Buzan for Record on Festival Flap

* The July 26 article “Festival Members OK Vote on Recall” completely misrepresented my position on the Festival of Arts recall effort. I want to make it perfectly clear to all members of the Festival of Arts that I fully support the recall.

I resigned in protest from the board of directors late last year. In my opinion, this board has adopted an extremely aggressive stance toward the city of Laguna Beach: first by making an unreasonable rent demand of one dollar a year, then by filing a federal lawsuit against the city, and finally by entering into exclusive and lengthy negotiations with the city of San Clemente that discontinued dialogue with the city of Laguna Beach.

I believe the directors have not taken seriously the strong opposition to this move voiced by a significant portion of the membership, the pageant production staff, artist members, the volunteers and the general viewing public.

As guardians of a 68-year-old public trust, this board has a special responsibility to solicit member input, and to respect the historical mission of the Festival of Arts. This mission is to promote the arts and culture in and about the city of Laguna Beach.

Instead, this board seems poised to embark on a risky enterprise in San Clemente. To achieve this end they have acted in secret, sent out misleading information including the erroneous claim that the Festival is on a “going out of business curve” (while paradoxically claiming unearned credit for an outstanding sold-out pageant and the best art sales in 16 years), and offered up the Festival of Arts to the highest bidder.

When confronted with a legitimate recall challenge, they closed the membership and sought to deny existing members due process, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on mailings, advertisements and legal fees to thwart the recall and promote their San Clemente agenda.

Finally, when a Superior Court judge ordered them to honor the recall petition, they so misapplied the order that they had to be brought to court again so that the members might have a fair recall referendum.

Five hundred and eighty members took two hours out of their busy Saturday to meet and vote on this issue. Seventy-seven percent of these members favor a recall. So do I.

HEDY BUZAN

Laguna Beach