It could have been so much fun.
How often do we get the chance to make a signature statement and redesign the heart of downtown Laguna Beach?
Instead, right out of the gate, we have perpetually cranky naysayers throwing virtual hand grenades into our perfectly good public process.
Unfortunately, we knew this was coming.
Remember the request by the city to come to a Sept. 22 workshop and contribute to the design of the Forest Avenue Promenade? Well, the workshop happened with about 50 people, and it was disappointing.
“The meeting was hijacked by a bunch of activists,” said Councilmember Peter Blake, during a debrief at the Oct. 4 City Council meeting.
By activists, of course, he meant Laguna’s die-hard preservationist groups.
Even the perpetually optimistic council candidate Ruben Flores said the meeting was bad.
“It really didn’t go well,” he said. “It was more of a joke than it was a well-led meeting.”
And by joke he meant the naysayers didn’t get their way. They stuck to their no-growth, no-progress script: Throw mud, obfuscate, deflect.
Fortunately, City Manager Shohreh Dupuis will have none of it. During the council meeting, she squashed the notion that the workshop was some sort of backtracking session.
“The goal of the meeting was not to debate the merit of the Promenade or rehash if the Promenade had a cost-benefit component,” she said.
The goal was to start being creative for a permanent Promenade design.
The haters don’t like the word “permanent.”
Fortunately, a strong majority of Laguna residents loves the word, voting overwhelmingly to make the Promenade permanently fabulous.
So where does all this leave us? Exactly on plan, which you can see on the city’s site.
Tom Perez, the Capital Program Manager in the city’s Public Works department, said the Promenade train is still firmly on the tracks.
“The next step in the design development is for RRM Design Group to analyze all public input received from the meeting, via email, and through the online survey,” he said. “This input will be used to develop two concepts for the public to review and comment on in early 2023.”
RRM is a talented group of creatives from San Juan Capistrano. If you want to get a sneak peek at what they might propose for the Promenade, look here at some of their previous work, including the Long Beach parklets for sidewalk dining.
Assuming their proposals look great, a final OK is expected by fall of next year.
We can’t wait.
Let’s hope the city – and its more reasonable public stewards – can marginalize the crazies and focus on this epic opportunity.
While we predicted this would happen, it doesn’t make us feel better. Before the workshop in a preview story, we said, “The challenge for Laguna residents will be this: Do we put down our swords long enough to work together and make the Promenade a truly signature statement for Laguna Beach?
“Imagine if we harness all the city’s creative energy, its brilliant innovators, leaders and doers. The Promenade could be stunning. Breathtaking. Awe-inspiring.”
That’s what we need to keep top of mind, posted to our civic vision board like a maniacal, love-struck teenager.
The Promenade is moving forward, despite the noise. Respect the process and let the city staffers and elected officials do their jobs. The Promenade awaits, bathed in opportunity.
