The word on the street is that city staff knew, or at a minimum should have known, that they needed Coastal Commission approval for the "road diet" (removing a northbound 101 traffic lane to create a bike lane), but tried to sneak it through by attaching it to the southbound "sharrows" proposal. Video of the July 18, 2012 council meeting where the council unanimously followed the staff's recommendation is here. Streetscape opponents then did Public Records Act requests to find out if the city had obtained the necessary approvals, and got the attention of the Coastal Commission when they got the runaround on those information requests.
Bike lanes? Good.
Multiple layers of government bureaucracy? Bad.
Cutting corners and keeping the public in the dark because the ends justify the means? Really bad.
Leucadia Neighbors have been very clear to our local officials about the bike lanes and the 101 improvements - OUR COMMUNITY IS NOT INTERESTED!
ReplyDeleteUse the money on some other needed project!!!
Anyone know how many people belong to the Leucadia Neighbors Group?
ReplyDeleteMy count is 4; Lynn Marr, Dave Smith, Barb Yost and Bob Anion.
From the July 18, 2012 staff report:
ReplyDeleteThe City is in the process of developing the N. Coast Highway 101 Streetscape Plan and the first phase will include improvements between A Street and North Court and a roundabout at La Costa Avenue with construction anticipated to start in about 3 to 4 years. Future phases of the streetscape project are well beyond 7 years.
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Gus and three of the engineering staff wrote the report. Time to clean house at city hall.
Definitely time to clear house at City Hall starting with Sacramento Gus.
DeleteThe City Council, through Staff, including the City Manager, acts as Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches all rolled into one. Our City NEEDS some separations of powers and checks and balances. Thank God for concerned citizens who take an active role, for the news media, including this Blog, and for outside public agencies that have jurisdiction, such as the Coastal Commission.
ReplyDeleteThe Coastal Commission is not "unneeded bureaucracy." That is a developer mantra, a cry to convince the gullible that due process of law is just a bunch of "red tape," and only loopholes to be jumped through, not due process to be followed with objectivity and integrity.
It's so easy just to call people nuts and worse, to try to get them to give up. But when the survey was taken at City Hall, almost 2/3 of those responding said we didn't want 5 roundabouts and reduction of one lane for motorists. An article published by the Chamber of Commerce, in Encinitas First, said that the majority of businesses polled also didn't want five roundabouts and lane reduction.
Because the roundabouts are one lane, narrow radius "neighborhood traffic circles," not recommended by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation along the railroad right of way, OR at intersections where the cross traffic is significantly less than than the through traffic, they are NOT a good fit for a four lane Historic State Highway, adjacent to the railroad! Our intersections for the planned roundabouts are three way, only! We already have no right hand turn signs at El Portal, during morning rush hour traffic, to AVOID cut through traffic, which would be exacerbated by roundabouts, essentially forcing 4 lanes into ONE lane through each of the successive roundabouts, four of them within 4/5 of a mile!
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. All your points make zero sense and just support the KLCC vision.
DeleteThe Coastal Commission need to be eliminated. They were created to protect beaches from oil, not to tell someone what they can or can not build.
DeleteFuck the CC and the horse they ride on.
Leucadia neighbors = ghetto. All to keep Leucadia shitty and rundown, way to go LN.
Leucadia Neighbors are concerned about all the residents, as well as the businesses who don't favor the proposed streetscape. If the streetscam's such a great idea, why hasn't it been vetted through the Traffic, Planning and Environmental Commissions as all other major city development projects should be?
ReplyDeleteAnd why isn't L101MA willing to allow a legitimate needs assessment and traffic analysis, by objective experts to be completed? We're already informed by the 7/18/12 staff report that interim stop signs are unnecessary because the ten year traffic collision record shows that the intersections involved have a safer traffic record than similar intersections throughout California.
The same staff report says that traffic already backs up between the stop sign at Marchetta and the signal at Leucadia Blvd. Thus to place the initial "roundabout" at El Portal would be contradictory to the evidence provided by the City. That was why lane elimination wasn't going to begin until NORTH of Leucadia Blvd, UNTIL the first roundabout, at El Portal, was installed.
Most people polled, living adjacent to North 101, including parents of students at Paul Ecke Central School, on Vulcan, do NOT favor elimination of one lane for motorists. The bicyclists were not asking for this before the Traffic Commission and the Environmental Commission, both of which approved Sharrows, NOT a lane diet.
Now, Sharrows should be installed on BOTH sides of the highway, northbound and southbound. A few sock puppet's trying to demonize Leucadia Neighbors or any individuals, just shows you have no evidence, only insults, instead of proof of your "position."
Sharrows will help to further reduce traffic speed, already reduced by speed limits lowered to 35 MPH. Bicyclists can also use Neptune and Vulcan, when driving adjacent to the 101 Corridor. They will have many choices.
Reasonable people would welcome an actual count of cars using the North 101 corridor during peak periods, including cut through traffic, as well as a bicycle count, during the week, and on the weekends. The needs of the elderly and/or disabled should also be balanced with the needs of bicyclists.
The Coast News published an article this past Friday about how bicyclists are being counted now, on streets in Oceanside and Solana Beach. This should be extended to Encinitas! Accurate numbers, and the amount of time that motorist traffic already backs up, how long gridlock lasts, should be included in quantifying and qualifying the statistics so there can be legitimate analysis, not just "push polls," where a particular agenda is pushed by special interests, with preformed conclusions.
I'm so glad I'm not a neighbor of any member if the gang of 4.
DeleteKLCC= BLIGHT
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the slurry is done, I can drive the 101 again. Not have to cut through La Veta to get to the Pannikin.
ReplyDeleteYeah. That was really a long 4 hrs. What a tool
ReplyDeleteWho's a tool??
DeleteL word and crazy
ReplyDelete