Promises made, promises kept

By Cheryl Kinsman

Four years ago you honored me with election to your city council. You did so in part because of the promises I made in that campaign.

• I promised: "We will stop El Toro International Airport from becoming reality." We have accomplished that goal.
• I promised: "We will reduce coastal water pollution." In their most recent report card, Heal the Bay, a nationally respected environmental group, graded all 17 Laguna beaches. They awarded us fifteen "A+" and two "A" grades. No other area in Southern California matched these scores.
• I promised: "We will protect our arts heritage." We have signed new 40 year leases with the Festival of Arts and Laguna Playhouse, guaranteeing they will stay here.
• I promised: "We will assure Laguna Beach is in excellent financial condition." Laguna Beach is in the best financial shape of its history.

I am proud of what we have accomplished during these four years.

I now want to talk about three issues that are critical to maintaining our quality of life:

• South Coast Medical Center, Laguna's hospital, recently announced it was considering a move to San Juan Capistrano. Without a local hospital emergency room, Laguna Beach paramedics will transport patients to far away hospitals, and some patients who could be saved by quick emergency room action will die.

  I am leading the fight to save the hospital. I am meeting with the hospital's board of directors, have initiated City Council action to hire experts to save the hospital, and was selected by the City Council to be the city's representative in saving the hospital.

  I will do everything possible to keep our hospital in Laguna Beach.

• Design Review is not broken. After design review, relationships in neighborhoods often are.

  The job of design review is to preserve the uniqueness of each neighborhood. Each project is judged on its own qualities and how it preserves neighborhood character. What fits in Irvine Cove may not work at all in Canyon Acres.

  What is broken is the relationships that occur after design review--relationships among neighbors during and after the design review process.

  In June of 2004, I proposed and council adopted creation of the Design Review Task Force to address this issue and to give recommendations regarding making the process more amicable. The mission of the Design Review Task Force is "To seek ways to reduce the animosity that can result from the design review process."

  I promise you a more amicable design review process.

• Downtown parking. The Festival of Arts, the Chamber of Commerce, downtown residents, Laguna Playhouse, 25 other local arts groups, local businesses and the Village Entrance Task Force all support maximizing parking across from the Festival of Arts and Laguna Playhouse.

  The other candidates' plans eliminate over one-third of the parking spaces from our Village Entrance to accommodate an inadequate repair garage. No intelligent plan should eliminate convenient parking for Lagunans in order to build a repair garage in an area reserved for the arts, parking and recreation uses.

  I promise you maximum parking and a community park across from the Festival of Arts and the Laguna Playhouse.

  I want to see more of Cheryl's commentaries--return me to the commentaries page!

  Last updated 10/15/04.