One good event deserves another It was...

One good event deserves another

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The northbound traffic on

Coast Highway from South Laguna was totally jammed up. The lower end

of Glenneyre was blocked off. Park Avenue was out of commission.

Forest Avenue had been blocked off from early morning and would not

reopen until after lunch. The restaurants along downtown Coast

Highway were almost empty at noon. There were hundreds of Lagunatics

and outsiders watching the event and enjoying themselves.

Am I talking about the shunned world class bike race last fall?

No, I’m talking about the Patriots Day Parade last week. While one

event was closed down because of the complaints of a few, the parade

is welcomed even though it causes the same problems.

Am I suggesting that the parade be closed down? Of course not.

What I am saying is that Laguna lost the opportunity to host a state

biking championship that would have brought lots of people into town

to eat, stay in hotels and shop.

I guess a point was proven in shutting down the bike race. I just

don’t know what that point was.

JIM KREDER

Laguna Beach

* EDITORS’ NOTE: Jim Kreder is a past local Rotary Club president,

but the opinions expressed here are his and do not reflect those of

the Laguna Beach Rotary Club.

Inclusive parade a better sight to see

I have lived in Laguna Beach nearly 30 years and have participated

in the Patriots Day Parade numerous times with what used to be called

the Indian Guides and other groups. Last week’s parade, however, was

the best because for the first time the Parade Committee permitted

peace groups such as Patriots for Peace to be part of the

festivities. Not only was this year’s parade more inclusive and

interesting as a result, but more importantly the principle that

patriotism is not limited to the military was publicly recognized.

Every day in countless ways the people who comprise this nation’s

civic sector -- active citizens, educators, school psychologists,

journalists, social workers, the faith community, public interest

lawyers and many others -- demonstrate their courage and commitment

to America in non-military ways. In fact, these people sometimes find

themselves in combat zones and put their lives on the line while

serving others. The Columbine High School teacher who lost his life

to gun violence in 1999 offers only one of the more publicized

examples of this. Patriotism, like heroism, is not the exclusive

property of the armed services though we all should be appreciative

of what our men and women in uniform contribute.

What is now only beginning to be recognized is that the unarmed

services are filled with people and examples of civic valor that also

command the utmost respect of all Americans. These are the people who

actually use their freedoms to solve community problems; who serve on

our juries to insure rule of law; who investigate and prosecute blue

collar and white collar crime; who blow the whistle on corporate and

government bigwigs that abuse power and the public trust; and yes,

who commit their lives to ending the scourge of war before war puts

an end to us all. Such people are the oxygen of democracy and

freedom. The best military in the world cannot save democracy and

freedom unless vigilant civilians at the same time constantly breathe

life into the political process. Imagine what one week in Laguna

would be like without our unarmed services giving tirelessly and

unselfishly to our schools, our community programs, our parks and

beaches and our local governance. These people force all of us to

expand our understanding of what patriotism is.

This year Laguna’s Parade Committee recognized what is being said

in these few lines. This year that committee took the risk of

incurring censure from some quarters. This year that committee stood

tall and deserves our gratitude.

TOM OSBORNE

Laguna Beach

Peace Vigil added much to parade

When I describe Laguna Beach to people who don’t know it, I talk

about the physical beauty (the ocean and hills), the charm (our

downtown and the variety of housing) and, of course, the diversity of

our residents.

The Patriots Day Parade this year epitomized that diversity. Not

only did we have the usual school marching bands, city officials,

kids galore from all sorts of organizations, civic, cultural and

business groups, representatives from the Marine Corps, but we also

had the Laguna Beach Peace Vigil.

Thank you, committee, for giving us a wonderful parade that truly

represented the diverse faces of Laguna Beach.

BONNIE HANO

Laguna Beach

Working to protect Laguna’s treasures

Laguna Beach is blessed in many ways, starting with beautiful

beaches and coves with beach and water conditions that attracts

visitors from far and wide and makes living in Laguna very desirable.

The next greatest asset of Laguna Beach is (was) the naturally open

and spacious public and private and public vistas and view sheds of

the ocean, coastline and canyons afforded by our sloping and hilly

topography.

These two wonderful assets, which are unique to Laguna Beach, are

our main treasures and should be protected. They are what brings joy

to the heart to be here and they are what makes our limited land so

desirable and valuable. Neither of these treasurers should be eroded

away or destroyed by contaminating our beaches nor by obstructing the

view sheds with excessive nonnative vegetation.

Great progress has been, and is being, made to protect our ocean;

but the city has done very little to protect our views from

destruction by excessive vegetation.

Residents dedicated to preserving both public and private view

sheds will hold their second meeting to form a new organization to

protect these special and unique view sheds. Everyone is invited to

attend this meeting at 11 a.m. Saturday in the third floor meeting

room at the Wells Fargo Bank building.

DAVE CONNELL

Laguna Beach

Group’s goals are so un-Laguna

This letter is written in response to the letters from a group of

people that are trying to organize and draft an ordinance regarding

views and trees:

How sorry I feel for you that your property has been devaluated so

much because of trees. Poor you, now it’s not even worth what you

paid for it about 10 years ago. Just think of all the money you’ve

lost because of those rotten trees!

I simply cannot believe that seemingly intelligent people would

move into a quiet seaside village with an abundance of birds and

trees, especially a bird sanctuary city, and now be so miserable as

to want to form a this committee. The idea of a little group of

unhappy people walking our neighborhood, turning in people who have a

hedge too high for their liking or a tree too tall for their liking

makes me utterly disgusted.

If you have a problem with a neighbor’s tree, handle it with your

neighbor. It is not the city’s responsibility to mediate or monitor

all neighbor complaints and it should not be their responsibility.

You see, most of us live happily with our birds, trees, shade and

breezes.

Perhaps you should consider Palm Springs a more ideal place for

you. They have lovely lakes, lots of sand and no trees to block your

view. Just hope that you can get your investment back. What was it,

about five to seven years ago? Three to five hundred thousand? Hope

it won’t be too difficult.

YVONNE MEREDITH

Laguna Beach

It’s a grand, glorious spring day and we Laguna Beach taxpayers

have much to be happy about. Thanks to City Manager Ken Frank and his

City Hall minions we are now part-owners of the Aliso Creek Inn,

along with his Montage Hotel clique.

A good amount of the purchase funds came from Laguna Beach. First

the city waived about $1 million in permit fees for the group

building the Montage. Probably bought a lot of jet fuel for the

corporate plane.

Next -- a contract with Montage to install the five-acre park for

only $8 million. For that money we could have installed wall-to-wall

carpeting and velvet couches. But at least we can still park in the

Albertsons lot and visit the park. Our arguments about inadequate

parking were pushed aside in spite of the lesson we should have

learned at the Surf and Sand debacle.

I need to close now. I need to plan how to spend all the tax money

I will save when the revenues start pouring into the city from the

Montage Hotel.

The angry old man on the hill,

DAN HUSTON

Laguna Beach

Everyone needs to protect the beaches

I am Sam Wellsfry, age 10, and love the tide pools here in Laguna

Beach. Even a kid can help protect our beaches.

Last week I saw four men who had buckets lined with plastic

grocery bags and tools on the tide pool area of Crescent Bay Beach.

They pretended to be just walking on the rocks. Then they took their

tools and started ripping off muscles from the rocks. They took about

100, it looked like, because they filled an entire grocery bag full.

They took not only muscles, but anything attached to the muscles, for

example limpets, small shells, live creatures. I went over and told

them eight times that this is a “no take zone.” I also told them that

there was more than a $100 fine and 31 days in jail for getting

caught, as Laguna Beach is a marine sanctuary. Every time I told each

of them that same thing, they said to me, “I don’t care.” I told

every man with a knife that it is not allowed. Then I told two of my

fishing buddies (who are grown-ups and knew this too) and they also

told these men that it is illegal to take anything from the rocks.

Those guys ignored these adults, too. Well, I am writing to tell

everyone that when this abuse happens, you must call the lifeguard

department immediately. This is what happened next:

I told my dad and he called the lifeguard department at 494-6571,

and not even 10 minutes later the guards came down, spoke with me and

then went to inform the thieves that it is illegal to take anything.

When the thieves saw the guards coming they quickly dumped all the

muscles into the ocean. The lifeguards told them that they couldn’t

take anything from the tide pools and they needed to use the bait

they brought. I told those guys that residents nearby use binoculars

and call the guards when they see things being taken.

Please call the lifeguard department if anyone sees this happen

because you will save creatures’ lives, and protect Laguna’s beaches

from further damage.

SAM WELLSFRY

Laguna Beach