Total Solar Eclipse August 21

Path of Largest Flash-Mob and traffic jam in US history?

Path of solar eclipse August 21 2017

Eight More Parking Structures

Despite objections from ten civic group leaders representing resident's interests, the Laguna Beach City Council last night voted unanimously to approve the latest plans for not one, but EIGHT parking garages for downtown Laguna Beach. One of the eight serve as peripheral parking.  See plan drawings attached to the agenda bill here.

So much for civic participation in Laguna Beach.           -LS

The Choice for Laguna Beach

Via Garibaldi, Torino Italy, Before and After

Today car-free other than very sparse local traffic, this street encompasses old fashioned shops and more modern chains. What was once dominated by the automobile, polluted and scary, the Garibaldi neighborhood has become an attractive colony of artists and artisians that keep it alive. Fancy that.

-LS

How to Make Traffic Disappear

Amazon (www.Audiable.com) says "motorist coordination is the problem, not the number of cars". Amazon proposes the simple solution to traffic congestion is to remove the motorist, notice how the Amazon success criteria is not better mobility for people, but rather "car throughput" - a measure for moving more cars.

Video #1 The Amazon simple solution to eliminate traffic congestion.

1. poor driver coordination causes traffic snakes and traffic jams
2. traffic congestion is solved by removing the driver, automate the car
3. reduce the space between cars and driving faster increases throughput

Consider the how the Amazon automated car will improve people mobility in the following videos.

Video #2 Saigon, Vietnam

Video #3 Skopje, Macedonia

Video #4 Nasr City (Cairo), Egypt

Video #5 Worst 10 Car Traffic Jams in World

In this next video consider that no traffic controls nor automation is used at all. 
Video #6 Meskel Square, Addis Abeba

To understand the mobility bias at Amazon, take the mobility poll at the right and measure yours.       -LS

What is Laguna's Vision?

Add your priorities in Comments below. No (car-centric) Caltrans is not in the top 10.        -LS

Mayor Decrees User-Friendly Roadway

Click to Enlarge

The roadway on the right follows the Siene River in Paris France, the roadway on the left passes under SR-133 Laguna Canyon Road. By decree from the mayor of Paris (Paris May Goes Car-Free) the Siene roadway shall be redesigned as User-Friendly, the Laguna roadway remains undeclared.                        -LS

Caltrans New Bike & Ped Master Plan

California now has one, issued by the Cal Department of Transportation (Caltrans)  in May 2017 get it here.

Visit the California Bike and Pedestrian Webpage here.

The plan sets these ambitious targets:

1. Double walking, triple bicycling, and double transit by 2020
2. Reduce bicycle and pedestrian fatalities by ten percent per year
3. Increase the number of Complete Streets projects by 20%

The Caltrans plan should impact South Coast Highway and Laguna Canyon Road directly.

Laguna Beach has no Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan (BPMP), Laguna residents provided a draft plan SEVEN YEARS ago but it was never considered. Neighboring beach cities adopted theirs, see San Clemente's BPMP here, the approved Newport Beach BPMP here.

-LS

Hey Lagunatics Hello from Paris

In every corner you find....

Hello, all you wannabe bike riders!

It's been the first time I've been on a bike in 30 years!! We are in Paris, and I decided to try once again. I loved biking, as a child. How wonderful to feel the wind against my face, and my feet peddling me again, my heart pounding! I feel safe. I am going to ride my first time down a street closed off to cars, one of many, alternating weekly throughout this beautiful city.

I realize, sadly, that I will never ride a bike in the village where we live ...Laguna. I feel protected and secure in the middle of this bustling city. Here in Paris the government is concerned about my safety and the safety of pedestrians. I realize I will NEVER ride down LCR, and NEVER  on PCH. I am fearful. Since I am unskilled and a novice, I won't ride on our hills, fearful I might fall. Only a flat street feels safe. 

In Paris, the bikers ride in the bus lanes, and no cars can cut in and out. Today I tried it. I wore my helmet. The rental bike was affordable and I could leave  it at my destination. So... now that I rediscovered a new treat...what about my safety when I return home? Again, I realize I will not be riding any bicycles in Laguna. What to do ???

L to R:   Under Mayor Anne Hidalgo's plan to remove private cars from Paris many streets are redesignated bike and pedestrian only pathways.  This shoreline was formerly a motorway and parking-lot is now a public Parklett. Another motorway now exclusively for cyclists and pedestrians.

No fear here!

From Paris with Love, 

and car free,

Jahn M. Levitt

Take me to your Village Entrance

Streets as Art Part IV

Bench Art

 

Bike Rack Art

 -LS