Criteria changes should be revisited

Anne Frank

I am concerned about the action taken by the City Council at its

Sept. 2 meeting, giving preferred status to senior citizens for the

affordable housing project on Glenneyre Street.

Unfortunately there was no television coverage of this meeting on

either Tuesday or Saturday, and thus I am very grateful to the

Coastline Pilot and reporter Barbara Diamond for bringing this issue

to the attention of the public.

The purpose of the Glenneyre project is to provide affordable

housing for low-income working people in Laguna who cannot afford the

high rentals in town. It is not senior citizen housing. Housing

restricted to seniors already exists in Laguna Beach, while

affordable housing especially meant for working people does not.

The original criteria proposed by Related Management Co. does not

exclude senior citizens. It just puts them on equal status with other

low-income members of our community. This is how it should be for the

Glenneyre project. To change the criteria at this late stage in the

game is not fair and an affront to the memory of Alice Graves who

spearheaded this project.

Furthermore, why wasn’t the Affordable Housing and Human Affairs

Committee given a chance to review the criteria changes and make a

recommendation to the City Council? Why was the usual process not

followed in this case?

This issue needs to be revisited. It should be sent to the

Affordable Housing and Human Affairs Committee for recommendation,

then reconsidered by the City Council with an opportunity for public

comment. Let us honor Alice Graves, not only by naming the building

for her, but by carrying out her intent for the project.

That would be the right and ethical thing to do.

* ANNE FRANK is a Laguna Beach resident.