Why are businesses shutting down? Who is responsible for this? Who should be responsible for having a thriving local business? Why is every city around us expanding its restaurants and business, but Laguna Beach is faltering? Why is Hotel Laguna still closed as a hotel after 10 years? The patrons of the hotel could keep our businesses busy. We have nine restaurants that have shut down over seven years. I know of two others thinking about closing. One that has been here for 50 years.
Even Santa Anna’s downtown business district is thriving. San Juan just opened River Street Market. Dana Point and the Dana Point Harbor business district will soon be sold out.
Last April, the city council sent a robocall to promote increasing taxes. The message was that restaurants are making millions in profits. It’s dishonest at best. Then there’s the idiotic move of replacing a tradition of fireworks with drones. Many of us didn’t have our traditional dinner out and then watched the fireworks because of that. That hurt the restaurants. It seems the city council doesn’t care about this serious issue and is more interested in their pet projects…