Now Is No Time for Lagunans to Bicker : Rebuilding After Fire Is Tough Enough; Carping at City Council Can Wait Till Later

Laguna Beach will not be well served during its period of rebuilding from the recent fire if it is distracted by partisan bickering. The neighborly spirit that characterized the immediate aftermath must be extended to the long-term challenge of community reconstruction.

Emotions understandably are high, as was evident at last week’s City Council meeting. In the days after the conflagration, a number of opponents of the liberal majority on the City Council have sought to pin the blame for the city’s plight on the incumbents.

If people aren’t happy with their elected officials, they can make a change, of course, not by recalling them but by voting in new representatives. But it isn’t fair to pin everything in the immediate wake of tragedy on incumbents. One councilman, Robert F. Gentry, lost his house. Nor should the community allow itself to be swayed by those who may be advancing their own private agendas, or who seek to open the door to a floodgate of new development.

Laguna Beach is one of those communities where people wear their social agendas on their sleeves, for better or worse. Some may agree, some may disagree. But ultimately, as the fire demonstrated painfully, local government is essentially about land-use planning and zoning, and public safety. These are the bread and butter issues of any community.

The city does need to learn some lessons about that from the fires--to take care in rebuilding, to resolve to do better with brush clearance, and in making its provisions for water.

These are policy decision for which any municipal government must ultimately be held accountable at election time. But the call for heads to roll now--in effect demanding recalls--can only divide the community just as it is trying to get on its feet. There is time between now and the next election for a calm consideration of the city’s future.