A Message From The Mayor
By Sue Kempf
Dear Laguna Beach Community,
We are excited to finally be inching out of the recent COVID-19 surge and looking forward to many community events coming up that I’d like to share with you! Major renovations have been taking place at Riddle Field in a joint project between the City and several community members to ensure that the field is in perfect condition and ready for the Laguna Beach Little League’s opening day and 70th anniversary event on March 4. I will be there to help dedicate the field and kick off the celebrations as the Veterans of Foreign Wars take on the Rotary Club! It’s wonderful to see this outdoor gathering space for our community shine again and we look forward to seeing you March 4 and throughout the season.
The 55th Annual Patriots Day Parade is coming up and will take place on March 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. beginning at Park Avenue and ending past City Hall. The Patriots Day Parade will honor local heroes, residents, and institutions, and is a unique Laguna community event I look forward to every year. I encourage you to take advantage of the City’s free trolley and the Laguna Local on-demand services to get to the parade route. Free public parking will also be available at the City’s Forest/Laguna Canyon parking lot adjacent to City Hall.
The Parking Master Plan Subcommittee has been working to draft a framework for the Parking Master Plan Study, which will present an overall evaluation of existing parking conditions and identify recommendations regarding future parking management and infrastructure options for the City of Laguna Beach.
Mayor Pro Tem Bob Whalen and I have been meeting on this for the last month to formulate a framework we hope will help identify the parking issues we are trying to solve, develop a scope of work to study the problem and provide a summary of what we might expect as part of the final report. I’d like to invite the public to a listening session on March 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Laguna Beach Community and Susi Q Senior Center to allow us to get your input, ideas and perspective on the direction we are headed.
Finally, we thank those of you who completed the resident and business survey this fall. The surveys had a very good participation rate for a City our size and we look forward to daylighting your feedback at the March 1 City Council meeting and will use it when we meet on March 4 for our yearly Strategic Planning and Goal Setting Session.
I hope you stay safe, stay healthy and get out and enjoy what looks to be another beautiful Laguna Beach weekend!
In Community Spirit.
Sue is the Laguna Beach Mayor and has been a city councilmember since 2018.
