CITYSCAPE ROUNDUP:’Crash’ released from rehab

After a June 22 collision with a car windshield in Laguna Beach, a now-recovered California brown pelican nicknamed “Crash” was released at the water’s edge in Corona del Mar State Beach July 20.

Workers from the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, which nursed the young female bird back to health, also released 10 other pelicans that had been victims of fishing lines and hooks or starvation.

Crash may have hit the car because she’d been poisoned by domoic acid, a substance produced by red tide algae that is eaten by fish, which are then eaten by birds. Center officials are still waiting for the results of tests for domoic acid.

Even as the 11 birds were let go, animal care workers expect more to take their places at the center, mainly because they can’t get enough to eat. Unusually warm water temperatures are driving small fish farther below the ocean’s surface, making it harder for young pelicans to catch them, Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center director Debbie McGuire said.

Crash got stitches in her pouch and had a pin removed from her toe. Of the 11 released, Crash was the last bird to go, living up to her name when she stepped hesitantly off the edge and tumbled onto a rock. But she quickly righted herself and soon was afloat, bobbing away toward her companions as they rinsed themselves in salt water and stretched their wings.

? By Alicia Robinson, Coastline Pilot

More trash this year in city

Laguna Beach is generating significantly more trash this summer than in previous summers, City Manager Ken Frank announced Friday.

In past summers, trash collected from the 550 trash receptacles along the beach areas and downtown has filled four dumpsters per week.

This summer, city sanitation workers are filling five dumpsters per week.

Rollinger campaign fundraising tops $40,000

City Council candidate and former City Clerk Verna Rollinger netted more than $9,000 at a fundraiser held Sunday at the home of Dr. Charles Walworth and Judson Slusser in north Laguna. More than 100 guests attended the event.

The fundraiser helped nudge Rollinger’s campaign donations to date ? both monetary and in-kind ? over $40,000.

“Campaigns in Laguna Beach have become more expensive over the years,” saidDoug Reilly, Rollinger’s treasurer.

Three seats on the City Council will be on the Tuesday, Nov. 7 ballot. Five candidates have announced their intention to run, including all three incumbents.

Land Use Element workshop slated

A Planning Commission Subcommittee will conduct a Public Workshop in on revisions to the Land Use Element in Conference Room A, located at City Hall at 505 Forest Avenue, at 3 p.m. Monday, August 7.

The purpose of the workshop is to take public comments regarding the proposed Land Use Element “Actions” for the Draft Goals and Policies.

Information: Carolyn Martin, Principal Planner, (949) 497-0398 or [email protected].

Yoga at Moulton Meadows

Free yoga classes are being offered by Carl Brown, a registered Yoga Alliance instructor.

Brown is providing a twice-weekly yoga program on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 9 a.m. at the tennis courts at Moulton Meadows Park, located at Balboa and Del Mar Avenues.

Students should bring their own mats; additional pads are available on a first-come basis.

The classes are in a Vinyasa Flow style and are appropriate for all levels. Information: (949) 494-9928 or [email protected]