Laguna Streets: June 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

Bicyclist Killed on Laguna Canyon Road

Two bicyclists were rammed by a car on Laguna Canyon Road Friday morning, one cyclist died at the scene. See details in local news sources here:

(UPDATE 8 July) Five more collisions reported. A motorist collided with cyclists in three separate attacks during a morning driving rampage in Monrovia. In Ontario a motorist hit-and-run left a cyclist critically injured. A motorist killed a Chatsworth cyclist July 4. This has not been a good weekend for cyclists in So. Cal.

(UPDATE) Two days later Sunday 30 June 38-year old Lake Elsinore resident Lucia Ruano was riding south on Grand Avenue at Marvella Lane in Lake Elsinore when she was hit by a silver Ford F150 pickup at 8:37 am. She was pronounced dead just 35 minutes later at the Inland Valley Medical Center. 40-year old Lake Elsinore resident Jay Dustin Sorrell was arrested after the collision for investigation of drunken driving and gross vehicular manslaughter. Sorrell was too drunk to drive at 8:30 on a Sunday morning.

(UPDATE) 20 June 2013 a 22 year old cyclist died in a collision with a Fedex truck. Chelsea Kashergen appeared to be riding correctly in a residential neighborhood (photo) when struck. Biking in LA reports seven cyclists have died in the last eight days.

Bicycling fatalities are nearly 45% ahead of last year in the seven-county SoCal area just halfway into the year. And this comes as we head into the 4th of July weekend, which is traditionally one of the most dangerous times of year for area bike riders; last year seven cyclists were killed within a week of Independence Day. More at Biking in LA.

Monday, June 24, 2013

If only Laguna had Bike Parking Problems

While watching this video consider:

the space spared for auto driving
the space spared for auto parking
the silence of commuter traffic
the absence of road-rage
the emissions from bikes is zero
the health of the bike commuters

Village Entrance Plan 'C'

The popularity of the proposed Village Entrance with adorned parking garage was revealed in newspaper op-eds this week by residents demanding public approval thru a referendum vote. Better solutions for removing car traffic congestion are proposed, like this one.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Watch! Park 144 Bicycles in a Tokyo Closet

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Pinched Parking

"Everybody knows the key to a good small downtown business is gargantuan gobs of (preferably free) parking. " Right?

Ian Sacs P.E. takes an objective look at studies conducted in major US cities to discover if that premise is true. After-all every small retail business relies on that statement because urban planners, architects and policy makers have done so for decades. Urban design guides specify parking requirements handed-down for millennia.

"So it is written and so it shall be done".

Ian looks at several studies showing what conditions promote downtown health and a vibrant business district. What follows are highlights to those studies, you'll see ample parking is not a necessary intervention. "The one about the parking-pinched merchant...", Ian Sacs P.E., Planetizen.

Click to Enlarge

San Francisco: A Metro Transit Agency study showing 85% of visitors walk, bike or take transit. Other studies show merchants widely overestimate the number of patrons arrive by car.

Parking is Left Out

Michigan: This study included sixteen downtown characteristics, and analyzed their relative importance to health of the downtown district. Here is a high-brow chart of the findings. Three factors did not correlate to downtown health: "Streetscape improvements," "Parking," and "Quick-stop shopping." See "Evaluating the Health of Downtowns, a study of Michigan Small Cities", U. Wisconsin-Coop Extension Center for Community Economic Development.

Philadelphia: Econsult Corporation, assessed the performance of 265 commercial corridors and identified factors shown to improve them. The study found that there was a consistently positive correlation between parking-spaces-per-store and shopper patronage, real estate values and retail sales:

"Along pedestrian-oriented commercial districts surrounded by dense residential neighborhoods, the availability of parking seemed to play less of a role in commercial districts success. This is likely because many residents are choosing to walk to the corridor instead of drive. So while parking may help an automobile-oriented commercial district better serve its customers, the study suggests that too much parking actually serves to decrease property values as compared to property values surrounding pedestrian-oriented commercial corridors."

From the LISC Institute, for Comprehensive Economic Development, "White Paper: New and definitive evidence on what works to revitalize commercial corridors", 2011.

New York City: The NYC Department of Transportation shows some startling statistics after applying street interventions for balanced mobility there:

49% increase in local retail sales along its 9^th Avenue segment
49% fewer vacancies
74% of users prefer the new configuration
172% increase in retail sales, Pearl St. Brooklyn
77% increase in seated pedestrians

"In Europe, where this kind of modal manipulation is perhaps most advanced, the techniques used by transportation planners to actively better balance demand for various transportation options are generally called 'Mobility Management'.

From the NYC Department of Transportation, "Measuring the Street: New Metrics for 21st Century Streets", NYCDOT.

New York City: 2006 A study of pedestrian space in Soho found 89 percent of people using Prince Street arrive by subway, bus, walking or bicycle (PDF), 9 percent arrive by car. By 5:1 shoppers say they would come to Prince Street more often if they had more space to walk, even if it meant eliminating parking spaces." Rethinking Soho", Aaron Naparsteck, StreetsBlog.org.