Comments raised during a hearing Tuesday served to highlight key points of contention in a draft Laguna Beach view ordinance, such as balancing the right to a view with the pleasure of foliage, the perimeter allowed for a claim, and whether the date of purchase matters in determining view rights. Of a smaller crowd of [...]
When Laguna Beach resident Bette Anderson’s husband Ken suffered a severe stroke in 2009, his convalescence involved months in nursing care in San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Woods as well as a stint at home requiring 24-hour help. For the months her husband, in his 80s, was in the nursing homes, Anderson made the daily [...]
Laguna Beach’s City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to temporarily renew a contract with the city’s current medical benefits broker, bowing partly to earlier protests by unions representing police and firefighters over the lack of competitive bidding. Laguna will open the insurance brokerage service contract to bids on Sept. 1 for a new contract effective Jan. [...]
Surprised and alarmed by the removal of 10 large trees last week in the downtown area, residents expressed their anguish at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “Please stop the chainsaw massacre of the ficus trees in the downtown area,” said Pamela Goldstein, blunt in her entreaty. Ocean Avenue’s aesthetic appeal will take 50 years to recover, [...]
In summing up Laguna Beach’s proposed $68.5 million annual budget, for the first time involving a two-year projected spending plan through June 2016, City Manager John Pietig tempered the good news about a recovering local economy with a prescription for caution moving forward. Revenue sources that account for most of the $48.5 million general fund [...]
A committee charged with drafting a new view ordinance for Laguna Beach modeled on an effective and court-tested one in Rancho Palos Verdes continues to wrestle with provisions they deem unsuitable here. At its most recent meeting this past Tuesday, where attendance mushroomed to 100 residents, the committee struggled to find consensus over what would [...]
Merchants, shoppers, property owners and residents interested in the regulatory blueprint of Laguna’s downtown might do well to attend special Planning Commission workshops welcoming public ideas. The workshops aim to look at specific topics affecting the downtown from a “philosophical point of view” before making policy decisions, said Commission chairman Norm Grossman. What emerges will [...]
As Laguna Beach moves forward on initiatives to ease congestion, increase mobility, and aesthetically enhance its downtown, the City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to investigate retaining an urban planning expert to provide an overarching analysis of the city’s various concurrent projects to ensure they mesh. Separately, they also unanimously approved the hire of Irvine’s RBF [...]
Residents craving a Brooklyn-style pizza will soon be able to save their airplane miles and instead head over to Dom DeMarco’s Pizzeria and Bar, which plans a casual and affordable family-style restaurant on Ocean Avenue. First, though, the owners intend to restore the 68-year-old building to its Spanish Colonial Revival design. Laguna Beach’s City Council [...]
Even as Laguna Beach looks under the hood of its transit system for ways to offset rising costs, parking experts unveiled draft plans that promote reliable, high-frequency shuttles coupled with low-cost remote lots to help unclog the town’s streets. Bob Madsen of Irvine’s RBF Consulting and his team of experts presented their draft recommendations to [...]
Laguna Beach resident and tireless philanthropist Jean Raun received more than the usual cards from well-wishers for her 90th birthday. The town she’s made home for half her life issued a proclamation honoring her 90th birthday for the years of dedicated service. “It is my privilege to honor you this evening,” said council member [...]
A sea change is reshaping downtown’s Ocean Avenue as business owners tied by common threads redefine their neighborhood. Four years after Peter Blake Gallery staked a claim to a spot on a street losing its vibrancy, Carl Smith, owner of CES Contemporary, also relocated his gallery there. The two gallerists who envisioned cohesiveness among fellow [...]
More than 60 people filled a room in the Community Center to capacity to participate in a committee meeting drafting a revised view ordinance in Laguna Beach on Tuesday. Committee members first shared their observations about 11 sample sites they’d visited and how rules under consideration needed stronger enforcement tools to remedy conditions, where in [...]
Laguna Beach’s City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to explore options to close a growing deficit for operating transit services, but stopped short of imposing fares for the free summer trolley during its 10-week festival run. Instead council members approved spending $50,000 to hire an expert consultant to analyze transit services, whose costs have escalated 22 [...]
Does Laguna Beach’s charm arise from its architecture? Its geography? Its people? Does it matter what views pedestrians have as they make their way around town? What kind of trees should line the streets? Should policies be set to make improvements? Ideas on Laguna’s “village character” and how best to define and preserve the views [...]
Police Use Taser to Subdue Assault Suspect
An assault involving three men escalated into a struggle with Laguna Beach police, who ultimately deployed a taser twice to subdue the younger combative suspect in the 300 block of Cozumel around 1:15 a.m. Friday, May 10, police said. Police ultimately arrested Laguna Beach resident Sergio Gabriel Borgognone, 51, for allegedly resisting arrest and his [...]
