Another Cyclist Dies in Orange County

Amine Britel was struck while riding his bike by a drunk driver in Newport Beach, CA.
Our condolences to his family and friends for their tragic loss.

Cyclists greeting when entering Laguna

 Typical when entering Laguna from any road, this is on Pacific Coast Highway from the south.

Too old to ride a bicycle?

Comparison of bike riders in Europe with the United States by age group. Courtesy Prof. John Pucher, Rutgers University.

Newport PD promises crackdown on motorists and cyclists

One cyclist is killed per month in Orange County, law enforcement in four cities are joining forces this month to turn around this tragic trend. Locally Laguna Beach will step-up enforcement of traffic laws for motorists and cyclists, see reports in the Stu News Laguna  and Laguna Beach Independent. Photo OC Register

Strasbourg France reduces speed limits to 19MPH

This is the bike route map for Strasbourg. The Mayor says "The public roads no longer belong to automobiles alone. They must be reimagined to be redistributed in a fairer manner between all forms of transportation." Article courtesy SmartPlanet

The Cost of an Automobile Subsidy

The free subsidy for operating an automobile and parking it in downtown Laguna Beach, metered or not metered, takes the 'Village" out of Laguna. This is a photo of Muenster Germany, care of Professor John Pucher, Rutgers University.

Physical Exercise Improves Test Scores

Walking and Biking to school should offer the same results. If Naperville Centeral High can do this in Chicago, LBHS can do this in Laguna. The program costs nothing, the curriculum improves, and our weather is much better than Chicago.

Courtesy PBS Program 'NEED TO KNOW'.

PieCycle: Pie delivery by Bike from Seattle

Bike advocacy is tough...lots of loop holes, pot holes and other sorts of "ahem" holes that get in the way of our good time.

With that said, here is a happy story that is as delicious as it is ingenious, one of those, "why didn't I think of this?" businesses.

...By the way, where is the best slice of pie in Laguna Beach?

How about Visitor Incentives Instead of Parking Tickets?

I read in the Pilot that Laguna Beach cites visitors and residents for $2.5M in meter collections, $3.5M in parking tickets and maybe another $1.0M for moving violations (5,833 tickets), a total of $7M per year. Hmmm the city collects $7M per year for visitor disincentives?

Clearly citations and fees for visiting downtown Laguna don't leave those cited with a welcome message. Then I read this excerpt in today's Indy (SCORE front page) where the experts arrive at the same interpretation. Jack Curtis is with the LB Chamber of Commerce.

As for Laguna’s struggle to revitalize a waning retail community, Curtis is not impressed. “Laguna has a unique business climate because it is luxury-based,” he said, which means visitors need to feel accommodated in order to want to return. But the city, he said, is not paying attention.

“For one thing, the city tickets people for not parking their cars exactly within the lines,” he commented. “When word of that gets around, and it has, people aren’t going to want to come here and spend their money,” said Curtis, who recently visited Palm Springs and found no parking meters and jam-packed shops. “People just don’t see Laguna as a welcoming place.”

WHAT NO PARKING METERS? What happened in Palm Springs?

A complete street policy focuses on revitalization of the downtown business district, Palm Springs happened to do that to some extent by separating their through traffic from the business district via Palm Canyon Drive. Here's the mechanism for funding their project:

The arrangement transferred county and Caltrans funds targeted for (highway) widening to the city (revitalization) project as long as (Caltrans) traffic performance targets were achieved.
Here's a partial story on the Palm Springs revitalization with Complete Streets Policy:http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/livability/case_studies/guidebook/chap06.cfm
Imagine the possibilities if Laguna could revitalize their downtown business district by offering visitor incentives instead of parking incentives?

-LS