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Politics & Government

Laguna Beach Slamdance: Recapping the April 19 City Council Meeting

Public comment abatement program is apparently effective.

Judging by the empty City Council chambers for three view-and-visibility agenda items, it appeared that the city Tuesday night had aimed for public comment abatement rather than offering offending residents the chance to self-abate vegetation, home improvements, weeds, or garbage that interfere with views, property and intersections.

The city said that all tardy abaters have been notified of their need to comply, or come to explain themselves before the council.

Only one couple showed. June 1 is the compliance deadline.

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Of 18 parcels pinpointed for befouling visibility at intersections, only six owners have altered their property to the city’s satisfaction. The remaining 12 may soon awake to chainsaws and chippers honing their “privately maintained vegetation or other improvements” which “obstruct visibility or traffic signs for motorists.”

The next item of the three identified 36 properties whose vegetation or weed piles had become a public nuisance by inhibiting street sweepers from doing their work. Owners of 14 parcels had already complied and, again, the city said it would see the work done and charge a fee.

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City Manager John Pietig said “we hire contractors” to do the work, and declined to state a one-size-fits-all price because each job varies in scope and detail. Pietig sidestepped direct answers to questions about cutting branches when birds are nesting; he said he is not a biologist or arborist who knows the nesting times of varied species, but offered that the owner can hire an expert, and then discuss the situation with the city.

The final item targets those many yet unnumbered owners, whose “specified property” have created fire and ugliness nuisances from “weeds, rubbish and refuse.”

Walter Fong and his wife said their property on Diamond and Pacific Vista has bush and brush overhangs from adjacent city property and asked if they were responsible.

City Treasurer Laura Parisi made one of the lists and stepped from the dais to testify that the verdant vacant lot next to her house has become a neighborhood thoroughfare enjoyed by many. She said it is difficult to make judgments when so many factors are involved.

Each abatement program occurs annually in the spring and is designed for public convenience and fire safety. 

Drivers Needed—To Donate Your Organs

Also Tuesday, the council proclaimed April 2011 as “Donate Life Month” after a presentation by Donate Life California (DLC), found by clicking here.

Though adults come to mind as the most likely group to make a decision to give organs so that another may live, teens may also donate their organs. Either group’s most common way of notfying medical professionals is given at the DMV, when everyone is asked “Do you wish to register to be an organ and tissue donor?”

In 2010, DLC served 215 hospitals, 12 transplant centers, coroners, funeral homes and 19 Southern Californians.

DLC has produced an 11-minute teen-targeted video with high school students who have received transplants, remain waiting for an organ or tissue, or whose family members have donated. DLC statistics say those between 15 and 19 “have been less likely to register as organ and tissue donors than those 20 to 49."

Today, 21,000 in California wait on the list for a life-saving organ donation.

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