Misplaced Effort

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Editor,

What follows is an excerpt from Alan Thein During’s “The Car and the City,” published in 1996.

“Cars are among the most useful inventions of the past century.  They provide private, convenient, door-to-door transportation on demand.  They let you go when you want to go, make the stops you want to make, and ride in the company you choose.

“Cities are among the most useful developments of all time.  They give you access to the diverse talents of thousands of people.  They let you choose from a richness of economic, educational, cultural, and recreational offerings. They are, in a word, civilized.

“This book is about the relationship between these two invention-the car and the city. It argues that, wonderful as each is, the two do not always mix well. Specifically, the sheer proliferation of cars is damaging the viability of cities.”

In our central business district, City Hall is making a herculean effort, spending lots of money, via hiring six or eight young cops on weekends at $15 per hour in an effort to bring cars from South Coast Highway to Glenneyre to Forest to Laguna to Canyon Road. The vast majority of these drivers do not live here. They are or not coming here to shop or go to the beach. These drivers are taking our super secret short cut to avoid using Coast Highway. Why is city hall doing this? These drivers are not day-trippers. If this sounds untrue have a bench at Forest at Glenneyre when the young cops are working.

 

Michael L Hoag, Laguna Beach

 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Mr Hoag,

    With all due respect, it seems you have forgotten that not all vehicles that pass through are expected to patronize the business establishments, there are a great number of contractors that have regular scheduled maintenance accounts as well as the hundreds of employees that have daily shifts in the hospitality industry here and also corporate delivery vehicles and do not forget residence that live here and commute through the canyon on the interstate highway system, and in case you missed the news a few years ago (1998) the county renamed an section of the Laguna Canyon road the “Veterans Memorial Highway.” Then there is the issue of housing in the fair city of Irvine and our neighbors to the east in Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo. Please do not allow me to forget the nature loving walkers hikers and mountain bikers and cyclists to whom their automotive vehicle is a way to a means.
    By all means I applaud the efforts of the traffic safety officers that are employed by the city and used in those specific intersections to keep traffic moving in a safe and smooth transition for motorist and pedestrians alike and I believe they may need to be paid more for their efforts in reducing the local residents their invited guests and visitors frustrations and upon improving the air quality and fuel consumption of our county.

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