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Laguna Talks to Judie Mancuso · Laguna Talks

0:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, good afternoon, everybody. This is Billy Freed with Laguna
0:10
Speaker 1: Talks on KXFM, Laguna's community Radio. And that's my theme
0:16
Speaker 1: song there if you haven't known, we got to re
0:18
Speaker 1: record it, make it really sharp. First of all, I'm
0:22
Speaker 1: to give a shout out to my mama. Hi Mom,
0:24
Speaker 1: I know you're listening from Florida. You're my biggest fan
0:27
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that. And LOOMI you two. So I'll
0:31
Speaker 1: see if I can play your favorite song request Kermit
0:34
Speaker 1: the Frog. Later on in the show, I got to
0:36
Speaker 1: see if we have it in our inventory. But today
0:39
Speaker 1: I'm very excited to have as our guest. She's running
0:42
Speaker 1: for city council. She's an animal activist and she is
0:47
Speaker 1: very involved in politics and making change wherever she sees necessary.
0:53
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Judy Mancuso and let's see your Mike levels. Judy,
0:59
Speaker 1: how are you?
1:01
Speaker 2: I'm right here. How do I sound? Thank you so
1:03
Speaker 2: much for having me on test.
1:05
Speaker 1: You sound fantastic. How's the campaign going?
1:09
Speaker 3: It's going great.
1:10
Speaker 2: I have momentum that I never enjoyed before, and it's
1:18
Speaker 2: just kind of overwhelming.
1:20
Speaker 3: It's really just fabulous.
1:22
Speaker 1: What do you attribute the momentum to to all the
1:26
Speaker 1: hard work over the years of getting to know people,
1:30
Speaker 1: getting to know the community.
1:31
Speaker 2: I mean, I've been here twenty nine years going on thirty,
1:36
Speaker 2: but probably since twenty sixteen, I've been the most active.
1:43
Speaker 2: That people were first introduced to me when I ran
1:46
Speaker 2: against Bob and Steve Dickdoro in twenty sixteen. Again when
1:51
Speaker 2: I got in the mix in twenty eighteen, then twenty
1:54
Speaker 2: twenty two, nobody would step up to run against Diane
1:57
Speaker 2: Dixon and our newly the redistricted red district. And I
2:05
Speaker 2: threw my hat in and ran and got over ninety
2:08
Speaker 2: thousand votes, which was amazing.
2:12
Speaker 3: Ninety thousand.
2:13
Speaker 2: Diane Dixon got one hundred and sixteen thousand, So my
2:18
Speaker 2: name recognition, all the ads I ran, you know, people
2:23
Speaker 2: know me now. And I got seventy four hundred of
2:27
Speaker 2: those votes in Laguna Beach and Diane only got fifty
2:32
Speaker 2: one hundred. So the unlody knows me. They have voted
2:37
Speaker 2: for me multiple times.
2:39
Speaker 1: So this isn't just this year. This is an eight
2:41
Speaker 1: year journey to get yourself known in the community. And Judy,
2:46
Speaker 1: what do you if you had to summon up, what
2:47
Speaker 1: do you stand for?
2:49
Speaker 2: I stand for environmentalism, sustainability, humane everything, whether it's humans, animals,
3:00
Speaker 2: you know, yes, compassion.
3:03
Speaker 1: Okay, And how does that translate into actual issues in
3:06
Speaker 1: Laguna Beach? How would you transpose your your values into action?
3:11
Speaker 3: Well?
3:13
Speaker 2: I have been for the past, well since twenty nineteen
3:16
Speaker 2: on the Environmental Sustainability Committee. The you know, when I
3:23
Speaker 2: ran against Bob and Steve, and Steve was very familiar
3:28
Speaker 2: with my animal rights work. He said, you know, you
3:31
Speaker 2: didn't get on the council duty, but we got to
3:33
Speaker 2: get you on the Environmental Sustainability Committee. And the first
3:37
Speaker 2: thing that we did is we banned rodenticides on public property.
3:42
Speaker 2: There's problems with state preemption federal preemption, but what you
3:47
Speaker 2: can do is ban the rodenticides on city property and
3:52
Speaker 2: our wildlife. I saw a bobcat in my neighborhood with mange,
3:57
Speaker 2: so it causes bleed out all the way down the
4:00
Speaker 2: food chain range in bobcats, coyotes.
4:04
Speaker 3: So we got that done together right away.
4:07
Speaker 2: And then in twenty eighteen, when I ran and didn't
4:11
Speaker 2: cut it, and Peter and Sue and Tony got in,
4:16
Speaker 2: Peter said, hey, let's ban plastics together. So that was
4:21
Speaker 2: you know, one of the things. So I mean when
4:25
Speaker 2: you look around us, when you look around us, between
4:30
Speaker 2: climate change, sustainability, being resilient to the weather. You know,
4:38
Speaker 2: it's all my core values.
4:41
Speaker 1: And what can we do on the local level, Like
4:43
Speaker 1: if you get elected, what are you going to do
4:44
Speaker 1: in the next four years?
4:46
Speaker 2: Well, you know, the one piece of paper I didn't
4:50
Speaker 2: grab that I could kick mysel far is everything we've
4:53
Speaker 2: gotten accomplished on the city council. I mean, on the
4:58
Speaker 2: on the esc that we've passed to the city council.
5:01
Speaker 2: But there's also a lot of projects in the queue.
5:03
Speaker 2: One of them is native plants, you know, as simple
5:07
Speaker 2: as getting native plants in people's homes.
5:11
Speaker 1: And because they're drought tolerance.
5:15
Speaker 2: They're drought tolerant and for fire mitigation. So that's in
5:22
Speaker 2: our queue. And we just had the drone show, which
5:26
Speaker 2: is going to be on the council tonight, discussion for
5:30
Speaker 2: the future.
5:31
Speaker 1: Talking about the fourth of July, the city elected to
5:34
Speaker 1: do drones instead of fireworks. Fireworks scare pets, they cause pollution,
5:40
Speaker 1: they're noisy.
5:42
Speaker 3: All of that are veterans.
5:44
Speaker 1: But this was controversial because a lot of people feel
5:48
Speaker 1: one day a year we should be able to enjoy
5:50
Speaker 1: fireworks and they were skeptical about the drones. How did
5:54
Speaker 1: you feel the drone show was?
5:56
Speaker 2: Well, the problem was we were kind of in a
5:59
Speaker 2: hurry with it, so we wanted to do it, but
6:02
Speaker 2: we were getting pushed back from staff.
6:04
Speaker 3: Wait wait wait wait wait.
6:06
Speaker 2: And then at the final moment when we could seal
6:11
Speaker 2: the deal, there was only like three hundred drones left
6:15
Speaker 2: for a show, so and there wasn't time to customize it.
6:20
Speaker 2: So we had a show that was just kind of
6:25
Speaker 2: half baked. It could have been so much better if
6:28
Speaker 2: we would have had more time, and that's what we
6:33
Speaker 2: are proposing for the next round is to have that
6:36
Speaker 2: more time. Have artists in the community developed some of
6:40
Speaker 2: the images. One of the things people wanted to see
6:44
Speaker 2: them to be more patriotic, so we could do that too.
6:50
Speaker 2: Music coordination along with the show, and there wasn't I mean,
6:55
Speaker 2: there was kind of an attempt to that, but not really.
6:58
Speaker 3: So that's one of the things.
7:01
Speaker 2: Fleet electrification, solar, these are other things that are making
7:07
Speaker 2: their way through the city. Building electrification codes is another
7:13
Speaker 2: one that we can do two for major remodels, our
7:19
Speaker 2: brand new homes to make sure that electric that it's
7:24
Speaker 2: electrified and not be putting natural gas into homes. So
7:29
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just endless how much there is to
7:32
Speaker 2: be done.
7:33
Speaker 1: If I can just say something though, as an observation,
7:36
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about on a national level and
7:39
Speaker 1: the election between Trump and Kamala Harris, I heard very
7:45
Speaker 1: little spoken about climate change. It was very disheartening for
7:50
Speaker 1: me to feel like, I'm sure their pollsters have analyzed
7:54
Speaker 1: what resonates with the public, and neither party really spoke
7:59
Speaker 1: about the devastation that we are currently experiencing with climate
8:03
Speaker 1: change and the you know, the incredible amount of damage
8:06
Speaker 1: that our weather is causing in the Gulf States with
8:10
Speaker 1: those hurricanes and uh, you know, fires here and all
8:15
Speaker 1: of these things. And so what I'm going to ask
8:17
Speaker 1: you is the issues that you're discussing that are near
8:20
Speaker 1: and dear to you. I wonder if that is a
8:22
Speaker 1: winning campaign to people really care about, you know, an
8:26
Speaker 1: electrified electriflying electrifying the fleet at city hall as opposed
8:31
Speaker 1: to the issues that really affect them day to day.
8:34
Speaker 2: I can tell you what I hear the most from people.
8:40
Speaker 2: It is number one traffic congestion. We know that it
8:46
Speaker 2: is affordable housing, lack of it and then doing it.
8:51
Speaker 2: What does that mean? And the ramifications of it. They
8:56
Speaker 2: are afraid of the cost of a lot of the
8:59
Speaker 2: PRIs that the city council is discussing because our budget
9:05
Speaker 2: when I ran the last time, our budget was at
9:07
Speaker 2: ninety million. Now it's at one hundred and forty five million.
9:12
Speaker 2: We have a decrease in population, but yet it's still
9:15
Speaker 2: not enough money to do everything that the council wants to.
9:19
Speaker 3: That scares the Bejesus out of people. They're like, what's
9:22
Speaker 3: going on? What is this?
9:25
Speaker 2: You know, why do we have to take over the
9:28
Speaker 2: relinquish the canyon, the coast, the promenade. Didn't we just
9:33
Speaker 2: do the promenade, you know, a parking structure in the
9:37
Speaker 2: middle of town when everyone can't even leave their homes
9:41
Speaker 2: when it's so congested. Those are those are the top issues.
9:47
Speaker 1: So let's get into that a little bit. And we're
9:50
Speaker 1: speaking with Judy Mancuso Kennedy for City Council here in
9:53
Speaker 1: Laguna Beach. Traffic does seem to be the number one
9:57
Speaker 1: issue year after year after year, and this year we
10:00
Speaker 1: felt it more acutely than any other time that anybody
10:03
Speaker 1: can remember, and there's no stopping it, right, So what
10:07
Speaker 1: are the fixes you talked about the cost? Do you
10:09
Speaker 1: have specific ideas on how to alleviate some of this problem?
10:15
Speaker 2: Well, I mean in twenty sixteen, I dug up all
10:19
Speaker 2: my election paraphernalia from twenty sixteen, and my bullets were
10:26
Speaker 2: all the same bullets you could use today. And we
10:29
Speaker 2: even did a little video that showed all the headlines
10:33
Speaker 2: back in twenty sixteen and then twenty twenty four and
10:35
Speaker 2: they were identical. So yes, what I talked about back
10:40
Speaker 2: then that still hasn't happened, and people were agreeing with
10:43
Speaker 2: me on was building a parking structure at Act five
10:48
Speaker 2: so that we catch people as they're coming down the
10:50
Speaker 2: canyon get rid of your car. We will have electric
10:56
Speaker 2: shuttles to help you get to where you want to
10:59
Speaker 2: go with your couer and your chairs and everything you need,
11:03
Speaker 2: you know, So that's number one.
11:05
Speaker 3: Number two.
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Speaker 2: I don't feel that we should have and most people
11:10
Speaker 2: don't feel we should have a parking structure in the
11:12
Speaker 2: middle of town because it will cause more congestion, bottlenecks,
11:17
Speaker 2: and pollution. Now, the next thing is we have these
11:21
Speaker 2: parking not parking attendants, traffic attendants at Farmers Market that help,
11:28
Speaker 2: you know, direct traffic while that is happening. We need
11:33
Speaker 2: those folks all over the place during the summer. I
11:38
Speaker 2: have spoken to so many people that live near the
11:41
Speaker 2: Montage right, and they say life is unbearable for them.
11:46
Speaker 2: So why can't we have those attendants down there? We
11:53
Speaker 2: need them at Parking Third there, we need them at
11:56
Speaker 2: Glenarian Failure, right. We know those areas that get so congested,
12:02
Speaker 2: hold up traffic. People the road rage, right, I've seen
12:06
Speaker 2: road rage at.
12:07
Speaker 3: Park and Third.
12:08
Speaker 2: People like getting out of their cars to, you know,
12:11
Speaker 2: yell or want to come punch someone. I mean, one
12:15
Speaker 2: day I had a dentist appointment in Irvine and I
12:21
Speaker 2: left the house and what you would think would be
12:23
Speaker 2: plenty of time, I got down the hill at Park
12:27
Speaker 2: and it was gridlock. I ended up having to cancel it.
12:31
Speaker 2: There was no way I was going to make it
12:32
Speaker 2: there in forty minutes that I gave myself.
12:35
Speaker 3: To give it.
12:36
Speaker 2: So this is bad for us, our quality alife. It's
12:42
Speaker 2: not good for the visitors, it's not.
12:44
Speaker 3: Good for our businesses.
12:46
Speaker 2: We lost two pilates teachers, our favorite teachers. In the evening,
12:50
Speaker 2: They're like we're not coming in Laguna. They live in
12:52
Speaker 2: San Juan. They pulled out. We love them and we
12:56
Speaker 2: lost our teachers.
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Speaker 1: Well, okay, let's go back to the parking structure at
13:02
Speaker 1: Act five that you mentioned. Have you come up with
13:06
Speaker 1: what a cost would be for that, how long, how
13:08
Speaker 1: it would disrupt us, and how we would pay for it.
13:11
Speaker 2: No, No, we talked about it in twenty eighteen and
13:16
Speaker 2: Peter loved it, Sue loved it. They start talking about
13:19
Speaker 2: it on the campaign trail. And then when Sue started
13:22
Speaker 2: talking about this parking garage in the middle of town,
13:27
Speaker 2: I said, what happened to Act five?
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Speaker 3: You know, you guys all loved that.
13:31
Speaker 2: You were picking up my idea on the campaign trail
13:33
Speaker 2: and she said, oh, do do you know people like
13:35
Speaker 2: to have their stuff near them. People like to have
13:39
Speaker 2: their stuff near them.
13:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can pull that mic towards you.
13:42
Speaker 3: Okay, that's better.
13:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and sorry listeners for MIC problems. And you know
13:51
Speaker 2: that's just not that's not a good enough answer to
13:54
Speaker 2: have a big, old parking structure in the middle of town.
13:58
Speaker 2: I think that we could accommodate folk anyway, And so no,
14:02
Speaker 2: I don't, but they should with all the parking. Yeah,
14:05
Speaker 2: I mean the studies that have been done right and
14:08
Speaker 2: there's no single fix. We need a number of tactics.
14:11
Speaker 1: And when you talk about staffing people at these intersections,
14:15
Speaker 1: what's wrong with just putting roundabouts there?
14:18
Speaker 2: Well, you know I've heard you mentioned roundabouts. I've heard
14:22
Speaker 2: others mention roundabouts and I did do a you know,
14:26
Speaker 2: big search on roundabouts and they're really on the rise
14:30
Speaker 2: for traffic accidents.
14:32
Speaker 3: So I'm not so sure they are the answer.
14:36
Speaker 2: And you know, I think about the roundabouts when the
14:39
Speaker 2: first time I ever went to Rome and you know,
14:43
Speaker 2: saw everybody.
14:45
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just.
14:46
Speaker 1: A free for all.
14:47
Speaker 2: Right.
14:48
Speaker 1: Rome would probably not be the best example. It's a scramble.
14:52
Speaker 2: Well, you know there was there was someone that passed away,
14:57
Speaker 2: a young nineteen year old on a motorcycle Koyle Hill
15:01
Speaker 2: and Irvine at that roundabout.
15:03
Speaker 3: So they are dangerous.
15:05
Speaker 2: I don't think they're the answer here, maybe in a
15:08
Speaker 2: couple places, but I do think that we could get
15:13
Speaker 2: a lot of help. And then the other thing that
15:15
Speaker 2: has been discussed but not implement it. I mean I
15:20
Speaker 2: remember it was at least Tony was still on the
15:24
Speaker 2: Counsole and they did this parking garage study and Schrey
15:28
Speaker 2: was still there, and they said, okay, well, one of
15:31
Speaker 2: the things we need to do is lease the private lots.
15:36
Speaker 3: Of course, right obvious during the.
15:39
Speaker 2: Summer months, you know, in the evening whenever we can.
15:44
Speaker 2: So then it didn't happen. They were supposed to look
15:49
Speaker 2: into it. Now it just came back to the council
15:53
Speaker 2: again like a month ago, and they acted like they
15:58
Speaker 2: were hearing it for the first time. And it's like, no,
16:01
Speaker 2: I remember Johannaur speaking saying he had his lot over
16:06
Speaker 2: here that he could pitch in. I mean, I remembered
16:10
Speaker 2: the whole dialogue, everything that took place. And then all
16:14
Speaker 2: of a sudden it came back to the council recently
16:16
Speaker 2: and everybody's like, oh, yeah.
16:17
Speaker 3: That's a good idea.
16:17
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, wait a second, what is this groundhog Day
16:20
Speaker 2: or something.
16:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:21
Speaker 2: So there's so many things that can be done, Billy
16:25
Speaker 2: that just haven't right.
16:27
Speaker 1: So let me ask you. You mentioned getting stuck in gridlock,
16:29
Speaker 1: tryn to get to an appointment. If we could somehow
16:35
Speaker 1: really create the infrastructure for safe biking, and we let's say,
16:39
Speaker 1: took part of Glen Airy and perhaps since we control
16:43
Speaker 1: that road, put a dedicated bike lane, so we have
16:46
Speaker 1: a passage north south. Would you, Judy Mancuso, would you
16:50
Speaker 1: feel safe riding a bike in town?
16:52
Speaker 2: So we have been discussing those for months on the
16:55
Speaker 2: Environmental Sustainability Committee, and Dane Fluger, Steve Chathaman and I
17:01
Speaker 2: and Kate from the high school, our high school liaison
17:06
Speaker 2: have all been working on how to get complete streets implemented,
17:11
Speaker 2: just something done because we've been talking about it.
17:14
Speaker 3: Another thing we've been talking about.
17:15
Speaker 2: For so long with no action, and what we want
17:19
Speaker 2: to do is we want to close down and have
17:24
Speaker 2: like a the cyclovier that they have in l A Yes,
17:30
Speaker 2: thank you. We want to do that for Laguna Road
17:35
Speaker 2: No no, no, from Calliope to Forest Okay along Glen
17:41
Speaker 2: Airy or a morning.
17:44
Speaker 3: For hours is what we're thinking.
17:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, for those of you who don't know what a
17:48
Speaker 1: sick lavia is, they're all over Los Angeles and other
17:51
Speaker 1: cities and they'll close a major street, usually on a weekend,
17:55
Speaker 1: sometime in the morning and just make it available to cyclists.
17:58
Speaker 1: I've gone up and done it, and it's really remarkable
18:01
Speaker 1: when you're on a what is normally a very busy,
18:04
Speaker 1: noisy street and suddenly it's silent and there's something crazy
18:08
Speaker 1: happens when you're on a bike. People wave, they smile,
18:11
Speaker 1: they're nice people. People would come out of their houses
18:14
Speaker 1: and serve food and things like that. It really creates
18:17
Speaker 1: a community. So you guys are talking about it's not
18:19
Speaker 1: very long, you know, Caliopeda.
18:21
Speaker 2: It's you know, it's something just to dip our toe
18:25
Speaker 2: in the water, since it's never been done here on
18:28
Speaker 2: Laguna Beach. But but we also have talked about making
18:33
Speaker 2: glenary just you know, two lanes and then parking and
18:38
Speaker 2: then the bicycle lane, you know. And I think that
18:43
Speaker 2: that would be good protection for the bicyclist because I
18:47
Speaker 2: have to tell you, I kind of get panicky when
18:51
Speaker 2: I have to get close when there's no options. It's
18:54
Speaker 2: a bicyclist and me and we're move it. I mean,
18:59
Speaker 2: I don't want to be that close to them. And
19:03
Speaker 2: sometimes you you know, when the traffic is moving, you
19:06
Speaker 2: don't have a choice and you're supposed to keep three
19:09
Speaker 2: feet and that is really challenging.
19:12
Speaker 1: That's why we need a dedicated bike lane.
19:14
Speaker 3: Well, one that is really dedicated and sick.
19:18
Speaker 1: What they call class one where there's a barrier and
19:21
Speaker 1: cars cannot possibly run into a bicyclist. But would you personally?
19:26
Speaker 1: Would you would that change your mind? Would you like,
19:28
Speaker 1: let's say you could get an electric bike so you
19:30
Speaker 1: can navigate the hills. I don't know exactly where you live,
19:33
Speaker 1: but to get around town. Would would you? Would you
19:37
Speaker 1: ride a bicycle if you really felt there was safe passage.
19:42
Speaker 2: I have neighbors and friends that have little scooters, and
19:47
Speaker 2: I love the idea of it. I mean, I used
19:52
Speaker 2: to ride a bicycle up until I don't know how
19:56
Speaker 2: many years ago it was that I don't even I
20:00
Speaker 2: know where it went, to be.
20:01
Speaker 3: Honest with you anymore.
20:03
Speaker 2: But I loved being on a bicycle, but it wasn't
20:07
Speaker 2: conducive to riding.
20:09
Speaker 1: But I will say that you know, of all the
20:11
Speaker 1: things we dream about here, parking garages and you know
20:15
Speaker 1: all these other thing that would make life easier for residents,
20:19
Speaker 1: not visitors, but residents in the summertime is getting on
20:23
Speaker 1: a bicycle and riding, and that way you would not
20:26
Speaker 1: get stuck in traffic. But we need a little more infrastructure.
20:29
Speaker 1: We need what's called bike corrals. Those are those big
20:32
Speaker 1: structures what we have one across from the festival of arts,
20:36
Speaker 1: but it's not the right place. But if you put
20:39
Speaker 1: one right at the promenade where people see, oh, this
20:42
Speaker 1: is a bike friendly town right now, we don't really
20:45
Speaker 1: still and we should not have them on the Coast Highway.
20:47
Speaker 1: And I think the city's done a good job of
20:49
Speaker 1: creating a bike path with all the signage from North
20:52
Speaker 1: Laguna to Naya's Place, where you never have to get
20:55
Speaker 1: on Coast Highway, and we've reduced the amount of bike
20:58
Speaker 1: fatality significant. In fact, there hasn't been one on Coast
21:02
Speaker 1: Highway since we put one in. We have one fatality
21:04
Speaker 1: on Glenary and Oak unfortunately, but mostly we have reduced
21:09
Speaker 1: the danger. Now we do have a problem with all
21:12
Speaker 1: the kids that are riding recklessly whose parents gave them
21:17
Speaker 1: what really are let's just call them their motorcycles electric motorcycles.
21:22
Speaker 1: They don't even pedal. They don't have pedals, They have
21:24
Speaker 1: pegs and they throttle, and you see two or three
21:28
Speaker 1: of them on a bike. Some of them don't have helmets.
21:29
Speaker 1: It's a miracle that we haven't had an accident yet.
21:32
Speaker 1: But I don't think it's a matter of if, It's
21:35
Speaker 1: more a matter of when. And that goes back to
21:37
Speaker 1: does the city and does Judy Mancuso, as a possible
21:42
Speaker 1: city council person, have the will to say, this is
21:45
Speaker 1: not a big spend relative to everything else we're talking about,
21:49
Speaker 1: but we control Glenary and other than Glenary, most of
21:53
Speaker 1: our streets are safe. If you know, Monterey in North
21:56
Speaker 1: Laguna has a dedicated bike lane. It doesn't have a
21:59
Speaker 1: barrier class too, but it goes from you know, all
22:02
Speaker 1: the way to the length of North Laguna and then
22:04
Speaker 1: you have cliff drive. You know, you cross anyway you
22:07
Speaker 1: can get around safely. But you know, is there a
22:11
Speaker 1: will with council to say it's time. The kids are
22:14
Speaker 1: making it happen. They're forcing it on us, and you know,
22:18
Speaker 1: electric bikes are here to stay. Let's make this a
22:21
Speaker 1: real bike friendly town. Let's be the Amsterdam of southern California.
22:25
Speaker 2: I mean, we've been working on it for the past
22:28
Speaker 2: year and we will be sending the final version to
22:33
Speaker 2: the council. So not only would I support it, I've
22:37
Speaker 2: already been working on it, so we'll see. You know,
22:43
Speaker 2: if I'm on the council, then yay. You know, since
22:46
Speaker 2: I've already been a big part of it, I can
22:48
Speaker 2: help shepherd it through. But I mean I've seen them
22:54
Speaker 2: say no several times over the years. But that doesn't
22:58
Speaker 2: mean we don't keep trying. If I'm on the concert,
23:00
Speaker 2: I mean, this is why I run right yep. Because
23:05
Speaker 2: A we don't see the progress. We see the same old,
23:09
Speaker 2: same old, year after year. These challenges that seem to
23:14
Speaker 2: be too big to overcome that I don't see it
23:19
Speaker 2: that way, m hm, and I will get in and
23:22
Speaker 2: overcome these challenges.
23:24
Speaker 1: Okay, So let me ask you We're going to stay
23:26
Speaker 1: on this topic a little bit longer. Of traffic mitigation.
23:30
Speaker 1: A lot of things that people think can be done
23:33
Speaker 1: to Coast Highway and to Laguna Canyon Road can only
23:36
Speaker 1: be done if we take control of them. Caltrans owns
23:40
Speaker 1: these streets, and to do anything is an incredible amount
23:45
Speaker 1: of bureaucracy. And we have seen other cities, our neighbors
23:50
Speaker 1: in Data Point and Newport Beach have taken control from Caltrans.
23:54
Speaker 1: Caltrans wants to give it to us if we are
23:57
Speaker 1: willing to take it. What is your what is feeling
24:00
Speaker 1: about controlling our streets?
24:02
Speaker 2: Well, my feeling is that there has been legislation that
24:07
Speaker 2: has worked its way through. We're not done with the
24:10
Speaker 2: governor signing all the bills that are on his desk
24:13
Speaker 2: right now, I have one more left, and he signed
24:16
Speaker 2: one of our bills. So we have to look at
24:19
Speaker 2: what gets signed into law. We have to say what
24:23
Speaker 2: is it exactly that we want to do, and then
24:26
Speaker 2: we can say two caltrans or whomever. Okay, how much
24:31
Speaker 2: of this is a constraint on us, how much of
24:34
Speaker 2: it will you do?
24:35
Speaker 3: How much of it can we do?
24:37
Speaker 2: And I am not going to judge or say that
24:42
Speaker 2: I know where that stands, because I don't believe any
24:45
Speaker 2: of it, okay, And that's another reason why I'm running.
24:49
Speaker 2: I have been working at the Capitol since two thousand
24:53
Speaker 2: and five, but I started my group in two thousand
24:57
Speaker 2: and seven. I have se even the sponsored bills, which
25:02
Speaker 2: I can explain to you what that means. And we've
25:05
Speaker 2: gotten twenty six signed in a law, and hopefully twenty
25:08
Speaker 2: seven soon.
25:09
Speaker 1: Is this your animal rights?
25:11
Speaker 2: Yes, my groups social Compassion and legislation. And people said, oh,
25:17
Speaker 2: you can't get that done. Oh you'll never get that done.
25:20
Speaker 2: Oh you can't do that.
25:21
Speaker 3: Right. That's all I've.
25:23
Speaker 2: Heard for seventeen years, and we continue to get things done.
25:30
Speaker 2: So I'm not gonna sit here and say, oh boohoo hoo.
25:34
Speaker 3: Our hands are tied. We can't do this, we can't
25:37
Speaker 3: do that.
25:37
Speaker 1: No, so you're saying we can take over these.
25:41
Speaker 3: I'm saying, let me if hope me in, I will
25:44
Speaker 3: get in and tell you exactly what needs to be done,
25:48
Speaker 3: who can do it, and if we have to do it,
25:51
Speaker 3: what it's going to cost, and what the funding mechanism is,
25:54
Speaker 3: and then is it worth it to the community. You
25:57
Speaker 3: let them decide.
25:59
Speaker 1: Okay. You know people are putting out numbers, people who
26:02
Speaker 1: are opposed to taking over the streets here about what
26:06
Speaker 1: it will cost us, both in maintenance and liability. Do
26:12
Speaker 1: you have any handle on what the real costs would be?
26:16
Speaker 1: I have an okay, fuel basis.
26:18
Speaker 2: In twenty sixteen, I got out an indie paper where
26:22
Speaker 2: Bob talks about it being two hundred and fifty nine
26:25
Speaker 2: million dollars. Now we're talking that it's going to be
26:29
Speaker 2: one hundred and forty four million, but it's going to
26:33
Speaker 2: be eleven million a year in liability.
26:37
Speaker 1: So undergrounding the power line.
26:39
Speaker 2: No, we're talking about taking it over and just liability. Sure,
26:43
Speaker 2: so relinquishment. So Dave Kiff, just.
26:47
Speaker 1: Publishing manager, yep.
26:49
Speaker 2: Just published a column in Students that explains where it
26:56
Speaker 2: all stands and what it all means, and what the
26:59
Speaker 2: numbers are currently, and they're just what I just told you.
27:04
Speaker 2: So I have to go with the numbers that they're
27:07
Speaker 2: giving us. But all I know is that the community
27:12
Speaker 2: is against.
27:14
Speaker 3: These big numbers coming out.
27:16
Speaker 2: They need to understand what is it, what are all
27:20
Speaker 2: the benefits, how much and how are we paying for it?
27:25
Speaker 2: What's the long term ramifications to me as a property owner,
27:32
Speaker 2: my taxpayer dollars if it goes there versus something else
27:37
Speaker 2: that may be more important to me.
27:39
Speaker 3: I'm good with all this stuff.
27:41
Speaker 2: If the community decides you don't go and put a
27:44
Speaker 2: community in debt that if it's something that they don't want.
27:48
Speaker 3: If they want it, let's go. If they don't want it, stop.
27:51
Speaker 1: But there is money out there that's not taxpayer money.
27:54
Speaker 1: Caltrans would give us money to match.
27:57
Speaker 2: So I've heard I haven't seen anything in writing that's well,
28:01
Speaker 2: just a bunch of hypotheticals and until it comes in
28:04
Speaker 2: and it's real, you know.
28:07
Speaker 3: Originally I'm from the show me state.
28:08
Speaker 1: M HM.
28:11
Speaker 2: Is that Missouri, Saint Louis, Missouri, So yeah, show.
28:15
Speaker 1: Me well, but there's also go find out too, you know,
28:20
Speaker 1: there's that.
28:20
Speaker 2: And I'm not on the console and I'm not the
28:22
Speaker 2: one pitching the idea. So let them come and present
28:25
Speaker 2: to us, and then we will figure it out as
28:29
Speaker 2: a community.
28:30
Speaker 1: One more question on traffic. Would you support a congestion
28:33
Speaker 1: traffic tax?
28:34
Speaker 3: Well, I love that idea so much.
28:37
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what it means, if it's legal,
28:41
Speaker 2: how we could accomplish it, but boy, I love that idea.
28:44
Speaker 1: Okay, cool? And then what about parking garages on the
28:47
Speaker 1: other ends of town, the south end, north end? Is
28:49
Speaker 1: there a place that you think or do you just
28:51
Speaker 1: think Act five is enough?
28:55
Speaker 3: I don't know the answer that.
28:57
Speaker 2: I mean, we know that people using Glson's a lot
29:01
Speaker 2: right now. We don't know what Dolson's alisoliso. I mean,
29:07
Speaker 2: that doesn't seem like a place to be put in
29:09
Speaker 2: a parking garage.
29:11
Speaker 1: Or multi garage. Pavilions in North Laguna or at Delmorrow
29:14
Speaker 1: any place strike you as also?
29:17
Speaker 3: Oh at pavilions, uh huh, you.
29:19
Speaker 1: Know they multi multi level where they have that parking
29:23
Speaker 1: lot where it wouldn't necessarily impact any neighbor's views or anything.
29:27
Speaker 2: Never, I mean if it didn't impact people's views, that
29:30
Speaker 2: actually might be an option.
29:32
Speaker 3: I've never heard the time before.
29:34
Speaker 2: You know, I'm good with stuff that if it doesn't
29:38
Speaker 2: just screw up the entire neighborhood and I'll end everyone,
29:42
Speaker 2: you know, So if there was a way.
29:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, but we need a master We need
29:48
Speaker 1: a master plan that says, Okay, if we build, we
29:51
Speaker 1: know they're coming, so if we can stop them before
29:54
Speaker 1: they get into downtown and cycles. But you know, part
29:58
Speaker 1: of that is changing people's behaviors, because nobody in California
30:01
Speaker 1: wants to get out of their car until the last
30:04
Speaker 1: until the last two feet. And what you need to have, obviously,
30:07
Speaker 1: is not only these electric shuttles that you mentioned, but
30:11
Speaker 1: electric bike kiosks, all manner of multimodal that makes it fun.
30:16
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've heard this idea, but you
30:18
Speaker 1: mentioned Act five parking lot. How about building a gondola?
30:23
Speaker 1: And everybody laughs when I say that, but you know
30:26
Speaker 1: that's mass transit. In many South American countries they have
30:29
Speaker 1: them across the sky. Can you imagine you get out,
30:32
Speaker 1: you get on it. Now, that's a real village entrance.
30:34
Speaker 1: That's an entrance you come swooping into town on your gondola,
30:38
Speaker 1: and what a view overhead of downtown Laguna and the ocean.
30:43
Speaker 1: To me, that would that would inspire people to park
30:46
Speaker 1: because they get a free ride on a gondola.
30:48
Speaker 2: Well, that's the most creative one i've heard.
30:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, I'm going off here.
30:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, but i mean, the whole mass transit thing is
31:00
Speaker 2: so difficult with our little bitty congested area, But like
31:05
Speaker 2: you said, it's not going away, and the hotter it
31:09
Speaker 2: gets inland, the more people are going to flee to
31:11
Speaker 2: the coast or relief.
31:13
Speaker 3: And that's what we saw happen.
31:15
Speaker 2: And so we have to get super creative in every
31:20
Speaker 2: way and do what we can, right.
31:23
Speaker 1: All right, Shifting gears here at KX ninety five on
31:25
Speaker 1: Laguna Talks with Judy Mancuso. I'm your host, Billy Freed.
31:29
Speaker 1: We're kind of at the half hour here and I'm
31:31
Speaker 1: going to just play a quick song here and this
31:35
Speaker 1: is for my mother. She requested her favorite song, Rainbow Connection,
31:39
Speaker 1: And unfortunately we don't have Kermit the Frog. We have
31:43
Speaker 1: Gwen Stefani here on KXFM.
32:00
Speaker 4: There's so many songs about rainbows and what's on the
32:07
Speaker 4: the sign.
32:11
Speaker 3: Rainbows of the shots, but.
32:14
Speaker 4: Only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide.
32:23
Speaker 2: So we've been told, and some choose to believe it,
32:29
Speaker 2: and I know the wrong way, didn't see.
32:36
Speaker 5: Someday will find it rainbow connection the lovers, the dreamers
32:44
Speaker 5: and me?
32:51
Speaker 3: And who said that every wish would be a lord?
32:55
Speaker 4: And answered when thisished on them all one named scar.
33:03
Speaker 5: It's somebody thought back and someone believed it, and the
33:10
Speaker 5: word is done so fun?
33:16
Speaker 3: What's so amazing? Keeps us star gazing?
33:22
Speaker 5: And what do we think we might see someday?
33:30
Speaker 3: Who finding the rainbow connection? The lovers, the dreamers and me.
33:39
Speaker 4: All love us on.
33:42
Speaker 5: The respell We know that is probably mad.
33:49
Speaker 3: J have you men have a sight and heavy our
33:56
Speaker 3: choices and.
33:58
Speaker 1: Dive urt them. Mollie, my name.
34:04
Speaker 5: Is this the sweet sound the cause.
34:08
Speaker 3: The unsailor to the voice my be on him?
34:13
Speaker 5: The same.
34:16
Speaker 4: The thirty too many e times to ignore it. It's
34:23
Speaker 4: something that I'm supposed to read.
34:29
Speaker 5: Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers,
34:38
Speaker 5: And it's.
34:44
Speaker 4: Sunday we'll find the rainbow connection. The lovers, the dreamers
34:55
Speaker 4: and me A lot already that shut.
35:00
Speaker 2: Up, and.
35:10
Speaker 1: That's Gwen Stefani, Orange County Zone singing Rainbow Connection, the Lovers,
35:18
Speaker 1: the Dreamers and me. That's from my mama. Unfortunately we
35:23
Speaker 1: didn't have the Kermit the Frog version here, but that
35:25
Speaker 1: was muddy good. I'm sitting with Judy Mancuso and ironically,
35:31
Speaker 1: as we were listening to the music, Judy's sister texted
35:35
Speaker 1: her all the way from Sichilia at Sicily. For those
35:38
Speaker 1: of you who don't know, that's the Italian pronunciation. Let's
35:41
Speaker 1: give a shout out to your sister, Judy.
35:43
Speaker 3: Hi, Marianne, thank you for listening.
35:46
Speaker 2: And she says that they have roundabouts in Napa, California
35:49
Speaker 2: and they're working good.
35:51
Speaker 1: What about in Sicily. Yeah, you can probably travel from
35:57
Speaker 1: Catania to Palanimo and never hit a stop sign, it's
36:01
Speaker 1: my guest, because that's what roundabouts do. You don't. You
36:04
Speaker 1: just slow down, but you don't stop.
36:06
Speaker 3: She says.
36:07
Speaker 2: Tyrmany and Mercy has twenty seven thousand people and not
36:11
Speaker 2: one stop light.
36:12
Speaker 1: There you go. Isn't that remarkable?
36:15
Speaker 3: Well, that's like it works.
36:16
Speaker 2: Beach.
36:17
Speaker 3: We're twenty two thousand.
36:18
Speaker 1: But we have a lot of stop lights, at least
36:20
Speaker 1: on coast Highway.
36:21
Speaker 3: We do.
36:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's amazing that your sister lives in Sicily.
36:27
Speaker 1: What a beautiful place to live in, amazing food and culture,
36:31
Speaker 1: and it's really a melting pot of so many different cultures, Arab, Italian, Greek,
36:37
Speaker 1: they all, you know, everybody wanted a part of that
36:39
Speaker 1: piece of that island.
36:41
Speaker 3: The history is amazing, we.
36:43
Speaker 1: Could learn a lot. Have you been the visitor yet?
36:47
Speaker 3: No, not since she moved there.
36:51
Speaker 2: I've been to Sicily and Italy multiple times, but no not,
36:56
Speaker 2: and that's you know, she's not happy with me about that.
37:00
Speaker 2: But I was going to and then COVID hit, so
37:04
Speaker 2: she moved slightly before COVID and since then, it's just
37:09
Speaker 2: life is just so busy. And I know you're a
37:12
Speaker 2: world traveler, so there's no reason not to get out
37:16
Speaker 2: and travel.
37:16
Speaker 1: And well, sure, I mean if you can. I mean
37:19
Speaker 1: I have a daughter living in Europe as well, so
37:21
Speaker 1: I go and visit her as much as I can.
37:23
Speaker 1: But you know, she was born in Italy and I
37:25
Speaker 1: cannot get Italian citizenship or because it doesn't work for
37:30
Speaker 1: your parents, only for the children. I'm sure your sister
37:33
Speaker 1: was probably able to get some sort of EU citizenship
37:37
Speaker 1: or Golden visa based on your heritage, that you have
37:41
Speaker 1: grandparents that are.
37:42
Speaker 3: That's right in Italy, that's right.
37:44
Speaker 2: And I will eventually do the same one day. But
37:49
Speaker 2: right now, I just I really do love being here
37:53
Speaker 2: in Laguna Beach and this.
37:55
Speaker 1: Is as close to Amalfi as you can get.
37:57
Speaker 2: And I have two dogs and four cats that depend
38:02
Speaker 2: on me, and so we're kind of co dependent.
38:09
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you, this is getting back to
38:12
Speaker 1: city issues here in Laguna, and this is sort of
38:14
Speaker 1: an adjunct to our traffic issue, and that is this
38:18
Speaker 1: summer we had a campaign from locals to defund the
38:23
Speaker 1: Visitors Bureau and they were the target and in much
38:27
Speaker 1: in many ways the scapegoat for what everybody sees is
38:31
Speaker 1: this over tourism problem. And part of it is and
38:35
Speaker 1: I think you know, villa or visit Laguna unfortunately is
38:40
Speaker 1: quite visible to people that they have one point eight
38:43
Speaker 1: million dollars in funding. It doesn't come from our taxpayers,
38:47
Speaker 1: but it comes from the hotel bed tax, and they
38:50
Speaker 1: allegedly use that funding to attract overnight visitors, who are
38:55
Speaker 1: what we describe as the good visitors because they stay
38:58
Speaker 1: in our hotel. I know, I roll my eyes to they,
39:01
Speaker 1: but they spend money, they behave, they they shop, blah
39:05
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. But you know, this summer, they in
39:08
Speaker 1: part of their marketing campaign visit Laguna, runs ads on
39:11
Speaker 1: social media beautiful pictures of our beaches, empty beaches from
39:14
Speaker 1: the winter, and they the opponent's all saying, that's bringing
39:18
Speaker 1: in crowds because it gets millions and millions of views.
39:22
Speaker 1: So we're sort of developing in their town. Two factions.
39:27
Speaker 1: It's very sort of binary. There are the pro resident
39:30
Speaker 1: faction who believe that the visitors don't pay their fair
39:33
Speaker 1: share to cover the expenses of managing them. And then
39:39
Speaker 1: we have people who are not necessarily pro resident or
39:43
Speaker 1: I would say pro visitor, because they certainly live here,
39:47
Speaker 1: but maybe they depend on the visitors for their income.
39:51
Speaker 1: That is our number one industry, tourism. Or they also
39:54
Speaker 1: feel like, hey, the beaches are not ours. We're luckily
39:57
Speaker 1: enough to live here, but the beaches are available to
39:59
Speaker 1: every one. That's why the Coastal Commission exists. How do
40:03
Speaker 1: you where do you fit into this argument of over
40:07
Speaker 1: tourism and who's to blame and is it in fact
40:11
Speaker 1: a fair position to be pro resident or pro visitor
40:16
Speaker 1: and is there a middle ground.
40:18
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, there's a middle ground. So I just talked
40:21
Speaker 2: about visit Laguna at the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance Forum.
40:29
Speaker 2: So the bed tax money, the TOT, whatever you want
40:34
Speaker 2: to call it, has multiple names. Like you said, it's
40:38
Speaker 2: like one point seven million goes to visit Laguna and
40:42
Speaker 2: then the museum and the festival, and there's two other entities,
40:48
Speaker 2: the commissioners. It gets three hundred and eighteen thousand each.
40:55
Speaker 2: So what I said was, if we're an artist town,
40:59
Speaker 2: because as we call ourselves an artist town, why are
41:03
Speaker 2: we giving all of our money to the tourism and
41:06
Speaker 2: not it's our money because it's coming in through the TOT.
41:12
Speaker 2: I understand that it's not property tax money, but why
41:17
Speaker 2: is this going to bring more visitors in if we're
41:20
Speaker 2: an art town. So here's what I hear from the community.
41:25
Speaker 2: Stop exploiting our what are our natural beauty, our oceans,
41:32
Speaker 2: our trails. People know around the globe it's beautiful here.
41:39
Speaker 2: That's done. We don't need to spend money on that.
41:42
Speaker 2: Spend money on getting them to the festivals, getting them
41:47
Speaker 2: to the museum and these other places, and then take
41:51
Speaker 2: some of that money away and give it to the arts,
41:56
Speaker 2: because you can't call us an art town when you're
42:00
Speaker 2: just giving peanuts to the arts, right, and the bulk
42:04
Speaker 2: of it is going to tourism. That's a tourism town.
42:07
Speaker 2: It's not an art town. Okay, So that was one
42:10
Speaker 2: of your things. Number two, the visitors are costing us money.
42:15
Speaker 2: That is not a fictitious statement, okay. And from Jim
42:21
Speaker 2: Danziger and John Thomas, who are very smart individuals who
42:26
Speaker 2: have run the numbers, looked at all the data. I
42:30
Speaker 2: mean we're like thirty million, twenty to forty million, depending
42:34
Speaker 2: on which margin air you want to go. Right now,
42:38
Speaker 2: the number one revenue source to Laguna Beach is property taxes,
42:43
Speaker 2: not the tourist right. So if all these emergency services
42:50
Speaker 2: have gone up, like we saw on fourth of July,
42:53
Speaker 2: eight hundred rescues, four hundred percent increase, someone is paying
43:00
Speaker 2: for that, Okay, we are. When you look at the
43:05
Speaker 2: cost per capita for every one thousand people Aliso Viejo
43:13
Speaker 2: for their police pay one forty five. In Laguna Beach,
43:17
Speaker 2: it's like six hundred and fifty seven dollars.
43:21
Speaker 3: Okay. Something's really wrong with that. So we do need
43:25
Speaker 3: release what's the fix?
43:28
Speaker 2: Oh well, there was three things presented and then a
43:33
Speaker 2: fourth three tax type of taxes or revenue increases were presented,
43:40
Speaker 2: and then there was a fourth one brought in that
43:44
Speaker 2: would tax restaurants or bars people that served alcohol, because
43:50
Speaker 2: one of the biggest were like the Capital, Dui City
43:55
Speaker 2: And I didn't even know this until I saw posts
43:58
Speaker 2: from Jeff Calver, our chief of police on Instagram that like,
44:03
Speaker 2: you know, we're number one, So anyhow we need to
44:10
Speaker 2: get a revenue source and parking is not going to
44:14
Speaker 2: pay for it, so we do need to focus. And
44:17
Speaker 2: I think that that is a good place because if
44:20
Speaker 2: people come here to drink and drive, which they do,
44:23
Speaker 2: and there's proof of that every week in the end
44:26
Speaker 2: with the police report, then maybe that's where we do
44:29
Speaker 2: put it.
44:30
Speaker 1: Well, you're so that one of the recommendations was to
44:33
Speaker 1: add a five percent tax to restaurants and.
44:36
Speaker 3: It wasn't five, what was it.
44:38
Speaker 2: It was three over a multi year period, Okay, it
44:42
Speaker 2: was graduating.
44:43
Speaker 1: So you don't think that that tax gets passed on
44:46
Speaker 1: number one, to the restaurant who have a tough time
44:49
Speaker 1: operating and who are then going to raise the prices
44:51
Speaker 1: to pay for that. That will get passed on to
44:53
Speaker 1: US residents.
44:54
Speaker 2: No, you can put it above the bottom line so
45:00
Speaker 2: that they don't absorb it. It passes straight through to
45:04
Speaker 2: the city, and that's in Jim Danziger's article.
45:08
Speaker 1: And the but he pays the taxes ultimately on that
45:11
Speaker 1: three percent.
45:13
Speaker 2: It's the person that pays it is either going to
45:16
Speaker 2: be visiting from out of town who's coming in to drink, right,
45:20
Speaker 2: or one of us right residents.
45:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean their theory is that the preponderance
45:26
Speaker 1: of customers in these restaurants are visitors and ergo, they're
45:30
Speaker 1: going to pay the tax. But one could argue that
45:34
Speaker 1: we as residents have to pay that it's going to
45:36
Speaker 1: come to us, and our restaurants are expensive enough as
45:40
Speaker 1: it is. It's very difficult to stay afloat, as you
45:43
Speaker 1: can see with all the closures. So we're passing a
45:46
Speaker 1: tax onto these businesses that can't afford it. That's I'm
45:50
Speaker 1: not advocating, I'm just telling you what the argument is.
45:52
Speaker 2: Well, so the argument against that is that we are
45:56
Speaker 2: already paying for it to the tune of twenty to
45:59
Speaker 2: four million dollars a year. Okay, okay, so this is
46:03
Speaker 2: getting some back, and the data shows that seventy percent
46:10
Speaker 2: of the people coming into the restaurants are from out
46:13
Speaker 2: of town, and I suggested we do a deep dive
46:18
Speaker 2: that we figure out exactly what the percentage is. We
46:23
Speaker 2: can even look at the months per year, right and no, So,
46:27
Speaker 2: I mean, we have got to get creative. It can't
46:30
Speaker 2: be on the backs of those of us paying property taxes.
46:33
Speaker 3: Here year after year after year.
46:36
Speaker 1: Okay, they did talk about raising the parking rates as well.
46:39
Speaker 1: You don't believe that's the.
46:41
Speaker 2: Parking that's not going to put a dent in it,
46:44
Speaker 2: or maybe a little bitty dent, Okay, the kind that
46:47
Speaker 2: you can like that.
46:48
Speaker 1: I mean, it's already expensive to come visit here. The
46:51
Speaker 1: parking is way higher than neighboring cities. You know, the
46:54
Speaker 1: restaurants are expensive. I mean, I think they see that
46:58
Speaker 1: as a deterrent to keep them away. But at the
46:59
Speaker 1: same same time, you want the visitors right because their
47:02
Speaker 1: money doesn't In fact, I mean, there is a lot
47:05
Speaker 1: of money that the visitors generate that if we didn't
47:09
Speaker 1: have that money, we'd be in real trouble.
47:12
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I've been staring at the budget and
47:17
Speaker 2: you know, yeah, there's money, but it's not doesn't compare
47:22
Speaker 2: to property taxes. I'm just going to keep going back
47:24
Speaker 2: to that. And I thought about bringing the budget with me,
47:27
Speaker 2: and I thought, oh no, we're not gonna deep dive
47:29
Speaker 2: into the budget.
47:30
Speaker 3: And I wish I would have brought that too.
47:31
Speaker 1: But don't you think, Judy, that our property taxes are
47:34
Speaker 1: a reflection of the incredible appreciation that we've experienced.
47:39
Speaker 2: Okay, you don't know, no, no, I mean it's cats.
47:42
Speaker 2: You don't think how much it can go up per year? Right,
47:46
Speaker 2: So I bought my home in two thousand and one,
47:50
Speaker 2: and you know, I had a pretty decent sized property
47:54
Speaker 2: tax back then. But now, after owning it over twenty years,
47:59
Speaker 2: I'm paying all a lot more, right.
48:01
Speaker 1: Because of your values. We appreciate it so much. But
48:03
Speaker 1: it's and that's the benefit of living here.
48:07
Speaker 2: Yes, but it's kind of an automatic increase, you know,
48:11
Speaker 2: and it's capped so and then of course the new
48:16
Speaker 2: the values of the homes going up. So to your point, yes,
48:20
Speaker 2: there's more money that's all over California, which is causing
48:25
Speaker 2: this unaffordability problem.
48:29
Speaker 1: Let's turn to that because I'm conscious of time here affordability.
48:34
Speaker 1: What do we do about the rising cost of rents here,
48:37
Speaker 1: both for businesses because we see a lot of closure,
48:40
Speaker 1: and for people who can't afford to buy. We need
48:43
Speaker 1: young people living here, not only for our vitality. You
48:46
Speaker 1: mentioned artists they can't afford to live here, service people
48:49
Speaker 1: that work in our stores. I'm going to put a
48:52
Speaker 1: couple of other things on this question. There's the issue
48:56
Speaker 1: of the affordable housing mandate of the state and the
49:01
Speaker 1: proposal by the Neighborhood Congregational Church to put a multi
49:05
Speaker 1: level affordable housing. Do you support that? And what else
49:09
Speaker 1: can you do to support our mandate to create affordable housing.
49:14
Speaker 3: Wow, that is a full one hour show right.
49:18
Speaker 1: There, and we got about ten minutes.
49:19
Speaker 3: Okay, so let me take a deep breath.
49:24
Speaker 2: It's hard to tell a property owner you can't charge
49:30
Speaker 2: this much rent, correct, So that's gonna be they're empty
49:37
Speaker 2: because the property owner decided to do that, right, So
49:42
Speaker 2: that one's kind of like, E, you can't control that.
49:46
Speaker 1: Okay.
49:49
Speaker 2: The mandates, that's a different story because with the mandids
49:53
Speaker 2: comes various funding. You know, Lagunas started this housing trust
50:00
Speaker 2: funds so that they can do matching funds right for
50:03
Speaker 2: the artists, right, well, not just the artist. It's also
50:09
Speaker 2: affordable housing. Look, seniors need affordable housing. Artists could use it,
50:18
Speaker 2: Our workers here in town can use it, right, So
50:23
Speaker 2: there's a lot of different groups that need affordable housing.
50:28
Speaker 2: One of the problems with affordable housing is it's affordable today,
50:33
Speaker 2: but then in ten years, all of a sudden, it's
50:35
Speaker 2: market rate. So whatever it is that we do that
50:40
Speaker 2: does have city funds going to it needs to be affordable, imperpetuity,
50:48
Speaker 2: ninety nine years, whatever we can do, because it's been
50:52
Speaker 2: a facade, okay, and it can't be. If we're going
50:56
Speaker 2: to have affordable housing, we need affordable housing as far
51:00
Speaker 2: as the church property goes, So.
51:05
Speaker 3: I visited the.
51:06
Speaker 2: Pastor and his board member, and I've talked to people
51:10
Speaker 2: in the community, and there are those who just don't
51:15
Speaker 2: want the church to come down. Now, the church owns
51:20
Speaker 2: the property. So if the church wants the church to
51:25
Speaker 2: come down, it's going to do it because they own
51:27
Speaker 2: the property.
51:28
Speaker 3: Okay, that's number one.
51:30
Speaker 2: Number two under as before, if they turn it into
51:35
Speaker 2: affordable housing, then there's some constraints, there's opportunities. But what
51:42
Speaker 2: I told them is, look, I'm not hearing that everyone
51:48
Speaker 2: doesn't want it. I'm hearing that they understand and they
51:52
Speaker 2: want affordable housing.
51:53
Speaker 3: They just don't want it.
51:55
Speaker 2: To be two Hotel Lagunas side by side at Legion
52:00
Speaker 2: and Saint Anne's. Hey, that's probably where everybody would stand
52:07
Speaker 2: on it, right And so they said, well, it's not
52:10
Speaker 2: going to be that, and I said, well, but based
52:12
Speaker 2: on your square footage, these are the models that people
52:16
Speaker 2: are coming up with because there hasn't been proper plans presented,
52:20
Speaker 2: so people's imaginations go wild, right, So until you show
52:25
Speaker 2: us what it is you're going to do, nobody can
52:29
Speaker 2: really be pro or against it unless they're just totally
52:33
Speaker 2: against the whole thing. So they said yes, and they
52:36
Speaker 2: realize that, and they're working on it, and they're going
52:39
Speaker 2: to be presenting something and I have to miss it.
52:42
Speaker 3: Unfortunately. I'm bummed about.
52:44
Speaker 2: It because it's the same time we're having a candidate
52:47
Speaker 2: forum and I believe it's October seventh that they're going
52:50
Speaker 2: to be up at the school with something, and we're
52:54
Speaker 2: going to be at South Aguna's Civic Association.
52:57
Speaker 1: Got it? What about best use of say, Catherine's the
53:01
Speaker 1: property that we bought, do you think we do you
53:04
Speaker 1: have thoughts on what would be the best use of
53:06
Speaker 1: that campus.
53:09
Speaker 2: I remember when we bought it and I said to
53:12
Speaker 2: one of the council members, Oh, is that going to
53:15
Speaker 2: be the affordable housing? And they went no, and I said, oh, oh, well,
53:23
Speaker 2: what's it going to be? And it was like, oh, well,
53:26
Speaker 2: we're going to have something wonderful, you know, And that
53:30
Speaker 2: wonderful hasn't really come through. And this is a problem,
53:36
Speaker 2: one of those many problems that I talked to you
53:39
Speaker 2: about and others of why I'm running, because these things
53:43
Speaker 2: just don't materialize. Are they morph and then they just dissolve,
53:49
Speaker 2: you know, Tiamo. Dear Lord, why on earth did we
53:54
Speaker 2: buy Tiamo if there was no you know, appraisal. Oh yeah,
53:58
Speaker 2: here's the money, We're going to use it for something,
54:02
Speaker 2: And here we are, all these years later selling Tiamo.
54:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not very well planned out.
54:09
Speaker 1: Billy. Well, okay, we got a few minutes left here.
54:14
Speaker 1: I want to wrap things up. If Judy, of the
54:18
Speaker 1: four candidates that are running, we have two incumbents, George
54:21
Speaker 1: Weiss Bob Whalen. We have two people yourself and Hallie Jones,
54:26
Speaker 1: who if you were elected as one of the two seats,
54:31
Speaker 1: who would you most feel aligned with? Of those three,
54:34
Speaker 1: who would you like to serve out your term with?
54:37
Speaker 2: I think that when I, well, Halle has no record, right,
54:43
Speaker 2: and all I know is a.
54:44
Speaker 1: Record as an environmentalist like yourself.
54:46
Speaker 2: Well, we were just on the other side of glyfa
54:49
Speaker 2: sate with each other, right. I was pro banning it
54:52
Speaker 2: and she was pro keeping it. So I don't know her, okay,
54:58
Speaker 2: besides that little bitty interaction, which was kind of a
55:02
Speaker 2: big interaction.
55:04
Speaker 1: But you know, so if people don't know, Glycasada's round up, right,
55:07
Speaker 1: And she was in charge of Laguna Canyon Foundation, so
55:10
Speaker 1: she had oversight over all of our open space, and
55:13
Speaker 1: she was advocating for it as a way to take
55:16
Speaker 1: out invasive species, right, that's right.
55:19
Speaker 3: And I moved.
55:21
Speaker 2: With the Environmental Sustainability Committee integrated pest management program.
55:27
Speaker 3: That would eliminate it.
55:30
Speaker 2: And if it would use it as a last resort
55:34
Speaker 2: kind of thing, because that's how most integrated pest management
55:37
Speaker 2: programs are. But what the community wants is for it
55:41
Speaker 2: to be banned completely. I did check it out with
55:44
Speaker 2: the City of La their fire mitigation, the fire station
55:49
Speaker 2: there and that is in charge of fire mitigation, and
55:53
Speaker 2: they don't use it at all, So you know.
55:56
Speaker 1: We're very divided because they're scientists who believe you're not.
56:00
Speaker 2: No, that is not true. The verdict is not out.
56:04
Speaker 2: That bear is in Germany and Germany is banning it,
56:08
Speaker 2: the World Health Organization I ARC. It's a cancer causing
56:14
Speaker 2: and everyone's banning it, and we did mostly, So that's
56:19
Speaker 2: an issue. It doesn't just dissolve, It gets into our watershed,
56:24
Speaker 2: it drifts.
56:26
Speaker 3: But we could go on on about that.
56:28
Speaker 2: So what I would say is that I think from
56:34
Speaker 2: my lessons learned over the years being on a state
56:37
Speaker 2: board for eight years, being on the Environmental Sustainability Committee,
56:43
Speaker 2: is you have common ground with everyone for the most part,
56:49
Speaker 2: and there's going to be things that you disagree on.
56:53
Speaker 2: They may influence you to come to their side. You
56:57
Speaker 2: might influence them to come to your site, and sometimes
57:01
Speaker 2: you don't. You stay in your own space. So I
57:07
Speaker 2: can get along with them all, I can work with
57:09
Speaker 2: them all. They're all nice people, you know. I've known
57:15
Speaker 2: Bob and George. Hollie, like I said, is the newer person,
57:19
Speaker 2: but she seems delightful as well.
57:23
Speaker 3: Besides the glife estates, So.
57:25
Speaker 1: Okay, no picking and council do you think has been
57:29
Speaker 1: has done a good job.
57:33
Speaker 3: A good job, a good job in respect.
57:36
Speaker 1: To what well their role is a city council person,
57:40
Speaker 1: which is obviously a broad brush, but in terms of effective,
57:46
Speaker 1: effective governing, making things happen, being on the right side
57:51
Speaker 1: of what you believe are the correct steps to make
57:56
Speaker 1: our to improve our quality of life.
57:57
Speaker 2: If I felt that way, there would be no Judy
58:01
Speaker 2: Mancuso for City Council twenty twenty four.
58:04
Speaker 1: So there's nobody who you think is really.
58:06
Speaker 2: Not yet, not yet, not yet, And that's why my
58:09
Speaker 2: leadership and being the leader that I am, will be
58:13
Speaker 2: so effective for this town.
58:15
Speaker 1: Are you in favor of the promenade being finalized and
58:19
Speaker 1: being a permanent pedestrian space.
58:22
Speaker 2: I think that I've heard so much about the promenade
58:27
Speaker 2: right there are the people that want it to go
58:30
Speaker 2: away and be a highbred and do daytime night time.
58:36
Speaker 2: There's the staunch supporters like yourself that can never even
58:40
Speaker 2: imagine it being anything else and want to throw a
58:43
Speaker 2: bunch of money at it. And then there's the people
58:46
Speaker 2: in the middle that are like, Eh, I don't.
58:48
Speaker 1: Care, or you know, I want to return it to
58:50
Speaker 1: what it was.
58:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought that was the first batch that I
58:54
Speaker 2: said yeah, the first batch. Well, no, there's not people
58:56
Speaker 2: that want to completely turn it to what it was.
59:00
Speaker 3: They would like to see it what it was during.
59:02
Speaker 1: The day, come up at night and you turn it into.
59:06
Speaker 3: It and on the weekend, you know.
59:08
Speaker 2: And when we came out of COVID, I was thinking
59:11
Speaker 2: that's probably where it was going to go. I thought that, like, hey,
59:15
Speaker 2: let's move the farmer's market from the parking lot, make
59:19
Speaker 2: the parking lot the parking lot, and bring the farmer's
59:22
Speaker 2: market to the middle of town so we could shut
59:26
Speaker 2: it down and have, you know, like they do in
59:28
Speaker 2: San Clemente and other towns. I don't know if San
59:30
Speaker 2: clement still does it. I haven't been there far, but
59:32
Speaker 2: they but I was there on an event that they
59:35
Speaker 2: had and but but then it turned into what it
59:39
Speaker 2: is right now. So I think that if we're going
59:42
Speaker 2: to throw a bunch of money at it, that we
59:44
Speaker 2: need to have buy in from the public.
59:47
Speaker 1: But if where do you where do you not out?
59:49
Speaker 1: What do you?
59:50
Speaker 3: I don't care.
59:51
Speaker 2: I used to park there when it was parking and
59:54
Speaker 2: I would shop. Now I go there and I sit
59:57
Speaker 2: outside and have meetings. So I'm cool. I can roll
1:00:01
Speaker 2: with it whatever way. I'm not on either side, like
1:00:06
Speaker 2: you know, banging a drum.
1:00:08
Speaker 3: I'm good, but.
1:00:09
Speaker 2: I would like to see it if we did go back,
1:00:13
Speaker 2: I would like to see it do the thing on
1:00:15
Speaker 2: the weekend or at the eking.
1:00:17
Speaker 1: Do you think in general though, it's a better use
1:00:20
Speaker 1: of public space now than what it was before when
1:00:23
Speaker 1: it was just parking.
1:00:24
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know.
1:00:28
Speaker 2: I see it empty a lot, you know, So when
1:00:33
Speaker 2: I see it empty, I think, you know, it is
1:00:36
Speaker 2: kind of like not doing what it's supposed to do.
1:00:39
Speaker 2: And then other times it's super vibrant and there's a
1:00:42
Speaker 2: lot of life and it seems like, oh, this is
1:00:44
Speaker 2: really good. I mean, I am for open space. I'm
1:00:49
Speaker 2: not that pro car. I mean I have an electric
1:00:52
Speaker 2: car and one hundred percent electric and that's what I
1:00:56
Speaker 2: you know, try to, you know, but I'm not for
1:01:00
Speaker 2: pollution and congestion.
1:01:03
Speaker 1: So okay, all right, Well that's about all the time
1:01:08
Speaker 1: we have.
1:01:08
Speaker 2: Well can I plug I have a big event at
1:01:12
Speaker 2: the Rivian on Saturday. It starts at six thirty, yes,
1:01:17
Speaker 2: and we're gonna be screening The Game Changers, and we
1:01:21
Speaker 2: have the star of the film, James wilk who was
1:01:26
Speaker 2: an Ultimate Fighter and you know his story is amazing.
1:01:31
Speaker 2: It's a James Cameron movie, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and James.
1:01:36
Speaker 2: We have doctor Amanda Brown, doctor Aaron Spitz, and Hunter
1:01:41
Speaker 2: Nolan who shot the movie and he also directed produced
1:01:47
Speaker 2: other movies with Leonardo DiCaprio and James Cameron and Fisher
1:01:52
Speaker 2: Stevens So. And we have James Veles Mitchell so and
1:01:57
Speaker 2: tons of food, plant based food.
1:02:00
Speaker 3: So please come and eat.
1:02:03
Speaker 2: Enjoy the food, watch the movie, and then we're going
1:02:05
Speaker 2: to have this incredible panel afterwards. And then also we
1:02:10
Speaker 2: have all these events coming up. We have the can
1:02:15
Speaker 2: Do City Council Candidate Forum on Monday.
1:02:19
Speaker 3: September thirtieth.
1:02:21
Speaker 2: The high school kids are having a forum on Tuesday
1:02:26
Speaker 2: October first at the Laguna Beach High School Artist Theater.
1:02:30
Speaker 3: I can't wait for that one.
1:02:32
Speaker 2: The next one is Monday October seventh at the South
1:02:36
Speaker 2: Laguna Civic Association. And then the last, but not least,
1:02:42
Speaker 2: is Tuesday October fifteenth, the Chamber of Commerce candidate Forum
1:02:47
Speaker 2: at the City Council Chambers.
1:02:49
Speaker 3: So thank you for allowing me to make those plugs.
1:02:52
Speaker 1: You got it all right, Judy Mancusa for City Council.
1:02:55
Speaker 1: Thank you for this hour of interesting talk and I
1:02:58
Speaker 1: wish you luck Here You on kxf and stick around
1:03:00
Speaker 1: for the next show, Pat Parnell's Deep Dive here on
1:03:04
Speaker 1: kx FM, Lagunas Community Radio.