Riding the River down Catalina

Imagine a Laguna Beach bike route down Catalina Street from Victoria to Emerald Bay, well marked with destination posts, rest stops, location highlights, offering a utility route car-free with NO stop-signs.  Orange County has a real one, and it's 30 miles long!       see this excellent full-size map at OC Register

Cycling Cover Story on Westways Mag

Why would AAA pay so much attention to bicycling? Because they know that cycling is growing and here to stay. Cyclists share the road with automobiles and AAA knows the secret to business success is cooperative coexistence. Indeed many car drivers are also cyclists and AAA policy holders. Bicycling is one of America’s favorite outdoor activities, and it’s enjoying an unprecedented renaissance in the Southland. Cities, advocacy groups, and bike clubs are banding together like never before to improve facilities, promote safety, and encourage riding. Why not Laguna Beach? read Pedal Power by AAA.

The latest report from Rio de Janeiro

Naomi Devine reports from the Climate Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Read her commentary and insights to the summit process there. "Three things to expect at Rio+20 (that you may not like)". Naomi's latest Blog post here.

City does another Reset on Parking

CSTF volunteers spent 3 years discussing this topic with council and staff, offering suggestions, showing examples, researching solutions, writing plans. 6 more months were spent under “new leadership”. The city, the PTC and staff experts remain asleep-at-the-wheel, totally daft of solutions, so here's another hint, STOP ATTRACTING CARS. Read the Laguna Beach Independent story.

The Chicken or the Egg Resolved

"The more accessible (streets and paths) are for bikes, the more likely it is people will use them. But it's got to start at the local level", Pres. George W. Bush, 2006. The president's comment after approving the 2005 transportation bill appropriating $25M to Marin and four other counties to boost bicycling.

Good Slogan

"No American soldiers were killed to fuel this vehicle", Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philidelphia, 1973

Cyclist center-punches pedestrian

SAN FRANCISCO — The bicyclist was zipping south on Castro Street at the end of his twice-weekly ride to the Marin Headlands, blowing through red lights and stop signs.

But the Market Street crosswalk was filled with pedestrians, and Chris Bucchere, 36, allegedly was riding too fast to stop. So he aimed for the least populated spot and plowed on through.
...
Moral of the story: if you choose to ride wheels - any wheels, don't drive like a moron. read the LA Times Article.

Another 3:00am Roll-Over

Another DUI, Ka-Ching! Care to guess what it costs Laguna Beach to keep this emergency crew on-call 24/7?

Keep Wacked-out drivers out of cars and off our streets. COMPLETE OUR STREETS!  Read the story at Stu-News!

Genuine Complete Streets Planning

Last week I attended the monthly meeting of the Bicycle Safety Committee of Newport Beach, this committee advises the Newport City Council on bicycle safety and complete streets policy. Most of the s-t-a-k-e-h-o-l-d-e-r-s were there represented by the Newport Beach Police Department, Public Works, committee member Frank Peters of cdmCyclist, 7 voting members 8 members total. Mayor and Committee Chair Nancy Gardner led the meeting and addressed 14 members of the audience including  4 NBPD officers, OCBC Director Pete Van Nuys, complete streets advocates from San Clemente, Laguna Beach, Newport, Irvine, and residents of Newport Beach.

As a bicycle safety and traffic-calming measure the committee voted 7-0 to approve a letter drafted by committee to recommend bicycle Sharrows for Pacific Coast Highway through Corona del Mar. The meeting calendar, public notifications, agenda and complete minutes are posted for public review on the NB City website and at bikeNewportBeach. The participating reader will notice none of this city commitment occurs in Laguna Beach. With a can-do attitude from city leadership Laguna Beach could achieve the results in Newport.

Les Miklosy
LagunaStreets

Take Action: House Aims to Eliminate Local Funds for Biking & Walking

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The U.S. House and Senate are negotiating right now to produce a final federal transportation bill and 20 years of progress on biking, walking and Safe Routes to School could be eliminated.
Only a strong show of support from people like you can make sure this doesn’t happen.
PLEASE ACT NOW to protect the federal funding for local biking and walking.