Sounding off

Gary Alstot

The change in ownership of the Coastline is a reminder that things

change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I suppose it

is just Knoncents, but I was sure the pictorial slice of Laguna would

have included a picture of the wonderful fountain in front of City Hall.

The fountain without running water.

There was an interesting question on the top left-hand corner of the

front page of last week’s Coastline Pilot. The question to you was:

“Should the city build a walkway underneath Coast Highway at Main Beach?”

The question is the result of a recent City Council agenda item. Your

responses will be interesting.

When high school starts in the morning and lets out in the afternoon,

traffic on Park Avenue at the high school comes to a halt with all the

kids crossing. Wasn’t there a pedestrian underpass under Park Avenue from

the high school to the pool area? Did it reduce pedestrian-auto

conflicts? Isn’t it locked up now? Why? Why would an underpass under

Coast Highway be a success?

Wouldn’t a better question be, where would be the best place to locate

a pedestrian crossing downtown and what type? Where do most of the

beachgoers cross Coast Highway? How many people cross? How much vehicle

“green” time would be gained without surface pedestrian crossings?

In addition to providing for pedestrian needs, why not develop plans

for traffic relief and parking needs? Shouldn’t a comprehensive traffic

and parking study of the needs of current land uses -- such as the arts,

business and residents -- be considered rather than the historic

piecemeal approach? That would be a change for the better.

Perhaps the pedestrian crossing at Coast Highway should be put on the

city wish list. A list of numerous city projects, costing more than $20

million, was recently debated at a City Council meeting. No priorities

were set.

The use of the word “shortfall” also was debated, so perhaps wish list

would be a more acceptable term. City Manager Ken Frank used “unfunded”

rather than “shortfall.” His list of unfunded projects included the

Bluebird Park renovation, Laguna Canyon flood control channel

improvements, the community/senior center and street resurfacing. Total

underfunding is about $4.3 million.

If the projects on the wish list are worthwhile and cannot be

completed in one year, rather than debating which word to use to describe

the dollar needs, why not establish the priorities for completion? We

would all know what is planned. That would be a change for the better.

Perhaps the project’s priority position could even be an issue in the

coming election?

Of course if the completion of the wish list projects takes too many

years for lack of money, perhaps we could review ongoing city efforts to

save money. While Festival tram ridership has remained basically

constant, this year mainline transit ridership was 96,974. In fiscal year

1984 the ridership was 146,332. Mainline ridership has dropped 50,000.

Isn’t it time to look for a change in how we provide transit service?

Isn’t it time for a change -- better or worse? Just wondering.

* GARY ALSTOT will contribute regularly to the Coastline Pilot

community forum page.