Pottery Shack site needs more spaces In...

Pottery Shack site needs more spaces

In response to your question regarding allowing the reduction of

parking spaces at the Pottery Shack: Absolutely not.

In fact, as the usage of the site will be dramatically increased,

they should be required to have more rather than fewer spaces.

If you were to talk to anyone who lives in the neighborhoods

surrounding the now closed Pottery Shack you would hear a collective

cry of “What could they be thinking?”

Our wonderful residential streets are already seriously

overcrowded with parked cars belonging, not to residents, but

employees and patrons of the businesses near the area.

The former Pottery Shack site could certainly use a face lift, but

without ample on-site parking, it will be at the expense of a severe

negative impact on the quality of life of myself and my neighbors who

are long-time taxpaying citizens of this city.

N. VON BARGEN

Laguna Beach

As if the arrogant demands of the Pottery Shack crowd for a 75%

reduction in parking space requirements were not already sufficiently

outrageous, now comes the recommendation by Gene Felder that Cress

Street be made one-way with diagonal striping to provide more

parking.

For Felder’s information, the intersection of Cress Street with

Coast Highway has traffic lights, and is therefore used by the

hundreds of residents of Cress Street and Bluebird Canyon for access

to the Coast Highway.

Cress Street is used west bound by people on their way to work and

east bound in the evening on their way home. The absurd notion of

making it one-way clearly demonstrates how far greedy people will go

in trying to circumvent legitimate city planning requirements at the

cost of everyone else.

MANFRED E. WOLFF

Laguna Beach

Memorial was community effort

Thank you, Laguna, for helping us memorialize Max Sadler and Mark

Tiner.

Last Friday’s memorial service might have overwhelmed our church,

had not the wonderful community of Laguna Beach once again rallied in

a remarkable effort of compassion and care.

A big “Thank You” to Sgt. Jason Kravetz and fellow officers of our

Laguna Beach Police Traffic Division for their planning and patience

in helping more than 1,500 people navigate and park to attend the

service.

The thoughtfulness of the staff of Laguna Beach High School in

asking their students and families to park there and walk to the

church was truly appreciated. Thank you to the young Boy Scouts (and

moms) who firmly and politely monitored our small parking lot for the

immediate families. The generosity of Albertsons, Gelson’s and Ralphs

helped us provide enough refreshments for those who remained to visit

and console.

Our deacons had provided dozens of cookies and gallons of punch

and coffee, but many other friends, neighbors, and strangers called

to ask what they could do and many more just showed up with food and

hands to help. Thank you all.

The outpouring of love and assistance in this tragedy is a

testament to the wonderful people of Laguna Beach. May God bless each

one of you.

DR. JERRY TANKERSLEY

DR. STEVE SWEET

TONY TOTH,

junior high director

and the staff

Laguna Presbyterian Church

Two more cheers for Dan Huston

Dan, just want you to know, you can count on two more votes. A

Downtown parking garage in another 80 years or so, sounds great to

me.

BETTY MILLER

Laguna Beach

Long-standing sign deserves a break

Design review is an absolute mess. Indecisions about the

corporation yard has dragged on for years, the city has all the

street trees trimmed in the spring (the tree outside my office just

lost a family of humming birds).

Raising parking fees makes one want to spit. The city waits for

the hottest days to repair the street, just when we open all our

windows to capture all the noise, dust and smells. On Ocean Avenue,

the city is trying to squeeze another car space for more revenue. The

city is playing location games with the skateboard park.

Do you want to hear the latest? The City Council has changed the

neon sign ordinance. Now to get one’s existing sign approved by the

Planning Commission you have to pay a fee of $250. Where do they come

up with these ideas. It’s all so appropriate. Does the Planning

Commission need something to do or does the city need the bucks or

both?

In my case I’ve had my two-square-foot sign for 24 years in the

same location (inside, 10 feet away from the window) and it legally

meets all the requirements of size, color, artistry, etc.

In my way of thinking, I should be grandfathered in: “No fees Jim!

You have served on the Parking and Traffic Circulation and the Arts

commissions two terms each. You have been in the architectural

business for 35 years, the sign is nice and deserves a place in this

artistic town.”

Not!

Everybody that meets the requirements should not be charged.

I think I paid $200 for the sign to be made so this is a slap in

the face. Actually, the city reduced the fee to $50 after I

complained. That’s OK. Any fee is a slap in the face, but that’s the

way the city works. I’ll take it down and I’ll steal away into the

night.

JIM LASHLEY

Laguna Beach

City can take lead in tide pool protection

A state-designated “marine garden” in Yachats, Ore. has been dying

over the last decade. The sea stars, urchins, anemones and hermit

crabs are gone from almost two miles of tide pools. All visitors see

now is a sign showing what once lived there.

Further north, at the Yaquina Head tide pools near Newport, Ore.,

some areas are being closed and, at other areas, visitors are being

restricted because of too much human traffic and tampering.

Closer to home, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said last Friday that

the state and federal governments must do more to protect the ocean

and coastal waters writing “that our oceans are in trouble and in

need of help.” His spokesperson commented: “The governor feels very

strongly that there needs to be renewed focus on the oceans.”

Laguna Beach is admirably situated to take the lead in such an

effort. Having only recently adopted a resolution urging the governor

to enforce California’s Marine Life Protection Act, the City Council

has gone on record acknowledging that we can no longer ignore that

which we have all taken for granted for so long.

Laguna is at a crossroads. We can take action to protect our very

own natural marine aquarium or lose the tide pools completely to

signs showing what once was.

Effective enforcement is one key to preventing of the decimation

of tide pool life. Unfortunately, the Marine Safety Department does

not currently have the resources to divert manpower to full-time

enforcement activities.

Education is another key. Any visitor to the city is only

minimally made aware of the Marine Ecological Preserve status of the

tide pools. Bus loads of school children visit with little or no

guidance. While our new signs are a wonderful addition and our

Tidewater Docents do an admirable job, we need to do more.

What can we do? For starters, residents can two things:

All Laguna citizens and businesses should become proactive about

our Bluebelt and begin advising visitors that they are welcome to

come and admire, but are asked to protect and respect our fragile

tide pools.

All Laguna citizens should contact the City Council and express

support for the funding of a new full-time position in the Marine

Safety Department when they adopt the budget on June 15.

This lifeguard would have specific responsibility for enforcement,

with full ticketing authority, of tide pool and other marine life

violations. This individual would also administer a new school visit

registration program similar to those of other neighboring coastal

cities. Under such a program, schools would schedule their visits and

receive helpful educational information. With such advance warning,

Ocean Laguna’s volunteer Tidewater Docents can be available to act as

guides.

Laguna Beach is one step away from taking the lead in ocean

sustainability through enforcement and public education. We have

protected our canyon; now let us take steps to protect our other open

space -- our Bluebelt -- our ocean tide pool aquarium.

LOUISE THORNTON

Laguna Beach

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