OUR LAGUNA: Former Mayor Iseman gets rosy sendoff

Laguna Beach boasts of its talent pool and cherishes those who dive into community service.

Admirers of Toni Iseman jammed the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach on Feb. 1 for the annual luncheon to honor the outgoing mayor.

“You all wouldn’t be here if you didn’t love and admire Toni for all she has done for this community,” said City Clerk Martha Anderson, who chaired the luncheon.

Anderson read a list of 26 bills Iseman has introduced at the council meetings. Anderson gets to read the titles of the bills, which are sometimes longer than the council discussion on said bills.

“Toni, would you look at this room?” exclaimed Mayor Jane Egly. “It’s full.”

According to Egly, the filled room was a tribute to Iseman’s intelligence, doggedness and guts.

“It is all of the above and a thousand other reasons,” Egly said. “You have done us proud.”

Tributes at the luncheon were spiced with laughter.

“Toni has provided me with countless lyrics for ‘Lagunatics,’” said Bree Burgess Rosen, who founded the “roast of the coast.”

A sampling of her ode to Toni at the luncheon, sung to the tune of “My Funny Valentine:”

“Your agendas were so neat

And your mic technique was sweet

When you turned yours on to speak

You were smart.

“And don’t think you are through, Toni

Just because Jane Egly

Is our mayor now “” you must stay

You could be mayor again someday.”

Applause for Burgess Rosen’s was second only to the ovation for Iseman.

“My mother told me if I couldn’t say something nice, don’t say anything “” thank you,” Councilman Kelly Boyd said, but that was just for laughs.

Kidding on the square, Boyd said, “Tony and I have known each other since 1972 “” when both of us had different color hair.”

Kidding aside, he said, “I really enjoyed working with Toni on the Homeless Task Force. She stuck with what she believed in and so did I and we got a lot accomplished.”

Certainly one of, if not the biggest, accomplishments in which Iseman has participated during her years on the council was the compromise she hammered out with Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider, which resolved the relocation of the city’s maintenance yard that had divided the community.

It was Mayor Pro Tem Cheryl Kinsman who had the notion when she was mayor to appoint the terrific twosome to a sub-committee charged with working out a plan to move the yard and make way for a showcase Village Entrance that a majority of the residents and the business community would embrace “” not to mention the California Coastal Commission.

In those days, the council was divided. It still is on many issues. But there is a difference now.

“We can fight and that’s OK,” Kinsman said. “It didn’t used to be OK.”

Former Mayor Paul Freeman said he always knew the two women could forge a good relationship.

“I remember when I first suggested that Toni and Elizabeth might get along,” Freeman said.

That got a laugh from the audience “” reminiscent of the reaction of both women, Freeman said.

“Everyone knows that Toni and I don’t share a lot of political views,” Schneider said.

“I don’t think so” was her reaction when Freeman and Planning Commissioner Anne Johnson told her she had a lot in common with Iseman.

“But after I was elected to the council, Toni reached out to me. That is her way “” and we do have a lot in common.”

But that just sugar coats steely determination.

“Both of us like to get things done, and with the maintenance yard and the Village Entrance, we really did accomplish something,” Schneider said.

They also love to take trips together and are slated to visit Washington D.C. again in March with the League of California Cities.

They will be staying at their favorite hotel “” accommodations include luxurious baths, which they both enjoy after busy days visiting federal officials, which has been successful in the past.

“We lobbied Dianne Feinstein together,” said Schneider. “That worked.”

Yowza.

Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn. President Martha Lydick also had doubts about Iseman on the council.

“Toni and I have circled each other for years,” Lydick said. “Now we circle one another with a hug.”

Former Mayor Wayne Peterson, also more conservative than Iseman, said they have one thing in common “” they both come from the same little town in Nebraska.

“I want to thank you for all your work,” said Peterson, who hosted a meet and greet in Iseman’s last campaign.

Another Nebraska friend, Stephanie Lloyd, shared some of her remembrances of Iseman, including early indications of her leadership abilities as a high school and college cheer leader.

“You haven’t seen anything until you have seen her wave her pompoms,” Anderson said.

Iseman, backed by Lloyd and Schneider, demonstrated her technique, which included high kicks “” giving the audience quite a kick.

On a more serious note, Dave Schaar recollected driving down Laguna Canyon Road early in the morning to work and being inspired by Burma-Shave-like signs decrying approved development in the canyon. Those sign were put up by “The Phantom,” only last year publicly identified as Iseman.

“We all should be thankful that Toni doesn’t listen to me,” Laguna Canyon Conservancy President Carolyn Wood said.

When Iseman told Wood she was considering running for council, Wood responded, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Nope.

“If I hadn’t run for council, I probably wouldn’t have known most of you here,” Iseman said, “I would recommend to anyone wondering how I can stand the grief “” just look at this room.”

Deborah Lambros and Lorraine Mullen-Kress presented Iseman with a personalized T-shirt and announced they had just negotiated a loan for a condo for Bob the Cat, who shares his Woods Cove home with Iseman and Steve Miller. Bob has gotten on a lot of mailing lists since his home phone number became known.

Iseman wound up the luncheon with thanks to everyone who attended and a few that couldn’t “” the late Dave and Evelyn Munro, Don and Roma Rose, Alice Graves and Carol Thompson. She gave a special nod to her political hero, Jeannie Bernstein, and to Anderson for her splendid organization of the luncheon

Anderson credited her committee: Johnson, Peggy Ford, Kimberly Salter, Gayle Waite, Karen Godfrey and Lee Winocur Field.

The luncheon was catered by Sundried Tomato. Guitarist John Heussenstamm entertained.

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 22 in the Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.