EDITORIAL:Future bright for Bluebird

Today is the second anniversary of the Bluebird Canyon landslide, and we’re happy to report that things are finally looking up in the slide zone.

In August, “buildable” lots are expected to be handed over to property owners who lost their homes, and the rebuilding of a neighborhood can begin at long last.

Those who have been living near the slide zone — including one family who has been literally “under a mountain” — can look forward with relief to a return to normalcy for them, as well.

Recovery Coordinator Bob Burnham and the city staff and contractors he has been supervising are to be congratulated for pulling off more than a minor miracle: not only giving back usable land to those whose homes collapsed in a morning of terror, but keeping the entire area safe from further harm.

They accomplished this without knowing at the outset where the millions and millions of dollars that would be needed would come from, or what the final cost would be.

The financial toll on the nearly two-dozen families that sustained the worst losses was great, but the human toll for those who had to flee that morning and have been without permanent dwelling-places ever since has been greater.

The fact that no lives were lost as the canyon slumped — and that no family went unhoused in the aftermath — is a tribute to the heroic actions of emergency personnel, and the tenaciousness of city officials and volunteers who sprang into action and opened their wallets to make sure no need went unmet.

Lagunans once again rose to the occasion and wrapped their arms around suffering community members, as they have in previous disasters.

There is more work ahead for the landslide-affected in Bluebird Canyon, but the future looks bright and the community should be proud of its efforts.