(8/28/2012, Los Alamitos, CA) If it seems to you that school’s starting earlier this year, you’re both wrong and right.

Last year school started on August 29, but it was still the last Wednesday of August and the Wednesday before Labor Day.

I still remember school starting around the middle of September, but that may well not have been in this millenium.

In any case, many of us who don’t have kids in school will still need to start leaving for work a little earlier starting this Wednesday.  Or a lot earlier in some cases. [ad]

What we don’t know is how the lane reductions on Seal Beach Blvd.’s bridge over the 405 will affect things.   My guess is it will make things worse, but not that much worse since the vast majority of the Secondary Students live north of the 405, which I think might call for. . .

A possible long range solution

Since some Rocket Scientist decided to put all the Secondary Schools for Rossmoor, Seal Beach, and Los Alamitos  in the northern part of Los Al, all the school traffic for Middle and High School students end up jamming our local streets.  In fact, all of the District’s schools except for McGaugh Elementary are in either Los Alamitos or Rossmoor.

That’s something I think should be noted for correction in our town’s General Plan.  Who could object to an Elementary and Middle School located somewhere along or South of Lampson.  It’s a win-win for everyone:

• Residents in College Park East get a brand new elementary school closer to them.
• All Seal Beach and south Rossmoor residents get a  brand new Middle School closer to them.
• We get less traffic and less crowded schools.

A first step towards that eventual goal would be for Los Alamitos to invest in extending the current Master Plan revision to include the Joint Forces Training Base, so we’ll be prepared in case the Base is “Bracced” out of existence or “Bracced” down in size in the next Brac round.  (Glad you asked.  Base Realignment and Closure Commission.)

Whether you want the Base to be closed or not, in this time of increasing Federal deficits as far as the eye can see, it just makes sense to be prepared before the developers start lobbying, even if that does seem to go against the general way things are done in our fair town.

A logical plan might include some housing along Lampson, with the developer devoting some land and money to new schools, which could be suplemented, possibly with grant money and bond funding from the District.   It’s the way they do things in Irvine, among other towns.   Seal Beach might want to do the same with the Naval Weaopons Depot land.

Whether or not our City Officials plan for the future, we can all plan for this Wednesday, when our summer vacation from the region’s worst traffic comes to an end.