Laguna Beach Ballot Iniative: Part B

The way we were.

 

Forgotten public space, NYC 1920, photo credit VOX

There was a time in American history when neighborhood streets were shared public space and automobiles were new-fangled annoyances. Then a new automobile lobby rallied automobile manufactures to fight back eventually dominating public streets as exclusively for cars. The new normal was called progress. ( The forgotten history of how automakers invented the crime of "jaywalking", Joseph Stromberg, November 4 2015, VOX)

Lozenges (Los Angeles) like most US cities suffers from a car-centric mobility system that frequently becomes saturated, traffic congestion is the result. To their credit Angelinos are moving away from their car-centric plan by developing other modes of transportation.(Getting Cars out of the Way, LA Times, Rachel Uranga).

Lozenges adopted city policy documents and plans to do this. A change from car-centric to mixed-mode transportation like walking/biking/transit. The portion devoted to each is called mode-share, the changes brought to the streets are called complete street interventions. Building new mode-share means qualifying, designing, funding, and building the remaining mode-share infrastructure.

This week an initiative to build these mode-shares is before the LA City Clerk and LA Council. Local Angelinos drafted the initiative to place before voters. In the past special interests have stalled these initiatives in city red-tape among city departments, lawsuits, and lack of political will when facing irate motorists. 

Mike Schneider is an LA software entrepreneur and Angelino mobility advocate and founder of Healthy Streets LA - a political action committee with financial backing from wealthy donors. To avoid administrative delay, the Healthy Streets LA PAC is fast-tracking the mode-share initiative in a ballot measure before LA voters in November. 

Laguna Beach is preparing to place a Ballot Initiative before the voters in November too. Laguna Beach could follow the LA example.  Laguna has all the same elements for supporting new mode-share initiative in the existing city Capital & Improvement (C&I) plan, so every time our neighborhood streets are repaved and striped, the mode-share interventions are included. This builds mode-share infrastructure in increments already committed in C&I.

Would Laguna Residents First consider adopting a mode-share initiative PART-B for Laguna Beach, including it in the LRF Ballot Measure? Package a Laguna mode-share amendment in the November Ballot Initiative for Laguna Beach. Stay tuned.

NYC by 1925

-LS

ACT TODAY to Save Bike-Share in California

 Remember these?

Pending legislation in the California Senate AB-371 will mandate bike-share and scooter providers carry liability insurance forcing some out of business. At a time when California is developing another transportation mode-share, this mandate will kill small micromobility operators. Compare insurance requirements:

• 4,000 pounds Automobile
  
• 80+ mph
  
• $15,000 (current CA insurance minimum)
  

• Bike-share bike
• 45 pounds
• 18 mph
• $10,000 (if AB 371 passes)

The Kill Bike-Share Bill singles out shared scooters and shared bikes for an onerous insurance requirement. This bill should be fixed. What can you do about it?

Today August 11, California’s Senate Appropriations Committee will review AB 371 AB 371. Senator Portantino, a supporter of active and accessible transportation, chairs the Committee and you can let him know Californians across the state want a better future for micromobility. 

 

Help protect the future of California’s shared micromobility systems by sending Senator Portantino a letter opposing the bill’s burdensome requirements today.

 

 On behalf of CalBike, People for Bikes, and mobility advocates statewide, Thank you for participating.

-LS

 

Cycling Cities: Paris

 

Paris moves 18,000 people per day on the rue de Rivoli with zero carbon emissions.

More from Stein Van Oosteren

Book (French): “Porquoi Pas le Velo?” (Why not the Bicycle?)

TED TALK: https://www.ted.com/talks/stein_van_o... 

-LS

Tire Dust a Threat to Ocean Life

• Automobile tire dust is a stealth pollutant
• Found to kill Coho Salmon in Washington State
• Major die-offs occur after rainfall
• Die-off linked to tire particles not pestesides
• Marine microplastics consist of Synthetic Fibres 37%, Tires 28%
• Electric vehicles will make matters worse
  

Every day 70,000 automobiles pass through Laguna Beach, a resident community of 23,500 (AADT Caltrans traffic volumes). What is the toxicity of tire particles for oceanic life off the coastline (7-miles) of Laguna Beach?  How about landbased life?   See The Gardian for full story.

-LS

LB City Opposes Ballot Initiative

In a Nixle Alert subscribed participants received this notice today:

Advisory: City Council Majority Directs Staff to Prepare Resolutions to Oppose 3 Ballot Initiatives. 

Click https://adobe.ly/3ckHtgU for the city Newsletter. 

FYI

-LS

Huntington Beach Patriot Bike Parade

Here's what Huntington Beach did Saturday 2 July:

For a slide-show and full story see the Orange County Register coverage. Laguna Beach should do this down Glenneyre, would CLB dare?

-LS

MIT Autonomous Bike Project

 Check this out.

Because 50% of US trips are 5-miles or less, a bike-share fleet would reduce the need for very expensive parking structures and reduce the reliance on Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOV). 

-LS

Best US Cities to Bike Rankings

 

People for Bikes in Boulder CO rated and ranked US cities as best places to bike, Laguna ranks "32" of 100 points. Boulder ranks "66" in the TOP TEN while Dana Point and Newport show no ranking yet. For details on the Laguna ranking see People for Bikes City Rankings. 

-LS

KILL the BIKE-SHARE SENATE BILL

Given the increasing safety risk of eBikes to pedestrians and to riders themselves, Laguna Beach has NO bicycle infrastructure and no Bike Share provisions to make bike riding more safe.  

Meanwhile a bill from the California State Seante Insurance Committee has drafted an obscure bill with a devastating impact on bike and scooter share systems in California. Please tell your senator to vote NO on AB 371, the Kill Bike-Share Bill. Email link below. 

Bike sharing systems have already reduced car traffic by millions of miles and provided an essential last-mile link for public transit. The insurance requirement in AB 371 will end this valuable transportation option, put more cars on the road, and make our streets less safe. 

 The Kill Bike-Share Bill is bad for our communities and bad for California. Tell your senator to vote NO on AB 371 — it just takes a minute. https://www.calbike.org/take_action/save-bike-share/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=32e4dbb2-0da1-44f2-b124-141098fb58d4&sl_tc=Email

-LS

Did Vision 2030 Influence Laguna's General Plan?

LAGUNA BEACH VISION 2030 STRATEGIC PLAN

The Laguna Beach Vision 2030 Strategic Plan  begins:

 What will Laguna Beach be like thirty-years from now?  Will we congratulate ourselves on what we have achieved or lament on what we have lost?    

In 1999 the Laguna Beach City Council responded to this concern and appointed a steering committee to carry-out a strategic vision and planning process for Laguna Beach, the Vision 2030 Plan was the result. In all, 2000 residents, students, consultants and community organizations participated in collecting a database of concerns, identifying the shared vision, recording core values, and planning for implementation.   The final plan was published in December 2001. 

The Plan is organized into seven themes identifying strategic goals and implementation actions for each theme. These goals and actions contain keyword phrases that reappear throughout the Plan, for the present study fifty-six goals and eighty-eight actions were identified and counted.

GOALS [56]

accommodate bicycles | accommodate pedestrians | accountable standards accountability | aesthetic character | art colony | beach community | community  dialogue | community participation | cultural facilities | design study | disaster  protection | encourage bicycle | enhance communication | enhance contact | enhance  diversity | enhance honor | enhance spirit | environmental law | environmental  education | environmental sustainability | governance models | historical character | identify pollution | information technology | innovative parking | integrate arts | integrate projects | laguna vitality | light development | long term thinking | low impact | parking strategy | pedestrian solutions |  pedestrian-friendly | preserve ocean  | preserve | open space | promote arts promote identity | protect ocean | protect open space | protection | recognize arts | regional growth | resident friendly | resident  serving | residents priority | small town | strategic planning | traffic circulation | transit  system | unique character | urban design | vibrant downtown | village charm | vision laguna enterprise

ACTIONS [88]

add parking | adequate parking | aesthetic experience | aesthetic improvements |  affordable housing | alternative governance | artist live-work | arts center | bicycle  plan | bike lane | bike path | bicycle pedestrian management plan | BPMP |  business ombudsman | citizen safety | commercial design character |  commercial use | community education  | community events | community  newsletter | conduct analysis | consistent application | consistent enforcement |  community arts center | coordinating committee | cultural arts plan | downtown  area | economic | eforums | election process | entry points | environmental  sustainability | environmental committee | erosion control | european plaza |  existing spaces | expand arts venues | facilitate speakers | handbook | historic  resources | intellectual exchange | kiosks | laguna foundation | lifeguard  protection | livable communities analysis | live-work facilities | market research  study | meeting places | mixed use | mixed-use | ocean laguna | office economic |  open space | outside social spaces | oversight committee | parking and traffic  analysis | parking analysis | pedestrian path | pedestrian plan | pedestrian use |  pedestrian way | pedestrian zone | people oriented | peripheral parking | project  teams | promenade | promote vision | public education | public input | remote  parking | resident intellectuals | resource directory | retain beauty canyon | retain  character canyon | scenic improvements | sewage system | task force | town hall |  traffic analysis | trail linkages | transform coast highway | transform PCH | transit  ridership | traffic analysis | vision process | visioning process | website 

LAGUNA BEACH GENERAL PLAN

A General Plan provides guiding principles for a city's leadership and residents to achieve  the vision of its future, the GP is a long-range plan for city urban development. A  city has the freedom to decide what the plan includes however there are requirements under California state law the plan must meet, failure to do so could result in suspension of future urban development. 

The Laguna Beach General Plan regulates public policy to define and protect community resources, the plan is found on the city website here. The Plan consists of nine elements: Housing Element, Human Needs Element, Land Use Element, Circulation Element, and Open Space Element are among them. The Plan's latest revisions span  1976 to 2021, the Housing Element was last updated in 2021. Residents and the steering committee prepared goals and actions in the Vision 2030 Plan to address the concern for Laguna's future, whether or not those goals and city actions actually enter the city General Plan  policy document creates the same concern.

 The charts below show this linkage between the Vision 2030 Plan and the General Plan Elements as of June 2022. One chart for GOALS and one for ACTIONS was created for each of five Elements. The charts show the frequency the keywords in the Vision 2030 Plan actually appear in the five General Plan Elements. The charts show whether the goals and actions intended are planned for action and implementation in the General Plan. Keywords that do not appear in the charts were missing from the General Plan altogether.

GOALS in General Plan

 ACTIONS in General Plan

CONCLUSION:   For LAND USE and HOUSING Elements the influence from the Vision 2030 exercise is marginal, while for HUMAN NEEDS, OPEN SPACE AND CIRCULATION there is no influence at all. From this study there is little evidence the goals and actions from Vision 2030 entered the city General Plan. Would a rewrite of the Vision 2030 Plan influence a new General Plan?  Probably not. How effective is Laguna's General Plan for implementing those GOALS and ACTIONS? Yogi Berra said it best:   "IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING, YOU WILL END UP SOMEWHERE ELSE."

-LS