Editor,
As usual, our city is embroiled in difficult issues, some of which are very costly and all of them very emotional. The divisive issue involving a costly village entrance parking garage is unnecessary since it can be, and should be, resolved by a vote of the citizens.
The fall-out issue from the village entrance is the related issue of trying to make our mostly industrial area along Highway 133 more attractive for our visitors. That is also a very costly issue but can have two very important spinoffs. If it results in undergrounding the utility lines, that would be a huge safety gain. And if it also results in a little widening of that six miles of two lanes of intolerable never ending traffic jams, that would be another huge safety gain; plus it would also be a win for our tourist related businesses.
More people stay out of Laguna because of six miles of stop and go traffic on 133 then the difficulty of finding parking.
And the last major issue, shoved to the background right now, is trying to save and restore as much as possible of Laguna’s famous and valuable view sheds. Actually, this should never have been an issue since it could have been easily avoided if only thoughtful people had been careful to not grow large trees and overgrown hedges in the view corridors of their neighbors nor in the public view corridors. But now huge problems of view destruction exists and the problem grows with every passing day.
For more than 20 years those who have lost, and are losing, the joys of Laguna’s unique beautiful views have tried to get the city to enact ordinances to correct this horrible condition. Thanks to Councilman Boyd and the efforts of many others a new fair, effective, affordable and city enforced view preservation-restoration ordinance may finally be in the near future.
Dave Connell, Laguna Beach
