Laguna Beach city officials look back on coronavirus response, recent acquisitions at State of the City address

A crowd a couple hundred strong packed into a conference room at the Montage Laguna Beach Tuesday to mix and mingle before listening to the State of the City address.

In the first such event since Gov. Gavin Newsom declared an end to the state of emergency with respect to the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bob Whalen looked back on navigating that period in his remarks, calling the business of the city “impactful” in that time.

Whalen, who was mayor at the outset of the pandemic, recounted the beach closures and tightened rules on local businesses, but he noted that compliance yielded results.

“According to data compiled by the Orange County health department, the city of Laguna Beach had the lowest per capita COVID death rate of any city in the county,” Whalen said to a round of applause. “Clearly, there were some socioeconomic factors in play here, but I know that our approach as a city contributed in a significant way to that favorable outcome. Our number one priority always is to protect the health and safety of our residents and visitors, and I believe we did an excellent job with that throughout the last three years.”

Another highlight of the pandemic response included allowing more outdoor dining, leading to the Promenade on Forest. The city is continuing to pursue making the Promenade a permanent fixture, Whalen said.

The mayor also revisited the $1.4 million put forth for the “LB Cares” program that provided financial support for businesses and the community.

Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen delivers the State of the City address on Tuesday at the Montage Laguna Beach.

(Photo by Andrew Turner)

City acquisitions were a focus of the address, including the purchase of the library and the takeover of South Laguna beaches from the county, as well as the deal with the Diocese of Orange for the former St. Catherine of Siena school property that is being converted into the new Laguna Beach Community and Recreation Center.

In her update, City Manager Shohreh Dupuis detailed some public safety changes, while also providing a moment of levity in poking fun at herself. She spoke to the creation of a neighborhood enhancement team to focus on quality-of-life issues, as well as a traffic division within the police department.

“We used to have a position called beach patrol officers, and they really didn’t have a lot of responsibility as to how they could enforce regulations,” Dupuis said. “We converted that position to what we call a park ranger position, and we’re going to, by this summer, have seven park rangers, and their main duty is to work through the neighborhoods, on our beaches and our parks to make sure that people are not engaging in bad behavior.

“We also created a traffic division for the first time. … Currently, we have two motor officers that enforce speeding, loud vehicle noises, and all sorts of public-safety issues. We’re going to increase our motor officers to four motor officers by this summer, and they’re going to be focusing on traffic violations, so make sure if you’re driving through town, you’re not speeding, and you’re also not using your cellphone,” Dupuis said, alluding to a traffic ticket she received last fall for speaking into her phone while behind the wheel.

The event was attended by 225 people, said Erin Slattery, chief executive of the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce. The attendees were given the opportunity to write down questions to be answered by city department heads at the end of the program. Assistant City Manager Gavin Curran addressed future long-term uses of the community and recreation center.

“For the long-term plans, it’s going to be part of a facilities master plan,” Curran said. “A facility master plan really looks at all our city facilities, how we’re going to modernize those facilities, and how we can provide services at those facilities right now and well into the future.

“We have a City Council subcommittee looking at a scope of services for that master plan, and that will be coming back to the City Council in May,” Curran said. “I do know there have been some suggestions for the long-term use at the property, which include a community pool, a cultural arts center, some additional parking and a permanent skateboard park.”

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