It’s beyond ludicrous that this year’s city council election referendum is on a completely fabricated issue – the overdevelopment of our town. Last week’s Indy had political ads with sleazy and mendacious scare tactics, citing “developers circling overhead looking for bits and pieces to tear down and redevelop with profit as a main objective.” Another showed a four-story commercial building in Huntington Beach with the headline, “Think This Can’t Happen to Laguna? Think Again.”
Are you freaking kidding me? Uh, no, this can’t happen in Laguna because we have ironclad laws that restrict heights to 36 feet. And I can say with absolute certainty that not a single founding member of Liberate Laguna is in favor of changing any laws, or the unique character of our city (and I’m not even a member). Cindy Shopoff and Michael Ray want no part of doing business here, because they are far too smart to engage in that kind of masochism. What they want is an easier process to make improvements to their homes. As for Sam Goldstein, I challenge any of his detractors to exhibit a greater level of commitment to the cultural arts and quality of life in this town than Sam. I marvel that, at his stage in life, he cares enough about the city to advance us into the 21st century by advocating for free toll roads, pedestrianizing downtown, acquiring Coast Highway and the 133 to make improvements, undergrounding all utility lines, increasing parking, creating free wireless and year-round bus service, plus building a new museum/community center. Not one iota of personal financial gain. And as a businessman, Sam knows how to service the debt on the bond through city-generated revenue.
The actual issue that should be front and center is the top problem perennially cited by residents—traffic. Yet it gets obfuscated in the din of fear-mongering hyperbole. Why? Because it’s hard work to figure out how to reduce traffic impacts and increase circulation. Thankfully, in 2015 the City published the solution with the Enhanced Mobility and Complete Streets Plan. In 2011, state officials mandated that every municipality “modify the circulation element of the General Plan for a balanced, multimodal transportation network that meets the needs of all users of streets, roads, and highways.”
The Laguna plan’s primary recommendation is to improve bicycle infrastructure. How prescient, as we are now seeing major bikeway improvements around the world as people are choosing bikes as a safer, cleaner, healthier transportation option (thanks in part to COVID-19). We’ve seen a significant uptick in bike usage around town, with no commensurate improvement to infrastructure. How long will we have to go before a young rider gets injured because we haven’t addressed the safe coexistence between bikers and cars? The plan is very clear on where protected bike lanes could be built, where “road diets” might serve to calm traffic and allow for multimodal use, where to install bike share kiosks, and how to create safer and more accessible pedestrian infrastructure. In my opinion, seeing 10% of our community switch to eBikes would be the quickest and most significant game changer to lessening traffic impacts, and making people healthier, friendlier, and happier. But riders have to feel safe and know that drivers are consciously sharing the roads.
Now that we are working towards making the Forest Avenue Promenade permanent, there are still two more legs to the stool that will connect and transform our quality of life: periphery parking, and carbon free, healthy transportation alternatives.
Let’s stop carping about nothing burgers like overdevelopment and start dealing with the reality of the region’s ever-increasing population descending on our town.
Billy co-owns La Vida Laguna, which is engaged in electric bike tours. He encourages community members to try one for free during a First Sunday community ride.
So, the closing argument is that developers have spent nearly a quarter million dollars over the last two election cycles to get their hand-picked candidates on the city council because they have nothing but goodness in their hearts and want to make Laguna more bike and pedestrian friendly? Please.
When you vote on Tuesday ask yourself if you believe the developers are spending all this money because they care about you, your family, and bike lanes.
I’ve always enjoyed Billy Fried’s columns, but I am puzzled that an avowed environmentalist like Billy would be supportive of the Liberate Laguna PAC. What part of environmental interests does the LL PAC support? The only fleshed out (as is specific plans) environmental statements on CC candidates’ websites were as follows in rank order from most detail: George Weiss, Ruben Flores, and Bob Whalen. The other two CC candidates sites offered only vague generalizations about helping Laguna’s environment. Second, as I’m sure Billy recalls from 2014, the renown urban planner, Andres Duany, told Laguna Staff and CC that “We need to vaccinate a place like this [Laguna]”…from the destruction of 21st century development impulses to keep it unique and charming. He also argued against more downtown parking, claiming it “would serve tourists, rather than locals.” While bike routes are an environmental plus, our City needs more environmental help than that to keep trash out of our ocean and beaches, sewage spills polluting the ocean we swim and surf in, shade trees to cool down our streets and buildings, solar panels on City buildings to cut costs and reduce grid shut-downs, etc.
Hi Deborah,
Thank you for the polite and measured response. In no way did I mean to conflate Liberate Laguna with environmentalism. I was simply pointing out that all the campaign noise seemed to be focused on the false premise that LL was going to destroy the character of our town, and that we should instead be focusing on real issues, like climate change, and becoming more resilient and sustainable. Sorry if that did not come through clearly. I agree with all your suggestions. BTW I was there when Duany made those remarks, and I supported the city hiring such a renown and pedestrian-centric urban planner. But they chickened out, and we’ve suffered from inertia and lack of bold ideas ever since, much if it from the purveyors of no.
Thanks, Billy. My head, too, went “tilt” when the CC and Staff didn’t select Duany. That said, perhaps a new City Council with more environmentally-educated and -oriented members will inspire a change to help our City and planet with green, cost-saving measures. I felt hope after reading some of the candidates’ environmental platforms. There were data-driven plans on some of them rather than vague ad slogans and generalizations.