You raise good points, Mr. Vogel. Why didn’t the Chamber notify the membership about the political contributions as it properly should have?
I had thought Blake, Whalen and Kempf were close allies with the Chamber in all of the opposition to Q, in the City’s decision to cut back on parking enforcement everywhere except downtown and along PCH as a staff money-saving tactic, and in the sidewalk gift to the restaurants over retailers—not just on Forest but everywhere.
You’re very correct that tourists don’t bring revenue.
Over 60% of our budget comes from property taxes — not business property taxes or residential property taxes.
And that traffic congestion you write about?
It was the limited ingress and egress that killed 100 people in Lahaina, and it will do the same when we don’t have the funds to underground powerlines in the Canyon.
The City Council must make undergrounding power in the Canyon the only priority of our new city manager until the community is fully informed and committed and there is a plan of action with a timeline and funding committed.
Kiku Terasaki, Laguna Beach
This has a typo: Residential property taxes make up the majority of City revenue, not business property taxes.
It should read: Over 60% of our budget comes from property taxes— not business property taxes, but residential property taxes.