Businesses to be bolstered

The Laguna Beach City Council has approved a slew of new initiatives and a new long-term approach to assist struggling businesses in the city.

More than a dozen measures — ranging from encouraging residents to “shop local” and landlords to lower rents, to indefinitely extending free parking at a downtown lot — were approved in short order Tuesday night.

The initiatives were the work of a Business Task Force that met for two months.

“We came up with ideas quickly because of the urgency of the situation,” said Councilwoman Verna Rollinger, who led the committee with Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson. “We started with eight members but 30 people showed up to the meetings. We came together in the true spirit of community.”

Rollinger acknowledged “there is no silver bullet” to ensure that businesses survive a global economic downturn.

“We recommended programs we believe will make a difference,” Rollinger said. “The future of the business community is in our hands. We must remember how important it is to keep the business community vital. We are fortunate the have a downtown and must do everything we can to shop, dine and do business in Laguna Beach.”

Hanging planters nixed

One proposal that did not pass muster with the council was a plan to install hanging planters on lampposts.

“Let’s not hang planters,” said Councilwoman Jane Egly. “Every town in trouble is doing that.”

After City Manager Ken Frank noted that hanging planters had previously been up in Laguna Beach for about seven years and proved to be difficult to maintain, the measure was eliminated from the list.

Other measures included:

 Authorizing Mayor Kelly Boyd to write to commercial landlords and encourage them to work with tenants regarding rents.

 A “Third Thursday’s Hospitality Night” with free parking after 5 p.m., sidewalk sales and entertainment and the closure of the west end of Forest Avenue from Glenneyre Street to South Coast Highway.

 Encourage the owners of vacant storefronts to display local artists’ work in their windows.