Editor,
I just read the letter to editor by Armando Baez’s re Paving over Paradise. Can you tell he is on Village Laguna’s board? It is a good story line and rally point for its members. Laguna is a tourist town, that means many people come here to enjoy our ambiance, including our view, which is still on their agenda to block as we saw this past year.
Where does Baez think people who work at restaurants, hotels, shops, provide services to homeowners, as well as those that support law firms, doctor’s office, etc. are going to park? Not everyone who works here lives here, can take a bus, nor is our local bus service 24/7 effective much less user friendly. Where will the visitors park when they want to enjoy Art Walk, yearly plein air event, and summer long art festivals? They can’t park in residential area.
Eliminating parking is going on now. So far two Village Laguna members have removed two legal parking spaces under the guise that the street was not wide enough, or a woman could not pull into her driveway (for 18 years she has). The truth – the owner did not want anyone parking in front of his home. Only six people signed for no parking, 18 said yes for parking.
That is typical of the lopsided representation of general population versus Village Laguna. Their members sit on all of the volunteer committees and often lead the committees and bully the rest of the members if they have a different point of view. Their influence in city hall is long standing, starting with Ann Christoph, then Verna Rollinger, and now Martha Anderson. Because they are a mutual benefit corporation, they get their way to help their members. Let’s all join Village Laguna and see what happens.
Sounds like Baez is getting ready to run for office next election. Please don’t. Find a hobby, help the homeless, do something that would really help this city. Eliminating parking is not the solution. Think outside of the box.
Ganka Brown, Laguna Beach
Armando Baez is not on the Board of Directors of Village Laguna.
I agree entirely, the exact same situation happened in my neighborhood. In fact the city changed the parking designation without a meeting or notification. I got a ticket parking in the same place I parked for 10 years.
First it went to parking committee after they realized they couldn’t change it without notification. I had the committee out to show them there was no issue with the space. All agreed except one who reccommended to the City Council that they should take it out. They City Council agreed with my position and the space stayed, but in an area of very little parking, it would have been misguided.