The Traffic Tsunami - Part 4 (Problem Solving)

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In Part 1 of this series, "Traffic Tsunami” we looked at the city’s plans to add 3,000 new homes, 10,000 new people and their cars, plus the thousands of cars, vans, and trucks needed to service these new homes and people. We mentioned that for years the developers had given city council members thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and the city has given the developers a virtual carte blanche to go ahead.

In Part 2 - "Calm Before the Storm" - we reported on the city’s “traffic calming” workshop where the city proposed to slow down traffic in Portola Hills, the first of the new housing developments with 900+ new homes scheduled to be squeezed into space around Glenn Ranch Rd. While citizens were universal in wanting to see traffic move more quickly, the city seemed intent on slowing it down, turning a poor situation into a bad one.

Part 3 brought up the “Perfect Storm” in the offing – imagine our city with 20,000 additional cars, vans, and trucks as a result of the new housing developments, then add hundreds/thousands of people from RSM and Mission Viejo who will use our streets to visit The Great Park in Irvine. Then add the new traffic attracted buy our new sports park, built in the Portola area. Traffic is already poor. What will happen then?

Today I want to focus on solutions. What can we do? Here are some steps –

1. We need a temporary halt to all new housing developments until we solve the existing problems. How can we add thousands of new homes, people, and cars to an already bad situation?

2. We need to establish a high level Commission, on a par with the Planning  Commission, that deals solely with our traffic problems. In addition to anything else they do, they can work closely with the existing Planning Commission with regard to traffic impacts on proposals before that Commission.

3. That Commission should deal with the traffic problem as a whole (traffic flows) as well as in detail (poor intersections, use of dedicated turn lanes, signal timing) and it should consider the macro environment (mass transit, electricity, water, sewer, schools).

Will a Commission by itself solve our problem? No. We have a Planning Commission, a City Council, and a City staff and yet we have major traffic problems that everyone recognizes, have identified as our #1 problem for nearly a decade, and yet the problem remains relatively unchanged and plans are afoot to make matters worse.

What we really need is a change of consciousness! We need to get everyone involved in making our city a better place to live. What we do with the Parade Committee (where I have worked for more than 5 years) to make a successful July 4th Parade we need to do for the City to make a successful City. I’ve been impressed by many of the comments from our residents regarding traffic – Mistur Chips, M Friedrich, Jim Richert, Homer, Steve Backer, Odin A., and PTB (to name a few) have all offered good comments, and on other issues there are a few dozen commenters who show us that they are bright, resourceful, and concerned. We need to harness this talent and put it to work making our City better.

And we need to communicate better. For years I pleaded with the City that more information should be put online and that City Council meetings should be televised. Slowly but surely the City has complied, much to the benefit of everyone. But this is only the tip of the communication issue. We need a better way for people to let their voices be heard. The Lake Forest Patch is beginning to serve that purpose, but who knows who is really behind those pseudonymous names that appear so often. Is it really a local resident asking us to stop harassing the medical marijuana dispensaries, or is it a dope fiend from Northern California trying to get our little children hooked on narcotics?

The City should be working on better ways in which our residents can exchange ideas and opinions. At my HOA we issue IDs to residents and this allows them access to our website where we can post questions and get a good idea of resident opinion. This has helped the Board in making decisions in several cases. Come on now. This is 2012 and we still conduct business like it was 1912. Let’s use technology to make better decisions.

Of course no amount of improved communication and greater involvement will offset the influence of vested influences and the power of money. When developers and construction companies pour thousands of dollars into the campaign coffers of city officials, is there any amount of communication and involvement that can offset this? So we need to pass a law that forbids City Council members from accepting any money from any person or business who has an issue with financial interests coming before the Council.

In summary, we can start to fix the traffic problem and avoid the Tsunami  if we

1. Put a temporary halt to all new housing developments until we solve the existing problems.

2. Establish a high level Commission, on a par with the Planning Commission, that deals with our traffic problems as a whole and in detail.

3. Improve community involvement and communication

4. Make it illegal for people with vested financial interests (e.g., developers) to give money to our City Council members.

Please share your ideas. Together we can make it better.