Reversal of decision was admirable Those of...

Reversal of decision was admirable

Those of us who attended the City Council meeting on Tuesday

witnessed a moving example of representative democracy as it was

intended to be.

Instead of going forward with the amended ordinance he had sought,

which would have raised Laguna’s individual contribution limit from

$250 to $500, Councilman Steve Dicterow pulled it back. He spoke with

sincerity of his desire to be the kind of leader who listens to the

voice of the people he serves. The people of Laguna Beach had spoken

in person and print against a large increase in the contribution

limit. Dicterow heard and responded to our many voices by embracing a

$250 contribution limit adjusted by the Consumer Price Index to $310.

This is a fair and reasonable increase.

Councilwomen Cheryl Kinsman and Elizabeth Pearson gave their

support to Dicterow, thereby joining Mayor Toni Iseman and Councilman

Wayne Baglin, who had previously advocated such an approach. The vote

was unanimous.

It requires grace and humility to reverse course when the power is

yours to forge ahead. We respect Dicterow for his decision to do just

that. We are grateful to the mayor and each of the council members

for their vote to keep Laguna’s contribution limit reasonable. Their

action Tuesday warmly affirmed the best of representative democracy.

LINDA BROWN

Co-Chair, League of Women

Voters -- Laguna Beach Unit

Recent decisions harmful to reform

Frank Ricchiazzi’s comments for the past few years have been

primarily aimed at vilifying an organization whose only existence is

to preserve and enhance the unique village character of Laguna Beach.

From reading his latest, it appears that he is now attempting to

vilify the League of Woman Voters. If you’re wondering how his hit

list is comprised, just be the next person or group to voice an

opinion that differs from his or his council majority.

The present council majority is the vision of Frank Ricchiazzi. He

has been working on this for years and with the election of

Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson has finally achieved his goal of

having a majority on the council with whom he continues to not only

influence but strategize as to how to maintain the current status

quo.

Phase 1 of their strategies has been achieved:

First they reduced the voluntary overall spending limit by 100% as

to render it irrelevant. (It was $30,000 and now it’s $15,000).

Second they voted down having the legally mandated campaign

disclosure forms posted on the internet. Third, they attempted to

further gut the Campaign Reform Ordinance by increasing by 100 % the

amount an individual could contribute to a city council candidate

(from $250 to $500) but because of the unprecedented negative

response to this change from the public, reason prevailed and their

attempt was foiled. Thank you Councilman Steve Dicterow.

If the campaign “reform” changes seem contradictory and confusing,

you’re not alone and the resulting consequences are great. The

reduction of the voluntary spending limit to $15,000, will discourage

most candidates from agreeing to limit their campaign spending to

such a ridiculously low amount.

This will benefit those who never agreed to limit their spending

the first time around (Pearson and Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman) and

were put on the defensive because of it. Voting against internet

posting of disclosure forms is in essence a way of limiting public

access to campaign information. And thankfully they did not go

forward with increasing the individual contribution to $500, because

it would have advantaged those who rely on fewer but wealthier

supporters.

Now that the council majority has successfully still crippled

campaign reform in Laguna, stay tuned for Phase 2.

CHARLOTTE MASARIK

Laguna Beach

New stop sign not safest choice

Your editorial on stops signs, specifically at Wendt Terrace and

Park Avenue, contained some wisdom that we can’t have a stop sign on

every corner and even if we did we would still have accidents.

However you missed two key points in your editorial.

First, Councilman Wayne Baglin, who uses Wendt Terrace, pointed

out that putting a stop sign on the blind curve on Park Avenue may

well cause serious rear-end accidents. He is absolutely right in

pointing that out since it is entirely illogical to have a stop sign

on a blind curve only about 200 feet from an existing stop sign.

Further, I would estimate that there is at least 10 times as much traffic moving on Park Avenue as there is on Wendt Terrace. Making

tons of traffic on Park Avenue stop at illogical locations just in

case an occasional car wants to exit Wendt Terrace makes no sense.

Yes, it is a dangerous intersection but a proposed stop sign creates

more dangers than it cures.

At the meeting I offered a better solution to the problem that

only Baglin seemed to understand. That was, simply change the entry

point of Wendt Terrace onto Park Avenue at about the same location

that Wendt Terrace drivers now use to go up hill.

This would give the people leaving Wendt Terrace to go down hill

on Park Avenue plenty of visibility to see any and all traffic on

Park Avenue. This solution does not require any additional stop signs

and only requires moving the existing stop sign on Wendt about 50

feet or so and doing a little re-striping at that location.

I firmly believe that this is the safest solution for everyone and

is far less costly to the taxpayers. It’s sad that the council moved

out in response to neighborhood pressure without even examining this

simple solution as Baglin recommended.

Maybe it’s not too late for them to have staff re-examine the

suggested solution rather than generating a new and more serious

danger in trade for reducing an existing danger. If they do proceed

with that illogical stop sign I would caution the drivers on Wendt

Terrace to be even more careful entering Park Avenue, as some drivers

on Park Avenue are going to inadvertently run that stop sign as very

few would expect to encounter another stop only 200 or so feet from a

stop sign that they just left.

DAVE CONNELL

Laguna Beach

Officer’s dedication is heart warming

“I’ll stay here all night long if I have to,” the Laguna Beach

police officer said.

We stood in the dark and she had a flashlight aimed toward me so I

could only see by the outline that she was a tall person. The canyon

road was cold and seemed darker than usual. The blue lump that was in

the middle of the road was nearly invisible. Headlights shone off the

shopping cart and only then was it clear that the dark blue lump was

a person pushing the cart.

By the time I had turned around in my car and gone back, the

officer had arrived. I went back because I had a Coleman lamp that I

was going to give this wayward traveler. Instead, I got to meet one

of Laguna’s finest, Officer Patricia Etemadi.

She was talking to her dispatcher and seemed glad that a resident

had stopped so we could share our observations about this person who,

by then, was sitting on a wall with his shopping cart, which held

only pieces of tattered paper. He wanted to go to Anaheim and thought

by traveling down the middle of Laguna Canyon road he would arrive

shortly.

After dissuading him from this plan, the officer said she felt he

belonged somewhere, certainly not jail and certainly not left to

continue his perilous journey. She had ruled out alcohol as his

immediate problem, although it looked to me like it probably had been

a major factor in what led to this wanderer’s predicament.

I only hung around for a few minutes, suggesting a few places I

knew of that might have accommodations for this man: Salvation Army,

maybe Charle Street in Costa Mesa, but she wanted to make sure that

he got more; that he got the proper care and treatment that he

needed.

Listening to her and watching her touched me deeply. Every once in

awhile, as anyone who has read my letters to the editor knows, I

start thinking, “Doesn’t anyone else care about stuff like this?”

Silly question. I know. So, I want to send out a giant “thanks” to

the wonderful Laguna Beach cop who cared about a lost and wandering

soul and said, “I’ll stay here all night long if I have to.”

MARY DOLPHIN

Laguna Beach

Two impressive Laguna events

On Nov. 1 I attended two fabulous events that showed off the arts

in Laguna Beach.

The first was Dance Day, presented by the California

Choreographers Dance Festival and sponsored by the city of Laguna

Beach, No Square Theater and The Festival of Arts.

This event included three dance classes (Jazz, African and Modern)

taught by marvelous instructors, a workshop on Physical Comedy for

Dance, and performances on Main Beach. More than 50 dancers,

including my son Nicholas, enjoyed the dance classes.

The second event was the first annual Laguna Beach Carnivale,

modeled after the Carnivale of Venice and led by the extremely

creative Jon Beau Lee. Included in this event were ballets by the

Laguna Beach Ballet Studio and the San Pedro City Ballet; displays of

elegant costumes that were produced in costume making workshops; a

chamber orchestra; and excellent food. All of this was done to raise

money to try to save the Laguna Beach Ballet Studio property owned by

the late Lila Zali.

These events showed the wealth of things we have to do in Laguna

Beach, and how lucky we are to be in this arts mecca.

CHERYL KINSMAN

Laguna Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Cheryl Kinsman is a Laguna Beach City

Councilwoman.

Definition of a personal attack

I have written the Coastline Pilot asking what is the paper’s

policy regarding publishing personal attacksSome people think that if

you mention a person by name and state something critical, it is a

personal attack. That is not true, and the Coastline Pilot editors

should know what a personal attack is.

A “personal attack” is committed when abusive remarks are

substituted for evidence when examining another person’s comments. A

personal attack is when a person starts referencing a supposed flaw

or weakness in the other person, using it as a means of avoiding

discussion of an issue. The goal is to discredit the person making

the comment, rather than arguing the merits of the comment.

A personal attack is a good strategy if one desires to intimidate

and silence people. This is exactly what the Coastline Pilot has

collaborated in doing.

The city of Laguna Beach has a design review process in which it

requires new structures to be staked and invites concerned citizens

to express their opinions in writing or by appearing in person at

open public meetings. As president of my neighborhood association, I

wrote a letter to the Coastline Pilot informing the public of the

staking across from the Alta Laguna public park and encouraged

citizens to get involved.

You may think that I am most concerned about it being me that was

the target of the personal attack. Although, it did hurt my feelings

and I am concerned about its effect on my reputation, I am outraged

that it likely will be most effective in achieving its primarily

intent.

The primarily intent was not that I would stop going to meetings,

but to serve notice on others and to intimidate them. The letter

serves notice of how a concerned citizen can expect to be treated if

he or she dares to participate in expressing opinions to the city’s

decision-makers.

For the Coastline Pilot to participate in this intimidation of

citizen input is truly reprehensible.

GENE FELDER

Laguna Beach

Choice of trees is crucial aspect

There are many reasons that make me believe that as many trees and

shrubs as possible should be planted and cared for.

They create oxygen, which mitigates the emissions from cars, etc.

Also they are natural wonders of art. Their leaves can be used to

prevent water-wasting grasses from growing and they become mulch.

They also help hold water in the ground. Succulents will retain water

too.

To protect views appropriate varieties should be planted and these

should be able to be topped if necessary.

One variety which should be excluded is eucalyptus. Also tall

pines, etc. That leaves a tremendous variety of possibilities

including fruit.

ANDY WING

Laguna Beach

The Coastline Pilot is eager to run your letters. If your letter

does not appear, it may be because of space restrictions, and the

letter will likely appear next week. If you would like to submit a

letter, write to us at P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652; fax us

at (949) 494-8979; or send e-mail to coastlinepilot@latimes.com.

Please give your name and include your hometown and phone number, for

verification purposes only.