Mailbag: Creation of task force was good council move
Congratulations to the City Council. The Laguna Canyon Road Task Force was designed to bring a representative cross section of the community together to address the future of the main entrance to Laguna Beach and Laguna Canyon Road.
The council spent about $100,000 educating the task force members on the pros and cons of each.
The consultants who were hired discovered that 60% of the vehicle trips on Laguna Canyon Road neither originate nor terminate in Laguna Beach. In other words, these drivers are just driving through the city on the way to somewhere else. Making Laguna Canyon Road less congested and faster would only attract more pass-through traffic.
I hope we will work with the Toll Road Agency and Caltrans to determine and eliminate the obstacles that cause drivers to come through town rather than driving directly to the toll road or freeways. That would truly reduce the congestion on Laguna Canyon Road.
The task force also came to a strong consensus on undergrounding the utilities and making Laguna Canyon Road safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Exploring opportunities for increased transit opportunities was also strongly favored.
The task force opposed new traffic lanes and any intrusion into Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and favored retaining the rural character of the area. The public input at the Sept. 8 City Council meeting echoed the task force recommendations.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the City Council voted unanimously to transmit interest in the improvements recommended by the task force to Caltrans, OCTA and SCAG.
Bringing a representative group of Laguna residents together to research and consider an issue important to all can produce consensus. I commend the City Council for developing this process.
Verna Rollinger
Laguna Beach
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Homeless population disrupting life in Laguna
I know I am going to ruffle a few feathers here, but I am writing this letter because of my increasing uneasiness living in my own town with so many transient, homeless people.
These people loiter in front of the supermarkets, banks and businesses downtown, they sleep or congregate on the bus and park benches and they set up camp all over Main Beach.
They lock themselves inside the public restrooms at Whole Foods and Wells Fargo Bank downtown so customers can’t use them, and recently I’ve even been getting harassed for money pumping gas or walking to my car with groceries.
Every time I read the local police blotter, I see many of our weekly incident reports involve people with “no fixed address.”
Why is Laguna Beach designated as a haven town for the homeless? Why us? Many of these people have mental illness and addiction issues, and they may or may not be dangerous. Laguna is not equipped for this.
We have one small homeless shelter in the canyon with a limited number of beds. From what I understand, during the day, their residents are forced out of the shelter and they all end up downtown loitering around until it opens again in the evening.
Now I fully realize these are tough times for many people, me included, but Laguna Beach is not equipped to handle this influx of homeless. It can’t be good for our tourist industry upon which Laguna depends.
Yes, they are people with rights too, but what about my right to live in my own town safely and walk my own streets without fear of harassment, or go to the beach and swim without coming back to find my towel and belongings missing?
I pay taxes to live here — these homeless people do not. There has to be a better solution than what’s happening here now.
Marsha Bianchi
Laguna Beach
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No recycling machines is bad move for Haggen
Way to go Haggen. Now you’ve removed all the recycling machines at your stores including the last remaining ones in Laguna Beach.
What happened to ecology? I suppose your stores are just not into that. Too bad. I’ll never shop at your stores, and neither will my relatives and friends.
No wonder you’ve filed for bankruptcy. Bad Karma.
Elaine Wright
Laguna Beach