Newport PD promises crackdown on motorists and cyclists

One cyclist is killed per month in Orange County, law enforcement in four cities are joining forces this month to turn around this tragic trend. Locally Laguna Beach will step-up enforcement of traffic laws for motorists and cyclists, see reports in the Stu News Laguna  and Laguna Beach Independent. Photo OC Register

Strasbourg France reduces speed limits to 19MPH

This is the bike route map for Strasbourg. The Mayor says "The public roads no longer belong to automobiles alone. They must be reimagined to be redistributed in a fairer manner between all forms of transportation." Article courtesy SmartPlanet

The Cost of an Automobile Subsidy

The free subsidy for operating an automobile and parking it, metered or not metered, takes the 'Village" out of Laguna. This is a photo of Muenster Germany, care of Professor John Pucher, Rutgers University.

Physical Exercise Improves Test Scores

Walking and Biking to school should offer the same results. If Naperville Centeral High can do this in Chicago, LBHS can do this in Laguna. The program costs nothing, the curriculum improves, and our weather is much better than Chicago.

Courtesy PBS Program 'NEED TO KNOW'.

PieCycle: Pie delivery by Bike from Seattle

Bike advocacy is tough...lots of loop holes, pot holes and other sorts of "ahem" holes that get in the way of our good time.

With that said, here is a happy story that is as delicious as it is ingenious, one of those, "why didn't I think of this?" businesses.

...By the way, where is the best slice of pie in Laguna Beach?

How about Visitor Incentives Instead of Parking Tickets?

I read in the Pilot that Laguna Beach cites visitors and residents for $2.5M in meter collections, $3.5M in parking tickets and maybe another $1.0M for moving violations (5,833 tickets), a total of $7M per year. Hmmm the city collects $7M per year for visitor disincentives?

Clearly citations and fees for visiting downtown Laguna don't leave those cited with a welcome message. Then I read this excerpt in today's Indy (SCORE front page) where the experts arrive at the same interpretation. Jack Curtis is with the LB Chamber of Commerce.

As for Laguna’s struggle to revitalize a waning retail community, Curtis is not impressed. “Laguna has a unique business climate because it is luxury-based,” he said, which means visitors need to feel accommodated in order to want to return. But the city, he said, is not paying attention.

“For one thing, the city tickets people for not parking their cars exactly within the lines,” he commented. “When word of that gets around, and it has, people aren’t going to want to come here and spend their money,” said Curtis, who recently visited Palm Springs and found no parking meters and jam-packed shops. “People just don’t see Laguna as a welcoming place.”

WHAT NO PARKING METERS? What happened in Palm Springs?

A complete street policy focuses on revitalization of the downtown business district, Palm Springs happened to do that to some extent by separating their through traffic from the business district via Palm Canyon Drive. Here's the mechanism for funding their project:

The arrangement transferred county and Caltrans funds targeted for (highway) widening to the city (revitalization) project as long as (Caltrans) traffic performance targets were achieved.
Here's a partial story on the Palm Springs revitalization with Complete Streets Policy:http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/livability/case_studies/guidebook/chap06.cfm
Imagine the possibilities if Laguna could revitalize their downtown business district by offering visitor incentives instead of parking incentives?

-LS

Rivendell Bicycle Blog Entry from Jan 18

...Cars are banned from the streets in the ultra-upscale Ginza shopping district in Tokyo on Sundays. Let's spread that one around.

...Bikes are green transportation and all, but people don't give up their cars because they're green. Unpeel the top layer of green and you'll see the real reasons. They don't own a car. A car's too expensive to park, or spaces are too hard to come by. Their license has been suspended or they don't have one. They want exercise. Pedaling relieves stress and they arrive at their destination invigorated but not sweaty. Commute time is training time. There are lots of reasons to ride instead of drive, but I don't believe greenness is one of them. Maybe avoiding guilt, but that's guit-avoidance, not greenness.

The problem with greenness as an incentive is it's too weak and deferred. No one person's single commute has a measurable impact on the health of the planet. Cumulatively, yes; singly, no---because we're talking about measurable effects. This doesn't mean don't ride and be green. It means if the goal is to get more people riding, the incentives to ride and disincentives to drive have to be in place, and both of those things are more powerful when they're immediate and dramatic, and weak when they're not. Show me a deferred, barely perceptible consequence that's shared by billions that's more influential than an immediate and dramatic personal one, and I'll give you a million of anything, as long as I have it to give. If not, no dice! (This sort of statement, in the old days, would be taken for what it is. In modern times, it feels sort of like sticking my arm down a dark shaft in a jungle in Borneo and wiggling my fingers for an hour or so.)

....Thoughts?

To read the whole post go here
 
(this is stolen, err... we mean appropriated from Rivendell Bicycle Works Blog, check it!) 

Calculator for the Climate -- Bike to Work does Save!

You can figure out how much money you would save and how much carbon you will keep from dispersing amongst us mere mortals if you rode your bike to work:.
http://www.treehugger.com/calculators/index.php?calc=bike_to_work

New Federal-State-Local Policy on Bike Routes

Here is an update on the latest policy about bike routes...
The following was submitted by Les Miklosky of Laguna Beach, CA

In support of "Give Bikes a Route" by Justin Gresh: The new policy for mobility from our Federal Department of Transportation gives equal consideration to pedestrians, bicycles, buses and private automobiles. Adopting this policy into the LB City General Plan would be the first step to bringing bike lanes to Laguna. If adopted, approved and implemented by the City, the new policy would construct a mixed mode transportation system in Laguna Beach and relieve the traffic congestion we experience in our automobile saturated town. For every commuter you accommodate safely by walking, biking, and busing, you eliminate one car and free a parking space. Optimally, imagine if 75% of the commuting traffic in Laguna began walking, biking or busing across town, auto congestion and demand for more parking would vanish. For the remaining commuters and contractors who must drive, the relief from traffic congestion would be refreshing.

Our Department of Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood took a progressive stand in May of this year, he said “People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized. We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects. We are discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians. And we are encouraging investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.”

At the state level effective January 1 2011, AB-1358 is legislation that mandates equal consideration be given to four modes of mobility for cities and towns in California.

At the local level, Long Beach appointed a committee to advise their city council on urban planning issues. On December 1, 2010, the Sustainable City Commission for Long Beach voted unanimously to support Class I separated bicycle, pedestrian and ADA (American Disabilities Act) access on the new Gerald Desmond Bridge. In Dana Point the city has adopted traffic calming as city policy. Evidence of their work are the bike lanes in town, in the harbor and on PCH but stopping at the Laguna boundary.

In Laguna the Task Force for Complete Streets advises our city council about balanced mobility, the same mobility infrastructure Long Beach and our neighboring cities have already built. Compared to Dana Point and Corona del Mar, Laguna is years behind on implementation.

For Corona Del Mar and Newport Beach their city council take advice from a Bike Safety Committee formed by local residents. At cdmcyclist.com their motto is "a new vision of urban life where people matter more than motor vehicles".

Last week the city of Newport Beach declared they intend to become the most bike-friendly city in all of Orange County. Mr. Gresh already knows how Laguna Beach ranks on that score.

Designated Bike Route Would Make Streets Safer

Letter to the Editor:
Laguna Beach has no accommodation for cyclists except for a few random bike racks, and a quarter-mile stretch of striped lane on Monterey Street that might be mistaken for a bike lane — even though it is not marked in any way. The city just spent $1.6M to resurface streets and paint new lines, without adding a single accommodation for bicycles. This action not only ignores Complete Streets state legislation, but also demonstrates a complete lack of concern for the safety of cyclists in our city.

Laguna should establish a designated bike route that would create a safe environment for all cyclists and raise awareness throughout the city that bikes belong. The route could safely navigate from Crescent Bay Park to Nyes Place, while only crossing PCH twice, and could also connect downtown with the Sawdust Festival. The route would have a positive effect on existing traffic patterns by following side streets with less traffic flow than PCH, and by using streets that provide multiple lanes like Cypress and Glenneyre.

Because space is the primary argument against providing traditional bike lanes, the route should utilize a painted "sharrow" indicating that cars and bikes should share the lane. These "sharrows" are painted on the road surface, and are being successfully adopted in Long Beach, Santa Monica and many other cities around the world. Creating a designated bike route will only require that drivers, cyclists, skateboarders, etc. obey posted speed limits, stop signs and traffic signals, pay attention, and respect the safety of all users.

I know there are many locals and tourists who would like to ride bikes in town, for both recreation and utility, but with no provisions for cyclists, most don't feel confident enough on our car-dominated streets. I regularly commute by bike in Laguna, and by avoiding PCH I am able to limit my exposure to the most dangerous high-speed traffic. Still, even on the side streets, I'm disappointed by how many drivers roll stop signs, exceed speed limits, talk on cell phones, and generally drive carelessly, with seemingly little recognition of the damage that they can inflict with their 2-ton vehicles.

The Laguna Beach School District recently proclaimed that they could not recognize Walk-and-Roll-to-School Week, citing the fact that the streets are not safe enough to encourage children to walk or ride their bikes to school. Are these the conditions that we want to continue to accept in our city? It's time to embrace the concept that our streets should be a SAFE part of the community, open to all responsible users, and not just a network of speeding cars. A designated bike route through our city would be an excellent step in the right direction.  -J.Gresh

Justin Gresh lives in Laguna Beach.