Mailbag: Proud to be a Laguna Canyon resident

I must say, David Hansen, that your recent column was quite confusing. (Re. “Canyon is its own world,” Sept. 30)

I am a bona fide canyon kid and have called it my home for 22 years. Laguna Canyon is the only home I have ever known. Your column pulled together random aspects about the canyon community while drawing similarities to a conglomeration of mostly negative stereotypical images of America.

Assuming that you’ve never been a resident of the Laguna Canyon and seeing as I have been one all my life, allow me to clear up your fear-driven impressions of this rarity.

That eyesore “scrappy open space” you mention in your opening is the precious result of hardworking local environmentalists, as well as some 8,000 Laguna residents, who resisted, marched and fought to keep it just that way. Thank God it is undeveloped.

Those untouched lands are a defining characteristic of the beauty of Laguna Beach that not only serve as a small, yet much-appreciated, home for our local wildlife friends, but also serve as a place to find peace of mind for many trailgoers.

When I take my trail run down the Woods Canyon beginning from Top of the World, I look to my front and to my right and all I see is sprawling suburbia. I gag a little.

I look to my left and all I see is natural landscape, those lovely rolling hills whose simple presence fills my heart with warmth. In that moment, I so love that I come from a place where people made sure we took a different path than Aliso Viejo or Irvine.

Another curious noteworthy part of your article draws an inappropriate similarity of the canyon to Appalachia. This is not to say that Appalachia is not valuable or that its people are any higher or lower than people of Laguna, just to say they are culturally not the same.

If by your comparison you mean to hint that the canyon is a poor area of Laguna, again I disagree. Sure, most canyon residents don’t have an ocean view or Lamborghinis in their driveways; its residents are of a, more or less, middle-class income. I find that canyon folk live happy lives and love their homes and appreciate their families.

In any case, poverty is only a condition of your mind anyway; you are not your money.

Hansen, why the mention of Langlois Fancy Frozen Food Inc.? As if feeding inmates were a bad thing. It’s as though you were trying to make it seem like canyon people support or sympathize with the lowlife bottom-feeders of society who don’t deserve a decent meal in some way. If our crime is that we feed inmates — people who have simply forgotten their purpose in life for a time — too good a meal by your standards, then that is a reflection of your lack of compassion and not of our mismanagement of food or poor judgment.

One reoccurring theme I’m seeing is a sense of fear of the canyon in general. You reference it as being a “dark woods,” yet this is a Mediterranean bioregion.

You also claimed it to be a place that an adventurous person might even be “afraid” of, as if Laguna’s wilderness were as remote as that which is depicted in the movie “Deliverance.” Why the fear of nature?

If that weren’t enough, you say that if it were in another state it would be the type of place you’d want to carry a gun. This statement is downright sad.

Laguna Beach is a pretty safe place compared to the rest of America. I have never experienced any type of violence against me in my whole life here in the canyon.

I know what a gem Laguna Canyon is. I know it’s the best part of Laguna. I love my home. I do not fear the place I live, and I am thankful because that has become almost a privilege nowadays.

So what have you done, Hansen? What is your point? Your words do nothing for my community.

This is like a bad joke that was kind of meant to make you feel good (maybe) and that really just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

What you’ve really done is attack our beautiful countryside and canyon community while creating a negative impression of us. The canyon is really the Laguna of yesterday, a warming reminder of who we’ve come from: incredible talented artists and small-business owners who are still the theme that brings revenue, provides services to the locals and earns Laguna a lot of its pride.

I agree that you may take the canyon for granted, but I really think you missed the boat on this one.

Charlotte Young

Laguna Beach

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Obama’s jobs bill desperately needed

We are in a state of crisis, the American people are getting desperate, while the government holds jobs and opportunity from good, law-abiding, hardworking people with families to feed. How can we get Congress to see that this bill is the most urgent we are facing now?

Amana Nova

Laguna Beach

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Support for effort to make change in Laguna

In response to Dave Connell’s letter regarding the “watered-down view preservation ordinance,” (Re. Mailbag: “Fight for views could have used some help,” Sept. 30): I believe he was a bit too generous in his treatment of the “well-known organization” that opposed his group’s efforts. The City Council need look no further than the end of its noses to find the spoilers involved whom we continue to elect year after year.

I salute Connell’s efforts to actually do something. I was not here in 1992 and recently became aware that there was a “hedge height claim process.” I apologize for my lack of civic acuity with regard to this poorly cobbled-up ordinance.

In regard to the “process” document and Zoning Ordinance Section 25.50.012, if these documents are to be considered legally enforced guidelines, why do those who seek protection from their neighborhood recluses under this document have to first pay $680 for justice?

Worse than that, if you have presented a righteous argument and win your cause, you are rewarded by getting only one half of your money back. Then, if said neighbor drags his feet for 30 days and does nothing, he will suffer punishment under the frightening Municipal Code 7.24.

I suspect that if he is a known council political supporters and has disdain for those who down little green things, nothing will be done. So the Laguna beat drags on.

You have been fighting this fiasco since 1992. God bless you, Connell, and count me on your side.

J.W. Herdeg

Laguna Beach