# Joy Berry — complete submission

The following submission is presented verbatim. Headings and spacing are provided for navigation only.

Dear Candidates,

This is a reminder about the forum follow-up questions previously sent to you. We have not yet received an acknowledgment or responses from several candidates.

Please reply today to confirm receipt and return brief answers to the seven principal questions below by Friday, September 25, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time. A concise response—no more than 150 words per question—is sufficient. If you have already replied, thank you, and please disregard this reminder.

Election reform and Measure E - I support term limits and Measure E.
Measure E will be decided by a majority vote, yet Laguna Beach City Council candidates can win by plurality. Four of five sitting councilmembers received votes on fewer than half the ballots cast in the elections that produced their current terms; only Alex Rounaghi exceeded 50 percent.

Our attached matrix shows that a comparably-sized OC beach city — Seal Beach combines term limits with district elections and a requirement that a candidate receive 50 percent plus one or face a runoff.

Should Laguna study the Seal Beach model or other election reforms? If not, why is Laguna’s present system preferable?

Hospital and emergency care - I understand smaller towns such as Catalina Island, South Lake Tahoe, and Aspen CO have been able to have an acute care hospital with fewer beds; we need to understand those economics and have Providence or another health care provider do the same for Laguna
What is your minimum acceptable outcome for the Laguna Beach hospital property, and what should the City do if Providence will not preserve 24-hour emergency and inpatient acute care?

Forest Avenue Promenade - Yes the residents deserve a thorough detailed cost outline along with lost revenue from the parking too
Will you support one complete, public accounting of every Promenade-related cost—from the temporary closure through final construction and continuing maintenance?

Visitor-generated costs - All small businesses are struggling today with technology taking away the lions share of revenue and we cannot impact these small operations.  The best direct offset to day visitors is via our parking with surge meters during the summer months.
Should restaurants bear any part of a special tax aimed at visitors? Whether your answer is yes or no, identify the specific tax, fee or other revenue source you would support to ensure visitors pay a greater share of the public costs attributable to tourism.

Emergency preparedness - I think an exercise, neighborhood by neighborhood would be wise as each one may have a different exit route or safe place.  A city-wide one would be challenging and a separate one for TOW, ABH, the canyon, north, south, village and take area by area with actual exercise could be very beneficial.
Should Laguna conduct an actual neighborhood wildfire-evacuation exercise—not merely an agency tabletop exercise? If so, by when? If not, why not?

Fiscal priorities - Taking over the canyon from Caltrans should be dropped once and for all
Before supporting any new tax or fee, name one specific City expenditure or project you would reduce, postpone or eliminate. Provide an approximate amount and identify the service or benefit residents would give up.

Laguna in 10 years - Saving our hillsides from development, if not elected I fear they will disappear as the incumbents all voted to ignore the city’s steepness rule preventing building on steep slopes.  Incumbents introduced new engineering and science; instead of measuring from top to bottom of slopes they want to measure switchbacks; if they had it their way, El Capitan in Yosemite would be flat and prime for development.