I think responding to a person writing a letter to the editor is very important so our community will not think that one view or opinion is the end all.
In my opinion, Kiku lives in a fantasy world coming from the Hollywood/film community. Like them, she obviously does not know the difference between fact and fiction. Yes, Kiku, your letter was fiction.
Bob Whalen and Sue Kempf are the two council members representing most of our citizens, unlike George Weiss, who represents a tiny, vocal and irritating group – Village Laguna. You, in your recent letter to the editor, also obviously support Village Laguna.
If we need a change on the city council, it should be to remove George Weiss (and Orgill). We need more people on the council with common sense who will represent the majority of Laguna’s citizens.
Kelly Boyd, former Mayor of Laguna Beach
Oh Kelly how did you make yourself so irrelevant? First, you no longer live here as far as I know. Second, it is precisely Kempf and Whalen who brought all the chaos to Laguna with their insistence on an inexperienced, unqualified City Manager. Want me to go over all their missteps including buying the library when they thought no one was looking, trying to foist a buddy deal between Whalen and his skiing partner by purchasing the Presbyterian lot on residents, not shutting your friend Peter Blake up when he bullied everyone from the dias, passing the baton back and forth between them? Oh I could go on but you don’t like to talk about those facts do you? Those of us outraged by what those two just did to Weiss is growing daily as the facts come out. Stop pontificating and think anyone is listening to you because they aren’t.
Incorrect in all respects, Mr. Boyd.
I am not a supporter nor a member of Village Laguna, never have been.
Asserting that Whalen and Kempf “represent most of our citizens” does not make it so nor does it address their failures of oversight and governance laid out in, not just my letter, but several columns, letters and even a paid opinion on the issue. I look forward to the FOIA report on this.
Laguna has always been a community of artists but perhaps you’ve lost sight of that. I am proud to be part of that creative community but don’t confuse art with fantasy. When the former city manager refers to residents as “the enemy,” (ask Councilmember Orgill) she was not doing her job.
And also, please refrain from addressing or referring to me by my first name, Mr. Boyd. We have never met. Misogyny is inappropriate in this or any discussion.
Ms Monda, what possible difference could it make whether or not former Mayor Kelly Boyd currently lives in Laguna? The Boyds were among our first settlers and he has served our community longer and in more productive ways than people who sit on the sidelines, complain about everything, call their opinions “facts,” assign motives to people whose views differ from theirs, and then accuse them of incivility if they attack back, which just adds to the noise and gets us nowhere.
Ms Terasaki, what possible difference does it make if you are a supporter of Village Laguna when your views largely align with theirs? Bob Whalen and Sue Kempf are top vote getters because they have long resumes of public service, in stark contrast to their critics. Shohreh Dupuis was a solid city manager who was driven out at enormous cost to the taxpayer. by a tiny cabal of relentless, often vicious critics.
In my opinion, of course. Thanks!
WOW! That was one mean-spirited LTE! I thought that I was reading a NextDoor post!
Maybe, just maybe, the points Mr. Boyd presented that were not casting insults at a local resident were valid, but they lost all importance as they were buried under name calling and attempts at public shaming. Let’s not allow Laguna Beach to become some mirror of the political nastiness and division in other places in the nation with personal attacks on each other.
We have a bit of a fresh start here. Please… Let’s attack the issues, not attack the person.
Mr.Quilter, your “solid city manager” on May 2, 2023 issued a nuisance abatement order to remove the rightful owners of the Hotel Laguna lease and the 14 West property, their employees and the hotel guests in the middle of the night. The police that report to the “solid city manger” through the Chief of police stood by helplessly as Hornarkar being armed along with his thugs, according to court documents, for nearly seventeen hours harassed and intimidated employees and guests, stole money and destroyed property worth thousands of dollars. So the police were in fact watching felonies being committed and were unable to arrest the offenders as permitted by the Laguna Beach Police Department Manual Section 2.
As you well know according to the municipal code the “solid city manager” is responsible to see that our laws are enforced. It seems that your “solid city manager” must have felt that she could also ignore some of our laws. So Hornarkar and his thugs should have been arrested for felony trespassing and malicious destruction of property, a felony, which in CA carries a potential one year jail sentence and a fine of up to $50,000 plus another year for being armed during the commission of a felony. Not only were they not arrested but your “solid city manager” and the police chief who reports ditrectly to her did not think it important enough to even file a police report according to what I have been told. All of this was allowed to occur in spite of the fact that the “solid city manager”, the city attorney, Whalen and Kempf days prior to the illegal trespassing were given legal documents showing that the owner of the Hotel Laguna lease and the 14West property along with their projects was MOM CA and that Hornarkar had no claim to them. Also this same cabal had the legal document to show that Hornarkar was an at will employee and could be dismissed for any reason by the MOM manager and in fact was dismissed on March 29, 2023 for misappropriating funds among other things according to a lawsuit by MOM against Hornarkar. So in spite of this information your “solid city manager” let Mo off the hook just like when he did all that unpermitted work.
Just this egregious miscarriage of the law should have been grounds for termination for cause. But since the City Attorney, Whalen and Kempf were involved in this miscarriage the best thing for them would be to, based on “your solid city manager’s” verbal accusation, allow her to retire at a cost of about $1,500,000. But with the upcoming lawsuit of MOM CS vs Hornarkar we may get a glimpse of what really went on.
As to Kelly Boyd’s assertion that Bob Whalen and Sue Kempf represent “most of the citizens” there is a difference between the number of votes one receives and whom they represent once they are in office. A case in point is the fiasco of the Presbyterian Church lease agreement Memorandum of Understanding negotiated by your “solid city manager” and ex councilman Blake with Ed Sauls, the Church chief negotiator. It turns out that Whalen and Sauls were decades old skiing buddies. In the interest of transparency shouldn’t Mayor Whalen have recused himself or as a minimum made that fact known? I well remember how enthusiastically you, Chris Quilter, endorsed that project. And of course Whalen and Kempf were totally in favor of the terms. But once the residents had a chance to review it and saw what a gift to Sauls and the Church that it was it apperently died a quiet death. This was not because the so called representatives of the citizens ( Whalen and Kempf) were looking out for our best interests. It was because the citizens looking out for our best interests. That is why we been to vote for candidates that really care about the residents and how our money is spent.
These are just two out of many of the egregious events in which the “solid city manager” was involved
Kelly talk about your fantasy world. Whalen and Kempf enabled Peter Blake, and still support law breaking development with CEQA violations as a standard. Passing the Mayor baton back and forward now since 2018 is opportunistic and a threat to Democratic government, especially in a small city. Council member Weiss is a Laguna hero. And you are not a resident. Kiku is spot on. You are out of line. My views do not represent any Laguna Beach PR client. Anthony Fisch.
Tony Fisch represents MOM LLC public relations – Ed.
If you want to undermine whatever credibility you think you have, feel free to attack Kelly Boyd based on your belief that he doesn’t live here.