Hansen: Rearview planning paralyzes Laguna

A long time ago Dennis Myers learned a valuable lesson while working for Jack Welch at General Electric: You can’t drive forward while looking in the rearview mirror.

Unfortunately, Myers, 75, could never apply that lesson while he was volunteering for six years on the Laguna Beach Parking, Transportation and Circulation Committee.

“Part of the problem with Laguna is that everyone looks in the rearview mirror,” Myers said. “It’s like a whole bunch of people who are afraid to let go.”

A retired mechanical engineer, Myers is a 20-year resident of Laguna who loves the city. His situation is similar to that of other experienced volunteers who try to help during retirement, only to find their input ignored or marginalized.

The fact is, Myers says, the powers that be in Laguna Beach don’t want real input because they don’t want change.

“This town is being controlled by the few residents who have been here 100 years,” he said. “The downtown specific plan is basically locked in the 1950s.”

These are the types of statements heard more regularly outside of City Hall. Whether it’s the lack of planning, pedestrian deaths or poor business diversity, Laguna residents are unhappy with the status quo. And in an election year with three open seats on the City Council, that might not bode well for incumbents.

For Myers, who considers himself an outsider even though he has spent many long nights on committees, the tenor has changed in the city. The issues seem more urgent, and the willingness to step back and challenge assumptions is more important than ever.

“No one is willing to plot a clear path that anyone can agree upon,” he said. “Everyone seems to be afraid that Laguna will grow, but growth is not bad; it’s how you manage it and implement it. Without growth, you’re stagnant, and when you’re stagnant, you’re dying.”

Myers said it all starts downtown. He served on the Business Development Committee that only a couple of years ago asked residents what they wanted for businesses.

The answer is more resident-serving business, but the city can’t deliver on that promise with the existing parking and use restrictions.

“If you look at the downtown specific plan, it’s one of the greatest impediments for the improvement of downtown,” he said.

With its fixations on barring fast food outlets and not modifying the building-height limit, it has throttled responsible growth that better serves residents and tourists alike, Myers said.

“People say we need more resident-serving businesses, but nobody can name them,” he said. “They say we need a 5- and 10-cent store, but [those have] been bankrupt for years. Besides, we do have a 5- and 10-cent store. It’s called CVS.”

Myers thinks big. It served him well in business, where he applied his master’s degree toward corporate strategy and restructuring. He was paid to manage change and position companies for success, which is why he shakes his head at the entrenched paralysis that he sees in Laguna.

“If I ran meetings like they do in Laguna, I would have been fired,” he said. “It’s obvious what we need to do. I could write a downtown specific plan in about two days.”

Myers is not running for City Council. He doesn’t care what people think about him. He admits he can be a little stubborn and probably shoots his mouth off too much.

But at least he cares, shows up and has ideas that he believes will work.

For example, he thinks we should move the Historical Society Building, which sits between Wells Fargo and Whole Foods, to the new Village Entrance Project site. Then build some extra parking next to Wells.

Create a historic district at the village entrance, he said, and make the farmers market permanent and year-round.

Kick the water district out of its downtown offices and move it to another part of town. He wonders why the district needs a prime downtown location.

“You would then have a real attraction. People could come and see historic houses and walk through the lanes and have a farmers market going on at the same time, and really create a productive, interesting, different place.”

He points to the Anaheim Packing District as a good example of combining history, retail, a farmers market and parkland.

He has other ideas that he keeps throwing over the fence. But in Laguna Beach, those fences are what keep everyone polarized.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at [email protected].