In a draft report prepared by the LB Parking Master Plan Subcommittee, a recommendation is made to enhance eighteen parking lots, eleven of them are new parking structures located throughout Laguna Beach. In a town already obsessed with cars and traffic congestion why would this Subcommittee choose car intensification as a solution to a mobility problem caused by the automobile? The answer is parking money.
A review of the budget for Laguna Beach shows the City generates more city revenue from automobiles and parking than any other transportation mode and in some years the amount exceeds revenue from total retail sales and OCC Hotel Taxes. The first chart shows these results for the 2021-2022 Fiscal Year.
The next chart shows the contribution to city revenue from each of the transportation modes for fiscal years 2007 through 2021. In most years the city revenue contribution from parking automobiles is equal to total retail sales and hotel occupancy tax.
The last chart shows the proportion of revenues in the budget Major Funds (legend) to one another for fiscal years 2007 thru 2022. To appear consistent the same Major Funds are chosen each year but do not include every budget line-item. The Major Funds are gross revenue figures and do not include large expenditures for maintenance, servicing and law enforcement. When included the net revenue from say "Parking Authority" is greatly diminished from the gross revenue value.
These results show the modeshare from automobiles produce the most city revenue to the exclusion of all the others. This financial incentive explains why the LB management plan is a parking-lot and the Subcommittee commitment to intensify traffic congestion will guarantee it.
-LS
