The joy that is Music in the...

The joy that is Music in the Park

There are so many wonderful reasons why we live in Laguna Beach.

One that tops my list is Music in the Park at Bluebird.

We look forward to those eight Sundays every summer where we can

picnic and enjoy music with other members of the community. It is an

experience that makes Laguna special. We get the opportunity to hear

some fabulous bands. We get to socialize with our neighbors and

friends. Our kids enjoy the camaraderie of being part of such a

wonderful community. My daughter asks every summer when the music is

going to start.

I am thankful to all the neighbors who have positively endured the

crowds for those eight Sundays. I think this is such a worthwhile

program and those of us who attend regularly thank you for your

patience.

I also want to thank the organizers and volunteers for Music in

the Park. They greet you at the park entrance with a smile and a warm

welcome. I hope this unique event continues for many years. It has

become a summer tradition in our family.

PEGGY WOLFF

Laguna Beach

Campaign ads went far too far

I’m writing in reference to the recent City Council campaigns of

Laguna Beach. First off, I feel that letters and ads run during the

campaign by supporters of Cheryl Kinsman were insulting at best and

defamatory and open to litigation at worst.

While I am a supporter of the First Amendment, I feel that certain

standards should be set by the news editors to insure that subsequent

campaign ads and articles should stick to the issues and not try to

slander their opponents with doctored up photos and innuendos. This

goes for the fliers, phone calls and other blatantly offensive

propaganda.

Wayne Baglin and Jane Egly spoke of their vision, their stands on

issues and how they would problem solve. No muckraking, just clarity,

which is the way the process should be.

NADINE NORDSTROM

Laguna Beach

All voices should be welcome

In some ways, local elections impact our personal quality of life

more than state and national votes. There must never be a taboo

against robust debate about the policy positions and character of

local candidates.

We disagree with those who call for a more sterile debate in which

meaningful criticism of candidates is whispered at cocktail parties

but never spoken openly. A great U.S. Supreme Court Justice once

wrote, “It is in the clash of opinion that freedom rings.” Laguna

Beach was long overdue for a real campaign in which people who do not

accept the status quo could challenge the political order in which

entrenched elites have grown far too comfortable.

The idea that the 2004 local elections were somehow below some

mythical historical standard of decorum has been expressed by several

prominent residents, arguing that local campaigns should be about

what candidates are for rather than what they are against. These

self-appointed arbiters of political correctness even suggest that it

is improper for ad hoc, spontaneous grass roots and business

coalitions to campaign against candidates.

We don’t submit to that kind of velvet gloved political

suppression in America. The idea that the candidates and entrenched

local organizations like Village Laguna and Laguna Beach Taxpayers

have a monopoly on the political debate is simply anti-democratic.

The idea that individual residents like us, business operators like

Arbitech or major players in the local community like Montage don’t

have the same right to try to influence local elections as any other

group is hypocrisy of the most arrogant kind.

We were aligned with no one, just a family taking a stand, but we

are glad to have stood with others who had the courage to rattle the

cages of the ruling regime. In a town with so many people frustrated

about how local government sometimes treats residents, don’t try to

tell us what we can or can not say in the exercise of our rights at

election time, and don’t talk about everyone working together and

being happy until you get that Design Review Board under control.

This election was just the beginning of a resurgence of a strong

commitment to individual rights that is more a part of Laguna’s true

heritage than the uptight, officious political culture of the City

Council in recent years.

HOWARD AND LURA HILLS

Laguna Beach

School district has issues to attend to

If a million dollars were spent on the artificial turf on the

Laguna Beach High School football field to save on water and

maintenance, why is there a new lawn on the hillside slope in front

of the school?

The architects and engineers’ designs, we think, have been faulty

in the past. The high school community pool was moved from the quad

to right next to a neighborhood. The design is incomplete; the sound

reverberates up into the surrounding neighborhood.

Have you seen the baseball field fence? It’s Ug- Ug- Ugggly. Also,

the new realignment of the field creates a potential for lawsuits.

The baseball diamond should have been left where it was.

When will the current $39-million bond that we are paying on be

paid off?

A sound barrier needs to be built around the pool. Examples can be

found in La Habra and at Fullerton’s Independence Park. Leave the

baseball field as it was or turn it into a campus and community park.

Please switch the high school fire alarm to “silent alarm” at the

Fire Department after hours.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District and the city of Laguna

Beach are responsible for creating, and allowing to be created, a

nuisance. This consists of traffic congestion, lack of parking,

disturbing the peace, view loss and trashing the neighborhood. They

have degraded our quality of life and lowered our property values.

The issues of pole noise, the baseball field fence and the false

alarms are negative impacts to the surrounding neighborhoods and

hundreds of homes overlooking the school. These must be corrected.

KIAYU SUN AND JOHN HINGUA

Laguna Beach

Tactics may result in worse deal

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t the City Council have a

modest proposal from HighPointe Communities for 15 to 20 lots on 16

acres with an offer to dedicate 228 acres for open space?

Didn’t the members put the developer through three-plus years of

Planning Commission and City Council hearings only to finally approve

a project that was not economically feasible (as the developer

continually stated throughout the process)?

I recall that the neighbors who opposed the project had concerns

about traffic, view corridors and privacy. I would suggest that they

now concern themselves with Plexiglas windows to save themselves from

the impending Titleists and Top Flites that threaten to be their new

neighbors.

Congratulations to the council members. Their stall tactics worked

on the small local businessman. Good luck with the Montage.

DAVID LANDES

San Diego

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