Good news to share

I have some good news to share. 

The City Council is often bombarded by people expressing concern about the challenges faced by Laguna brick and mortar businesses and expressed in terms of the number of vacant storefronts. And the general message is that “The City needs to do something about it.”

There was an excellent example of that at midnight two weeks ago when a parade of speakers, some of whom even live here, explained to us how Laguna, with 6,000,000 annual visitors and well over $700,000,000 of annual retail and hotel room sales, is blighted and comatose and is on the road to ruin – like La Jolla -- if the City Council doesn’t take extreme measures to reinvigorate the economy through massive injections of alcohol into visitors.

In an era of fake news, it’s important to do some occasional fact checking into just how critical the patient is.

And what better source of information could there be than the Chamber of Commerce website which lists commercial vacancies?

Checking that site, I found there are currently 36 retail, office, and industrial properties available.  Some are vacant and some will become available in the future. 

I checked with commercial property brokers for a Laguna Beach commercial vacancy factor, but being a small market, the larger providers of commercial data do not break out numbers for Laguna.

So, I checked to see how many businesses there are in Laguna. There are nearly 3,900 business licenses in Laguna. 36 vacancies for 3,900 businesses didn’t sound so bad.

But since not all businesses occupy a commercial address, I checked with the post office for business addresses, and there are 1,447 business addresses in Laguna (not counting Post Office Boxes) so, 36 vacancies out of 1,447 physical addresses is about two and a half percent commercial vacancy.  That’s probably a good estimate of commercial vacancies.

For comparison, I then looked for vacancies in Orange County and nationally and found that while the national average for retail vacancy is 6.6 percent, Orange County does much better with only 3.6 percent.  But at two and a half percent, Laguna is far more healthy than either Orange County or the nation as a whole.

I also looked at new business formations and failures and found that nationally about eight percent of all businesses either start up new or fail in any year. 

And, in fact, only 50 percent of new businesses survive five years.

So, businesses turn over. For many reasons.  Sometimes success. Sometimes failure. Sometimes due to growth. Or sale of the business.  And turnover can cause vacancy, but turnover is normal. And that’s the point. And, in fact, Laguna is doing much better than most.

There is no question that this is a trying time for brick and mortar retail. And, while no one wants to see businesses falter, on the other hand, our City Council has no obligation to guarantee the profits of private businesses.

And if an investor pays too much, or promises his investors too much, the City has no duty to bail him out.

John Thomas

Laguna Beach

Obituary

Laura Dorothy Krill

February 17, 1920 – September 30, 2017

Dorothy died on September 30, 2017, at her home in Laguna Beach, CA.  She did it on her own time and with her usual flair, stubborn to the end. She is survived by sons John S. Krill, Laguna Beach, CA, C. David Krill, Atascadero, CA, and daughter Nancy M. Krill, Port Townsend, WA, 7 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Laura Dorothy Phillips was born February 17, 1920 in Hartford, CN and grew up in Queens, NY. She was the oldest of 5 children, and the last surviving sibling. Her father died when she was 7 years old and she always felt the need to look after her brothers and sister. The family was active in the Salvation Army and she liked to tell stories of playing the trumpet and alto horn during the holidays for the Army. Her mother was from Halifax, Nova Scotia and she had many fond memories of a visit to Halifax when she was 12 years old. Throughout her life she maintained close contact with her Canadian cousins.  In 1939, she earned a certificate in infant care from the Salvation Army’s Brooklyn Nursery and Infants’ Hospital.

She met her husband Charles (Chuck) Kennedy Krill, an electrical engineer, in Chicago and they were married in Brooklyn on November 26, 1942. They moved to Southern California in 1947 living in Burbank and Glendale in the 50’s and 60’s, where she became a member of the First Methodist Church and active in the choir. They had four children, John, David, Nancy and Brian.  Vacations in those early years were spent camping at Yosemite, Sequoia, Lake Tahoe, as well as many summers camping at Carpenteria Beach.  

In August 1964, Dorothy, Chuck, Nancy and Brian moved to Tokyo, Japan, where they lived for two years. Dorothy took up flower arranging, taught English, and took full advantage of being in Asia, traveling within Japan as well as Hong Kong and Cambodia.  In 1966 the family returned to California via the old USSR, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Britain. The travel bug had captured her sense of adventure.

In 1972 Dorothy started Krill Tours & Travel in Laguna Beach and soon thereafter her daughter Nancy joined her. Over the next 10 years Dorothy and Chuck traveled all over the world, taking several foreign trips a year. One of her favorite places was Hawaii which she first visited in 1950. They bought, along with three other couples, a condominium on Kaanapali Beach, Maui in the 70’s and, after Chuck’s death in 1982, she bought an apartment near Diamond Head in Waikiki. She continued to run the travel agency another 20 years. She loved to tell stories of all her many travels to the delight of all who listened.

Social activities were important to Dorothy and she loved to host groups in her home. She was a very active member of the Business and Professional Women, the Laguna Beach chapter of Soroptimist International, and the Laguna Beach United Methodist Church, where she sang in the choir, was involved in the Missions Committee and was a member of a Bible Study Group. Originally a Republican, she became a Democrat after the Barry Goldwater nomination, and remained a very active member in the Orange County and Laguna Beach Democratic clubs. Before elections she could often be found in front of the Laguna Beach Post Office registering voters.  

Music played an important part in Dorothy’s life. When she was a young girl, it was common for family friends to visit and sing hymns. She began singing in her church choir in the early 1950’s and continued to do so until her death, more than 60 years later. In the late 1950’s she was part of a singing trio called the 3 Clubs, performing at local community and church events. She was very proud of the fact that she had sung at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, and Carnegie Hall, NYC. Dorothy’s Bible Study Group has purchased a memorial plaque for her to be placed alongside the one for Chuck in the Laguna Beach United Methodist Church courtyard. The plaque will be dedicated on the 18th of February at 11:30 am. She was known for her loyalty to friends and will be missed by them and her family. Donations in Dorothy’s honor can be made to the LBUMC Missions Committee.

No military parade, Mr. President

I don’t want a military parade like President Trump does. I want an America where people celebrate our nation’s long-held values and principles daily. You know, like my Laguna friends who support the Food Pantry, SchoolPower and Friendship Shelter. They are the real patriots. No amount of tanks driving by or troops marching in formation can match what they do.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach

Time to close Liberty Island National Park?

In an effort to assist the Trump administration in its efforts to balance the budget to reflect its objectives, I propose the following cost-saving measure for Secretary of the Interior Zinke: close the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island National Park. 

What, do I hear knee-jerk wails of objection? Unamerican! Sacrilege!  Read the attached plaque on the base of the Statue.  No, really read it.  If that’s too tasking, read at least the most commonly recognized lines:

Bring me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to be free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Written by Emma Lazarus in 1883, it was finally engraved on a plaque and mounted on the base of the statue in 1903.

For countless immigrants, those words have been, in their minds, emblematic of the United States and its understanding that our strength as a nation is grounded in its diversity and the contributions of each immigrant, both individuals and families that came to our country and made it theirs. Countless thousands, from Colonial times to the present, have contributed their strengths and determination, and in many cases their lives, in ways that have taken this country to its pre-eminent position in the world. 

Alas, that statue and its meaning seem true no longer.  The Trump administration seems determined to change the acceptable reasons for allowing immigration to this country.  In a mean-spirited turn of malice, the criteria seem to be now qualifying levels of education, financial worth, and not being from some backward, crudely-characterized nations.  A far cry from the “huddled masses yearning to be free”, it seems.  As a side note, I wonder how Mr. Trump’s paternal grandfather in 1885, and indeed his mother in 1930, would have fared had the current proposed criteria been in place when they immigrated. 

The New Colossus and its iconic poem are neither relevant nor representative of the Trump view of immigration.  So, let us actually be honest with ourselves and the world, and shut down Liberty Island until such time as national policy once again is in accord with the symbol in New York Harbor, and the United States of America can once again become a nation that the rest of the world sees as a shining beacon of what the best of mankind can strive for.

Bob Elster

Laguna Beach

Obituary

Doug Case

September 20, 1956 – January 30, 2018

Douglas Ward Case, 61, was born on September 20, 1956 in Laguna Beach and passed away on January 30, 2018. Doug is remembered by his children - Laura Ann and Charles Emerson, Daniel and Heather Case and grandson Oliver, Nicole and Jon Johnson; his parents Storm and Shirley Case; his siblings Linda Case, Scott and Laurie Case, and many nieces and nephews.

Doug grew up in Laguna Beach and was a descendent of the Thurston family. He attended the first preschool season at the Laguna Presbyterian Church. He enjoyed sports, scouting and backpacking in the Sierra mountains. Doug earned his Eagle Scout rank with Troop 35. He held the Orange County high jump record (6’ 10.25”) for several years. He graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 1974 and attended Biola University. Doug followed his grandfather Alvin Krueger into the real estate appraisal field, opening his own office in Laguna before moving to Salt Lake City. Doug especially loved adventures with his dog Bonsai and filled his free time with books, fly fishing and camping in the mountains of Utah. 

Doug’s memorial will be held at the Laguna Presbyterian Church on Saturday, February 24 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Laguna Presbyterian Church (415 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach, CA 92651) or the American Heart Association in Doug’s memory.