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Mailbag: A reader’s take on Laguna life

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Some random thoughts about our great town as we close out July and head into the hot season:

•I enjoy using the neighborhood shuttles and wish they ran on Sundays and after 6 p.m.

•Taxi vouchers are nice, but Uber is usually cheaper and faster, even if the taxis do eventually agree to take the vouchers they are contractually required to take.

•Every day I drive down Coast Highway and see kids racing across the street or at poorly marked crosswalks, along with bikers, and marvel that more people aren’t struck and injured. Read Tom Vanderbilt’s excellent book “Traffic” for ideas.

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•I wouldn’t want to be the only offending tree owner who had to be taken through the view ordinance process and have my name publicized. On that note, I think it’s ironic that the lady who lives behind me that always reminds me to trim my trees is a member of the Laguna Beach Garden Club.

•I bet Mark Christy wishes the City Council had approved Mark Fudge’s work on the Halliburton House.

•I wish the city would let dogs on the beach during the day in the summer. At least my dog and I can walk around the piles of smelly, fly-infested kelp after 6 p.m., when apparently there’s less likelihood we’ll spoil the beach.

•While we’re at it, the Sawdust Festival and Bluebird Canyon Park concerts would be nice to bring my 15-pound terrier.

•Rooftop bars are excellent, especially if they allow dogs, as most do.

•We need more affordable restaurants in town. The failure of high-priced Umami Burger should be a lesson for all future food businesses.

•Wouldn’t it be nice to have a festive area with weekend food trucks and maybe even a beer garden? Anyone who has enjoyed Laguna Beach High School halftime trucks and previous Forest Avenue closures would surely agree.

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•I’m excited to try Laguna Beach’s upcoming roundabout at Catalina and Cleo streets. If it’s successful, we may see more.

•Don’t blame the city if you don’t like our cell phone coverage — it’s your neighbors who have voted it down.

•Please don’t honk at me when I slow down to let cars enter the canyon. It may be you one day.

•Lastly, as a wise man said, be nice or go to Newport.

Tim Templeton

Laguna Beach

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Not quite — Sawdust is offshoot of Festival of Arts

In response to David Hansen’s column, ‘Old-timers stories in stock at the Sawdust,” July 24.

David, David, David. What a charming and folksy interview with Dion Wright and Bob Foster at the Sawdust, but again you don’t get things quite right.

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The Sawdust came about because the juried Festival of the Arts was so traditional in its taste that contemporary artists like Wright or Young had no chance of being accepted. So they opened their own non-juried show, The Sawdust. The Art Affair came after the Sawdust, is a juried show and is open to artists outside of Laguna.

Regumbah Connolly

Laguna Beach

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