City does right by committee

It appears the city’s environmental committee will be getting back on its feet after all, following the loss of two key participants.

The group had been on shaky ground after less than six months in existence, having lost the venerable and articulate Arnold Hano, and learning it would soon lose its staff liaison, Craig Justice, who is moving on to other employment.

Left dangling, nervous committee members wrote a letter to the city manager pleading that they not be left without these key players.

The seven-member environmental committee is dedicated to handling issues that are among the most important to residents. It serves as a sounding-board for many watchdog groups that are keenly interested in the state of the city’s beaches, waterways, hills and canyons.

We’ve now learned that the city plans to fill Hano’s seat in November, when three other positions will be up for reappointment. And another excellent staff liaison ? albeit a temporary one ? has been found in David Shissler, who heads up the city’s water quality department.

This is good news not only for the committee, but the city’s efforts to halt the pollution of Aliso Creek.

The City Council is embarking on an ambitious long-range plan to clean up the notoriously polluted creek that empties onto the sand at Aliso Beach, and this committee will no doubt be helping to push the effort.

The city has five other council-appointed committees devoted to specific areas of inquiry: heritage; housing and human services; parking, traffic and circulation; recreation; and technology and communication (known as “tech/comm”).

The committees handle sensitive issues before they reach the boiling point. For instance, the housing and human services committee is looking into the touchy issue of second units (“granny flats”), a way to increase the “affordable” housing stock by allowing single-family residences to have separate apartment units, which nevertheless tends to inflame feelings.

The tech/comm committee is looking at ways to improve the city’s emergency communications system, as well as how to improve the sketchy radio reception in Laguna.

The city’s hard-working committees deserve all the assistance they need to do their jobs well.