Exit Freeman, the end of an era

When Councilman Paul Freeman announced he would not seek

reelection this year, it meant more than an end of an era in Laguna

Beach politics. In effect, it meant that a man who had become a

lightning rod for both sides of the political aisle was leaving the

scene.

Freeman, noted for his public affairs acumen, has resume

highlights that include the successful negotiations with the Irvine

Co. that resulted in a major portion of Laguna Canyon being turned

over to the public, a move that brought cheers from the environmental

crowd.

On the other hand, his work to get the controversial Treasure

Island project off the ground made him the darling of the

pro-business forces in town.

Freeman, a native of Virginia, who in 1972 became the youngest

person to ever win a school board seat (a title he says he still

holds), took a few minutes one recent morning at the Hotel Laguna to

talk about his council legacy and his future with Coastline Pilot

Editor Tony Dodero.

What would you say has been your greatest achievement on the

council?

I guess the vision process. I’m very pleased with the effect it

has had. I have to credit other people for laying the foundation for

it. Among them would be Kathleen Blackburn, Fred Droz and Elizabeth

Pearson.

But I feel good about basically jump-starting the full-on

visioning process at the council level. We were, for sometime, like

deer in the headlights. We couldn’t decide even who should be on a

steering committee. Normally we have the whole world apply. And

finally I said, let’s just nominate two people. That broke the log

jam getting out of the gate. The people we appointed all worked well

together. They each brought their own sensibilities and particular

skill sets. Fred, one of my appointees, became the chair. It was a

real collegial collaborative effort and I think the town really got

engaged. This was happily a very serious and impactful process and

has already changed the debate in town about a lot of issues. Issues

like affordable housing, which is near and dear to my heart, weren’t

even on the radar screen before and now are.

Particularly pleasing to me is people are now really urging the

council, “Let’s get to the next stage.”

What unfinished business do you have?

There’s a whole bunch of stuff that I wish was more further down

the line. One of the things is the project along Third Street. The

city cobbled together a bunch of parcels, roughly between the bottom

of the Third Street hill and the water district. We had talked about

having three stand-alone projects that would share underground

parking: a senior center, a community center and a new community

clinic.

I thought this was a great opportunity. There’s a synergy among

those three uses. They are each important for the city. We may have

to revisit just how we are going to do these projects. We may have to

scale back some of our grander plans. But I’m confident there will

still be a community/senior center and some enhancement of the

community clinic facilities. I feel that’s a piece of unfinished

business.

But I’m prepared to walk away. The hard work has been done. I

would like to have done more in the realm of community development

and in the area of affordable housing. The other big issue I would

have liked to work on some more is how to manage the congestion

particular in the summer. To me that’s the No. 1 issue in town.

Do you feel like you’re leaving Laguna in good hands?

I would never cast asparagus on anybody. Yes. I think the city is

in better shape today than it was in 1994 when I got on the council.

There are several measures to that. When I got on the council the

list of lawsuits against the city looked like a bad Russian novel. We

spent an inordinate time in closed sessions trying to make these

things go away.

In fact, it became almost a joke. We would talk about stuff, then

finally we would look at the city manager and city attorney and say,

“Make it go away.” We had a potential $20-million judgment against us

on the Diamond Crestview lawsuit. We have far less exposure legally

and financially. Also we are in better shape on the infrastructure

fund.

People are rightly concerned and wanting to put everyone’s feet to

the fire at City Hall to get to absolutely no sewage spills and

better flood control, but the progress we have made has been

enormous. We very quickly, after ‘94, got to the point where we were

spending per year what councils in the 1970s and 1980s were spending

every decade on sewer upgrades, street paving, drainage. We added

cops, we added infrastructure investment and this city is in much

better shape in terms of its physical plan and at the same time we

continue to be optimistic about open space purchases and new projects

and new public parks like Browns Park.

So I think we are in better shape. We have problems like other

cities, but I think our problems are a good set of problems.

Certainly the big home run has been the Treasure Island project,

which has been so contentious and divisive. The outcome I think is a

first-class public park with first-class public art and a first-class

hotel.

Whom do you see as the top candidates for council this November?

Who do you think will be the heir apparent to Paul Freeman?

I’m not sure anybody would want to present themselves as the heir

apparent. I think the town is very, very lucky that there’s three

seats and four strong candidates. Strong both in terms of their

viability and strong in their capability to make a contribution on

the City Council. They each have different strengths and profiles.

The town isn’t going to fall apart as a function of which three of

those four win. I know three of the four better than I know Melissa

O’Neal. I know that Toni Iseman, Steve Dicterow and Elizabeth Pearson

all have a track record, all have made votes on difficult issues and

all have had to make trade offs. I think for each of those three, I

find reasons to be supportive and, based on their track record, they

would do a great job on the council. Melissa doesn’t have that track

record and consequently doesn’t have the baggage the other three do.

She did a good job facilitating some of the vision discussions and

the waste water advisory committee. But I’m not sure where she stands

on specific issues. The good news is we have four good candidates and

all four are viable.

My hope is instead of the absolutely asinine hit pieces and smear

tactics that have characterized Laguna Beach campaigns for nearly a

decade, I would hope the debate will be on the fine point of policy

and on the basis of experience or how people articulate their vision.

I am weary of the tactics. I would say a pox on all of the houses.

I’m basically an equal-opportunity hater of the organized interests

in our city. I think we’ve got to the point where it just sucks the

life out of you. To look at, to listen to, to read about the

venomous, stupid, baseless charges flying back and forth, I’m sick of

it. I think candidates who engage in that this year or who don’t try

to stop others, they do that at their peril.

This year people want to hear, what are you going to do? I’m very

hopeful that the taxpayers don’t hit Toni Iseman, who is a friend and

who I am supporting. I’m very hopeful that the Village Laguna

Democrats don’t hit Elizabeth Pearson, who is also a friend and I’m

supporting. I think the town would be better off if the town would

just focus on issues and capabilities and lay off all that stupid

negative stuff.

Are there more politics in your future?

I don’t know. When I was younger, I always assumed I would be in

the Senate representing Virginia. When I realized I wasn’t

independently wealthy, when I realized that I valued my personal time

and my pursuit of other interests, when I realized that my views as

basically a bleeding-heart capitalist alienated both sides of the

street pretty much in equal measure. I realized that only by making a

fetish of my own ambition that I could possibly have a chance.

I doubt it. If somehow Boxer or Feinstein got run over by a train

and Gray Davis called me and said would you like to fill out the

term, I’d love that. The best job on the planet is to be a member of

the United States Senate. But will I ever get there? I don’t think

so. I’m just not willing to do what it takes. I love politics. More

than that I love public policy. I’ve been approached to run for

different offices, but I would never run for the county or state

legislature. It’s not of interest to me.

What are you going to do with all of your free time?

I want to spend more time with my daughter. I want to spend more

time growing my consulting business. I have a business, it’s called

First Strategies. I have a great job working for the Segerstrom

family. I have several clients I enjoy working for. I’m helping the

Rancho Santiago Community College District. They have a $300 million

plus bond measure on the November ballot. They do an incredible job.

There’s more full-time students at Santa Ana College than at any UC

or Cal state campus.

I’m doing work for the Pacific Counsel on International Policy in

Los Angeles. So I have an interesting mix of institutional,

corporate, non-profit clients. I do fund-raising, public affairs

marketing. But I really hope to spend more time with my daughter. I

have a writing project. I’m obsessed with the Asian board game of Go.

It’s the oldest game in the world. And I’m a ranked amateur. I’m

really looking forward to having that time.