Increasing Downtown parking not the answer

It seems very odd that as a response to the traffic congestion in

Downtown Laguna, many advocate more parking.

It doesn’t follow that more places for people to park will lead to

less crowding on the roads.

No matter how much parking you add in Laguna there will likely

never be enough to provide for everyone who wants a space during the

summer.

City manager Ken Frank says the added parking Downtown will likely

ease parking in residential areas. People who normally park on the

streets on the outskirts of Downtown will be able to park in the lots

instead of in front of people’s homes, he argues.

That may be true. But it seems more likely that in the summer

people will fill up the new spaces and more people will pour in to

park on those residential streets. And most people will continue

preferring to park for free on the street than pay to park in a lot.

Also, the more people who come, the more traffic there will be. Of

course, while that could be bad for the streets, it would be good for

businesses.

Finding a way to ease traffic and keep businesses afloat seems to

be the trick. Providing a pleasant place for visitors to walk around

Downtown and keeping the trams available should assist getting people

into town and sticking around a while to shop.

A closed-off pedestrian walkway on Forest Avenue is a great idea

-- one that has been discussed for decades and is nowhere near a

reality. The Coastal Commission requires the city to replace any

public parking it removes, so if it does turn Forest Avenue into a

walkway it would have to make up for the lost parking.

A possible solution is the planned community center on Third

Street, where parking spaces are part of the proposal. Parking spaces

are also part of the plan for Village Entrance. These spaces could

make up for the ones lost on Forest.

Laguna has many of the right ingredients. The trams are an amazing

part of city. Providing them for free to travelers this year was a

nice touch -- free or not they are an important element. The

peripheral parking already available is helpful. That much of the

non-Downtown parking is long-term or even free is essential.

That is where the city should focus its efforts. Looking for

pockets of peripheral parking spaces along with some larger lots to

use would be better than adding more spaces, especially any large

lots in the Downtown area.

Maybe Laguna can be a rare example in Southern California that

public transportation done right can eliminate a lot of strife.