Council accepts Vision 2030 report

Laguna Beach Vision 2030 may not be 20/20, but it’s better than

waiting for hindsight.

“The vision may or may not change,” said John Thomas, who helped

streamline the Vision Planning Committee report from 333 to 51

recommendations. “The action items will change and some may never get

done.”

But a start was made Tuesday.

The City Council formally accepted the report of the Laguna Beach

Vision Committee, a blueprint for the city’s future that languished

in limbo for almost nine inexplicable months.

“Councilwoman Kinsman and I brought this item forward, and not a

minute too soon,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson said.

“I feel that the lack of council action until now was an affront

to the committee, to Paul Freeman’s efforts to move the project along

and to the public participants,” said Neil Fitzpatrick, former mayor

and vision process participant.

Former Councilman Paul Freeman proposed accepting the report at a

council meeting last year and thanking the committee. The council

voted that proposal down after Councilman Steven Dicterow said he

would be presenting his own proposal.

The committee submitted its refined summary report in June of 2002

with a recommendation to implement it. Many of the goals set by the

subcommittees have already been achieved. The rest will be

prioritized by the City Council and assigned to existing committees

or organizations that express interest in participating.

“We recommended that the council should set priorities,” Vision

2030 Steering Committee Chair Fred Droz said. “Some people in town

believe that monitoring should be done by a separate group. I believe

the council is on the right road, at last.”

Community activist Ann Christoph doesn’t share the opinion that

the council is on the right road.

“It is good that they accepted the report,” she said. “But now

that they have the recommendations, they should be institutionalized,

and projects that are brought forward should be evaluated for their

consistency with the recommendations in the same way projects are

evaluated with the general plan.

“We hope to put this on the April 1 agenda,” Kinsman said.

“Organizations that are interested in applying should contact council

members.”

The Vision Committee’s strategic plan contains seven elements:

community character, place, resident and visitor mobility,

environmental responsibility, arts and culture, economic

sustainability, and governance and civic participation. Each element

includes committee-recommended goals and actions.

Chamber President Ken Delino outlined some chamber goals and

accomplishments and said the chamber was interested in and capable of

taking the lead on the Economic Sustainability Element.

“Frankly, a lot of the recommendations in the plan have been

done,” Pearson said. “One of the goals ... is the creation of

affordable housing. Guess what? Construction is about to begin on

Glenneyre Street [affordable housing project]. Community character?

-- the Planning Commission wants a bite and could work with the

Design Review Board and the Heritage Committee.”

One fear about using existing committees is that it will

discourage new faces.

Kinsman said that people who are interested in participating in

the implementation stage should contact the lead organizations

selected by the council.

“Over 2,000 people participated in the visioning process,” said

Marion Jacobs, a member of the steering committee. “We expected to

move from planning to implementation with the City Council, city

staff and community groups collaborating. Vision 2030 was never

envisioned as solely grass roots.”

The committee report and some of the goals already accomplished

will be posted on the city Web site.

“I co-authored this item with Councilwoman Pearson because I

wanted to move forward with this,” Kinsman said. “As for this

approach versus the city taking control, others may differ, but

personally I like this approach.

“It’s better to have a lot more people working than just us.”

-- Barbara Diamond

Pooches get another chance at the parks

Pet owners have three months to clean up their act at Village

Green Park.

The City Council voted 3 to 1 on Tuesday to allow leashed dogs in

the park during a limited test period. Results will be reviewed.

Failure could lead to a ban on dogs in the little park.

Enforcement of public health laws will be increased at the park. A

bag dispenser will be installed, and signs will be posted advising

pet owners of their responsibilities and the consequences of avoiding

them.

The city’s Recreation Committee had recommended at its Feb. 3

meeting that the council ban dogs from the park starting June 1, when

expensive improvements are expected to be completed.

“We are investing a lot of money in that little park so kids can

run and play,” committee member Thasa Zuziak said.

Committee members said they had received complaints about dogs

running off-leash at Village Green and Lang parks. Staff received

three letters opposing the ban and four people spoke against the ban

at the committee meeting. No one spoke in favor of it.

“There are no strong feelings by the neighbors of Village Green

Park to close the park to dogs,” said the Rev. Colin Henderson.

“There are a few irresponsible dog owners, but a $100 fine really

focuses their attention quickly.”

“Law-abiding citizens are having their rights infringed on because

we make laws to control people who don’t give a damn about laws,”

Baglin said. “I am really hostile toward those individuals. I have

great disdain for them.”

Baglin said those people wouldn’t obey pet laws anyway and

responsible pet owners would be the losers. He opposed the

committee’s recommendation, but supported better enforcement of city

laws.

City staff recommended increasing enforcement as an alternative to

banning dogs from Village Green park and better signage at Lang Park.

“Maybe someone should take pictures of these people, and we could

post them on television before our meetings,” Councilwoman Elizabeth

Pearson said. “I agree we really should clamp down on offenders.”

Pet Responsibility Committee Inc. member Gen McMenomy said

enforcement works and everything possible should be done to keep

parks open for dog owners.

“If you legislate against dogs in parks, you are legislating

against people like me, who are responsible pet owners,” said

Catherine Hall, who brought her dog, Chloe, to the meeting.

Mayor Toni Iseman choked with laughter and put a smile on other

council members’ faces when she proposed DNA testing to accompany the

purchase of dog licenses for the purpose of identifying evidence left

by dog owners.

“I bet we see it in four or five years,” she said during a

five-minute break in the meeting.

Iseman supported the ban on dogs at Village Green Park.

“I think this is a kid’s park,” she said.

South Laguna resident Sita Helms, a member of the recreation

committee, said the park is mostly used by nannies and mothers.

“Once we put in $275,000 in improvements, we are going to have all

the kiddies in the neighborhood wanting to go to the park.” Helms

said.

Dr. Gene Atherton said a park ban on dogs would violate an

agreement reached years ago when gallery owner Richard Challis led a

parade of pet owners to protest to the City Council’s prohibition of

dogs on city beaches. The protesters paraded on Main Beach, and so

many of them showed up at the council meeting, it had to be moved to

the Artists Theatre on the Laguna Beach High School Campus.

“Any change in the agreement should be put to a vote of the

people,” Atherton said.

Subsequent attempts to curb locations where dogs may accompany

their owners have failed.

“I have been campaigning about this for 30 years,” Bruce Hopping

said.

South Laguna resident Rico Dogomel said the parks are the only

places in South Laguna to walk dogs. South Laguna beaches operated by

the county are closed to dogs.

“If you close the parks, you will just create more problems for

the streets,” Dogomel said. “We don’t close the beaches because

people come and leave messes.”

Dogs are allowed on city-maintained beaches at specific hours and

in public parks, except Bluebird Park.

Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman suggested the three-month trial period

and evaluation. She asked for a report from city gardeners on the

amount of waste created by dogs in the parks.

“I have two children and one dog,” she said. “The dog went to

school, at Lang Park, in fact. He didn’t do well. He failed.

“But there are dogs that passed. They are very well educated. We

have letters written by them to us. I think we should give their

owners one more chance.”

-- Barbara Diamond

Local arts groups plead for continued funding

Local arts groups said Tuesday that they expect cuts in city

grants, but they don’t want to be cut out all together.

“We know you have to make cuts, but make them across the board,”

said Cindy Prewitt, representing Laguna Live! “We don’t expect the

same as last year, but we want the same percentage.”

Community grant funding will be reduced from $240,000 to $170,00

in the next fiscal year, a result of the city’s new lease with the

Festival of Arts. City Manager Ken Frank asked the City Council to

think about encouraging arts and cultural groups to apply for funding

from the business improvement district rather than relying on

Community Assistance Fund in light of the reduced revenue.

Responding to pleas from arts and culture organizations, the

council voted 4 to 0 to continue to include funding them from the

Community Assistance Fund. Councilman Steven Dicterow was absent.

“While revenues in the Community Assistance Fund will decrease,

the funding for art agencies under the business improvement district

will escalate significantly because of the Montage Hotel,” Frank

said. “The city’s hotel taxes for the current fiscal year are

projected to be $3.7 million. If Montage generates $2.5 million

annually in bed taxes, there would be an increase of about 67% in

revenues for the business improvement district.”

The business district revenue comes from city hotel’s self-imposed

increase in bed taxes, to be allocated to art and cultural

organizations that bring tourists to town.

“Laguna Outreach Community Arts offers classes for three and four

year olds that don’t speak English,” Arts Commissioner Linda Dietrich

said. “They are not tourists.”

That means the program would not qualify for business district

funding.

The Community Assistance Fund is allocated annually by the council

to local groups that are not considered tourist serving.

Some groups are eligible for both funds.

“I urge you not to choose between heartstring and arts

organizations,” said Burgess Rosen, No Square Theatre artistic

director. “Both contribute to our quality of life.”

“I applaud the city manager for having the courage to bring this

forward,” City Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman said. “It is a more

fiscally responsible program. But I want the Community Assistance

Fund grants to continue as they have been.”

“If I have to choose, I will put the money into police, fire and

infrastructure,” Councilman Wayne Baglin said. “That is the city’s

responsibility. The other is nice when we can do it.

“There are no guarantees.”

-- Barbara Diamond

Laguna gets money for sewers

Laguna Beach will get another federal grant for sewer improvements

because of the efforts of Congressman Christopher Cox.

“Relatively few projects were funded this year,” City Manager Ken

Frank said Tuesday. “Ours was one of them. Congressman Cox made it a

personal effort this year, and I want to congratulate him.”

The $630,000 grant will be funded in the 2003 fiscal year Veterans

Affairs- Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. Cox wrote

a letter to the appropriation sub-committee chair, James Walsh,

asking his assistance in securing the grant for Laguna Beach.

Last year, Cox delivered a $900,000 federal grant to initiate

improvements on the antiquated sewer system.

“That is more than $1.5 million in two years,” Frank said.

The new grant will be funded through the Environmental Protection

Agency section of the VA-HUD appropriations bill, which was signed

into law by President Bush late last month.

-- Barbara Diamond

Skim contest planned for Saturday

Participants are sought or a skim contest on Saturday at West

Street.

Sign up at South Laguna Skate Shop, 31656 2nd St. (on Coast

Highway) by today or on beach on the day of contest.

For information, call 499-2680.