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Laguna Beach welcomes new Chamber and Visit Laguna leaders as city seeks to fill vacancies
Summary
Mayor Alex Ranaghi said the city will collaborate with newly appointed Chamber of Commerce CEO Britney Ganson and Visit Laguna Beach CEO Joanna Baer to address downtown vacancies and align tourism stewardship with local business goals.
Laguna Beach Mayor Alex Ranaghi said on Fair Game Laguna that the city has new leadership at both the Chamber of Commerce and Visit Laguna Beach and that he plans to collaborate with them to address local business vacancies and tourism stewardship.
Ranaghi identified Britney Ganson as the new president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce and Joanna Baer as president and CEO of Visit Laguna Beach. “I had a good meeting with Britney on Monday,” Ranaghi said, noting Ganson’s background in Beverly Hills and discussing economic-development strategies to reduce vacancies.
Ranaghi described alignment between the two organizations’ missions: the Chamber supports small businesses and economic development, while Visit Laguna Beach focuses on maximizing hotel occupancy and the city’s transient occupancy taxes, which fund local infrastructure. “Their job is not to attract day trippers,” Ranaghi said of Visit Laguna; he added that collaboration on stewardship could mitigate the impacts of day visitors while supporting hotel occupancy.
Ranaghi also said he hopes the new leaders will collaborate on filling storefront vacancies and creating businesses that residents want to support. No formal city actions or policy changes were announced during the interview.
