The Senior Center Finally Gets a Bus Stop

Laguna Beach City Manager John Pietig's weekly update:

Transit Service To Community/Senior Center – On Tuesday, January 24, the City Council directed City staff to modify the City’s transit routes to provide direct service to the Community/Senior Center on Third Street. The service will include a bus stop in front of the Center. Minor changes to the bus schedules will be made and the new route schedules and maps will be modified and posted at all bus stops and on-line. The new service is scheduled to begin Thursday, March 1.

City Hall Art Reception - On Thursday, February 2, 2011 the City of Laguna Beach Arts Commission in collaboration with will host an artist reception at City Hall from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit titled “Visual Tales from Eire and England” highlights student’s work from the 2011 summer travel program. The exhibition reveals the rich and diverse experiences of the students and will be on display through March 9, 2012. The event is followed by the 14th anniversary of First Thursdays Art Walk.

Friday Flicks at the Forum - On Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7 p.m. enjoy a free film screening at the Festival of Arts Forum Theatre. The Arts Commission will be screening the film Bill Cunningham New York. The film is about New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. The film is a delicate, funny and often a poignant portrait of a dedicated artist whose only wealth is his own humanity and unassuming grace. This film is not rated and has a running time of 84 minutes. This program has been funded by Laguna Beach residents Steve Chadima and Mark Porterfield.

Cultural Arts Funding Grants - The Arts Commission is currently accepting applications from non-profit organizations for programs that provide the greatest benefits in meeting the cultural needs of Laguna Beach and its visitors. Applications are available on the City’s website and must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Friday, February 3, 2012. Please contact Siân Poeschl at spoeschl@lagunabeachcity.net for more information.

Orange County Community Foundation Arts Initiative Grant - At its meeting on Monday, January 23, the Arts Commission accepted $2,000 from the Orange County Community Foundation. The Arts Initiative grant is for arts volunteers to attend a conference for training. The funds will be used for Arts Commission Chair, Mary Ferguson to attend the announcement of the results and media training at the Americans for the Arts Conference for the Arts and Economic Prosperity report. This report was a project undertaken by the Commission throughout 2011. The funding will cover all costs for attending the conference.

Successful Slope Repairs – Erosive storm flows experienced during the December 2010 storms caused extensive damage to two slopes that threatened to undermine City sewer pipelines.  One area was located at the end of Dorn Court and the other at 1280 Bluebird Canyon Drive.  The Dorn Court repair involved construction of a retaining wall to support rebuilding the extremely steep slope and required installing storm drains to direct future storm flows around the slope.  The Bluebird Canyon work involved rebuilding the eroded slope with an engineered slope using reinforced soil techniques along with reinstalling the sewer main that was lying within the weakened slope area.  Both projects will be substantially complete by the end of this week.

Junior Lifeguard Storage Area – During the City Council meeting Tuesday, I noted a need to check to see if the Jr. Lifeguard Storage area was included in the Heisler Park Master Plan.  I have checked and the storage area was not part of the master plan.  The City Council authorized staff to move forward with the project in January 2009 and the Design Review Board approved the project in March 2010.