Christoph’s Views Are All Wet

* As a fire victim, I was appalled when I read Ann Christoph’s Jan. 10 Orange County Voices column.

She excuses herself for the fact that our homes burned because there was no water. She, with her cohorts, delayed the construction of the reservoir until it was too late.

Our home in Mystic Hills would have been saved if the reservoir had been constructed. Goats cannot put out the fire, only water can. And it was not available because she did not want the reservoir in the greenbelt area though it was to be buried and invisible.

She is correct in stating that “the strategy of manipulation and misinterpretation worked,” but it is Christoph who is guilty of such a strategy.

I lost my home, I lost my cherished and irreplaceable possessions, the Christmas ornaments that my son made in grammar school that we hung with such pleasure each year, the photograph of my husband at age 5 standing with his grandmother, the hundreds of items that to this day I still yearn for. And my husband died prematurely because of the fire.

Christoph is not the victim. She has it backward. Our home’s destruction did not occur to keep her out of office or to “burn” her. Our home burned because she was in office.

MARTHA LYDICK

Laguna Beach

* To suggest conservatives gloated over the tragic fire shows that Ann Christoph is as out of touch today as she was five years ago.

It was she and her elitist cohorts who opposed many kinds of construction--from homeowners adding on, to the building of a new water tank that could have saved hundreds of homes. When she served on the City Council, Laguna Beach was a poorly run city and the voters cleaned house, electing a much more thoughtful, balanced group.

As with most liberals, she tries to blame others rather than accept responsibility for her poor decision making. Today Laguna Beach is a much more well-run city, more attractive to families. Suddenly there is money to fix roads and buy new police cars. Even the crime rate is lower, one of the many improvements she failed to mention in her article.

With regard to the Treasure Island development, Laguna Beach is a world-class city and it deserves a world-class resort. We welcome it.

JOE and AMY KRAMER

Laguna Beach

* More babble from the eucalyptus priestess.

What Ann Christoph fails to warn her reader is that her vision for our city is to have eucalyptus and pine trees growing from one end of town to the other. Pine and eucalyptus, according to experts save for Christoph and our fire chief, are two of the most flammable trees.

Also, eucalyptus trees have a weak root structure and are useless on hillsides. Their pollen and sap are the bane for asthma sufferers. They cause property damage during windstorms and they grow at such fast rates that homeowners cannot afford to keep them in tow.

They are blocking the ocean views of hundreds of homeowners. Ocean views are synonymous with Laguna Beach--not trees. The city spent $100,000 trimming trees. Christoph and a few unconscionable people have written a “Heritage Plan” that has been accepted as gospel by our City Council and city manager. The plan allows people to give their trees to the city and let them pick up the tab for trimming. Anyone caught trimming, cutting down or injuring one of these trees will be fined or jailed. All of this has led to a division in our city.

Christoph lives in South Laguna and did not feel the heat of the fire, smell the acrid smoke or feel the fear that we experienced that tragic day in 1993.

Christoph served on the council for only four years. Perceived as too far out on a limb, she lost her bid for reelection. Now, she pulls strings behind the scene. She seeks sainthood and believes herself to be the benefactress of our city.

GWENDOLYN MATSON

Laguna Beach

* Ann Christoph stated that the Laguna Beach County Water District requested that a reservoir be built in the Top of the World open space in 1992.

Actually, the City Council approved this project in midyear 1990. With this timetable, a 3-million-gallon reservoir would have been completed in 1992, months before the 1993 firestorm that destroyed or severely damaged 320 houses in Laguna Beach. Unquestionably, many of these houses could have been saved with the availability of this additional water.

Unfortunately, “no growth” advocates and environmentalists were able to convince the 1990 City Council, referred to by Christoph as five Democrats, to rescind approval of this reservoir.

It was not until a good year after the fire that the buried reservoir project was approved. It is in service, well landscaped and considered a real asset to the community.

The water district does nothing to promote growth. Even with a new, 5-million-gallon reservoir project underway in the north end of Laguna Beach, the community will have less than a seven-day reservoir storage for emergency and catastrophe use. This is the amount recommended by the state for a city that must import its water from outside its district.

Incidentally, the water district will not supply water to the controversial Treasure Island project.

LOUIS ZITNIK

Vice President, Laguna Beach County Water District