Mar Vista raises troubling questions

Our city council voted four to one (Toni Iseman in the minority) at the Jan. 10 meeting to move ahead with the Mar Vista Development Corporation’s plans to build a mansion that includes a 13-car garage at 31401 Mar Vista, in South Laguna.

This decision is troubling in the extreme for at least two reasons. First, that decision was made in the face of compelling evidence that the construction presents a health hazard to residents in the vicinity.

Second, that decision is indicative of how weak-kneed our city government is when choosing whether it will protect the citizenry or cave in to wealthy developers to fend off a lawsuit.

Regarding the health hazard, a report compiled by the planning center in Costa Mesa shows that the grading (excavating 22,600 cubic yards of soil) will exceed the South Coast Air Quality Management District standards with respect to nitrous oxides and PM-10 emissions (particulated matter released into the air during excavation).

Anyone with respiratory problems living near the construction zone and along the route of the dump trucks that will make over 2,000 trips in front of our homes will be affected by this aerial cloud of contaminants, including diesel fumes. (This is to say nothing of the safety of our children, the noise, and traffic congestion along our already clogged and narrow streets.)

Why are the council and city staff personnel so oblivious to these public-health concerns and yet so attentive to the developer’s wishes?

A related issue of even greater concern is that council’s green light for the Mar Vista project reflects poorly on the governance of our city. The clout that big moneyed developers have at City Hall is an open secret in our town. When this clout trumps the public will, and health and safety issues, as is the case with the Mar Vista Development Corporation, we are receiving a wake-up call. What we are witnessing is simply a microcosm of what is going on in Washington, D.C., with respect to the power of lobbyists. I have found it extremely difficult to gain access to our council members, except Toni Iseman.

Why doesn’t Steve Dicterow have e-mail access, and why no message machine for his phone number listed on the city’s website? These people are supposedly working for us, the citizenry. Yet the Mar Vista Development Corporation seems to have no trouble communicating with the appropriate parties at City Hall. An election is coming up; it’s time to elect candidates who are accessible to average voters and who will seek the public good -- especially when encountering moneyed resistance.

TOM OSBORNE

Laguna Beach

Minutemen don’t belong in parade

Having just read the article in the Coastline Pilot, “Parade Rejects Minutemen Entry,” I want to applaud Charles Quilter III, the spokesman for the Laguna Beach Patriots Day Parade Assn., for denying the entry of the Minutemen.

The Minutemen are an extremely political and divisive group that ascribe to vigilante tactics and racist agendas.

Our community is very diverse and the parade should be a way to bring us together rather than tearing us apart.

Jim Gilchrist is trying to use the parade to say he and his organization are patriots, when in fact they are discriminatory in their beliefs and politics.

They are exclusive as opposed to inclusive. They do not belong in the parade. Thank you Charles Quilter III and the Patriots Day Parade for denying their entry.

ANA MARIA PATINO

Laguna Beach

Dicterow not doing the job for voters

Mayor pro tem Steve Dicterow has joined Mayor Pearson-Schneider and Councilwoman Kinsman in their effort to change Laguna forever.

Dicterow has a widespread reputation for not returning phone calls, being out of town a lot, missing city council meetings, changing his mind after he’s voted on something and having no e-mail address.

He could do everyone a service by dropping out of the next city council election.

Does Dicterow, Mayor Pearson-Schneider and her friend, Councilwoman Kinsman, really care about the people of Laguna or have they been bought and paid for by developers, contractors and the Montage Hotel owners, the Athens Group?

How would you like a 17,000-square-foot house and a 15-car garage in your neighborhood?

“Enjoy the beach, if you can get to it,” was the headline of a recent news story describing Totuava Bay beach in south Laguna, which is a public beach but cannot be reached by locals.

Will the mayor and her sidekicks work with the county to accept an offer by the Coastal Conservancy in December of an assessment of the beaches and six-plus public stairways to the beach in south Laguna?

ROGER CARTER

Laguna Beach

Ticket turn-off

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The following was written to the Laguna Beach Police Department’s Parking Citation Management Office.

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, I received a parking ticket although I had time on the meter.

The digital reading on the meter indicated that I had two minutes left and the street side of the meter had a sign that read, “Stop.”

I then incredulously watched the meter go from two minutes to one minute to zero while the ticket on my car flapped in the ocean wind.

I stayed by my car to find the meter maid but had to leave as my four-month-old daughter, Sophia, and I had grown exasperated. When I settled down to read the ticket I learned that apparently I had not parked within the lines.

Perhaps the person in front of or in back of me had parked outside of the lines which caused me to park outside of the lines.

Otherwise why had this not been noticed prior to having 2 minutes left on the meter?

Now I feel unwelcome in Laguna and I want to feel great about going there every time.

I take my one-legged dog, Peg, only to the Laguna dog park because it clearly relaxes her.

I never complained, not even inside my head, when the meters were installed because my dog is worth it to me, clearly.

Kindly understand that if I was outside of the lines it was in no way an act of rebellion or disregard for such fundamental laws or their enforcers.

I am scared of police people and would never do anything to get in trouble.

Please rescind the ticket and absolve me.

Colette Christianson

Ladera Ranch