Former mayor’s passions revealed

BARBARA DIAMOND

Friends, family, admirers and colleagues of Councilwoman Cheryl

Kinsman gathered Feb. 4 to honor her contributions to the city during

her term as mayor in 2004.

“So many people came last year when Toni was honored that I was

afraid no one would come today,” Kinsman said. “This means a lot to

me.”

About 90 people attended the annual Laguna Beach Woman’s Club

Luncheon Honoring the Outgoing Mayor and Dessert Contest held Feb. 4

at the clubhouse on St. Ann’s Drive.

Been there. Done that. Former mayors Toni Iseman, Phyllis Sweeney,

Laguna’s first woman mayor, and Kathleen Blackburn and Mayor

Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider were there. Blackburn reprised her

tongue-in-cheek “Top 10,” which began a few annual luncheons ago with

“The Top 10 Things I Always Wanted to Say at A City Council Meeting

(but couldn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t).” This year it was the “Top 10

Ways You Know Cheryl Kinsman is Passionate about an Issue.”

You know Cheryl is passionate about:

10. Retaining the ambience of the Pottery Shack when she

commissions a life-size sculpture of her beloved dog, Storm, to adorn

the roof of the new building;

9. Children when rocket ships have been installed in every city

park in Laguna Beach, including Treasure Island;

8. Animal preservation when she submits an application to the

Design Review Board to build a large salt water swimming pool in her

office parking lot for rescued sea lions and their pups;

7. “Soup” on the first Friday night of the month, when she

announces that she is expanding it to Pancakes and Eggs on Monday

mornings;

6. Opposing an airport at El Toro when she is seen flogging Los

Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn, while he insists that his promotion of an El

Toro Airport is only a campaign strategy;

5. Improving the city’s financial health and computer systems when

she is constantly e-mailing Bill Gates, Alan Greenspan, Warren Buffet

and Steve Jobs and insists that the city manager throw away his

abacus;

4. Public parking, when Joshua and Nicholas (Kinsman’s sons) have

applied to be parking lot attendants at the new Corporate Yard/Act V

Parking Lot;

3. Bringing culture to Laguna Beach when she asks (Pacific

Symphony Orchestra Maestro) Carl St. Claire to write a symphony for

her next conducting appearance with the Community Band at the Artists

Theatre;

2. Her occupation as a certified public accountant when she

changes her birthday to April 15 and applies for a name change to

Cheryl CPA Kinsman;

1. Saving the hospital, when she signs up for the rock climbing

and repelling class on Half Dome on her annual trip to Yosemite, so

she can get herself down from the South Coast Medical Center tower.

Kinsman’s announcement at a City Council meeting that “Our

hospital isn’t leaving. I may be strapped onto the tower, but it’s

not leaving,” was delivered in her usual dry fashion, which may lead

observers to assume she doesn’t care as much about an issue as some

more dramatic speakers.

“I met Cheryl 18 years ago, when I was on the board of the North

Laguna Community Association,” Pearson Schneider said during a

biography of Kinsman. “She stormed into a meeting, upset by a hotel

being built on North Coast Highway.”

Kinsman owned a business near the project and joined the

association until she, and her husband and partner, Michael Kinsman,

moved the company to South Laguna.

“A couple of years later, I went on the Planning Commission and

two years later, I talked her into applying,” Pearson-Schneider said.

“She was appointed and we served for about six years, which included

the endless meetings on Montage.”

Kinsman was elected to the City Council in 2000, joined by

Pearson-Schneider in 2002, and re-elected in 2004.

“I am delighted to have her as my friend,” Pearson-Schneider said.

Kinsman comes by heritage to public service.

She was raised in Riverside, the fifth generation Brown in the

town. Her father served as mayor for three terms, her mother was a

school principal.

Kinsman’s two sisters, Susan Baltagi, a principal at a Riverside

Middle School, and Becky Westerdahl, introduced by Kinsman as a

professor of worms, attended the luncheon. Also seated with Kinsman

at the head table: family friends Corrine Law, Karyn Godfrey and Lee

Childress, founder with her late husband of the Macy Awards, the

Oscars of high school productions.

“Everyone in this room is special to me,” Kinsman said.

Becky Jones, who frequently disagrees with Kinsman’s votes but

considers herself a friend of long standing, offered to go with her

to pick out an outfit to wear to the luncheon. It hadn’t occurred to

Kinsman that she needed a new outfit, but she did perk up her black

pants outfit with a peach, velvet burnout scarf.

“I have never worn a scarf before in my life,” Kinsman said.

She bought the scarf on a trip to Paris -- at the airport, not at

couturier or even an atelier.

That’s Kinsman for you.

Among those honoring her with presentations, accolades or both:

Martha Lydick, president of the Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn.; Dennis

Myers, board member of the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce; Ilse

Lenschow, representing Laguna North community association ; Planning

Commissioner Anne Johnson and Peggy Ford, president of the woman’s

club.

Bree Burgess Rosen sang one of her clever vocal spoofs.

Veronica Nice chaired the luncheon, catered by Bobby Fader of

Tivoli Terrace and Too. Burgess and “Lagunatic” cast members Randy

Hatfield, Adam Hemming and Pam Plummer entertained.

Luncheon guests spanned the spectrum of Laguna’s diverse

population, including Laguna Canyon Foundation President Carolyn

Wood, Montage General Manager James Bermingham, Laguna Greenbelt Inc.

board member Marv Johnson, North Lagunan Art Casebeer, Festival of

Arts President Anita Mangels and Planning Commissioner Linda

Dietrich.

LEST WE FORGET; Winners of the Dessert Contest were Cathy Crumm’s

Chocolate Chambord Cake and Myers’ Almond Pear Tart.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 222 in the

Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949)

494-8979.