I knew something strange was going on...

I knew something strange was going on

Thank you Barbara Diamond for your Our Laguna expose, “Plenty of

room to complain,” (Coastline Pilot, July 30). I had thought it was

me or maybe the new car I got in May.

But you give concrete (asphalt?) proof that it’s not just me or my

car. It’s the free-form relining of the spaces.

BOBBI COX

Laguna Beach

Are the parking spaces along Ocean and Forest avenues at their

original location? Yes, they are. Are they narrower than they were

before? Yes, they are, and here is why.

The angle has changed, making them narrower. The locations of the

end of the stripes at the curb are fixed. Making the angle relative

to the curb more acute narrows the distance between the parallel

lines.

This can easily be tested by attaching two strings to any straight

line and moving the loose ends of the strings and by keeping the

strings parallel to each other. The closer the loose ends of the

strings come to the straight line projected by the two fixed points

of the string, the narrower the space becomes between the strings.

Try it, and you will find that the city is right in their

assertion that the locations of the parking spaces have not changed.

But the city is wrong in claiming that their widths have not changed.

A re-striping to the old configuration would be necessary to widen

the spaces to their former size.

PETER WEISBROD

Laguna Beach

Hanauer put on quite a show for council

Whatever one thinks about the parking issues associated with the

Pottery Shack, one cannot help but be impressed by the performance of

Joe Hanauer -- the developer of the Shack. Through a combination of

bluster and charm, and helped by the lateness of the hour, Hanauer

artfully maneuvered a majority of the council into supporting what he

was requesting. That decision was not at all certain.

There was a discussion of the significant parking problems already

in the area, and there was sympathy expressed for the way these

problems would be exacerbated by this project. Finally, there was

talk of sending the project back to the Planning Commission with

instructions to require from four to 10 more parking spaces.

After threats characterized as “a reality” that his proposal was

the best the city could hope for, Hanauer then agreed that he could

perhaps squeeze out a few more spaces. But by the time the council

figured out that the concessions he would require in the way of

additional square footage left them worse off than his original

proposal, gone were any ideas of sending the project back to have

others work out a better deal. It was the council’s turn to

capitulate and give Hanauer what he wanted, all the while apologizing

to the neighbors for stepping aside and making an already horrendous

parking problem much worse.

Bravo Hanauer. It was truly an award winning performance.

ANNETTE STEPHENS

Laguna Beach

ACT V move isn’t a solution

I attended the recent Costal Commission hearing on the use of ACT

V for parking or for use as a corporate yard.

Mayor Cheryl Kinsman argued in favor of moving the corporate yard

into the ACT V parking lot.

This is an extremely expensive short-term solution to the Downtown

parking problem. The real solution is the Village Entrance project,

that will provide more parking plus a greatly enhanced visual

entrance.

The Village Entrance provides parking where we need it, near

shopping, the beach, the festivals and the playhouse. To spend

millions of dollars for a temporary solution does not make sense.

It also does not make sense to put a large industrial building, a

gas station and a truck maintenance yard into a greenbelt area.

Several years ago the voters of Laguna Beach voted approval of $20

million to buy open space in the canyon. This space is now preserved

as parkland. So why is the mayor wanting to move an industrial use

into a greenbelt area? The fine print on her plan also approves the

bull dozing of an additional three acres of native plants for “fuel

modification.” You wouldn’t want a fire to come too close to your gas

station or new buildings.

It seems to me that business people and residents would not want

to waste money on a temporary solution of moving the corporate yard

(or part of the corporate yard) into a greenbelt area.

If they really want the Village Entrance project to move ahead for

a real parking solution they must not re-elect Cheryl Kinsman to City

Council in November because the council is now split 3 to 2 and it

only takes one more vote on the council to stop this inefficient

move.

Personally, I’m supporting Jane Egly.

EDWARD FRY

Laguna Beach

A 10-year-old could understand that you don’t move the Corporate

Yard from its present location to 1.5 miles out of town for 60 buses

and trucks to clog Laguna Canyon Road coming and going daily while

200 more cars come in to town instead of staying at gravel parking in

ACT V.

Mayor Cheryl Kinsmen and Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson and

businesses want closer parking and a Newport Beach-pretty city

entrance.

Guess what. Tourists come to see our ocean. Laguna Canyon Road

washes to the beach with every heavy rainfall. Lets add a wrecked

canyon at ACT V with a gas pump, asphalt instead of gravel and 60

buses and trucks to insure the junk hits Laguna Canyon Road and

further kills our ocean ecosystem.

For those of you who never get your toes wet, it’s dying out

there. The Corporate Yard can be refurbished where it is with parking

on top and save the taxpayers millions of dollars.

For those of you who don’t want to walk to our Downtown, we have

buses. If you care about the old Laguna, get Pearson and Kinsman off

the City Council.

MARNI MAGDA

Laguna Beach

We have been told that Mayor Cheryl Kinsman’s proposal to spend $5

million to move the Corporation Yard to the ACT V peripheral parking

lot has been studied to death. This despite the fact that the city

has failed to annex the lot, purchased in 1996, into the city and has

not prepared an environmental report which would address alternatives

such as a Village Entrance parking structure and such items as water

quality, traffic, etc.

At the recent Republican Club meeting, Councilwoman Elizabeth

Pearson said that the City Council did not annex the lot, as they

wanted to expedite the project. This should be a lesson to those who

cut corners that the results often are inferior while causing delays.

There are some things we could do immediately and gain additional

parking near Downtown:

* Move city trucks and park off-site opening up parking spaces at

parking lot adjacent to City Hall

* Require employees to pay to park there, but obtain free parking

at the Laguna College of Art and Design

* Provide merchant employee parking for free at Laguna College of

Art and Design

* Greatly increase enforcement of merchant employees parking

Downtown including in front of their own businesses

* Allow residents with parking stickers to park in parking lot

adjacent to City Hall

* Require Post Office to allow residents with parking stickers to

park in Post Office parking lot

* Stripe parallel parking spaces on Glenneyre Street reducing

traffic lanes to one lane in each direction

These parking spaces could be available tomorrow (or very quickly)

if the City Council would only act.

GENE FELDER

Laguna Beach

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