Editor,
I have been a resident of Laguna Beach for 12 years now. I like it very much, but I am sad to see the demise of the middle class and small businesses in this community. My rent has almost doubled in 12 years, and any chance of owning a home has long passed. I am a proponent of the free market system and hard work, but I believe that the corporate / banking elite have made the conditions impossible and unfair. There must be a way to make conditions fair for both sides.
At this time, banking and real estate moguls sell/rent to the highest bidder. The buyer or renter is often a very wealthy domestic or foreign entity, with endless cash, who does not pay our taxes and who may utilize extremely low paid workers abroad. Rents and property values have thus skyrocketed and cater to a very small, wealthy elite.
I see several local small businesses shutting down, as the landlords wait (often, in vain) for a high profile tenant. In the meantime, expenses skyrocket and homelessness increases. I know some of the upscale stores make a negative profit, but stay open so that a child can obtain a visa, or it is a side business for a trophy wife. I know two cases of a “cosmetic store” which was scamming people, using high pressure sales, selling over-priced, worthless cosmetics. Eventually the stores close and contribute very little to the community.
Please note that I have nothing against hard working immigrants. I do know of a store, recently bankrupt, owned by a wonderful immigrant family. The beautiful store yielded a strong sales volume, but they could not meet their overhead. Their manager, who needed the job to support his family, is now out of work. I know of several such instances. The empty storefronts become eyesores for months. The only small businesses which remain are long term owners who bought the property before the 1990s. Those businesses, a quaint reminder of the past, are steadily dying off.
I realize there is nothing that can be done about property values and real estate bubbles, but I believe that rent control is legally possible. Perhaps other regulations are feasible as well. I encourage legislators to consider this, or many people will be forced to move. Laguna is proud of their diverse, open-minded atmosphere. We must fight to retain this.
Aaron Anderson, Laguna Beach
