Letter: Twenty Years of Iseman is Enough

In 2013, the $65 million parking garage was opposed by Let Laguna Vote on grounds of cost scale and size. Toni Iseman joined LLV to oppose the structure, until she proposed a parking garage of her own design at less cost and smaller size.

Year after year, advocates for less auto congestion propose mobility solutions to Laguna’s City Council. At one point our efforts brought a Caltrans representative to present a design solution for extending the Coast Highway bike lanes from Corona Del Mar through Laguna to meet those in Dana Point. Iseman sent the Caltrans rep packing. She would have no bicycles in her town.

In a City Council meeting, Iseman reminded older members of the audience if they sold their homes the city would benefit by higher tax revenues from property reassessment.

At the Suzi Q Candidate Forum, an audience member asked whether residents would vote for the bond to pay for the power utility underground project. Toni answered that Laguna residents would be given the opportunity to vote approval for the measure. In reality, residents vote only for the sales tax increase measure, the bond is approved by proxy. The Council will vote to float the bonds up to $135 million or more, not the residents. Iseman benefits directly from the Measure P proposed undergrounding of the utility poles by increased property values and enhancing views on her street, while residents pay for it.

At the forum, she then criticized council candidate Allison Mathews saying that when Mathews spent the night at the Alternative Sleeping Facility she took the place of someone who needed the spot. Ms. Mathews made clear that was not the case. Ms. Mathews then asked Iseman if she ever bothered to spend a night there to educate herself on the homeless issue. Iseman did not reply.

Iseman also denied that she, as a vote of City Council, eliminated 120 parking spaces when the Village Entrance was approved. This was strongly refuted by a member of the audience who has the actual accounting for loss of parking spaces and filed a complaint with the California Coastal Commission over the city’s deception of the Village Entrance.

Iseman has given years of public service to Laguna residents, but to the extent her and Village Laguna participated in the aforementioned shenanigans, isn’t 20 years of Iseman and company enough?

Les Miklosy, Laguna Beach