Marching Through the Canyon to Protest Laguna Laurel Plan

In regard to the Nov. 12 picture and article covering the Laguna Canyon Walk, The Times has done another disservice to to Laguna Beach residents. The picture with the “class war” placard dead-center is totally misleading in describing the canyon walk.

The article was more accurate in describing the event, but your readers will look at the picture and think: There go those lunatics again.

I am a gray-haired member of the establishment who joined other senior citizens, young parents, babies in strollers and bicyclists to make the statement that at some point we had had enough of scraped hills with thousands of look-alike houses. We want something left in its natural state without man’s engineering it.

I live on a street bordering the greenbelt. Whereas we used to see deer regularly, raccoon, skunk and an occasional fox, it is now almost a neighborhood celebration to see one roadrunner.

The Irvine Co. does have a right to develop its land, but it also has an obligation to preserve the balance of nature. Rearranging hills, producing run-off that alters ground water levels are real threats to be considered. Who really knows what happens when millions of gallons of water from thousands of developed acres percolates through the soil down to the coast? Ultimately tinkering with nature produces long-term, far-reaching effects.

This concern plus all those others that have been addressed in regard to pollution, congestion, etc., prompted this writer to say to (developer) Donald Bren on Saturday: “Please reassess your plans for Laguna Laurel.”

BONNIE CHANGSTRON-SIMON

Laguna Beach