Flash council meeting on Pacific View terms

From the Inbox:

Please post this announcement online since it was released at the very last minute.

The Encinitas City Council has called a special meeting for Wednesday, April 16, at 4:30 p.m. to discuss and vote on the purchase terms of the Pacific View property. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) containing the proposed conditions for the sale appears below and the meeting agenda can be viewed here.The terms were worked out by an ad hoc committee headed by City Manager Gus Vina and Encinitas Union School Superintendent Timothy Baird. It's hoped that the City Council will vote to approve the MOU, and in turn, the school district will vote to officially cancel the Pacific View auction at its April 29th meeting.City Councilmember Tony Kranz, a primary force behind the city's dramatic last-minute purchase, explained that the meeting should "move the purchase process forward towards the final sale agreement." The meeting may go into a closed session to discuss details-- if so, results will be announced publicly immediately following the closed session.

Special City Council Meeting on Pacific View Purchase

Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at 4:30 p.m.

Encinitas City Council Chambers

505 South Vulcan Avenue 

Encinitas, California 92024

SavePacificView.org will continue covering events relating to Encinitas' acquisition of the heritage site.

What happened at the Traffic Commission?

From the Inbox:

Word from the floor of tonight's Traffic Commission meeting: at the beginning of the meeting, Peter Kohl announced to the crowd that when Bob Bonde's time comes to speak during his assigned agenda item, no one in the crowd may speak to the item even though it's on the agenda. The audience may make their remarks during oral comms only and in addition, the commissioners likewise may not ask questions, comment, nothing, about the agenda item. Once Bob speaks, no one else may comment, period. Kohl is on tape saying all this.

Vina gets wind that the crowd is not happy, comes out of his office and whispers something to Kohl. Kohl then changes his tune and announces that audience and commissioners may speak after all during the agenda item.

Assumption is Vina gave the original instructions to Kohl.

The city is caught yet again trying to stifle freedom of speech...sigh.

Does the Traffic Commission report to Vina?

Blood moon tonight

Look up in the sky right as you roll out of Union after midnight.



L.A. Times:

In Los Angeles, the most impressive part will begin at 10:58 p.m. when the first "bite" is taken out of the moon. It will be blotted out entirely by 12:06 a.m. Tuesday, said experts at the Griffith Observatory.

Look to the south for the moon, said Joe Sirard, an amateur astronomer who doubles as a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. As the “bite” spreads across the moon, it will transform into a dark “blood moon." The dark red hue will come from the light of sunsets and sunrises over the rest of the Earth.

The weather forecast for prime "blood moon" viewing in Los Angeles could not be much better.

“We’ll have clear skies -- even down to the beaches,” Sirard said.

Coast News, Prop A folks hit with FPPC fines

FPPC:

EncinitasElections.Com and Jim Kydd. The Commission approved the filing of a civil judgment to resolve a complaint received by the FPPC against EncinitasElections.Com, an independent expenditure committee that opposed 2012 Encinitas City Council candidates Mark Muir and Jerome Stocks. Also named in the complaint is the committee's responsible officer, Mr. Jim Kydd. The civil judgment requires that EncinitasElections.Com and Mr. Kydd admit to six violations of the Political Reform Act and agree to pay a fine of $1,000.

Encinitas Project - Committee For Proposition A. The Commission approved the filing of a civil judgment to resolve a complaint received by the FPPC against Encinitas Project - Committee For Proposition A, a ballot measure committee that supported the 2013 Encinitas City Ballot Measure Proposition A - Encinitas Right to Vote Amendment. Also named in the complaint are the committee's former principal officer, Ms. Susan Turney, and the committee's former treasurer, Mr. Oliver Canler. The civil judgment requires that Encinitas Project - Committee For Proposition A, Ms. Turney and Mr. Canler admit to thirteen violations of the Political Reform Act and agree to pay a fine of $1,000.

The Coast News stuff seemed like really sloppy rookie mistakes. The case against the Prop A folks is even more disturbing. This is a legitimate grassroots organization, the people challenging the entrenched power structure, who apparently made some paperwork mistakes in California's byzantine free speech regulations. Is that really who the Political Reform Act was meant to target?

Catherine Blakespear announces council candidacy

Estate attorney and traffic commissioner Catherine Blakespear has announced her candidacy for the open city council position.

Her web site is here.  It's professional, generic, and short on issues.  It doesn't mention Encinitas' financial problems at all.

What kind of council member would Blakespear be?

Gaspar launches campaign on fiscal responsibility

Council Member Gaspar's State of the City speech can be seen here, starting about minute 37.

Sure, the sand and rocks stunt was corny, but we thank Ms. Gaspar for taking the opportunity to highlight Encinitas' financial challenges.  Until now, the current council has completely ignored the long-term financial problems and allowed City Manager Gus Vina to keep spending recklessly and expanding his bureaucracy.

Gaspar's pointing out that Encinitas' reckless spending comes at the cost of core services for residents is long overdue.

New rule

The comments have gotten really abusive.

We'll be marking any name-calling and personal attacks as "spam," which has the unfortunate side effect of making it likely that Google will auto-filter future comments from that person as spam.

Civil debate is not rocket science.  You know how to do it.