Who'll Speak for the Trees? Annual City Trimming Starts Monday

City Manager John Pietig's weekly update:

Annual Tree Trimming - The annual trimming of city trees will begin on September 12th and will involve the following streets: Coast Highway, Forest Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Second Avenue, Third Avenue, and Glenneyre Street. The work will continue through October.

2011 Juried Fine Art Competition - The Arts Commission is currently accepting entries to the 2011 Juried Fine Art Exhibition. The deadline for applications is Monday, September 12, 2011. The juror for the competition is Richard Chang, an artist and entertainment writer for The Orange County Register. The first place winner will receive $1,000 and will be announced at a reception at 5 p.m. on Thursday, November 3, 2011. The exhibit will be on display at City Hall from October 18 through November 28, 2011. This program is funded by the lodging establishments and City of Laguna Beach.

Artist Designed Bench Competition - At its meeting on Monday, September 12, 2011 the Arts Commission will hear presentations by the finalists for the 2011 Artist Designed Bench Competition. Artists Michael Graham and team of Gavin Heath and Larry Gill will present their designs at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. This program is funded by the lodging establishments and City of Laguna Beach.

Hillcrest Drive Sidewalk - Construction of the new sidewalk on Hillcrest Drive between High Drive and Dolphin Way is substantially complete, although the handrail will not be installed until the end of this month.

Summer Festival Transit Ridership - Ridership on the summer Festival trolleys this summer was up 20% over last summer. This summer there were 581,700 riders over the 60 day period.

Oro Canyon Fuel Modification - Fuel modification is scheduled to begin in Oro Canyon the week of September 12th, 2011. It is anticipated that the 150’ wide fuel modification zone will take hand crews approximately three months to complete.

Storm Drain Cleaning - City crews clean City drainage systems twice a year, typically in the Spring and Fall. Crews will spend the next eight weeks cleaning over 900 drain inlets and will clean over five miles of storm drain lines.