Revived Parking-Lot Talks Ignore the Stance of Residents

Editor,

A few years ago the residents of Laguna Beach stormed city hall to successfully protest the proposed building of a three story parking structure at the village entrance site.

City Council has taken a step backwards by making a unanimous decision that residents will be served by going into debt to build a three-story parking structure a mere stone’s throw from the previously protested location.  Our elected council members unanimously approved destroying an established art venue in the civic art district where local artist display their work during the summer season.  Our council claims that they support the arts and artists and our identity as an artist community.  They even paid a consultant to entertain building a cultural arts center, but the recent decision to obliterate the Art A Fair does not support artists.

City Council members continue to ignore community activists who regularly speak at council meetings. Council members focus efforts to appease campaign contributors, private investors and developer special interests in a pending election season. They appear to have forgotten that they are public servants and are elected to serve residents first.  This demonstrates how out of touch our city council is with serving the resident needs first. Hotel guests support our economic vitality, not day-trippers.

Improvements to creating pedestrian spaces and to encourage pedestrian friendly mobility measures through the creation of safe attractive multi-use pathways would do much to improve the community for residents. The petrol automobile is not the future of transportation. To expect residents to go into debt to serve the aging automobile transportation industry is not a progressive value.  Elected officials must be forward thinking in mobility planning measures for our city.

Thank goodness, we have an election before the current council members destroy our small village and our vision as a community.

Parking garages do not benefit residents. They burden the city with unnecessary debt and will primarily serve day-trippers. Why not build a parking structure at the peripheral vacant lot where the Summer Breeze bus picks up beach visitors? This would sensibly keep petrol automobile congestion off Laguna Canyon Road and out of our small village.

Lorene Laguna, Laguna Beach