Alexa Infotainment in Bavaria

Alexa learns German

eValet Parking for Laguna

Never leave your bubble... 

Get your bubble-button App from Volkswagen.  -LS

CicLAvia Wilshire Blvd Tomorrow

Click for full-size map

 
Glenneyre some Sunday, Park Plaza to Victoria Beach.

 -LS

Temple Hills Sidewalk Update

At 5:00pm on April 16 2015 the Laguna Beach Public Works Department held a public workshop to disclose plans and to take public input for a sidewalk construction project from Dunning to Palm on Temple Hills Drive. A summary of public input and design Alternatives A-D were posted previously. The latest plans available were released May 2 2017 available from the city website. The roadway section proposed for Temple Hills Drive is shown below.

Before

After

The proposed design ignores public concerns expressed in the public workshop, the design remains non-compliant with  Complete Streets Policy mandates.


UPDATE:   Here is a protected sidewalk used in Seattle costing 1/3 that of conventional sidewalks.   

UPDATE:   Here is combined curb and gutter used in  Delft Netherlands.                -LS  

Cities and Boxes

UBER's message and why:

-LS

Trend in LB Traffic Collision Safety Rankings

For the latest data available (2014) these are the highway safety rankings determined from traffic collisions resulting in  injury and fatalities for Laguna Beach and its neighbor Dana Point (ranking system explained previously here).  Notice that Laguna ranks far worse than Dana Point despite being neighbors and South Coast Highway common to both.  From the California Office of Traffic Safety.

The next charts compare the contributors to traffic collisions for Dana Point and Laguna Beach, Laguna again ranks worse than Dana Point.

These charts show collision safety rankings and subsequent arrest when alcohol is involved, comparing Dana Point to Laguna Beach (updated).

These charts determine that:

• Laguna's safety ranking is worse than Dana Point in all categories.
• Laguna remains near the bottom in highway safety rankings for similar Cal cities.
• The trend in Laguna's safety ranking is not improving since 2009
• The trend in Dana Point safety ranking is declining since 2009 
• Alcohol is a major contributor to fatality and injury related collisions.
• High vehicle speed is a major contributor to fatality and injury related collisions. 
• Driver impairment by any means leads to a decline in roadway safety.
• January 1 recreational pot (Kif Kat edibles) will be legal in California. 

How about a hands-free Kush Cake Pop, sure thing for California roads.

-LS

Laguna Streets Traffic Advisory

Maybe try  "Traffic Advisory, USE ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT"

LB Traffic Advisory by Nixle www.nixle.com

Or how about "Use Homer's Rules"

Downtown Specific Plan Update

VE showing reduced vehicular access, pedestrian crossing, 200-yard multiuse path

On October 4 the LB Planning Commission will hear updates to the LB Downtown Specific Plan and design recommendations affecting the Village Entrance and Laguna Canyon corridor presented by MIG Consulting.

Accompanying map for MIG Recommendations

 Highlights of design recommendations concerning vehicular circulation in Task 2.7 DOWNTOWN PARKING MANAGEMENT PLAN AND VILLAGE ENTRANCE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VEHICULAR, BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION (starting on page 52 of agenda bill) are:

• Construct a pedestrian walkway from Canyon Acres Drive to Act V (west side)
• Complete pedestrian walkway from 2 to 4 (figure)(east side)(corrected)
• Complete a Class 1 "bike facility" from Canyon Acres to 2 (east side)
• A multi-use pedestrian path will complement the Class 1 "bike facility"
• Reduce vehicle access to Forest Ave Parking Lot from two to one
• Reducing vehicle access improves bicycle and pedestrian safety
• LCR Task Force did not choose a roadway configuration preference (huh?)
• MIG does not recommend a roadway configuration (of 5 alternatives)
• MIG recommends a street tree pallet
• Develop a four-foot permiable shoulder and stormwater swale
• Improve signal timing at the LCAD pedestrian crosswalk
• Install a way-finding program to promote Civic Art District branding
• Eliminate uncontrolled pedestrian crossings (at LCR)
• Create innovative solution for increased northbound vehicle volume

These design recommendations were denied:

• No transit hub
• No support for transit
• No support for rail 
• No compliance with Caltrans Department Directive 64
• No compliance with Complete Streets Policy 

The plan submitted does not conform to a balanced mobility plan, it remains car-centric and guarantees more auto congestion due to inland community growth.  The DSP ensures the Village Entrance remains a parking lot.

Find the full 68 page Planning Commission agenda bill here. 

NOTE:

MIG specifies east and west using Laguna Canyon Road Hwy 133 as a reference running north and south bound. This adds confusion since areal views show the 133 highway also oriented east and west.

Bike Freeways in Germany

Muhlheim an Der Ruhr or Old Laguna Canyon Road

Duisheim to Hamm 62km long connects 10 cities

To remove drivers from cars Germany is building bicycle highways exclusively for bike use. The bicycle Autobahn connects cities following abandoned rail routes and expanses in Germany's Rust Belt.  A 6-foot wide pedestrian path runs alongside but is separated by a grassy median to prevent people or their dogs from straying into the bicycle lane.

The first 5-km stretch of the Duisheim bike Autobahn is open, 62-km when finished the Bikebahn will remove 50,000 cars from roads each day (study). On the Mulheim route stop at Radmosphere - a bicycle cafe for cyclists.

"Building highways in cities is a life-threatening recipe from the 1960s," ADAC manager Stork. "No one wants more cars in cities."

ALTAIR Irvine holds their Grand Opening 30 September 2017, 27 Model Homes, 10 new neighborhoods. Guess where they drive to the beach? So what will Laguna Beach do, approve Get-Moving toll roads and parking garages, or alternative transportation?

Remember: "Build it and they will come"  Let's build smart    -LS

TODAY is PARKING DAY!

Bag a meter

Add public seating

It's Parking Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Always the third Friday in September, a worldwide event where artists planners designers and residents reclaim public space from automobiles. On 17 September 2010 Laguna Beach residents organized their first Parking Day.

40 years of catch-up

Consulting

When in Laguna choose the appropriate vehicle.

Community Space

Work Space

Social Space

Reclaim public space for our Seniors, public announcements, education, dining, games, organizing, gardens.

Your PARKING DAY Orgnaizers

How to build a Public Parklett in 60 minutes on time with no budget.        -LS

Paris Breathes Celebration 1 October 2017

Credit Click: Forbes, Paris Visitors Bureau

While Paris bans cars to celebrate traffic-free zones called "Paris Breathes", Laguna Beach bans smoking to celebrate "Breathe Easy". Can LB catch-up?

-LS 

How to Build a Laguna Bike Rack, Part 13

Credit: boredpanda dot com and Artist Damon Belanger

Better than bubble gum.   -LS

Sawdust Festival Bike Parking

While claiming to support cycling alternatives to the car, these photographs show the true status of bicycle parking at the Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival after the steel Magnolias were installed. The sculptures remain a colorful distraction to the real need for Sawdust bike parking. Artists rely on bikes but the City relies on image, when will the City opt for car alternatives?   Judge for yourself (click photos to enlarge).

April 2016 Bike Rack Stunt

Transport by bicycle is one way to relieve Laguna's car saturated mobility system but in 2012 the City disapproved bike racks for Sawdust Festival. Effective transport infrastructure is less about opportunistic political photo-ops with city cheer-leading, and more about commitment to Complete Street Policy with effective planning and design. Clearly Artist Liz Avalon is good at design.    -LS

Hoboken NY Parking Solution

Click for Credit: Hoboken411

Finally, a 10,000 car parking garage from a thinking contributor:

• Provides Long-term parking multi-story garage
• Resident FREE parking permit with winning lottery ticket
• 15,000 parking permits are issued each year
• FREE in-lieu parking permits for homeless

-LS

How Yosemite Does Parking

Click for Credit: LA Times Story

From the article:

• 6500 parking spaces
• Staging areas outside the park are impractical, even un-American
• Car driving is free-choice, buses are socialism - Board of Supervisors
• Each year tourists bring $686 Million to Yosemite Valley
• Car entry fee $30
• Park's latest pilot plan:  150 parking spaces available for $1.50 on-line fee
• Laguna gets 6 million visitors per year (Visitors Bureau)
• Yosemite has a million to go

Clearly Yosemite needs more parking, like a parking garage. Mebbe eight? Decades ago the Yosemite Valley Railroad served the valley with passenger trains, restoration of the rail is politically unpopular and financially challenged, but you can still trace the old railbed by car.
     
UPDATE:  10/23/17 Car entry fees are expected to double, $70 per vehicle will pay for bathrooms, parking lots and road construction. Building more car infrastructure draws more cars, what better example than Yosemite.      -LS

Ohio Capitol Does the Unthinkable

Columbus Ohio doesn't have a rail system and they aren't building 8 parking structures. Instead they are buying bus passes for 43,000 workers. 

Click for CITYLAB story

• Office rents tumble, vacancies up, business blame insufficient parking, sound familiar?
• Building parking structures is cost prohibitive and futile
• Developers, property owners, employers, and cities subsidize actual parking costs
• Parking Requirements tie cars to job access
• Building owners pay for Free-Pass instead of Parking Requirements
• Pilot Free-Pass program doubled ridership, frees- up parking
• Laguna Beach Live/Work take note 

-LS

Laguna Beach Land Use Plan

Photos in order: the amount of land consumed in San Francisco for

• pavement
• parked cars
• transit
• bikes

Should Laguna Beach adopt the SF plan?  How about that Oklahoma plan?        -LS

Credit: Matthew Lewis, Twitter

Here's Oklahoma City,  pavement and sidewalks.