OUR LAGUNA: GASPing for open air

A group of people concerned about windowless rooms in the proposed community/senior center aired their objections Tuesday night at the City Council meeting.

GASP is the acronym for “Get Air and Sunlight to the People,” formed to protest the design of the centers, which they feel has been compromised by the lack of windows along the sides and back of the building, where the exercise and dance studios are located in the current plan.

“Artificial air and sweat do not mix well,” resident Charlotte Masarik said.

GASP was founded by Loma Terrace resident Michael Hoag and some of the city’s recreational department teachers who object to the notion of exercise rooms without natural ventilation. Students support the objections.

“I am a yoga student,” said Jane Stevens, trim and fit at 84. “Breathing is important in yoga, and air conditioning interferes.”

After several redesigns, the City Council approved an LPA Architects proposal intended to suggest the Craftsman style of homes in Laguna and be sensitive to the noise and view impacts of neighbors. Windows on the sides and back of the building were removed from the plan to placate neighbors, Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said.

“No one on the council is opposed to windows,” she said. “There is still time, but it is a negotiation, and it’s been going on for four years.”

Plans are available for review at the city’s Recreation Department, 515 Forest Ave. The Planning Commission will hold hearings set for Oct. 25 and Nov. 15. The council is scheduled to vote on the project at the Dec. 12 meeting.

Michael and Barbara Hoag live right behind the proposed center. They never thought the site was ideal, but now that it is a done deal they have focused on the function and design, which Barbara Hoag said has changed dramatically from the original concept. They are not among the neighbors who requested windowless walls.

“The multipurpose room where the seniors eat has lost its windows,” she said. “How is that better than what they have at Legion Street? It needs to have light and air.”

Windowless walls will muffle sound. However, uses could be switched, Hoag said, so the quiet activities are along the back and would not annoy neighbors even if windows were open.

“They could put studios to the front, and the noise coming out of the windows would get lost in the ambient sound of the traffic on Third Street and then put the conference room in the back,” Hoag said. “Plus, there is such a thing as acoustical windows. They are called freeway windows, and they are like a wall. But I couldn’t interest the neighbors who wanted the building sealed.”

Hoag is a former member of Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. board. She quit because the exterior design of the project was going in a direction she didn’t support.

“I wanted a building more in keeping with the water district offices, City Hall and the Presbyterian Church,” Hoag said.

She favored John Loomis of Thirtieth Street Architects Inc., who has been chosen to design the changes in the church, but she was not on the seniors’ selection committee that ultimately gave the job to LPA, which had designed the recent addition to Thurston Middle School.

“I was told that LPA had institutional experience, but so did John,” Hoag said. “However, he told me that LPA had done more senior centers. I just don’t like an institutional look, and I don’t think people even considered that the city would put up buildings without windows.”

GASP sympathizers met Tuesday, prior to the council meeting, at the Hoag home. For more information, call (949) 494-5960.

LABOR DAY

Traer Freeman, 10, and his older brother Brooks, 12, don’t know why the rest of the country celebrates Labor Day, but they know why Laguna does: They cheered the end of the tourist season Monday at the Exchange Club’s Pancake Breakfast in Heisler Park.

While locals stuffed themselves with pancakes and sausages, Labor Day was celebrated around the world to publicly honor trade unions and labor organizations. Congress declared it a national holiday on June 28, 1894.

The pancake breakfast is a labor of love by volunteers and the Laguna Beach Fire Depart- ment, lapped up by the locals.

“This is like a well-oiled machine,” club President Pat Freeman said. “Katy Moss and Sande St. John get the donations. Volunteers just show up. Club members set up and clean up. The Firefighters all know what they are doing.”

What the firefighters and their family members do is flip flapjacks, broil sausages and serve drinks from 7 to 10 a.m., without a break. They included Fire Chief Mike Macey; Division Chief Jeff LaTendresse and his son, “Butterboy” Cody; Dennis Marsh and his son, Sean; Chris Kent; Tony Carlson; Andrew and Carrie Hill; Tom Burdick; Scott Hammond; Adam Schulenburg; Gary Ganger; J.P. Mattson; Thomas Padden; Ian da Costa; Frank Buckner; and Dan Stefano.

Retired Capt. Eugene (“Diz”) D’Isabella drove the venerated 1931 Segrave Suburbanite 500-gallon-per-minute pumper to the picnic. The Segrave was in service in Laguna from March 17, 1931, to June 10, 1962, and is a beloved feature of the annual Patriots’ Day Parade. The department’s newest engine was parked across the street: a 2002, 1,500-gallon-per-minute pumper with an American La France engine.

Volunteers included City Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman, Anne Wood and Donna Macey, who collected money. Also: City Council candidate Kelly Boyd and his wife, Michelle; Dutch Vanderhoof; Al Oligino; Joe Sovella; Marion Rice; Karen Smith; Rose Hancock; Gary Hirshfield; Carolyn Miller; Bill Morris; Bill Kinsey; Jessica de Stefano; Paedrin Blues; Jan Agape; and Missy Belland.

Katelyn and Camryn Ostander and Ms. Vanessa assisted Miss Linda with puppet shows in her Magic Castle.

Doug Miller played the violin. Don the Balloon Man created animals to amuse the children.

Moss used the breakfast as an opportunity to gather signatures to influence the council to accept the donation of two pieces of sculpture by the late Lew Geiser, who was a club member. His sister, Gay Geiser Sandoval, and her daughter, Maggie, also collected signatures.

Rosalind Russell celebrated Labor Day by selling opportunity prizes to promote the Rotary Classic Custom Car Show, set for Oct. 29. Veteran Police Officer Bob Van Gorder popped in, initiating department newcomer, John Nelson.

The breakfast is a community get-together that raises funds for the prevention of child abuse and to benefit local organizations.

Club stalwarts Sandi and Hal Werthe missed the breakfast. He had surgery on Friday for a heart problem, but was out of intensive care and up briefly by Tuesday.

“It was a shock,” Sandi said. “He has used up at least four of his nine lives and couple of mine. We are really grateful for all the prayers.”

Among those enjoying the morning: pet sitter Kate Fitch; Wendy Freeman and Ron Joy; John Hoover; Barbara Robertson; Louise Benton; Carolyn Wood; City Council candidate Verna Rollinger and her mother, “Betty” Swenson; Michael Kinsman; and Ann and Peter Weisbrod, who just returned from Oregon where they attended the Ashland Shakespeare Festival under the auspices of the Elderhostel Program.