Editor,
Now that the town has settled down after the great debate about the village entrance, there is a sense of cooperation in the air. Everyone has an idea about changes we should make (or shouldn’t make). We need to coalesce about one or two fundamental and important ideas that take precedence over other issues, and get to work on them with a sense of priority. Of all the ideas I’ve heard, there are only two that fit into the category of first things first. They are:
1. Undergrounding of power lines.
2. Developing a traffic and parking system for the future.
Others (like Arnold Hano) know more about No. 1 above than I do, but I have a few comments about item No. 2.
I believe that we should have three new parking facilities outside the village on or near the three main arterials; the first question to be resolved is how far out-of-town they should be. They should be substantial in size, say 500 cars minimum each; a cluster of smaller areas or one large area is acceptable to me.
I believe we must have a multi-modal transportation system among the three facilities and the village center; buses, trolleys, bikes, rickshaws, pedestrians, etc. are all welcome, with one caveat: they must be fun and unique to Laguna, to brand us as the special place we are.
There are many other ideas for improvement, but let’s put first things first.
Allan Simon, Laguna Beach
The author is the chairman of Firebrand Media, which owns the Indy.
