Voter Registration Drive Kicks Off

See the press release we sent announcing our first ever voter registration drive.



SAVE the BOOM!!! Launches Gay Voter Registration Drive

First of Its Kind in Laguna Beach

LAGUNA BEACH, CA - The grassroots campaign that began 5 months ago to save Laguna Beach's landmark Boom Boom Room and Coast Inn kicked off a voter registration drive this past weekend in front of the Boom Boom Room. Volunteers Andrew Reynolds and Michael Aguirre began signing up new voters on Friday night and the effort will continue for the next 3 ½ weeks.

"This is a first gay voter registration drive in Laguna's history," said Fred Karger, founder of SAVE the BOOM!!! (www.savetheboom.com) "We hope that every gay voter who is not now registered to vote and all of our friends in town will register to vote in time for the November 7, 2006 election. We want to make sure that everyone will participate in this year's important election. The voter registration drive will continue through October 23, 2006, which is the cutoff for registering for this year's general election."

"We have federal, state and local candidates on the November ballot and it is so important that every gay person in Laguna Beach is registered to vote. This will be a bi-partisan effort and we plan on gathering as many new registrants as possible over the next 3 ½ weeks, with an on emphasis on registering first time voters," concluded Karger.

Bob Gentry, Co-chair of SAVE the BOOM!!! said, "I've been around Laguna politics for a long time and a gay specific voter registration drive has not been done before. We have been very successful over the past 30 years in activating the gay community, but there are so many new residents in Laguna and others whom have recently moved within the city that we need to seek them out and make sure that they are all registered to vote. The results of this year's City Council election on November 7th will determine the direction of Laguna Beach for the next two years and beyond. We hope to have a city council that will respond to the gay community and all our families, friends and supporters."

Bob Gentry was the first openly gay Mayor in the country in the 1980s. He was first elected to the Laguna Beach City Council in 1982 and served for 12 years. He served 3 terms as Mayor of Laguna during that period.


SAVE the BOOM!!! has recently concluded its summer-long petition drive and has gathered over 5,000 signatures in its attempt to save this historic property. Many volunteers and dozens of Laguna retailers participated in this petition drive. All of the petitions are being tabulated and will be broken down by gender, city, county, state and even the country of petition signers. All petitions will be turned in later next month to the Mayor and City Council of Laguna Beach for their consideration.



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