LB City Council Election 2020

The comprehensive table shows common city planning terms for traffic relief, some are specific for a multi-modal transition plan such as Complete Streets. Two incumbents and three LB residents are campaigning for a seat on the LB City Council, the table shows the frequency each mobility term is found in the candidate's platform paper.

As of 6 October only one candidate published a platform paper, candidate George Weiss published here.  So far no candidate provided a written commitment to address Complete Streets Policy or any component of mobility infrastructure, this election cars remain king.

CONCLUSION: Expect traffic/circulation/parking cannot improve for the next 4 years, car snobbery persists in Laguna Beach the 2020 election will not change that.

-LS

Text and Drive?

Don't, one day you may need mature driving skills....

Meskel Square, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.

-LS

Happy Birthday CicLAvia 2020

 This year CicLAvia is ten-years old and growing. CicLAvia works with communities to turn public streets into public parks for one day.

-LS

Laguna's Car Bottleneck

In Laguna parking structures aren't your solution for the same reason. Parking structures serve special interests, as solutions they are illusory.

-LS

Take ACTION for Bike-Share

Pending legislation attacks scooter and bike-shares in California. The legislature hearing is TODAY, tell your state representative to vote NO on AB 1286. Read details and act, use this 60-second CALbike form here.

-LS

Businesses Compensate for COVID

Dallas, Chicago, Spokane, Vancouver test parklets...

SF Parklet (credit Pinterest)

Ironfire, a Long Beach coworking enterprise moves its workforce outside to compensate for COVID, story here.   

-LS

Business Parking for Naysayers

"If you remove parking spaces how will customers get to my business?"

 

Street Parking, NYC (credit: NY Times)

Street Parking, Prague

Street Parking, Lisbon

Street Parking, Boulder Colorado

Street Parking, Menton France (credit: Dreamstime)

"Transmissibility of the virus is greatly reduced outdoors."

-Marc Lipstich, Professor Epidemiology, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard University.

-LS

A 4th July Lock-Down Opportunity

By Governor Newsom's orders California businesses are once again required to close for three weeks due to a surge in COVID-19:

Restaurant dining rooms and other indoor recreational activities have been ordered to close for at least three weeks in 19 counties experiencing increased spread of the coronavirus, including Los Angeles, Sacramento and Orange County.

But hey in that closure is an opportunity, the LAT continues:

Restaurants in those counties can still offer sit-down dining outdoors, as well as takeout and delivery. -Essential LA Times.

Affected businesses take assessment of your parking habits and provide outdoor seating instead. Nothing fancy, beach chairs will do, even Manhattan used beach chairs in Times Square with success.

-LS

A Forest Avenue Promenade Approved

It took a pandemic to approve a test of Forest Avenue Pedestrian Plaza. One fallout from COVID-19 is business revitalization, see links.

Nixle Traffic Alert: Forest Avenue is closed at Coast Highway until September 8 2020 for implementation of the outdoor Promenade on Forest pedestrian plaza.  Use an alternate route for downtown access. 

Laguna Streets Alert: The Forest Pedestrian Plaza opens 15 June 2020, use alternative transport like walking, skating, cycling, Uber to access downtown LB. Trolley resumption anticipated soon.

Notice the plan phrasing, one remains car-centric.

Laguna Beach Independent: Forest Promenade
City Laguna Beach: Press Release

 -LS

The Car-Culture Chasm

Credit: Greater Greater Washington

After the Virus will Laguna return to
car-culture?

A Self-Distancing Opportunity

Laguna's traffic congestion is way down due to the COVID-19 "self-distancing" measure. The stay-at-home order, isolation and mass layoffs contributed to reduced distance traveled by these amounts:

• California down 36%
• California number of miles driven down 53%
• LAX Air traffic down 85%
• San Francisco (all vehicle modes) down 70%
• LA & OC 405 speeds averaging over 70mph 
• Update: Accidents down 50% -LAT

Traffic speeds up shown in green -Google

With reduced motor vehicles on our roads and the Laguna Beach Trolley shut-down, now is a good time to try Laguna's bike-routes while complying with "self-distancing" rule.

GOOGLE Maps shows LB "bike-friendly" routes in blue. Maybe GOOGLE didn't get the memo.

Google Maps bike-friendly routes in Laguna Beach

For more charts on distance traveled, flight delays, empty SoCal freeways see this LA Times article.

-LS 

TCA Toll Roads Debt Never Ends

TCA Toll Roads

The SoCal Toll Roads consist of the SR-73, SR-133, SR-241, SR-261 and "SR-241 Completion" through San Clemente and managed by the Transportation Corridor Agency, the TCA. The roads occupy three geographic regions, the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor (FETCA), the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor (SJHTCA), and the SR-241 Completion portion of the SJHTCA. 36-miles of roads were completed in 1999, the SR-241 Completion portion will complete the project for 52 miles total in this analysis. No more roads were constructed since 1999.

In 1987 the roads were initially financed by toll fees to begin planning design and construction of the projects. Other finance sources were these:

• Revenue Bonds: Interest, Convertable CABS, Term Rate, Liens 
• Development Impact Fees (DIF)
• Toll Revenue
• Toll Fines and Fees

Early Toll Road bonds were issued in 1995 with initial maturity planned for 2035. The bonds were restructured in 2013, 2014, and 2018 to benefit from lower interest rates and to repackage debt financing with extended maturity dates.

The charts show the debt and income incurred to finance these roads over the lifetime of the project, from 1987 when the first toll revenues were collected to 2053 - the planned maturity date of the latest bonds issued.  The first chart shows the monies contributing to the road financing, over 270 sources in all.

Prior to 2013 the revenues were actual realized income, after 2013 the income from toll revenue, fees, fines and developer fees were projected through optimistic forecasting till bond maturity in 2053. All values in these charts are annualized per year.
  

 

The next chart shows the net income from all sources, annualized per year. Look closely at the chart prior to 2013, the income from toll revenue and all other sources cannot pay the bond debt service. After redeeming the bonds in 2014 and refinancing, the new debt financing reaches break-even in 2029 and forecasts a profitable outlook till 2053. But remember, revenues after 2013 are FORECASTS and hypothetical, revenues before 2013 are actuals.

This next chart shows the truth about these toll roads: the debt never stops. Past performance of these roads show the revenue collections did not pay for the bond debt service, the projected revenues show wishful forecasts of debt service on bonds. 

We don't know the real value of future revenues, but how much is all this forecast revenue and debt worth? The last chart shows the total cost of forecast revenues, debt service, maintenance and operations in the charts above, for 52 miles of completed toll roads.  

TAKE-AWAY: If light rail costs $10 million per mile, a new rail system could be built every year from 2006 to 2053 for the cost of this toll road, that is 48 light rail systems each 52 miles long.

The annualized costs increase beyond the bond maturity date.  For the Toll Roads to arrive in this financial state the accounting practices of the TCA are in serious question. See NotMyTollRoad for more details. Story in the LB Patch here.

-LS

LB Neighborhood Trolley Service Input

What:
The city of Laguna Beach invites the public to participate in three "listening meetings" and a short survey about the Neighborhood Trolley Service.

When:
First Meeting: February 24 2020, 6pm
Second Meeting: February 26 2020, 6pm
Third Meeting: March 9 2020, 6pm

Where:
Laguna Beach Community and Suzi-Q Center, Third Street, Laguna Beach

Survey: 
The short survey is still active and taking comments.

Details:

See the website City of Laguna Beach here. 

-LS

TOLL ROADS the REAL Story

 

Toll Roads are like Timeshare Condos: you don't know how much they will cost and you don't know when the debt ends. 

 

Consider these SoCal Toll Roads:

• SR-73
• SR-133
• SR-241
• SR-261
• SR-241 Completion

These toll road projects are managed by two oversight boards, the Foothill/Eastern TCA and the San Jouquin TCA (Transportation Corridor Agency).  Two financial firms evaluated the bond debt for these projects as shown in these charts.

The latest bonds mature in 2033 and 2053, these studies show for 36 miles of toll road the project cost will be

• 2033:   $242 Million per mile
• 2053:   $322 Million per mile.

When the San Joaquin SR-241 Corridor is included, 52 miles of toll will cost

• 2033:    $167 Million per mile
• 2053:    $223 Million per mile.

TCA's debt restructuring scheme guarantees the debt will never be paid off. Stop corporate welfare!

Consider the cost of lightrail is $13-$20 million per mile (no tunnels, no elevated sections, good soils, granted right-of-ways), what could SoCal residents do with the savings over Toll Roads?

If you made it this far, sit back relax, here's NotMyTollRoad's video.

-LS

Paris Offers 600 Euros to Ride Bikes

Laguna wants to make a restaurant out of a giant toilet. Meanwhile Paris France gives Parisians financial incentives to ditch their cars for eBikes. 

-LS

NOT MY TOLL ROAD Action Letter

24 January 2020:

Good afternoon,

I am asking for your help to submit Public Comments on an environmentally devastating toll road proposed for South Orange County.  The studies show the road is not needed and it will not improve mobility, in addition this special single purpose agency the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) has not paid down the debt incurred 30 years ago and it has grown in the wrong direction.  Please submit a public comment on this proposal by February 7, 2020 (action form below).  The San Juan Creek and San Mateo Water shed are in jeopardy as well as critical habitat for endangered and threatened species both plant and animal.   As you may or may not know the TCA was denied water permits for this extension - they could care less and got around that by building the next segment of the toll road for a private developer.  We have asked for an investigation into this, however, the TCA is moving and pushing forward rapidly.  In addition the proposed toll roads will go too close to 6 schools, the particulate pollution and noise is not acceptable. 

 If you want to try and help us protect our precious open space and coastal historic city,  this is the only chance you'll get!

Notice in the map below that options 13, 14, 17, and 22 go right over our beautiful biking trails and hills, and one goes right near San Clemente High School. If we don't speak up, the TCA and CalTrans will assume we don't care. WE DO!

Two easy ways to comment:

1) Fill out the form in the link below

https://www.san-clemente.org/home/showdocument?id=54534 

and mail it in to: 

Caltrans District 12

1750 East 4th Street
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Attn: Env/SCTRE Scoping

2) Email your comments to:scoping@SCTRE.org  (the quickest and easiest way, it will only take a few minutes)

If you oppose the toll road, PLEASE TAKE ACTION! There's no time to lose. 

Some ideas on what to write:

Please begin all comments with the words in caps: I SUPPORT ONLY THE NO BUILD OPTION

• Write why you DON'T support the Toll Road extension project (your reasons)
• Write what we DO support! 

I support the following mobility solutions:

1. OCTA should complete long-planned arterials, if and when needed. 
2. Complete new planned arterials on RMV (including keeping Los Patrones free)
3. Complete planned improvements to I-5 in South County that do not include toll lanes
4. Make limited additional I-5 improvements, if, when and where needed.
5. Make the existing toll roads free as soon as possible, like the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) originally promised.
6. Have more direct trains at commuting hours to North Orange County. 
7. Open up car pool lanes during non-commuting hours (like they do in Arizona.) 

Please TAKE ACTION NOW, before "life" gets in the way and you forget. The deadline is 5pm on February 7th.

Thank you!

Should you need any additional information please let me know.  

Thank you Michelle 949.280.4276 NOT MY TOLL ROAD