Transit Fund; $525,000 goes to the General Fund; and the rest goes to transit capital improvements, including $1 million for future parking facilities. Can you say windfall!
More and better restaurants please. Q would kill all new ideas and leave us stagnant. No on Quagmire Q