The Village Arrival

Systemic problems require long-term planning and sustainable solutions.

Balance the mobility system.

Council Meeting on the Village Entrance

Project photo c/o LB Independent

Laguna Beach City Council held a special meeting tonight to present two plans for the Village Entrance giving a net gain of roughly 200 parking spaces at a cost of $33 to $55 Million. That is a lumped average cost of $220,000 per parking space. The plans include substantial park grounds and pathways connecting ends and points of interest.

Councilwoman Elisabeth Pearson presented the first plan while councilwoman Toni Iseman delivered the second. During her presentation  Pearson emphasized this astonishing quote: "get rid of a sea of cars, cars look unattractive" followed by " Our spending reflects community values". Next Iseman followed with: " we don't like people in cars, we like them on their feet."

Despite 4-5 years of community input and educating Council on this topic, no Council member uttered the words "Complete Street Policy".

Sorry folks it never happened. Those task-force meetings you attended, you were only dreaming. If we spent $33-55 Million on a real mobility plan for Laguna Beach, we could adopt a true city-wide multi-modal transport plan that would eliminate cars (congestion), not just hide them in the bushes for $220,000 each. But now I'm dreaming. -LS

LETS BE CLEAR

This is a 'Vine Covered Parking Garage'















This is a 'Village Entrance'

Paak da Ka Only $70,000 Each

Laguna Beach City leaders have the audacity to label a 600 car multi-story parking garage as " THE VILLAGE ENTRANCE".

Laguna Beach Independent Article

Coastline Pilot Article

Maintaining a myopic view of Laguna's mobility problems will lead to expensive ineffective solutions like this one.

 

During  Community Workshop #3 the city's hired consultants recommended a multi-mode transport plan would be preferred over building parking garages due to cost, space and growth constraints.

Whatever your view on the $42 Million Dollar project, add your comments here or to the on-line articles and attend the council meeting on the subject Tuesday 26 March 2013 5:00pm (check for presentation time). Read the agenda bill for this meeting here.


-LS

Parking Management Community Workshop #3

... back from a very encouraging Workshop #3 for the Parking Management Plan hosted by the Laguna Beach Planning Commission and guest speakers from RBF consulting. Our speakers were very well informed on this topic and patiently responded to questions from the audience through-out the duration of their 2-3/4 hour presentation. The audience were very engaged on this topic and received our guests with a warm welcome. A note of gratitude goes to our Planning Commission members for selecting consultants with experience outside Orange County.

Here are some very brief comments from notes:

Three noteworthy parking strategies of many presented were these

1. Incentive Priced Parking
2. Parking Structures
3. Mixed-Modal Transportation

• Growth in Laguna's downtown parking demand is 4% on average
• The sophistication and expense of building parking structures to keep pace with a 4% growth in parking demand is prohibitive (at 4% the parking demand will double every 18 years).
• A mixed-modal transportation strategy is preferred to more parking structures
• Voluntary employee parking will free-up more downtown parking
• Of  RBF clients, 90% adopt and implement recommended plans
• Implementation success relies on good city leadership to champion idea
• Special interest groups often squash good ideas
• The world of parking management outside Laguna Beach is changing profoundly, Laguna can catch-up to change.

A power-point presentation of  Workshop #3 on 20 March 2013 .
 

Score: Parking: 385 Bikeracks: 0

Recently the city of Laguna Beach requested proposals from transportation consultants for a downtown business district parking management plan. The Introduction of this 'RFP' reads compliant with AB 1358 and Complete Streets Policy, excerpt:

"The ideal proposal will include the development of innovative parking strategies that complement the complete streets policies of AB 1358. The submitted Downtown/Laguna Canyon Area parking recommendations should recognize the importance of a balanced, multi-modal transportation network that meets the needs of all users of streets, roads, and highways; including, pedestrians, bicyclists, children, persons with disabilities, seniors, movers of commercial goods, users of public transportation and motorists. Consultant recommendations shall also include strategies that improve City livability, sustainability and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions."

The city selected a winning proposal from RBF Consulting of Irvine where the consultant addresses "a balanced multi-modal transportation network" (so far) in this way:

The word 'bicycle' is used 0 times.
The word 'bike' is used 0 times.
The word 'walk-in' is used 0 times.
The word 'walking' is used 0 times.
The words 'bike-share' are used 0 times.
The words 'bike lane' are used 0 times.
The words 'bike route' are used 0 times.
The words 'bike rack' are used 0 times.
The words 'car-share' are used 0 times.
The word 'sustainable' is used 0 times.
The word 'motorcycle' is used 1 time.
The word 'bus' is used 1 times.
The word 'shuttle' is used 6 times.
The word 'trolley' is used 14 times.
The word 'parking' is used 385 times.

(See Technical Memorandum 1)

If you see a disconnect between the city RFP and the consultant proposal, then there is hope. Remember you earn the government you keep so get involved. The next public Workshop on LB parking is today Wednesday 20 March 6:30pm at city hall, click here for meeting details. -LS

How to Finance Balanced Mobility

Laguna think of the possibilities

This chart shows the amount of money spent driving 15,000 cars per year, we could potentially re-direct that into the local economy. From Timeline Photos.

B I K E S M E A N B U S I N E $ $

“The MUTCD was great for when we built the national highway system in the 1960′s,” today we require design standards for the 21st Century where other mobility modes of walking and biking are resurging, along with the vitality of our urban cores."

“Sales tax revenues are up 50% along 8th and 9th,” where she installed the first protected bike lanes in the U.S. “Commercial vacancies are at zero along Columbus Avenue,” where you’ll find more of these separated bike paths." - Janette Sadik-Kahn, NYC Transportation Coordinator, National Bike Summit,

"We're gonna do it with or without the Feds."

These 2 days feel like a hothouse incubator for how to reinvigorate our cities, while at the same time, moving our society to a healthier and more sustainable future.

Yes, all due to the bicycle. 

Frank Peters attended the National Bike Summit March 4-6 2013 in Washington DC and brought us these goodies! Go Frank!     see Bike Newport Beach

Heads-up LB Restaurant Owners

"Highway cyclists spend the nights in campgrounds, while others sleep in the nicest hotels — but most all dine out three meals a day. Cyclists are ravenous eaters, as you can imagine, and most of their off-bike time on a Pacific Coast Highway ride, when not spent sleeping, is spent in restaurants."  From "Pacific Coast Highway - a Feather in a Cyclist's Cap", Bike Newport Beach

Long Beach by Bike/Walk Tour (FULL)

Long Beach invites your city officials for guided tour

Due to overwhelming response this tour is now full. See the tour schedule below.

The City of Santa Ana Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Agency, in cooperation with The City of Long Beach, The Bicycle Tree, and the Orange County Bicycle Coalition, invites you on a FREE group tour of the bicycle infrastructure of Long Beach led by experts and advocates Charlie Gandy and Allan Crawford.  
***RSVP is Required***

Long Beach By Bike Tour (FREE) is scheduled twice a month(RSVP), usually on Fridays from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm invites public officials and citizens to participate. The contact person is Melissa Balmer at wobsocal@gmail.com or (562) 612-0197. 

March Tour Schedule:
Tour #1 Saturday 9 March 10:00am tour (FULL)
April Tour Schedule:
Tour #2 Saturday 27 April 9:00am tour

Participants will join either a bike tour (8 mile) led by Charlie Gandy (bikes provided by the City of Long Beach) or a walking tour led by Allan Crawford. The tour will introduce participants to the many beneficial and innovative elements of bicycle infrastructure that have been implemented in Long Beach. Participants will receive a free lunch. The tour will then reconvene at Long Beach City Hall, where the process of implementing bicycle infrastructure will be discussed with Pete Van Nuys of the Orange County Bicycle Coalition or Brenda Miller of PEDal. 

Bus Transportation from Santa Ana:
From Santa Ana a bus will take participants to Long Beach.  The tour will take place on Saturday, March 9th,and will leave by bus promptly at 9:00 am from Santa Ana Stadium on N. Flower St. The bus will arrive back in Santa Ana at 3 pm.

Please Provide the following information:
1. Your name/the name(s) of all participants
2. Your contact information
3. Your tour preference - either the walking tour or the bike tour
****RSVP HERE**** to Enrique Marban, Recreation Program Leader, City of Santa Ana: emarban@santa-ana.org (714) 647-5302

More info:
City of Santa Ana Parks, Recreation, and Community Services:
http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/parks/
 
Charlie Gandy and Allan Crawford's Tour:
 http://www.charliegandy.com/tour-long-beach-by-bike/

Long Beach Bike Tour Hosted by Charlie Gandy (pdf)
http://www.charliegandy.com/storage/Long%20Beach%20By%20Bike%20Tour.pdf

Information provided by:

The Bicycle Tree

P.O. Box 11293

Santa Ana, CA 92711

http://www.thebicycletree.org

info@thebicycletree.org