Lower Grand Lagoon

Three ways:

(1) Encourage visitors and locals to use the appropriate mode of transportation:

• Walk to close restaurants (it’s okay to be sweaty),

• Cycle if it’s a mile or few (it’s okay to be sweaty),

• Take the bus if you can adhere to the schedule, and/or, then

• Drive your car if needed.

(2) Create forward-thinking infrastructure:

• Designated routes for bicyclists…

  • Not roundabouts with a bicycle hastily spray-painted on the ground,

  • Not unsafe bike-lanes that end abruptly, and

  • Discourage bike lanes where cars pass at 70 mph [Golf carts are not allowed on Highway 98, but bicycles are?].

(3) Walkable side-walks that leverage urban design and the best practices from modern, human-centric cities (e.g., Amsterdam, Bogota, Copenhagen, Nice, etc.).

• The sidewalk infrastructure along Thomas Drive is pathetic.

• Why pour money into expanding roads, when the goal should be to get people out of their cars?

Commitment to the vision of Lograla, and subsequent success, will enable the good aspects of life [food, drink, and movement]. Moreover, commitment to this vision will:

• Create safe spaces for tourists and locals to walk, dine, and grow.

• Increase property values.

• Support and encourage more local businesses.

• Fight climate change (less gas consumption and more clean transportation).

• Reduce the number of cars in St. Andrew’s State Park and thus conserve the wildlife’s natural habitat.

• Perhaps most importantly, curb drink driving.

If a human-centric Lograla was built, then this area, and the broader Panama City / Panama City Beach, could become a crown jewel of the United States. A place people flock to from around the world for safe, fun, outdoor recreation in and around nature (i.e., beaches, palm trees, dolphins, herons and more). In a sense, a Florida riviera of which America could be proud and the younger generations could enjoy.