Opinion: Fantasies Run Amuck

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By Johanna Felder
I was glad to see that columnist Michael Ray has found a more sympathetic imaginary interlocutor than “Petra the Hot Blond” in her “skin-tight” clothes. Next time anyone is inclined to stop Ray on the street, to thank him for his selfless public service, would you also please do the women (and men) of Laguna a favor and tell him how gross this is?

His conversation last week with Bill the veteran is no less self-aggrandizing than his chats with Petra. But is it less imaginary? It contains no facts. No project address, no dates, nameless antagonists, and a big scary number, allegedly added to the cost of a building project, because of all these vague villains.

Bill, I invite you to do what Ray has not. Please show readers evidence. I suspect the Indy would be glad to publish a fact-based piece that draws on planning documents, hearing transcripts, and receipts. I, for one, would consider such an article atonement for inflicting Petra on us!

There is, of course, one detail that Ray always provides: Village Laguna—the source of all evil in town. “What Village Laguna seeks is control, its control, and only its control,” he warns, for what seems like the millionth time.

That’s pretty rich from a guy who owns a historic house and, because he wasn’t allowed to remodel the entire front façade to add a porch, decided to throw the tantrum heard round the County. As a founder of Liberate Laguna, now morphed into Laguna Forward, he has personally spent tens of thousands of dollars to elect pro-development candidates to the City Council. They have appointed board and committee members amenable to his views about how things in Laguna should be done. He finally got his porch, as he vowed, he would.

Liberate Laguna Forward only exists as a PAC. Its sole purpose is to raise money to influence elections. And Laguna Forward’s webpage barely takes time to announce its mission “to support city council candidates” before we land on the Corporate Donations link. Forget about ordinary residents; Liberate Laguna Forward is after big money.

Anyone who thinks this PAC is good for Laguna is kidding themselves. Whatever you believe needs improving, is anything worth letting this angry rich guy run the town with his developer pals because he couldn’t get a porch?

Johanna is the immediate past president of Village Laguna.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Spot on Johanna. Taking a step back, it is laughable that a rich mega-developer who together with his like-minded developer friends have collectively spent > $250,000 to influence the past 2 elections in Laguna Beach, claims to be the victim of an entrenched powerhouse “Village Laguna”. An organization which spent 1 tenth on election-related matters in the past election as his PAC did. Maybe he’s surrounded himself with “yes men/women”, who don’t have the courage to tell him how ridiculous the stories he’s telling sound.

  2. Typical attacks from VL acolytes. I am in the tenth year of fighting for my property rights, which VL believe should not exist.

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