City extends Business Improvement District

Barbara Diamond

UP FOR BID

The Council voted Tuesday to extend the Business Improvement

District for another year.

No objections were raised during the mandated protest period by

hotel or motel owners, who voluntarily tacked on an additional 2% to

the Transient Occupancy Tax, better known as bed tax.

“This is a self-imposed tax,” said Councilman Steve Dicterow.

“They have determined it is to their benefit and they want it to

continue.”

Except for the 2% BID-specific funds, bed tax stays in the city

coffers. It is not subject to state raids, making it one of City

Manager Ken Frank’s favorite revenue sources. The city acts as a

conduit for the BID funds.

The intent of the BID is to fund activities that promote tourism

and related tourist events, which benefit the hotel and motel

businesses in town.

A total of $1.23 million was disbursed in the current fiscal year,

with $615,000 allocated to the Laguna Beach Visitors Bureau; $123,000

each to the Laguna College of Art & Design, Laguna Playhouse, Laguna

Art Museum and Laguna Beach Arts Commission programs.

Community arts organizations split the fifth $123,000 allotment,

ranging from $1,000 to the Festival of Arts that funded an audio tour

of the exhibits to $19,000 to Laguna Beach Alliance for the Arts,

which used the funds to publish a quarterly, four-color calendar

listing cultural events in Laguna.

Next year’s assessment is presumed to be the same or a bit better,

depending on occupancy rates.

“The public needs to know that none of this money comes out of

city taxes,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson. “I applaud the

efforts of the people who receive this money on how well they spend

it on marketing Laguna Beach. And I want to thank (former councilman)

Paul Freeman, (visitors bureau president) Karen Phylippsen, (Hotel

Laguna owner) Claes Anderson and (arts supporter) Sam Goldstein.”

Those four hammered out the format of the BID in 2001 before

presenting it to the council for approval.

An advisory board was created, consisting of the sitting mayor and

mayor pro tem, the city manager and four members appointed by the

visitors bureau. State law requires an annual report, which was

presented Tuesday to the council.

BELLY UP TO THE BAR

The Saloon in Peppertree Lane will celebrate its grand reopening

from 5 to 9 p.m., May 30 and 31.

“It been my lifelong dream to own a saloon,” said new owner,

Michael Byrne. “If I could have picked the perfect one, it would have

been this one.”

The two-day reopening celebration will benefit the Laguna Beach

High School Drama Department on Sunday and the Laguna Playhouse on

Monday. A $10 donation will get customers two drinks and finger food

prepared by Partners Bistro.

Byrne plans to make no dramatic changes in the saloon. He has

refinished the bar,, which will stay belly up -- no stools. He may

put higher seating and tables at the window.

“The bar has never looked so good,” said Peppertree Lane property

manager Katy Moss, Byrne’s close friend.

In fact, Moss preserved the “Saloon” name for him. It was up for

grabs when Moss filed for rights tot he name, which she later

abandoned in Byrne’s favor.

Byrne has been a resident of Laguna off and on since the

mid-1980s. His sister, Mary Rowe, a hat and interior designer, owns

the Cecile Brunner shop at the Romona entrance to Peppertree Lane.

Charlie Barr owned the Saloon for 23 years. Michaeleen Crawford

managed it.

WORLDLY TREASURE

Laguna Beach residents Maria and Casey Reichel will introduce a

new look and array of products June 4 to 6 at World Treasures Gallery

at 176 S. Coast Highway.

Customers who sign up for a mailing list will be given a 10%

discount during the weekend, which is a celebration of the Reichels’

recent purchase of the gallery. Live music and refreshments will be

offered at a special reception to be held from 6 to 9 p.m., during

First Thursday Art Walk, June 3.

Regular store hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily except Tuesday.

Special events are planned in conjunction with the monthly art

walks to educate the public about the art on display at the gallery

and the cultures that created them. Events will include a tasting of

Central American mountain-grown coffee, a demonstration of Oaxacan

woodcarving and talk on Native American pottery-making.

Visit www.worldtreasuresgallery.com for schedules.

The Reichels plan add more artists, more contemporary designs with

a wider price range to the colorful pottery from the Amazon,

contemporary Shona sculpture and furniture build from woods salvaged

from South African railways and Brazilian sugar mills that have drawn

customers to the gallery for the past five years.

“We are committed to working with the artists we represent and

believe in the social good that comes from helping talented artisans

bring their work to the U. S.,” Maria Reichel said. “World Treasures

is a natural extension of our passion for art, travel and world

cultures.”

Maria Reichel grew up in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. She is a

graduate of Columbia University in New York City, where she studied

engineering. She said living in New York was her art education, .

Casey Reichel is a Southern California native, a graduate of the

University of Michigan.

They met at a corporate event for the management consulting

company for which they worked. They married in 2002 in Nicaragua and

moved to Laguna Beach in September.

For more information, call (949) 376-8176.

* DOING BUSINESS is a periodic feature of the Laguna Beach

Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Mail to Barbara Diamond,

P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652; fax to (949) 494-8979;

hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22; or call (949) 494-4321.