Homer Solves Traffic Congestion Overnight

Homer the LB Homie lives downtown Laguna but relies exclusively on his car to get around. Here's how he plans his daily trips.

Homer's Brain on Cars

If Homer chose his travel mode based on the trip- distance from his apartment, then his mode trips might look like this. 

Homers Brain on Complete Streets Policy

Walk:

Medi's Printshop

Bank of America

Wells Fargo

US Bank

The Grove

Marine Room

Alessa's

Lumberyard

Sawdust Festival

Festival of Arts

Bike:

Laguna Coffee
Broadway Pharm

Post Office 

City Hall

Whole Foods

Ralphs

Zincs

Ganahl Lumber

Laguna Books

Dem Club

Friendship Shelter

Adolpho's

Gigi's 

Ruby's
Tivolis 

Bus:

LCAD 

Laundromat

Gelson's 

Pavilion

Car:

Costco

UCI

Larry's Lumber

Ganahl Lumber

If Laguna's homies used all four mobility modes Laguna would solve traffic congestion overnight. No tiresome agenda bills, no traffic cops, no Trojan Horse and no Gateway Opportunity at no cost to the city of Laguna Beach. Will our homies do the right thing?        -LS

Laguna is Going for Gold

2007 Pedestrian Collisions

Dave Hansen referees in "Laguna Battles for Gold in Street Injuries" showing the pedestrian injury/fatalities for Laguna Beach is bad and getting worse. Dave explains that accident records show injury/fatalities compiled in police records since 2007 are not Riverside lunch-bag day-trippers, it's Lagunans too. It's not 3:00am July 5th but Wednesdays in December.

2014 Pedestrian Collisions

An LB City Council member recently said, Laguna's traffic congestion is caused by pedestrians.........  While pedestrians may remain the inconvenient truth for motorists, there is something seriously wrong when council members wear their Consciousness like a traffic cone.

The graphics show where pedestrian collisions occurred, in 2007 there were 19 collisions and 1 fatality, in 2014 there were 33 collisions and 2 fatalities, a 74% increase.   -LS

Low Cost Housing for Laguna

Laguna Canyon Nada

Good news for car owners, soon you won't need one. In San Diego's Little Italy a new development has eliminated parking requirements in order to encourage car-free living and reduce the cost of rents.

In WSJ Ester Fong's endeavor to show both sides of the argument she is very successful, so thorough we completely loose the purpose for building low-cost housing. Rather we take the parking-brawl outside for a street-fight in the Commentary section because when it comes to urban planning, everybody is an expert.


So far 61 experts wrote commentary because every writer knows their piece of the elephant. Some writers remark how such a lefty progressive idea couldn't possibly work in Houston, others write how relaxing parking requirements failed in Portland. Yet others say let market forces determine housing densities so "keep-a you hands off my kaaa".  If free-market forces are such a good thing, why does Laguna suffer under the summer traffic congestion it experiences now? Maybe existing regulations and free-market forces - the availability of cars-on-the-cheap have something to do with it. In 2013 a quarter of US renters spent half their monthly income on housing made less affordable due to parking requirements.

Commentary can be misleading. The statements following Fong's piece distract the reader from the central idea: how relaxing parking regulations benefit affordable housing. If Ester Fong combined Complete Streets Policy with urban planning, then a community of low-cost housing connected by transportation free of parking costs would emerge.  Low cost housing development is sorely needed by the art community in Laguna Beach, in neighborhoods long ignored. 

-LS

Laguna's Parking Requirements Uncool

It's not the 60's Man ....  so why regulate by old-rules?  Laguna like Ottawa should get hip - we have a Golden Opportunity not a Gateway Opportunity.

Steps to Complete Streets: Test and Verify

Paris is converting city center Carfree

Step 5. Influence Factors

Paris is removing cars from the city downtown and building a massive pedestrian zone, just as Time Square NYC did. As a public-outreach gesture the city is testing the actual street closure with more than a high-priced consultant workshop, they simply close the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and monitor public reaction. Plan, build, test and tweek, the simplified steps to a Complete Street.

-LS