Laguna Beach City Council candidates have arts-focused discussion
With less than two months to go before the election in November, campaign season is ramping up, and Laguna Beach City Council candidates had their chance to speak on issues related to the arts Saturday.
The Laguna Beach Arts Alliance forum — held at Forum Theatre on the grounds of the Festival of Arts — featured all seven candidates vying for the three seats up for grabs on the dais.
Candidates fielded questions about their involvement in the arts, parking for the arts district, housing for artists and their vision for the arts moving forward.
Mayor Sue Kempf, nearing the end of her first term on the panel, said she felt that much had been accomplished in her first four years, including measures taken to combat wildfires and protect neighborhoods.
The impact of visitors has often come up in Laguna Beach social circles. Kempf maintained that tourists remain vital to the town’s economy, although she asserted day-trippers do not contribute in that regard.
“We’re a small town of 23,000 residents,” Kempf said. “We can’t really survive unless we have visitors, particularly for the arts, and also some of our businesses and restaurants. They can’t survive without some visitors, but we want them spending money.”
The panel largely agreed that Laguna Beach wants to attract a cultured visitor, and the discussion turned to the city’s messaging to out-of-towners.
“The quality of the message needs to say quality,” Jerome Pudwill, a marketing director, said. “If we’re going to be a world-class leader in art, then we need to project that. That’s our audience.”
Peter Blake, the other incumbent running for reelection, said he feels there is nothing wrong with the city’s messaging. He asked the arts-focused crowd to judge him on his three decades as an art dealer in Laguna Beach.
Moderator Tom Johnson, the publisher of Stu News Laguna, asked the candidates to state whether they supported the St. Catherine’s of Siena school property purchase — all did — and expound on the ideas they had for it.
“It is everything that you could ever dream of having there, and there’s been some different things that have been thrown around for it, but there’s no better place to engage culture than up there with the ocean views,” Blake said of the property. “What a place to have music, what a place to have dance, what a place to have exhibits, what a place to get married. It’s just an incredible opportunity for us, and I welcome every opportunity to move the arts onto that property.”
Candidate Mark Orgill, a developer, called for the festivals to have designated parking for their guests, something he argued was crucial for their continued prosperity.
“For them to really up the bar and be all that they can, they need to provide some designated parking for their guests, so their guests coming into town do have a place they can depend on,” Orgill said. “If you can imagine a Saturday afternoon, somebody says, ‘Hey, Honey, let’s go to Laguna, to the festivals,’ and they say, ‘No, I’d rather not because I’m going to drive around town for three hours before I can park.’ This doesn’t work for the festivals, so we need to pay some attention to this.”
Some candidates, including Alex Rounaghi, showcased a sense of humor during the forum. Rounaghi, a recent Dartmouth College graduate, has been a policy adviser for Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley. He spoke often about his Laguna Beach roots, including the time he tried out for the Pageant of the Masters.
“I was going to try out for it, but I couldn’t stand to sit still for more than 20 seconds, so I guess that wasn’t a place for me,” Rounaghi joked. “… If my career worked out when I was little to join the Pageant of the Masters, I might not be here today.”
When the candidates were asked about how to address artist live-work spaces, Rounaghi pitched city-owned land as the place to put it, stating that it would be a way to keep the housing affordable.
Louis Weil, the chairman of the design review board, promised to be approachable, so that people could share their thoughts, calling Laguna Beach a “town of a million ideas.”
Ruben Flores, also seeking a seat on the council, pledged to have an “artful eye” as he looked to concentrate on the beautification of the town.
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