No Festive Mood in Laguna Beach

Last weekend, I almost went to jail. My crime? Daring to disagree with the Festival of Arts’ board of directors. My weapon? Simple conversation and a single piece of paper.

The setting was the unveiling, at a San Clemente country club, of plans for the proposed new site of the festival and Pageant of the Masters, hosted by the board and the local Chamber of Commerce.

Members’ overwhelming opposition to relocating the festival from Laguna to San Clemente has resulted in upcoming membership votes to recall the board, and to prevent any move without approval of two-thirds of the voting members.

From the onset, the board has attempted to stifle, intimidate and discredit opposition, while depriving dissenting members of access to communicate their views to the membership.

This policy was continued at the festival-sponsored unveiling event. The board invited most of the membership, but those most active in the recall effort--myself included--were conspicuously excluded from the invitation list. I attended as the guest of another member.

Invited members who showed up wearing “Keep the Festival in Laguna” stickers were turned away at the door. Others who put on their stickers inside were asked to remove them or leave. And I was escorted off the property because I handed another member--at her request--a fact sheet comparing San Clemente and Laguna’s lease offers.

These heavy-handed tactics were unfortunate and unnecessary, but sadly typical of the secretive, exclusionary process the board has practiced all along. The board has never permitted open and fair public debate on the move, arguably the most important decision in the festival’s 68-year history.

Serious questions have been asked about the economic and technical feasibility of the proposed move, not to mention the legal ramifications of attempting to move the festival and its assets out of Laguna Beach. Many believe the board members have not sufficiently answered these questions, nor have they provided adequate factual documentation for arguments justifying their position.

I and others did not attend the San Clemente event to cause trouble. We were there to learn about the board’s plans.

No matter how you feel about the move itself, the board’s conduct raises troubling questions about the integrity and legitimacy of the process and, ultimately, the decision itself. As members consider how they will vote in the upcoming recall election, it’s certainly something to think about.

ANITA MANGELS

Laguna Beach

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If San Clemente’s proposed hilltop arts center complex is built to house the current Laguna Beach Festival of the Arts, and provides ample adjacent parking, it’s the best thing that could happen to the festival, greatly increasing attendance. Laguna Beach makes no effort to accommodate the visitors who want to attend, or tourists and visitors who want to enjoy the main beach area. The idea is, please, throw money at us, but just go away.

Laguna Beach makes getting there an obstacle course. They have long fought widening Laguna Canyon Road, even if care could be taken to preserve the environmental beauty.

And it is worse when you do get there. There is no parking. One or two tiny municipal lots, that’s it, plus a far-out lot. Result? A long, dusty hike in the broiling sun along the narrow two-lane Laguna Canyon Road, with not so much as a sidewalk most of the way. Just stumble and anyone could fall into traffic. I will never make that trek again.

Laguna Beach residents have a right to remain insular, if they choose. It isn’t easy living in a town overrun by tourists, even though tourists and visitors support the town and its businesses. But they should accept that they can’t have an arts festival when they refuse to provide parking and other better facilities for it. The current site of the festival itself is nothing to brag about. Laguna Beach has turned off a lot of Southern Californians who would attend events there if they were treated with any decency.

I’m all for moving the festival and other major events from Laguna Beach to an adequate facility in San Clemente, where the visitors who bring the dollars would be welcomed and accommodated.

KAYE KLEM

Mission Viejo