Senior Center Debate: It’s Just Like Laguna

A debate dividing Laguna Beach for months spilled into a packed City Hall meeting room and was coming to a head when Bob Henry, wearing a Santa Claus hat and jingling sleigh bells, took center stage.

In a hilarious rendition of “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” the onetime producer for Flip Wilson lampooned the fight by some feisty fellow seniors for a plot of land set aside for a possible low-income housing project.

“ ‘Twas two weeks before Christmas / and all through City Hall / every senior was stirring / with plans for us all,” Henry began, drawing a roomful of chuckles and defusing the tension that had been testing everyone’s patience.

He went on: “In hopes that we’d soon hang our stockings with care / in a new senior center, But when? And where?”

Rousing the weary, restless crowd to its feet, Henry’s shtick captured Laguna Beach in all its eccentricity. And so does the fight itself, from the way it pits one Cinderella cause against another in a community that champions Cinderella causes, right down to the motley crew of cats that face eviction from the property no matter which side wins.

Leaning left of Orange County’s conservative core, residents here have been known to get riled about a provocative issue or two, typically kicking and screaming as long as it takes to forge common ground.

“We usually have a lot of opera here,” quipped Mayor Paul Freeman.

Indeed.

All kidding aside, the mayor and the rest of the newly sworn council have work to do.

Like many communities across the nation, Laguna Beach is struggling to resolve a variety of issues as economic and demographic forces widen the gap between rich and poor.

The hunger for low-income housing is especially acute in upscale coastal cities, where land is scarce to begin with, sells at a premium and is strictly limited in use by tough zoning and environmental rules.

What’s more, resolving new challenges without upsetting old-timers is an especially delicate balance to strike in Laguna Beach, where the two fastest-growing populations are on the two ends of the age spectrum.

At the heart of the latest dispute is 20,090 square feet of prime real estate at 450 Glenneyre St., close to the beach and only steps from the tony village that serves as the main business and tourism district.

The Blue Bell Foundation for Cats remains housed in the rambling, run-down building on the property. The group was allowed to move there with the cats in its care after the creatures’ canyon home was destroyed by the Laguna Beach mudslides two years ago.

Senior citizens say the property, just down an alley from the cramped quarters they lease at the crumbling community center, is ideal in size and location for the large facility they need, deserve and plan to build and maintain with their own money.

Instead of constant interruptions by tap-dancing kids, meditating adults and other residents who share time and space in the recreation hall, the seniors would have game rooms, classrooms, a cafeteria and a computer lab all to themselves.

Now, the hours, activities and parking are restrictive. Bathrooms are unkempt and kitchen appliances outdated and soiled. The dining room also serves as the community room and is in the basement, accessible from the inside only by a narrow set of stairs.

“Laguna has neglected the seniors for years,” said Kay Whitaker, 87, who finds it hard to get around the center with her oxygen tank and has donated money for a card room at the new site, where she hopes to soon be playing bridge.

“I don’t go down to the center very much now because there’s a lot of stairs,” she said. “It’s just not a convenient place to go.”

The trouble is, before the seniors even set their eyes on the Glenneyre property, the city had bought it and was exploring a way to build a housing project to bolster its stock of 139 low-income units as rents soar to more than $800 for a studio and $1,400 for a one-bedroom.

The land was bought for a bargain $700,000 during a recession years ago. The city relied mostly on funds provided by a developer under terms of the Treasure Island resort project. Under state law, any money not spent for that purpose within five years must be returned.

To maximize space and preserve views, a local developer has proposed a one-story building with 30 small rental flats, each big enough for two adults and a small child. A garage would be built underneath.

To qualify, city officials say single tenants must not earn more than $35,150 a year and couples $40,150, the county’s upper limits in its definition of low-income workers.

Housing advocates, including Freeman, hope the flats will attract day laborers, nurses, teachers and other professionals.

In a community known for its tolerance and progressiveness, the Glenneyre land dispute has been more like a friendly tug-of-war than a pitched battle, with moments of high theater rather than high dudgeon.

At last week’s public hearing before the City Council, seniors arrived in larger-than-usual numbers, donning white caps reading “LB Seniors,” as if they had to punctuate their presence or their cause.

One after another, they took turns at the microphone to justify their claim to the Glenneyre site, many of them apologizing in the same breath for fighting another admirable cause.

The stakes became clearer as the night wore on.

“Many seniors live alone. Unless they have a place to get up and come to in the morning, they tend to stay in bed and become reclusive and depressed,” said Marthann Newton, who is leading the charge for the new center.

But one local shop owner, referring to low-income housing needs and sounding a familiar complaint, said, “I can’t keep any of my good workers.”

And so it went, the debate getting hung up--for hours, it seemed--on whether the housing project or senior center could or should be shifted to another city-owned site. But both alternatives were repeatedly knocked down because of size, location or cost.

As testimony grew tedious and it became frustratingly clear that there would be no quick fix, Henry bounded to the podium to lighten the mood, offering this prescient stanza as he wrapped up the poem his daughter wrote:

“Was it only a dream? / Were we back to square one? / Who could we count on / to get the job done?”

Hours later, the council adjourned without a vote on the matter. Instead, members said they will meet informally this week with all the parties to try to reach a compromise before a Jan. 23 public hearing.

The opposing forces seem equally determined to find room for everyone, even hoping to become a model in a county where low-income housing is as scarce as parking at the beach in the summer.

“One way or another,” Freeman promised, “we’re going to find a solution. We are going to develop a senior center and an affordable-housing project, and they will be on the same track, with their doors open within two years.”

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Demographic Comparison

How Laguna Beach stacks up against Orange County:

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Laguna Beach Orange County 1999 Population 24,325 2,775,619 Population Growth 1990-99 5% 13.5% Population Projection 2000-20 1.7% 13.2% 1999 Median Age 45.4 years 34.5 years Median Household Income $65,382 $56,352 Per Capita Income $52,128 $25,746 Demographics White 85.7% 55.6% Hispanic 11.0% 29.7% Asian & Pacific Islander 2.4% 12.5% Black 0.7% 1.5% Other 0.3% 0.4%

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Source: Claritas Marketview Comparison Report