Let’s Make Life the Top Priority

(This was also addressed to council members.)

Editor:

I want to share this safe bike transportation program that the OCTA has developed for cities. It’s so clever. Check:  octa.net/BikeShare

I would also like to add my voice for separate bike lanes with a barrier from cars. NYC has changed beautifully. Check:  Street Films.org

(Google ‘Street Films’ to see more examples.  I especially liked:  http://www.streetfilms.org/nyc-streets-metamorphosis

It’s really a shame that Laguna Beach is the most dangerous small town in California for bikers and pedestrians. This would seem the most important problem to deal with before anything else.  Let’s not let the people that have died in our town, both on bicycles and in the crosswalks, be forgotten. This would not be acceptable.

Something to do right away would be to add clear signage on Coast Highway (on the northbound curve past Emerald Bay gate station) for bike riders and to widen and create a bike lane there. It is a notoriously dangerous spot.

Yes, it’s Caltrans’ jurisdiction but so is Laguna Canyon Road and look what LCAD has accomplished with very little time getting a signal after the death of the art student.

Thanks for your efforts for the city of Laguna Beach. It is such a caring town.  Let’s show it.  Priority number one is life.  I don’t think that anyone would disagree.

Cathy Bartels, Laguna Beach