Encinitas sweeps opinion page of Coast News

We're apparently the only city in the Coast News' coverage area with a rotten city council majority. Or at least the only one with citizens concerned enough to speak out about it.

Every article on the local opinion page in Friday's edition was about bad Encinitas government -- and so was the cartoon.



Andrew Audet and Cyrus Kamada both write on the council majority's mayoral power grab. And Denise Martin writes on the fraudulent numbers from SANDAG that are being used to try to force high-density development on Encinitas through the General Plan Update. You can read all three on page four of this pdf.

In the cartoon, local artist Mary Fleener comments on problems at the fire department -- and firefighters' outrageous pay and pension package.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a city council whose dirty tricks we didn't have to read about every week? I don't know about all the cities in the Coast News' coverage area, but both of our coastal neighbors Solana Beach and Carlsbad have passed pension reform, while our council majority of Jerome Stocks, Kristin Gaspar, and Jim Bond (with Mark Muir MIA) just gave firefighters a contract with a pay raise and a guarantee of no pension reform for four more years.

Lincoln Club of San Diego hypocrisy

One question for them:

Rumor is the allegedly fiscally conservative Lincoln Club is going to dump big money into the campaign of Jerome Stocks, father of the 2005 35% pension increase.

The Lincoln Club funded the smear campaign against Teresa Barth and Tony Kranz, who just happen to be the two Encinitas leaders to have spoken out against the latest pension giveaway.

Eckes push subdivision farce on Encinitas rubes

NC Times:

A proposal to subdivide the Paul Ecke Ranch flower-growing property into three parcels, but keep all of the land in agricultural use, will be debated during a special hearing Tuesday.

[...]

Dichoso has been telling people that the proposed subdivision won't change the land's agricultural zoning.

"Basically, we're redrawing the property lines," he said.

If you believe three different farmers want to buy pieces of that property to grow flowers on, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Bizarro town: Encinitas "progressives" are its only fiscally responsible leaders

Nationally, it's generally true that Republicans side with taxpayers and at least give lip service to controlling spending, while Democrats are allied with government labor unions and support lavish spending and benefits.

Not so in Encinitas. Republican Jerome Stocks voted for the huge 35% pension increase in 2005, and he is joined by Republicans Kristen Gaspar and Jim Bond in the Gravy Train Giveaway of 2012, giving 12% raises to firefighters already making well over $100,000 a year, far more than the median household income in Encinitas.

Meanwhile here are progressive Democrats Teresa Barth and Tony Kranz in the Coast News:

Tony Kranz, a Leucadia resident told the council that more detailed information should have been available to the public. “This is a very complex subject, especially with respect to retirement,” he said. “You really haven’t spelled it out to the public.”

“It’s still not time to give them a raise,” Kranz said. “There’s still the same liability to the community.” While Kranz said he supported and applauded firefighters, he disagreed that the savings were as high as anticipated. “We have an unfunded liability that’s going to bite us in the end,” he said, referring to the cost of pensions.

Councilwoman Teresa Barth said she could not support the actual contract. While her stepson is a firefighter in Los Angeles County, and she respects the work of first responders, she said the city had more pressing financial considerations.

“We’re faced with a lot of difficult decisions up here,” she said.

In light of the national economic situation and the high number of capital improvement projects in the city’s pipeline, the contract did not provide enough short-term realization of funds to gain Barth’s support.

The contract passed 3-1, with Barth opposed and Muir absent.

Yet another Ponzi scheme alleged in Encinitas

Again?  Is Encinitas the Ponzi capital of America?

First there was Scott Bottolfson.  Then there was John Clement's EdgeFund.

And now Steven Hamilton:

This case involves three fraudulent investment Ponzi schemes operated by Steven Hamilton through three companies he owned and controlled, Covenant, Verde, and Verde FX.

From 2007 through January 2011, Hamilton solicited investors through the Internet and direct solicitation.  He represented that Covenant investors were investing in real estate loans secured by deeds of  trust, that Verde investors were investing in either real estate loans secured by deeds of  trust, or certificates of deposit, and that Verde FX investors were pooling their money to invest in the construction of  a new FedEx distribution facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hamilton's representations to investors were materially misleading. In reality, Hamilton never invested any investor money in real estate loans secured by deeds of trust or certificates of deposit or in the construction of a new FedEx distribution facility in Nevada. Instead, Hamilton used the money he raised from these three fraudulent offerings to pay his personal living expenses. In order to perpetuate his scheme, and to make his purported investments appear successful, Hamilton also used a portion of the monies he raised to pay fictitious returns to investors when, in fact, his investments were non-existent and he was simply using investors' monies to pay other investors. In all, Hamilton raised approximately $1.6 million from at least 23 investors through his fraudulent offerings.

Firefighters get four more years of gravy train

Here's the new firefighter pay and pension agreement.

Here's what those firefighters made two years ago before the new 12% pay and pension increase (click to enlarge):


That's thirty-some firefighters making over $100,000 a year in this little town that rarely has a fire.

And thanks to the Great Jerome Stocks Pension Giveaway of 2005, and now the apparent Stocks/Gaspar/Muir Pay and Pension Increase of 2012, we're going to have to pay those folks six figures for life, plus free health care for life, when they retire at 55.

Does the council majority think money grows on trees?

Pacific View saved from greedheads?

This sounds like a good deal all around.

NC Times:

School trustees in Encinitas took a step Wednesday toward selling the Pacific View site to a nonprofit group that wants to turn it into a community arts center.

The Encinitas Union School District Board of Trustees agreed to allow Superintendent Tim Baird to begin negotiations with the San Diego-based group Art Pulse.

If the deal goes through, it would end years of speculation and public conflict about how the oceanview property should be used, which peaked in October, when the district sued the city over zoning for the site.

Baird said Wednesday the city would drop the suit if negotiations with Art Pulse are successful.
April Game, executive director of Art Pulse, said she is "beyond optimistic" about the sale.

Here's Art Pulse.  Yeah, it's a little New York - La Jolla hipster doofus, but it would be a hell of a lot better than high-density condos.