Mailbag: Canyon traffic is not a summer issue

Re. the Dec. 5 article, “Funds for canyon traffic study Okd,” (Dec. 5), Council members Steve Dicterow and Toni Iseman are spot-on correct to focus on the nonsummer traffic issues on Laguna Canyon Road.

Summer will always be congested and that mostly affects visitors. Residents are more affected by the daily commute problems during the entire year. Not only are the Laguna College of Art + Design and Anneliese school problems, but also the Dog Park, the Wilderness Park and the Canyon Club.

The new LCAD light is a complete disaster because drivers don’t recognize how it is supposed to work. Also, the high number of accidents continually close the road or slow traffic.

The latest problem is the 4 p.m. commute, when traffic is backed up to Coast Highway, and commuters shoot through the Village Entrance parking lot and the frontage road past the Girls and Boys Club to Woodland Drive. These can’t be Laguna people, so where are they coming from?

The RBF study is merely another in a long history of useless studies done by consultants who parachute in, take a quick snapshot, present their “findings” and recommend large-scale engineering solutions.

I remember the RBF study done when Cheryl Kinsman was on the City Council, and I was president of the Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Traffic Committee. This waste of time concluded that on a summer weekend, with traffic at a standstill downtown and backed up for miles on the Canyon Road and Coast Highway, that all the intersections were operating at the highest level of service.

This was “true” because the extreme congestion let only a few cars through the intersections when the intersections had the capacity for many more. Ridiculous, and it cost $65,000.

The latest study will no doubt conclude that in the summer there is a lot of traffic on the Canyon Road and that it needs to be widened to four lanes or more. Good luck with that.

The large engineering solutions being discussed by the Canyon Road Task Force will create huge controversy and take decades to implement. I think Iseman, for one, recognizes this, so let’s start looking at the yearlong problems and develop more practical short-term solutions to create some relief to residents.

Ken Dalena

Laguna Beach

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How my dog trainer trained me

He looks like a cross between Bob Marley and Jesus Christ, this sort of “dog whisperer” of San Juan Capistrano my neighbor had been raving about, complete with dreadlocks and this total kumbaya/mellow vibe.

“You gotta check out this dog trainer!” they would chorus, as they watched my daily dog-walking struggle with my overexuberant dog/puppy. “OK, OK I’ll check it out,” I muttered vaguely, having finally reached the end of my leash.

When the class began, I was very nervous and stressed out, convinced the whole thing would be an exercise in futility because my dog would never change. We would be forever locked in this push-pull leash relationship, a never-ending tug-of-war. I became resentful of all the stress this dog was causing in my life. I began avoiding my usual dog-walk path, so as not to be embarrassed in front of my neighbors.

Week after week, class after class, I would feel nothing had changed; we were a hopeless case. Then we began attending the DogPack Walks, where everybody walks a different dog, not their own.

“Wait a minute. He never acts like that with me,” I thought, staring in disbelief at my usually very badly behaved dog, walking just fine with that other person. It was then I had an epiphany.

Maybe I was the problem, not my dog. Maybe, just maybe, if I listened, really listened to the trainer, when he suggested that maybe it was me and not my dog that needed to change, maybe it was me that needed training.

We were practicing the “stay,” and I had to drop the leash and walk away. I was absolutely terrified, convinced my dog would run away. But then the trainer took my hand, and said, “Don’t worry, it will be OK,” and it was. It was just like the Bob Marley song, “Don’t worry about a thing, every little thing’s gonna be all right.” Thanks Ryan, you rock!

Suzi Scallon

Laguna Beach

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Public safety campaign needed for safer streets

Only a vigorous police public safety campaign on our Laguna streets and state/county highways can prevent road accidents.

Increased police patrols with more car stops is what’s required to stem the tide of reckless and negligent drivers who cause injury, death and suffering to innocent bicyclists and pedestrians.

During the recent 2014 Laguna Beach City Council election cycle, pedestrian and bike safety was the issue I chose to represent in my own campaign for City Council. Directly after the election two more people were struck. Then two weeks ago, another man was hit and seriously injured; and just Saturday, I read of three more innocent people who were, again, injured by vehicles on our streets.

Picture a child, an elder, or one of your own loved ones as the next victim. Let our recently elected City Council know road safety is an urgent concern to residents. Laguna Beach, our home, a town that cares deeply for issues of human rights and compassion for the suffering of others, has lost control of resident and visitor public safety.

I pray for a Laguna where a human doesn’t get hit on our scenic streets and highways every 16 days. Blinking crosswalks are only part of the solution. We need the council to order our Police Department to begin an enhanced public safety campaign before more lives are shattered or lost.

Paul Merritt

Laguna Beach

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