HIV/AIDS FUNDING The City Council approved the...

HIV/AIDS FUNDING

The City Council approved the recommendation of the HIV Advisory

Committee on the allocation of direct services HIV/AIDS funds

totaling $8,000.

WHAT IT MEANS

The Laguna Beach Community Clinic will get $3,000. The funds will

be used exclusively to provide anonymous testing at the clinic, which

also offers HIV/AIDS education and outreach services to the

community.

AIDS Services Foundation, which was founded in Laguna Beach, will

get $1,500, to be used for the foundation’s Food Pantry program.

Other services include case management, information, referrals,

benefits counseling, practical assistance, community education and

support groups.

Aids Care Team in Our Neighborhood was awarded $1,500 to provided

nonsecular and nonjudgmental counseling and support for people with

AIDS.

Another $1,500 went to The Center Orange County to fund HIV/Aids

prevention services to the Latino community, including education,

prevention materials, workshops and street intervention at the Day

Labor job site on Laguna Canyon Road. The group also provides safe

sex kits to local bars.

A $500 allocation went to Shanti, to fund its Prevention for HIV

Positive program for people with AIDS. Laguna was dropped from the

name when the group moved out of town.

DIAMOND STREET WALL

The City Council unanimously rejected staff recommendations to

reject the one bid for the repair of the Diamond Street retaining

wall, to reevaluate the project for cost effectiveness and reopen the

bidding.

WHAT IT MEANS

The city will pay Peterson-Chase General Engineering Construction

Inc. $142,675 to repair the wall. The bid exceeded the engineer’s

estimate by $98,000 and was almost $9,000 higher than available funds

budgeted for the project.

Mayor Cheryl Kinsman wanted assurances that the lone bidder, who

has not previously been hired by the city, is qualified. The council

approval was contingent upon City Manager Ken Frank’s favorable

vetting of the company.

DECK THE TREES, DRAPE THE METERS

The City Council accepted a $15,300 donation from the Laguna Beach

Visitors and Conference Bureau, to bag Downtown on-street parking

meters from Dec. 17 to 24.

WHAT IT MEANS

Downtown trees will be lighted up for the holidays and parking

will be free.

“This will be a great way to end the year on a positive note,”

bureau President Karyn Philippsen said.

The city used to bag the meters at the request of the Chamber of

Commerce and ate the loss in revenue. However, in recent years the

chamber has opted instead to install lights on Downtown street trees,

which the city funds for $35,000

“It was a real heartbreaker when we had to choose between lighting

Downtown and bagging the meters,” Councilwoman Toni Iseman said.

ASSESSMENT DISTRICT

No property owner in the proposed Underground Utility Assessment

District 99-4 publicly opposed the project at the meeting, which was

an opportunity to submit comments and ballots.

Previous requests for re-evaluation of the assessments of

properties within the district were approved.

WHAT IT MEANS

Ballots will be counted and the results will announced at the Dec.

7 council meeting. Approval of the district requires only a simple

majority.

AGENDA SHORTENED

The regular agenda hearings didn’t begin until about 8:30 p.m.,

about two hours later than the usual time.

Five items on the agenda were continued due to the late start

following a report on watershed projects in South County by county

spokesman Larry B. McKenney, a tribute to outgoing Councilman Wayne

Baglin and a lengthy discussion on whether to cancel a scheduled

presentation on the relocation of the maintenance yard to Act V.

WHAT IT MEANS

An appeal of a project at 147 Agate St. and a city facilities

study will be reviewed Jan. 4 and a proposal to improve public access

to development plans going through the approval process will be heard

Jan. 18. A proposal to change the scope of a Downtown traffic and

parking study, a status report on a South Laguna parking lot will be

rescheduled for January.

An appeal of the approved conditional use permit, coastal

development permit and negative declaration of impacts for the South

Coast Medical Center Cancer Center was withdrawn.

* Compiled and written by Barbara Diamond