Editor,
I’m thinking our Police Chief Laura Farinella is not familiar with the tried and true adage: “Nothing good ever happens after midnight.”
I read her recent comments regarding the proposed downtown parklet with utter disbelief. Our police chief was quoted in the local paper as saying that she believes the Park Plaza project will be an ideal spot for all to gather after the restaurants and bars close. That the parklet will provide people “the opportunity to gather, sit and talk, sober up, and then get in their cars and drive home.”
Are you serious? Never mind that it takes significantly more time than 30 minutes for someone to sober up and drive home safely. The downtown noise, drunk driving, public nuisance and intoxication factors are already a legitimate public safety concern. Does Police Chief Farinella wish to extend this nonsense beyond the current levels of downtown Laguna late night rowdiness?
As a 40-year resident, I am appalled and disenchanted with our police chief’s endorsement of building the Park Plaza as an area for people to gather post-bar scene. How does this parklet serve the locals? I submit that very few Laguna residents will be hanging out at Park Plaza at 2 a.m. to sober up before heading home. Yet, our tax dollars will be utilized to fund yet another project that will provide very little value to residents already tapped out with the influx of visitors to our lovely seaside town.
Perhaps Police Chief Farinella can name her gathering place for drunks the “Sober Up Plaza” at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Leslie O’Neil, Laguna Beach
Say it’s not true…our city council is wasting more of our tax dollars on a ridiculous project? We really need a change.