Huntington Beach City Council members are looking to rename Commerce Lane after one of the city’s oldest business owners with a known history of volunteerism who also donated thousands to local political campaigns. 

The business owner is Ed Laird, owner of Laird Coatings, a plastic coating company that’s operated in Huntington Beach since the 1970s. 

Laird has served on a number of boards and clubs for various causes including the Huntington Beach Boy Scouts, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy and the local chapter of the Kiwanis Club since he moved to the city in 1990 according to a letter council members wrote supporting him. 

“My colleagues and I would like to honor his service by renaming Commerce Lane, the location of Laird Coatings Corporation, to Ed Laird Lane,” wrote Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark and Councilmen Tony Strickland and Pat Burns. “His name will be forever etched in our Huntington Beach history.”

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Laird said he asked city leaders not to move forward with renaming the street after him.

“I have asked the city council not to rename the street,” Laird said. “I do not want to create any cost or problems for my neighbors.”  

Laird has been involved in city politics for decades, most notably in his connection to former Mayor David Garofalo, who pleaded guilty to 16 criminal charges in 2005 for voting on items that financially benefited his businesses. 

He’s also increasingly invested directly in the current council majority’s campaigns since they came into power in 2022. 

Over the past two years, he’s donated over $10,000 to the council majority’s campaign committees, with most of that money going to Van Der Mark and Strickland, both of whom did not return requests for comment. 

Burns noted the idea originally came from Councilman Tony Strickland, but that he’d known Laird for years and respected the work he’d done in the community. 

“I’ve known Ed way before I ever contemplated getting involved in politics,” Burns said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with that. He’s just constantly giving back to the community.” 

Laird also loaned $19,500 to a committee called Huntington Beach People’s Action Committee, which spent heavily promoting a charter amendment requiring voter ID in the city that was created and put on the ballot by the council majority. 

That charter amendment is now the subject of a lawsuit between the city and California Attorney General Rob Bonta. 

[Read: CA Attorney General Sues Huntington Beach Over Voter ID Law]

There’s also been pushback from other business owners on Commerce Lane, with a dozen signing a letter saying there were more appropriate ways to recognize Laird without renaming a street after him. 

“Renaming Commerce Land will create substantial administrative, logistical, and business costs on property owners in the area,” business owners wrote. “While affected property and business owners have concerns over creating an official affiliation with Mr. Laird, other less intrusive and less costly means are available to recognize Mr. Laird.” 

Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.