Mailbag: School district taking back promise to share

Re: “District wants shorter joint use for pool,” Coastline Pilot, Nov. 15.

Our Laguna Beach Unified School District board is at it again, revising history and ignoring commitments made to the community.

I sat on the oversight committee during the taxpayer-subsidized rebuilding of the high school, when officials promised that residents could use the track for walking and jogging, and the Artist Theater would be shared with the community as well.

Now they have the magnificent school and are reneging on their promises.

They have tried to keep the residents from using the track, saying it was dangerous to the students to have the people who paid the bill — strangers — use the track. The Artist Theater is not available for public use, and now officials want to keep the public from using the pool. Instead of cutting the 10-year agreement to five years, they should extend it to perpetuity along with the track and theater.

I hope that future residents remember that the next time the board comes hat in hand, say no to any more taxes or bonds.

Martha Lydick

Laguna Beach

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Proud of our leaders and residents

Congratulations are in order for all of Laguna.

The Village Entrance Workshop on Tuesday was democracy at work. Our residents participated and our City Council listened and carried out the will of the people.

It is a courageous and wise politician who is able to put personal desires aside to enact the will of the people, and for this I honor each of them.

The parking structure is gone, we will beautify the Village Entrance with no debt, and we have set the stage for respectful, meaningful collaboration with our City Council in the future. As we take down our signs, let us lift up our spirits and open our hearts to the healing of our city.

Now we can once again be unified and be Laguna at our best.

Rita Conn

Laguna Beach

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A community Thanksgiving

Every holiday has its distinctive Laguna flavor. Christmas and Hanukkah are religious family holidays. (People may claim not to be religious, but church attendance is always up.)

The best community holidays are surely Patriots Day and the 4th of July, when Laguna neighbors watch each other march in the parade and sit together at the beach to watch the fireworks.

Thanksgiving in Laguna has a little of both, and especially at the Neighborhood Congregational Church at noon on Thursday.

Some 500 to 700 meals made up of turkey, potatoes and gravy, side dishes and desserts — specially donated for the event — will be served. Volunteers come every year to help put up tables and chairs, and decorate the hall.

Dishes are spread out in a buffet, while people in the kitchen carve more than 20 turkeys. A little later, a dozen people will be in the small room off the main hall, putting up brown-bag lunches of turkey sandwiches, drinks and desserts for people to take as they leave the hall.

It’s not a soup kitchen. The homeless are there, but so are families that come and help set up. All of us serve ourselves and sit down and eat together.

A number of single older people also come because they have nowhere else to go, or no plans until later in the day. We give thanks at noon for the gift of food, but also for this wonderful gift of community, for all the people who have shared generously each year of their time and food.

If there is a holiday that symbolizes the best spirit of Laguna, it has to be the Thanksgiving NCC potluck.

David Peck

Laguna Beach

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Cost to artist is important factor

Re: “Planners postpone work-live decision,” Coastline Pilot, Nov. 15.

Simply, drilled down, what would be the cost to the artist if this proposal meets fruition and there are spaces to occupy?

At the end of the day, transparency on costs would help.

Laura Page Wolf

Laguna Beach