City Council Slamdance! What You Missed at Tuesday Night's Laguna Beach CC Meeting

Bin Laden Engineered His Part for Prominent Laguna Art

The Laguna Beach City Council has unanimously chosen its patented citywide approach to close the book on Osama Bin Laden. It creates art.

Two metal beams from the World Trade Center—72 inches long by 36 inches wide by 12 inches high—are headed here to be made into an art installation at Heisler Park. A design competition will be held, with the winner incorporate the beams into the art piece.

Though the City accepted the donation from the New York and New Jersey Port Authority last July, it took local resident Mark Porterfield’s recent $25,000 donation to ship the beams from the East Coast, which includes a $19,000 artist honorarium. The design competition is open only to artists who live, work or exhibit in Laguna Beach.

Councilmember Verna Rollinger said the timing was “incredible,” coiniciding as it did with Sunday's announced death of Osama bin Laden.

Applications include a Request for Qualifications, and will be accepted until 5 p.m. Friday, May 20. A subcommittee of the Arts Commission will review qualifications.

The sculpture, not to exceed eight feet in height, must be completed prior to September 11, 2011 and mark the collective memory of 9/11 with a message of remembrance, respect and reflection. It will be located at Heisler’s Monument Point off Cliff Drive near the existing Veteran’s Memorial. 

Good Things Free in Laguna Beach

Until September ...

Electric cars may fill up at the city lot past the Lumberyard entrance through September on an industry standardized “Superplug.” After this initial data collection period, the Council will likely enact fees based on hours used, and each hour might be tiered upward to prevent free parking all day when the rest of the city has to pay for stickers or feed meters.

Mayor Toni Iseman said it “is a city expense,” after other councilmembers and staff estimated a $3,200 tab for the trial ... 

Spite Light Not All Right at Night

After a committee partly made up of Planning Commission members presented their recommendations on preventing light pollution to the City Council, Mayor Iseman pointed out that some residents have installed motion-activated security lighting to spite neighbors, whose glare they deem excessive.

“My concern,” said Councilmember Rollinger, “is that I heard a number of complaints from residents in Arch Beach Heights, that the sensor light came on when people or animals come up and down the stairs. If this ordinance doesn’t prohibit it, this is something I hoped it would do.”

Commissioner Robert Zur Smiede said one of the committee’s aims was to give neighbors a tool to address egregious light trespass. Trespass was defined in the recommendations as that spilling off one’s property and lighting that causes one to squint.

Kelly Boyd, a councilmember who owns the Marine Room Tavern, found humor in the committee’s attempts to encompass a complex issue. “You guys must have worked some late nights,” he said, shaking his head.

A systems engineer on the committee tried to clear up points and terminology by offering conversion information from watts to lumens, as well as other facts that left many at the dais and in the audience unclear. But he did strike a clear chord when he said that the brightest lights aren't necessarily the best, because blinding night light ruins vision. “The proper wattage is better than the brightest," he said.

When Mayor Iseman asked the systems engineer about spraying bulb sides black to prevent light pollution, he said that oven paints are rated for temperature and should work.

Iseman acknowledged that an attempt will also be made by the City, which she said is the biggest light polluter, particularly along Coast Highway, from shooting street lighting into the sky.

Some holiday and landscape lighting will be exempt from the amendment to establish a municipal code for outdoor lighting ... 

City Defends Itself Regarding Local Business ...

... after the City heard a progress report Tuesday from its Business Assistance Task Force and faced criticism from locals commandeering the podium that not enough had been done.

Councilmember Elizabeth Pearson replied that the city has put the work of assisting local business in the job description for the new Assistant City Manager it is actively seeking, and noted that City Manager John Pietig has a business background himself and can oversee the effort.

Pietig confirmed that his forthcoming assistant will have the described task.

Task Force member Linda Dietrich, a seated Planning Commissioner, said one major intent of the Task Force is to get people to shop in Laguna. To that end, she said, “Quarterly meetings will be held about business development. Changes have also been made at City Hall to make city business more friendly,” she added, including easing of some sign restrictions.

Mayor Iseman said, “The environment here is vibrant and people feel it is safe to invest in Laguna."

Dozens of businesses were approved in town last year, said Pearson. “None were turned down.”

Task Force member and Planning Commissioner Anne Johnson also pointed out that improved software linking services will be implemented, in order to speed up business at the City’s front desk and departments for customers.