Big Bend is bad place for skate...

Big Bend is bad place for skate park

For the last 10 years, I have been an avid skateboarder in Laguna

and elsewhere.

Growing up in the rolling hills of Laguna, I quickly found a

skateboard to be one of the most efficient and enjoyable means of

getting around town. Beyond mere transportation, I also developed a

love of the sport itself, with its rich, soulful history and unique

blend of grace and technique.

Yet regardless of my fondness for the sport, I strongly feel that

building a skate park at Big Bend would be an egregious mistake. I

see several reasons for this:

1) Big Bend is notoriously the most unsafe and congested area of

Laguna Canyon Road. Placing a popular, highly visited skate park

there would seriously impede traffic and would create a public safety

hazard for those visiting the park and for those who are simply

driving by. This is in addition to the “looky-loos” who will

undoubtedly slow down to catch a glimpse of the show. Furthermore,

any left turn out of the area is immensely dangerous. Creating a

“right-turn only” situation just complicates the matter further by

forcing turn-arounds in business parking lots up the road.

2) A massive, multi-story storage facility has been proposed for

the parking lot immediately adjacent to the potential skate park lot.

This 600-unit facility would greatly add to the existing traffic

congestion and safety concerns from entering and exiting vehicles.

Add the considerable traffic from a skate park to this equation and

you have a traffic and safety nightmare in an already impacted area.

3) The wilderness scenery of this area is spectacular and should

not be infringed upon. Anyone who drives past this area can testify

to the frequent sightings of wildlife in the exact area where the

skate park is proposed to be built. One of the contingencies of the

storage facility proposal is that its damage to the wildlife habitat

would be mitigated by the open space lot adjacent to it. With the

building of a skate park on this lot, the abundant wildlife would

have nowhere to go and a beautiful area of Laguna wilderness would be

relegated to a mess of concrete and asphalt.

4) I have visited several YMCA skate parks and I strongly feel

that the size and scope of a typical YMCA park is out of touch with

the needs and character of Laguna Beach. Many cities have implemented

skate parks that effectively serve the needs of their community

without subcontracting to a management company that seeks to maximize

park size and monetary return. I support YMCA’s efforts in many

areas, but I feel that the grandeur of a typical YMCA park is out of

touch with Laguna. A modest, simple park in a well-suited area will

do our community just fine. And if it turns out that a skate park is

not feasible in Laguna, that is fine as well. Though I am a

skateboarder, I really don’t feel that a skate park is needed in

Laguna at all.

Big Bend needs to be disregarded as an option. If a park is truly

desired by the majority of the community, a modest skate park in the

dog park area is a much better choice. Perhaps something could be

negotiated with Verizon in regards to their building and parking lot

adjacent to the dog park. At the very minimum, users could park on

the street and the left turn lane out of the Verizon lot could be

utilized to ameliorate traffic and safety issues.

Let’s keep the dialogue going and remember to keep Big Bend as

pristine as we can.

DEREK OSTENSEN

Laguna Beach

Is Montage reality really a surprise?

I am amazed at the constant complaints from my fellow Lagunatics

about the Montage Resort and Spa. They seem to be living in the

moment, forgetting the past. They forgot that, after months of

listening to public comments, the City Council voted in favor of the

development.

They seem to have lost any recall that the measure they put on the

ballot was rejected by the citizens in a vote that they said would

settle the matter once and for all.

The vote was quickly forgotten as they continued their attempts to

stop the development as it proceeded through Coastal Commission

approval. They still mourn the loss of the Treasure Island trailer

park, forgetting that it prevented us from enjoying the view of a

spectacular coastline and easy access to the beach. They complain

about our new park and don’t remember that the property owners

donated the most valuable portion of their property for the park.

They are outraged that the original budget for the park was $5

million but the final cost is about $8 million. They don’t remember

that the original budget estimate was established before they

demanded additional amenities and changes to the plan, which

increased the cost.

They claim the Aliso Creek Plaza parking lot is now always full,

yet I have always found a space (including this Easter Sunday) close

to the front door of Sav-on Drugs, Albertsons and the other tenants.

They don’t recall that they reduced parking near the park by forcing

the elimination of the top level of the parking structure. The

Montage is a beautiful addition to our town. The park is spectacular

and will only get better over time as it matures. It’s now time for

them to get over it and stop complaining.

JACK BLOODWORTH

Laguna Beach

Thanks for support of Laguna Playhouse

The Laguna Playhouse wishes to thank the entire community for its

generous support of our recent Gala.

The sold-out black-tie event honored some truly deserving

individuals for their contributions to the world of theater and to

this theater in particular. It also raised much-needed funds that

enable us to serve the community with more than 300 theater-going

experiences each year for young and old and with educational programs

designed to ensure that future generations will also value the arts

highly.

The Playhouse is extremely fortunate to have Laguna Beach as its

home, a community that understands that the arts really do make a

difference in the lives of so many.

RICHARD STEIN

Executive Director,

The Laguna Playhouse

Success of Music Festival owed to many

I would like to use this public forum to thank all the wonderful

people of Laguna Beach who helped make the inaugural Laguna Beach

Chamber Music Festival such a big success. First, thanks go to the

lodging establishments of Laguna Beach for their vision to assess

themselves in order to improve the cultural opportunities in town and

to the City Council and Arts Commission for awarding grant money to

Laguna Beach Live! to initiate this new idea.

A big thanks to Claes Anderson and the Hotel Laguna who made the

concept of the festival, a week-long blend of activities, possible by

generously providing rehearsal space for the musicians that could be

open to the public; housing for our mentor musician Mr. Claude Frank;

and hosting two very special festival benefit events.

Thanks also to Laguna College of Art and Design, Woody’s by the

Beach, the Laguna Art Museum, and Gallery Grace which promoted the

festival and expanded the free events by hosting receptions

throughout the week. Laguna Playhouse was fantastic to act as our

local box office and GLU Design of the Laguna Art College donated

their design services, including the terrific logo. Sun Dried Tomato

Cafe donated a wonderful catered dinner for our donors, the Reeves

graciously hosted it, and The English Garden provided floral

arrangements. Haster Grove lent some lovely greenery and flowers to

decorate the stage of the Artists’ Theatre. And what a marvelous job

The Coastline Pilot did to spread the word through stories and

donated advertising.

An integral part of the Festival and one tremendously enjoyed by

both the hosts and the guests was housing the musicians in homes of

Laguna families. Appreciations go to the Halvajians, Harrises,

Jelineks, Kramers and Reckards.

Finally, a special thank you to the festival committee, who made

it all possible: co-chairs John Arnold and Joan Halvajian, Diane

Arnold, John Benecke, Heather Goss, Judith Jelinek, Alex Maradudin,

Nancy Posch, Dick Schwarzstein and community helpers, Sam Goldstein

and Pat Morgan.

CINDY PREWITT

President, Laguna Beach Live!

Chamber music

a welcome blessing

Wow, are we impressed with the generosity and spirit of the people

of Laguna Beach!

When we moved here three years ago from Boston, we knew we were

coming to a place of great beauty, great weather and a great

appreciation for art. But we love music as well as art and feared

we’d miss the many musical offerings available in Boston.

To our great happiness, this hasn’t been the case, proven most

recently by the just concluded first Laguna Beach Chamber Music

Festival (April 6-13).

Thanks to the hard work and smart thinking of Laguna Beach Live!

(superbly run by the indomitable Cindy Prewitt) and the impressive

caliber of musicians that the Philharmonic Society of Orange County

is able to attract to our area, this festival was a real treat -- and

everything occurred here in our lovely town!

We were able to listen to a world renowned pianist (Claude Frank)

play in the Artists Theatre (for only $20!). We were able to watch

him earlier in the week provide instruction to two very talented

young Chamber Music groups -- fascinating! There were also several

free concerts and receptions, an interesting discussion about playing

in a chamber music group (again, free), and a delightful recital

about Schumann and Brahms by the charming Mr. Frank.

And perhaps best of all, the musicians went into our schools to

talk with and hopefully inspire our students about the joy that music

can bring into lives.

All this happened because so many people here in Laguna opened up

their hearts and minds (and pocketbooks) and gave the events their

support.

Claes Anderson and the Hotel Laguna deserve a big round of

applause, providing the base of operations for the musicians and

hosting two benefit events (with food that stood up to the very best

Boston could offer!).

This very personal involvement is something that makes us love

living in Laguna -- and not miss Boston at all!

The enthusiastic response of the audiences at each of the events

made all the effort worthwhile -- and demonstrated that Laguna is

willing to open its heart to music as well as art.

Thank you, Laguna Beach!

JOHN AND DIANE ARNOLD

Laguna Beach

Put some global where your local is

For some time now I have been meaning to write to criticize your

editorial policies.

1) You should allow freedom of expression on a larger variety of

subjects other than local issues, which are sometimes inane.

2) You should increase the space given to letters.

3) The attempt to control and direct subject matter with the

question you place at the top of the front page gives me the

impression that you believe your readers are mostly still in

kindergarten and not aware enough to have anything to write about.

This is demeaning and reflects badly on your paper.

4) I do appreciate the fact that you print letters. If it’s a

matter of space that you don’t print more, I suggest that you place

some limits on your columnists. Or, perhaps you don’t print more

letters because you’re not receiving them within the limitations

you’ve set?

5) Frankly, I find letters often to be the most interesting part

of our local papers. However, at this time, you’re running a distant

second! So give a little more space in yourself as well as in the

paper.

6) I do like your feature profile in the second section.

Thirty-five years ago, the Daily Pilot was our favorite paper, and

we subscribed to it. It had a wonderful editor at that time. However,

newspapers change as evidenced by the L.A. Times takeovers, etc.

ANDY WING

Laguna Beach

Human touch needed on traffic problem

Traffic congestion has always been a problem in Laguna and now

with the work out in the canyon it’s become a nightmare. How about

using human beings to control the traffic flow?

Well-trained and well-equipped they could go to work in days

rather than months. A portable platform, hand-held battery-operated

lights and a cell phone would probably do the trick. They would only

be needed for morning and evening commuter traffic now but I can see

them being used for summer weekend traffic as well. Using senior

citizen volunteers may cut down on part or all of that cost.

The benefits are obvious: A human being trained to make decisions

is much more effective than the use of timed lights. The trained

group could be used in many different situations during and after the

canyon construction. It won’t cost us a lot of money or time to put

this idea together.

Imagine, using human brainpower instead of a computer. How

innovative!

JOE GIORDANO

Laguna Beach

The Coastline Pilot is eager to run your letters. If your letter

does not appear, it may be because of space restrictions, and the

letter will likely appear next week. If you would like to submit a

letter, write to us at P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652; fax us

at 494-8979; or send e-mail to [email protected]. Please

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