SORRY, CLOSED: Another recessionary sign: the county’s...

SORRY, CLOSED: Another recessionary sign: the county’s Environmental Management Agency will soon cut its Laguna Hills office hours in half. Reason: slowdown of South County’s building boom. . . . “Three years ago we had about 3,000 applications for building permits,” says the EMA’s Ron Novello. “This year we expect to have less than a thousand. The recession has definitely had a negative effect on South County builders.”