Fear & Loathing In Laguna Beach: An Orchestrated, Rehearsed Whipping Post For Legitimately Alarmed Residents: SAVE PLANET LAGUNA!

Roger E. Bütow,
Community Contributor
Courtesy of Laguna Beach Patch

The Rude Ambushed The Civil, Meek and Mild-Mannered

The Promenade is only the first exploitative step in the “Uber-commodification” of Laguna: It’s all about the Benjamin’s under the present CC, the dismantling and reassemblage of this quintessentially eclectic, funky surf So Cal gem formerly know as Laguna openly in the name of more affluent visitors, a CC seated and fiscally driven by “crony capitalism.”

As a veteran of numerous confrontations with city, county and water district officials back in my eco-NGOs prime (1998—2004), the “Review & File” item on the 4/28/2026 CC agenda held several “tells” for me.

The City’s 2 main pilot fish were front and center for support—and to chastise those whom they didn’t agree with, came to neutralize after applying liberal gobs of chapstick, getting petted and stroked as lapdogs with a “Whose a good boy, huh?” from their masters.

Review & File means: It won’t have any action elements, nothing’s really gonna happen, no parts or whole voted upon. Once opened up for public comments after a brief Power Point and statement by the City Manager, it was as I thought, away we go to the City’s Wonderland reality.

It was difficult to ignore the repeated allegations of vitriolic language and unprecedented rudeness (“J’accuse”), the lies aimed at the SOTS (Save Our Trees) cabal that kept spewing from the mouths of these egotistical self-appointed community leaders. 2 in particular as obnoxious, bellicose and insulting as I’ve ever heard them. Recruited City Hall smack-asses talking smack! They reset the bar, next stop? The sludgy bottom after the worship, the ring-kissing and groveling.

The accusations they rained down were ironic: They comported themselves in the compost-like manner that they accused their perceived opponents of—You spot it? You got it! You smelt it, you dealt it, you old homers.

I think the justified language and vehemence used by righteously outraged, gut-punched residents at the confrontation the night of the slaughter (aka Midnight Massacre) was being conflated with this CC meeting on purpose. This MM attendance was being held to the actions of others. These 2 senior citizens seemed to have confused the venues and attendees, twisting real events with their paranoia for their masters, lapdogs that these 2 are.

What others said several weeks previously at an entirely different venue and under different traumatic circumstances was, twisted, distorted, misdirected and rife with alternative facts. IOW, seemed like these septuagenarians just made crap up…..Needed their late nighty-night meddies, tucked in at an assisted care facility? Were you never young, passionate and motivated to mobilization. Boring, no wonder you’re still boring.

And the lead off tear jerker from the City Manager was hysterical. The same man who had informed many of the officials in City in the know in advance of the butchery and performed a blatant lie of omission. A lot of faith and trust with the public, if there ever was much, evaporated.

He didn’t tell them that within a hour of the MM Zoom meeting, the klieg lights, chain saws and chippers would come out down at the Promenade, the 8 trees cut off at their stumps, the trunks and branches chopped up and hauled away. One eucalyptus had already toppled at the roots a month before.

Always after the fact, the City vivisectionists eventually admitted that they anticipated the turmoil, alerted the PD, prepared for a tide of emotional community-wide response.

Obviously the CM’s “adorbs” little speech was covert emotional manipulation, meant to not only deflect some of his responsibility and the CC’s but make it more difficult to criticize a seemingly humbled man, upset on par with the community.Yeah, sure.

For newbies especially, an inherent suspicion of deceptive behavior for advantage by their own officials is foreign. So congrats on losing your virginity. You’ll remember such a peak experience, especially don’t forget the Judas-like betrayal.

Buffering is what happened that night of the CC update meeting, immediately raising an emotional barrier, a redirection or deflection, an attentuation of anger or rage worked. Just as a mother dove fakes a broken wing in the wilderness to draw a predator away from her chicks, so too the CM fell on his sword, took the blame to distract those present.

Here was a “mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” from on high. I was watching on cable tv, his face wasn’t shown but I swear I heard faint sobbing or sniveling (how adores), to emphasize that he’s suffering too (I feel you) after seeing those trees from our collective history disappear.

By the end of the topic’s discussion, everybody seemed remorseful and contritious, almost weepy, Kumbaya, Guantanamera, whatevs. So the City strategy seemed a sublimely coercive one, by the CM and CC getting the room to feel sorry for and forgive themselves, recruit organized public commenters; overly-forceful ones and punitive at that.

The activists were relatively few, pell-mell, gentle and sincere. I saw measured frustration and anger, patience that my edgy NGO CLEAN WATER NOW would have never shown. I saw/heard neither incivility or contrived disruption.

As for those responsible and supportive of the City’s blindside sneak attack on the trees, who for one minute believed their own propaganda, enobled a CC and praised them as if brave decisive heroes, you must go through a lot of chapstick.

Denigrating and demeaning people exercising their rights (many for the first time from accounts), it felt as though the most venomous were clearly rehearsed. Brownie points were being scored and archived, banked for future leveraging (political graft and influence) right there in Chambers.

And puh-leeze. Declaring this THE best CC ever is absurd. If they were, they would’ve created a path with options (off ramps) in 2024 that supported a let Laguna vote initiative and then abided by that will. They’re deep into crony capitalism and wiping the City we’ve all loved off the map. Bring in the affluent.

They even took a lot of Promenade oversight out of regulatory domain via exemptions. That the majority of residents didn’t want it, were willing to take it to the streets, intimidated them.

The dominant body of the SAVE PLANET LAGUNA tree huggers didn’t show up in great numbers, the more hard core seemed MIA–but maybe they read the tea leaves. Done deal. Perhaps a younger, not yet coalesced crowd, a new constellation with a different style will emerge “NEXT GEN 3.0?”

Watching from home, unfortunately, was painful, like watching a car wreck in slo-mo, but deja vu as well. Being reminded of how totally bogus and phony government is from my early years (late 90s), the “tells” added up, so I don’t blame the more committed, the more hard core to sit that one out in anticipation of more irresponsible acts to follow (and more WILL follow), watch their own officials wiggle their way out of further accountability fallout.

I think the tree slaughter triggered some of the same intrinsic, visceral responses I remembered from my water quality actionist history. Power doesn’t necessarily corrupt but it does attract the corruptible. I would comment that those in the room who only paid lip service (recruited by CC as suck-up shills) but didn’t experience the inner trauma in horror, you probably never have nor will.

One thing seemed unavoidable: The City had totally screwed up regarding that PR and communications aspect. The CM said the buck stopped with him? Then he needs to begin looking for another job elsewhere.

Moreover, it might have been a Brown Act violation (or multiple), the City having intentionally withheld information that the public had every legal right to be aware of along the dispositive route, plus the way that the CM and CC had communicated in irregular manners.

Gotta wonder what else has been withheld: What else don’t we know and when won’t we know it?

“The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.” Brown Act

The schism this deflective shielding created ( a Klingon type cloaking device), the division it unleashed or at least antagonized, and yes the hostility as a function of fatal lapses of human appreciation of Nature and community sensitivity, was one of the CM’d first stress tests: And he failed. We’re all advised, never start out a relationship with a lie.

The CM gets paid $315,000/year, plus a like amount in benefits. Here’s a link to his 2024 contract….the first of 3 years, it has already grown substantially: lagunabeachcity.net/home/showpublisheddocument/21434/638763363719170000

You’d have to be extremely naive to believe that part of his duties isn’t to be a fall guy like Tuesday night, the scape goat when required. It’s not spelled out in a CM’s contract, but it’s a known element by those in the know. He buffers, takes the spotlight and heat off the CC.

And BTW, his job entails thespian services, act as if he serves you, he feels your distress, is empathetic to your plight when interfacing—-Pathetic posing is more like it, he doesn’t see himself as working for you, he works for who signs his hefty paycheck, a 3 member majority of the CC. So he only needs to be able to count to 3. He’s just not that into you.

For my part, I hope to not only educate in these columns, drawing upon my 30 years of what I call “actionism,” my professional portfolio, but my eco-consultant/analyst skills and experiences acquired, plus my NGOs “institutional knowledge.”

I’ve begun a series of columns I’ve dubbed “The Groundwater Chronicles.” First one was published in the LB INDY on 4/30/2026. I hope to acquire more space down the line as I envision it to be at least 3 of them at that outlet total. Plus re-start my writing here @ the Patch. edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&pubid=bd9cdd70-3779-4e10-b577-01f5cade836d

Here’s one stop shopping for all things great and small, Sea Level Rise in Laguna Cali. A heavy protein meal, might want to chew and digest it slowly: coastal.ca.gov/climate/slr/

The Sea Level Rise Adaptation challenge may also prove to be an effective tool to halt the ginormous urban renewal project that is the 115 acre Downtown Specific Plan Phase II redevelopment catastrophe: lagunabeachcity.net/government/departments/community-development/planning/current-projects/housing-initiatives-1290

I’ve tasked myself, as my last rodeo, my final enviro-campaign, with turning this into a “wedge issue” for the 2026 LBCC race. If only 1 candidate figures out the can of worms potential, makes it their own, it opens a Pandora’s box the CC and their friendlies will have trouble closing.

Wresting control away from these greedy wolves in sheep’s clothing (Commerce First, Resident’s Last) can be done. And at the end of the day, command and control is the bottom line. That’s what happened, what disturbed City Hall earlier this week. They lost control and that frightens, that threatens them.

“Some people will rob you with a 6-gun, some with a fountain pen.” Woody Guthrie

They’re the fountain pen type, a “Take Back Laguna” movement needs kick-starting. Eradicate the now prevalent “crony capitalism.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crony_capitalism

Flip the flipping CC as flipping fast as flipping possible, seize the next few years and begin unraveling, dismantling as much of the damage already done or in planning as possible.

Ex.: The vendor analyst who presented at the Scoping Session Workshop for the Downtown Phase II EIR lied. He said that his firm was told to “model” for 450-675 units, but that upper # was capped, wouldn’t be built out beyond 450.

Maybe the lower #, enough to fulfill the State minimum of 394. Liar liar pants of fire, once again he does his master’s bidding, whomever signs his corporation’s check is his boss, not us. That too was like many presentations, we call them “dog ‘n pony shows” to dupe the interested parties

Once the EIR is certified and officially filed with the State, it’ll be a gold rush in the holler. Nellie bar the door, the back door and counter at Community Development and Building Dept., kept from the public negotiations to the maximum extent possible will start. Not transparent, those cronies will get the inside rail. As will FORMER CC members.

I come from the enviro-review industry, believe me via an addendum or amendment to the certified, Final EIR, it’s EZ PZ to jack it up to that upper modeling #. That’s the entire idea, that’s this CC’s goal.

Translation: Offer the incentive of building all units in one centralized area, and then Mayor Mark Orgill along with the CM declared to the room, sadly, there was no alternative. BS.

He might run for re-election 1 time, having the advantage of incumbency. That’s because he needs to complete HIS check list, what HE will need in place when he steps down and puts his developer hat back on. Turning Downtown gold into his retirement platinum, heritage wealth.

All of our mitigation bucks on one path: The over-development, the inappropriate and catastrophic Downtown nightmare. Like major cosmetic surgery, an extreme makeover, take that old familiar friend we knew and loved, make her a Kardasian, the trendoid pneumatic botox and silicon type to bring the affluent into an area so horrendously under-parked as to boggle the mind.

The vibe of Laguna most of us have enjoyed over the years (visitors too) kind of a kicked back, casual Mexico-meets-Hawaii deal will be eradicated. Those aren’t the market they seek—They’ve openly stated that it’s the affluent they’re rebuilding for.

When MO ran for CC he alleged that he was no longer a developer, a real estate entrepreneur, that puts a lie to that claim. Enter-The-Manure. All of the affected “paternal ‘tude,” like the CM’s “I feel you” is a scam, a con, while they and their developer BFFs carve up Downtown on planning boards and spreadsheets.

Sound familiar, it’s like the trees, sorry to break it to you, no alternative. Really? Notice how little choice they offer? It’s our Canyon Creek’s flood plain, the first place in town after the Promenade as a crash test dummy, the first to likely exhibit the deleterious effects, the symptoms of sea level rise.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Heard anyone in City Hall broach the subject of a Sea Level Rising Adaptation Plan in reference to CIPs planned, yet more pimping of Laguna? So all of these Downtown development plans but no mention or acknowledgement of the calamitous sword of Damocles hovering, how will the City protect Downtown from the rising tide? Are they gonna wait until surf is rolling into The Rivian during a King High Tide, ’cause that’s ground zero?

Fact: from the foot of Forest down to Broadway, PCH is between 6-9 feet above Mean Seal Level (MSL). The ocean’s rising about 1″/year, many university study groups are recalibrating, scientists now feel it’s been rising faster these past few years, intruding further inland horizontally but also filtering into our groundwater, accelerating.

It’s going to take a lot of brain time and beaucoup $$$ to develop a cure or remedy protection plan. Yet they keep writing blank checks for frivolous, luxury CIPs in both Downtown and at Aliso, the 2 lowest, most vulnerable points.

lagunabeachcity.net/home/showpublisheddocument/18425/638487716525200000

And judging by this CC, who is rapidly painting us into a corner as every day that passes leaves us short of dealing head on with tactics or budget allowances, don’t bet on them letting us have a proactive or preemptive choice, just like The Promenade.

Barring a miracle our next 1-2 gens of taxpayers’ll be paying their dues. They’ll leave with the tab running and responsibility in your children’s laps. And a slew of new brushed concrete 2 and 3 story buildings Downtown that will convert a formerly funky So Cal coastal surf village icon into a totally boojie leggos dump.

Them? They’ll be dead or retired elsewhere, leaving their messes behind. Their crony capitalist pals fatter, richer, including MO after he leaves CC. And a city now on the precipice of BK, will be under water both literally and fiscally. “Lively up yourself.”

Once again, browse this link, look at the HUGE expenditures that’ll be needed to protect Downtown. These political hacks, every election cycle, declare that public safety is the top priority.coastal.ca.gov/climate/slr/

Shouldn’t we begin developing our Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan now instead of securing massive development building block entitlements.

Wouldn’t it be supremely stupid to start building/rebuilding first, then plan? That’s the present CC: “Dare To Be Stupid.”

NEXT CHAPTER: What the grotty future Downtown skyline and streets might resemble, what the demanding and unique construction dynamics for urban renewal might be, plus the mass indemnification intrigue.

I’ll also reveal how the City can increase the additional 450 units up to that 650 inventory (by Addendum or Amendment), pimping Laguna….Addenda without a public hearing or public review, amendment via a Revised/Subsequent EIR or or separate Mitigated Neg Declaration.

It’s Mourning In Laguna: No mas aloha. Hola, Bienvenidos Gordon “Greed Is Good” Gekko.