In the height of our local campaign season, I find one important topic that is not being addressed, yet crosses all the bubbles on the Venn diagram of major issues. That topic is bike paths.
How can there be so many promises about climate action, public safety, environmental stewardship, affordability, development, traffic, parking and our future without addressing the lack of a full scale and forward-thinking comprehensive transportation infrastructure for our town?
I get we have limited space and other challenges. However, the shared bike lanes and signage created almost a decade ago are no longer enough. Those were also designed before the advent of e-bikes. We now need a complete bike path system with safe, easy and equitable access connecting every neighborhood in Laguna Beach and adjacent cities.
But we cannot only be looking at our past and even current circumstances regarding this topic. We also need to be proactively looking to our future as well. As a self-proclaimed leader and model for cities around the world with regard to environmental protection and climate change, Laguna Beach needs to create a comprehensive carbon-free local transportation infrastructure to truly walk the walk.
I applaud the recent cancellation by the City of Los Angeles of the $6 billion plan to add more lanes to an already congested freeway leading to the port. The city recognized the numerous studies that show the outdated solution would just add to more congestion and pollution. Instead, the city has chosen to invest that money into its local resident and business communities. Bravo.
I also applaud LBUSD’s recognition of the increase in mental health issues among students and their position to deal with it head on. By creating a safe, easy and fun bike path system throughout our town, the City can also do its part to encourage exercise and wellbeing of not only our kids, but our resident community as a whole.
I am aware of the rapidly increasing number of e-bikes being added to our community. My kids are in 8th grade at Thurston and we see over 100 e-bikes dangerously scattering among car traffic every day when the bell rings. We witness and hear about the accidents. With growing apathy from teenagers about getting a driver’s license, not to mention the cost of gas, we can also be certain that this is only the beginning with e-bikes and soon there will be triple the number of them on our streets.
Our comprehensive bicycle transportation network should be designed as safe and comfortable biking paths for residents and visitors of all ages, with clearly marked green bike lanes. It should feel prolific and send the message that biking is the preferred mode of transportation in Laguna Beach. Like we now see in so many other cities along the California coast, from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz and Monterey, our bicycling infrastructure should be considered a top priority and as part of the solution for holistically and comprehensively addressing issues of climate change, traffic, wellbeing, affordability, development, creative culture, vibrancy, needs of residents, public safety, connection and overall quality of life in Laguna Beach.
Chris Tebbutt, Laguna Beach
