Candidates face off at forums

Two down, one to go.

City Council candidates were politely grilled at a forum hosted by the American Assn. of University Women and the League of Women Voters, Laguna Beach Woman’s Club, Laguna Beach Seniors, Laguna Beach Resource and Relief Center and the Interfaith Council on Oct. 2 and by the Arts Alliance on Saturday.

The nonprofits’ forums were televised and will be re-aired from 7 to 9 p.m., Tuesday on Cox Cable Channel 30.

A third forum is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Oct. 20 in the City Council Chambers. The South Laguna Civic Assn. will join with traditional forum hosts Top of the World and Temple Hills neighborhood associations to question the candidates.

Forums offer voters a chance to hear candidates speak their piece and to question them on issues of special interest.

STATE OF THE ARTS

As might be expected, the questions at the Art Alliance’s forum focused on the arts’ impact on the city and how City Council candidates Jane Egly, Cheryl Kinsman and Verna Rollinger would promote the arts financially and culturally.

Moderator Anita Mangels asked the candidates and the audience to play nice: no personal attacks and no boos.

Mayor Pro Tem Kinsman spoke first in the opening statements.

Kinsman said she remembers attending theatrical and musical productions as a child and has carried on that tradition with her own children. She played French horn in an orchestra, eschewing her debut to perform. Her sons have taken dance and chorus. Education in the arts is vital, she said.

Former City Clerk Rollinger said the art institutions in Laguna are unparalleled, but suggested they could remind people of what’s going on in town by speaking in the public comments period at council meetings. She also suggested that the alliance should work closely with newspapers.

“It would be great to have a place to go and see what’s happening,” Rollinger said.

Mayor Egly said finding performing arts space may be the most important task for the council in the eyes of the forum sponsor.

“Cheryl and I have worked to open up the [Laguna Beach] high school theater,” Egly said.

She also credited the arts groups with bringing tourists to town, which brings in revenue for city services.

All the candidates agreed that the state of the arts is excellent in Laguna. Asked for ways to improve it, Rollinger said if elected she would serve as a conduit between arts groups and the council. She said the solution for arts groups who wish to obtain use of the high school theater is better communication.

Egly said the Alliance must tell the city what needs to be done for the arts.

“We may not be able to fix it, but we sure can work on it,” Egly said.

Kinsman said financial times are tough — art sales are down — but the city is an arts community and must support the artists. She supports affordable artist live/work projects and she personally collects works by local artists, displayed in every room in her home.

“When I get up in the morning, that is what I see,” Kinsman said.

Affordable live/work projects are problematical, Egly said.

“People want to live here and that has jacked up [property] prices,” Egly said. “The city is not in the position to go out and buy land for artist live/work projects.”

The candidates opined to a greater or lesser degree that eminent domain was not the way to expand art venues. Eminent domain is a public agency’s way to purchase property that the owner may be reluctant to sell.

“You don’t get it any cheaper,” Egly said. Kinsman would use eminent domain only in the case of public safety, and Rollinger said she wouldn’t take anyone’s house but would consider it for an empty piece of property.

Public funding for the expansion of arts venues also got short shrift from the candidates.

Nor did the candidates support the notion of expanding the Civic Arts District to Ocean Avenue, but they liked the idea of satellite districts.

As for more performance space: Rollinger said, in her experience, if everyone in Laguna really wanted something, it got done. Egly spoke again of her efforts with the high school administration and added that Main Beach and city parks are also venues.

“This is one of my main issues,” Kinsman said. “I want a real theater with seats.”

A community arts center is also needed, the candidates said.

Asked if the council should have the right to overturn Arts Commission recommendations, the candidates said the buck stops at the dais — the council is the decision-maker by law.

However, Rollinger said the problem is project preparation. Egly said she has never rejected the art, just the location chosen by the commission. Kinsman said she prefers works by local artists, but it is the job of the council to see that the money in the commission’s substantial budget is spent wisely. The commission’s budget is plumped up by the local hotels’ Business Improvement District contribution to the arts to attract off-season tourists.

The candidates would like to see the hotels’ funding able to include the summer months — when the high school theater is not in use and could be used by local groups.

A question on whether personal taste should dictate the selection of “public art that celebrates human figures” — nudes — brought the most laughs of the day.

Kinsman was skewered publicly by some for her opposition several years ago to the possibility of a nude sculpture in front of City Hall.

“I have been prepared for this question for a long time,” Kinsman said.

She read from the minutes of the council meeting when the subject was discussed, which indicated that Kinsman had supported the position of Councilwoman Toni Iseman that the nude sculptures would not be appropriate.

From the audience, Iseman asked if she could get equal time.

Rollinger said the whole town owed Kinsman an apology and tendered her own.

Egly replied that she doesn’t impose her taste on art and only opposes locations.  

Village Entrance, lifeguard HQ

Questions deviated from the arts to include the Village Entrance, which got a thumbs up, perhaps with a smaller parking structure as was proposed by a task force more than 10 years ago. The Village Entrance probably is not the place for a bus depot, they replied when asked, but Egly and Rollinger didn’t slam shut the door.

Another non-art-related question dealt with the candidates’ opinions of the proposed lifeguard headquarters on Main Beach.

Egly said the council must find a balance between what the marine safety department considers essential and its impact on Main Beach views. She doesn’t think the structure needs to be as big as proposed.

“Lifeguards know exactly what they need, and I am 100% in support of their position,” Kinsman said.

Kinsman criticized a flier being distributed against the headquarters as inaccurate.

“We don’t have a design,” she said. “The public will have plenty of input.”

The safety issue resonates with Rollinger, but she is conflicted by the impact of the proposal on Main Beach.

“If you have ever had a 5-year-old plucked out of the ocean — and I have — there is no wavering on public safety, but we worked so hard to get the Window to the Sea [Main Beach],” Rollinger said. “I think we can work a solution.”

NONPROFIT FORUM

Candidates were provided ahead of time with questions that would be asked at the nonprofits forum, a relatively unusual procedure.

“I felt with all the groups involved there would be a leak from somewhere,” said Jean Raun, a veteran of years of League of Women Voters forums. “I thought it would be more fair if they all got it — that’s why I did it.”

The heads-up gave the candidates time to discuss the questions with their advisors and/or committee members, but opened to conjecture the author of the answers.

Egly said she didn’t consult with supporters, but surmised when she reviewed the questions that her advisor, Becky Jones, had formulated some of them, which Jones confirmed.

“The question about participation in the Resource and Relief Center was the easiest and most embarrassing for me to answer,” Egly said. “The answer was none.”

Egly said she found it hardest to name three most important decisions made as a member of the council.

“There have been so many,” Egly said.

Rollinger’s easiest question was, “What in life has prepared you for the City Council?”

How about 29 years as city clerk?

None of the questions were particularly tough, Rollinger said, but she appreciated the lead time to peruse them.

“It gave me a chance to research questions that I couldn’t have answered otherwise and come up with more meaningful responses,” Rollinger said.

Kinsman, a certified public accountant, jumped on the three-part question of which financial institutions are the Laguna Beach Employees pensions invested; where are the city’s reserve funds invested and are they secure.

Hard questions?

“When you have the questions in advance, none of them are hard,” Kinsman said.

BARBARA DIAMOND can be reached at (949) 494-4321 or [email protected].