Taking steps for shops

“S.O.S.” took on a whole new meaning Tuesday in Laguna Beach.

City officials took emergency action to help shops survive the economic crisis that is sapping the business community.

The council voted unanimously to offer free parking at the Village Entrance to open up street spaces to lure customers to Laguna through May and will consider in January creating a task force, Save Our Shops.

“It’s sink or swim,” resident Arnold Hano said.

City Manager Ken Frank proposed the free parking in the Forest/Laguna Canyon lot. Parking will be on a first come, first served basis in spaces 300-422, effective immediately.

The 123 free parking spaces are available to employers, employees, business owners, locals and tourists.

Permit holders of spaces in the lot will be notified by mail of the free parking and may apply for a refund.

For more information, e-mail Anne Belyea at abelyea@lagunabeachcity.net or call (949)464-6673.

Bagging the street meters to allow free parking would not be as beneficial for business, Mayor Jane Egly said.

“The desire to fix [the problems] is here, but bagging the meters hasn’t worked in the past and we have no reason to think it would work in the future,” Egly said. “We proved it on Glenneyre Street.”

During an experiment with bagging several years ago, beachgoers and hotel employees took advantage of the bagged meters to park all day, which left no spaces for customers and hurt the business along Glenneyre Street and around the block on South Coast Highway, according to the report by a traffic consultant hired by the city.

Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Pearson said the city needs to take a two-pronged approach to the problems of the business community.

“There are two issues: immediate help for the Christmas season and long-term marketing of shops,” said Pearson, a marketing professional. “We need to look at city polices that relate to business.”

The latter two would be agenda items.

Avenue retailer Mark Christy raised concerns at the Dec. 2 council meeting about the dire consequences of the recession to Laguna’s business community, which Hano echoed.

“Hidden Dreams, probably the best located art gallery on Forest Avenue, went under,” Hano said. “We need a task force of people who have smarts, like Mark, Joe Hanauer, Mike Kinsman and Ken Frank.”

Mayor Kelly Boyd dropped a bomb with the announcement that venerable South Coast Highway used clothing store, Tippecanoe, is closing. However, Boyd did have some good news.

Two commercial landlords have notified the mayor that they have reduced rents until the end of May, one property owner by 50% and the other by 25%.

“If we could get more landlords to act this way, it would be a blessing,” Boyd said.

Among other suggestions to help the business community, Billy Fried proposed taking all the cars off Forest Avenue and creating a pedestrian mall, an idea that has been kicked around for more than a decade. One drawback: The California Coastal Commission would require replacement of all the spaces and space for parking is at a premium in Laguna.

Hano recommended loosening the restrictions on signs and rescinding the recently raised parking fines.

“Let’s hope we can do something before we have a town that has lost its juice,” Hano said.

BARBARA DIAMOND can be reached at (949) 494-4321 or coastlinepilot@latimes.com.