Toll Road Is Price of Cooperation

In a recent letter on Laguna Canyon (“Canyon Is Far From Saved, Despite Laguna Laurel Purchase Agreement,” Sept. 8), Anita Mangels chides me for suggesting that the Laguna Laurel Purchase Agreement is a good model of cooperation among environmentalists, developers and local governments.

Ms. Mangels even asserts that the spirit of the agreement is compromised by promotion of the toll road by the Orange County government and the Irvine Co. Her contention seems to be, “if it’s paved, it’s not saved.”

Her letter is, to my mind, fair enough--and entirely reflective of all that’s wrong with conventional leadership by politicians, bureaucrats and community activists alike.

What’s wrong is the inability to see the forest for the trees. We must be able to agree at times to disagree, while at the same time moving forward on issues of common cause.

The toll road has been on the drawing boards for 15 years. During this time, county leaders have rightly been concerned with trying to streamline traffic, but at times have ignored good ideas for more sensitive and inspired designs that could have engendered more support, even among current opponents. Environmentalists have not only opposed the toll road, they have failed to advance their own plans for dealing with the gridlock we now experience--and which will continue to worsen, even absent any new growth.

This reflects a lack of vision and cooperative spirit.

Before the Laguna Laurel agreement, the toll road was up in the air. That remains the case today. The difference is that no longer will there be a planned community in the heart of Laguna Canyon. Call me simple-minded, but in my book, a toll road spanning part of an otherwise undeveloped canyon is better than a toll road spanning a six-lane canyon road with three stop lights, two commercial centers, more than 3,000 new homes and roughly 60,000 new car trips daily.

By setting the toll road aside for the predictable fight between able adversaries such as the county government and the Natural Resources Defense Council, we eliminated a large residential and commercial project in Laguna Canyon. I stand by the agreement. Any agreement these days that allows rivals to shake hands on one issue while slugging it out on other issues is a sign of good government at work.

PAUL FREEMAN, Laguna Beach