Hansen: City tries to kill a spirited cactus

There's an ugly cactus on Agate Street.

You can tell it's old. The gnarled, wizened limbs resemble those windswept coastal pines, all knotted and pockmarked. There are random growths that look like warts, giving it a witch-like sensibility.

The longer you look at it, the more you feel sorry for it.

The city of Laguna Beach, however, is not appreciating its anthropomorphic beauty and wants the homeowners to cut back the cactus because it's encroaching on the street and creating a "public nuisance," according to a letter by Todd Henry of the public works department.

The problem is, to cut it back to the "right size" would kill it.

"In an effort to preserve public safety … the City is advising of overgrown vegetation (trees, shrubs, bushes, ground cover, weeds, etc.) along streets, sidewalks, or walkways that interfere with intersection visibility, public use, or maintenance within the public right-of-way," Henry writes. "We are also concerned with vegetation that interferes with storm water runoff, traffic sign visibility or street lighting."

Residents Jim Brown and Dinah Shields, who have lived at the bright blue house for 10 years, are scratching their heads over the city's sudden heavy handedness.

"They've got rules but the question is, do they need to enforce them?" Brown asked. "No neighbor has complained. We moved here specifically because it was Laguna Beach — because it had character."

Indeed, Agate Street is in the Woods Cove neighborhood, considered one of the more unique housing areas of the city, with independent, well-maintained homes and thoughtful, brimming gardens.

People walk in the neighborhood to admire the livable details.

Brown put a simple handmade sign on the cactus, explaining its plight: "Say good-bye to the cactus. The city is making us cut it down to make more parking."

People stop now to take self-portraits in front of the cactus, posting them to Facebook because that's what community activism has become.

"A discretionary call needs to be made, and I'm not clear that that's being done," said Shields. "You know that old quotation about democracy needing eternal vigilance. This is just a little bit — a very small example — of that kind of thinking. You do need to push back against an arbitrary call."

After the cactus started gaining more attention, the city on Tuesday reevaluated its form letter approach to the issue and sent out more inspectors.