Dear Editor,
This is a commentary from a 56-year Laguna resident about the city’s plan to spend taxpayer money on the beautification of the current roundabout located at the Catalina/Los Robles/Camino Del Mar intersection.
As a member of the city’s now-defunct Complete Streets Task Force of approximately 6+ years ago, I would like to remind council members that the current roundabout was an experiment. If successful, it would serve as a model for much more impacted/dangerous intersections throughout Laguna, such as Thalia/Glenneyre, Forest, etc. But it was not meant to become our town’s single roundabout. Its reception and usefulness was to be evaluated, and then perhaps expand the use of roundabouts dependent upon that evaluation.
In fact, in my opinion, and as a lifetime cyclist in Laguna, the current roundabout’s necessity is questionable in such a low-traffic area compared to many others, but seems to have served an experimental purpose in improving the safety of the site.
However, the big question is, has it encouraged the city to look at other more impacted intersections? That is, or was, designed to be the takeaway from the current roundabout, rather than just something for neighborhood beautification at taxpayers’ expense.
Art Wahl, Laguna Beach
