Ads on school fields debated

Emotions boiled over as homeowners near Laguna Beach High School called for an end to advertising banners on the baseball field at Thursday’s school board meeting during a public hearing on commercial advertising policies at district sites.

The board is planning to revamp its policy on advertising in the near future, and such changes would affect all commercial advertising on district property, board members Jan Vickers and El Hathaway told the assemblage.

Of primary concern to the majority of the attendees were the advertising banners at the school’s baseball field, which are sold to local businesses to benefit the baseball program.

But not all attendees had sports at the forefront of their thoughts.

The high school’s newspaper advisor, Angela Balanag, asked whether advertisements in student publications would be banned.

Board president Robert Whelan asked each of the district’s principals to submit a memo regarding their own school’s signage issues so that they may be taken into account when the policy is modified in the future.

Neighbors of the high school took the opportunity to speak out against the field banners, which they say have ruined their ocean views — and property values.

Rick George noted that when the banners were removed at the end of the last school year, visibility was improved considerably.

“Maybe the board would like to sit in my yard for a couple weeks,” he said.

Steven and Jamie Crawford spoke out against the baseball signage. Jamie called it “frightfully unattractive,” and both said that their property values have decreased due to the signage and fences that have been put up.

She also asked if there was a way to ensure in perpetuity that the banners would remain down, to which Vickers responded that any measures the board takes could be changed or repealed by future boards.

“I have no more patience,” Steven Crawford said. “I plead with you, do not let us lose more value by cheapening the neighborhood.”

Other neighbors backed up the Crawfords’ complaints.

Kathleen Mendivil called the banners “junky and trashy,” saying that there should be another avenue for the team to raise money.

Parent boosters begged the board to keep the money-raising banner program intact.

Wendy Pierce, the high school baseball boosters president, implored the board not to ban the banners. She noted that the banners raise, on average, $10,000 a year for the school’s baseball programs — a substantial portion of the boosters’ $25,000 operating budget.

“As parents, our hands are tied,” she said.

Alex Shusko, treasurer of the baseball boosters, confirmed that the banner sales represented 40% of last year’s budget.

“They [field banners] are not unique to Laguna,” he said. “They’re just part of the program.” He also said that, as a purchaser of one of the banners, he did not find them to be “junky or trashy.”

PTA Council President Thasa Zuziak asked whether the Plexiglas water polo balls that are sold to students’ families at the end of each school year were to be included in the potential ban.

“This would wipe us out,” she added.

Hathaway told the boosters that there is additional funding available for school teams, adding that the amount of money that parents have to come up with is unfair.

George, and Steven Crawford, also took the opportunity to complain about the trash created by students at the burger truck that served dinner during the first football game of the season.

Crawford said that the area around the truck “looked like a swap meet,” adding to Facilities Director Eric Jetta, “Eric, you can expect a call from me every Saturday morning.”

High School Principal Don Austin told the board that he had spoken with the Crawfords earlier and promised to improve trash cleanup after games.

Board Clerk Betsy Jenkins said that the school had contracted for food service at three games on a trial basis.