Brian Brady is severely lacking in any knowledge of the Encinitas General Plan. The nincompoop editorials out of the Union Tribune and Jerome Stocks' regurgitation of the same were so full of lies. Brady doesn't know that since incorporation Encinitas has a General Plan that requires a vote of the people when there is a change in density. Unfortunately, there was also a policy in the General Plan that allowed the city Council to change density with only 4 votes and no vote of the people. Brady doesn't know that since incorporation the citywide building height has been 30 feet. Various Councils in the past abused their power and approved taller buildings. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the General Plan that requires a vote of the people for increasing building height. Encinitas residents are faced with a real threat of 5 story buildings that would only need 3 of the 5 Council to approve.
Thank you for your comment on the City Council, WC. They need to be aware that the staff are a special interests group. A number of them lack degrees in the areas where they make major decisions that impact our community for decades. One example is the Planning Department!
With all of the people who graduate with advanced degrees in Urban Planning, why do we have 8 or 9 planners making 6 figures, who lack undergraduate degrees in the field? Maybe people wouldn't be so resentful if we were actually paying top money for qualified people!
Each week, citizens have to point out major mistakes made by City staff and managers. More than anything that I can think of, this is what has split our City.
Mr. Brady is 100% correct in his comments with the exception of direct democracy. And while I know of few if any conservatives that voted for prop A I do know many liberals that voted against A. ( is there hope for them?? Doubtful, they still believe that killing an unborn defenseless baby is ok ). If conservatives in encinitas voted yes on A it's simply a reaction to a small city with an out of control budget and pension system. Restrict the cities ability to raise money via rezoning and you restrict it's purse strings. When less than 10% of the people restrict the rights of the remaking 90%, it's tyranny. The elitist few that believe they know best for everyone. Facinatingly, those in govt unions sat back and took it right in their pocket books. Long term A will restrict the cities ability to raise money via property tax increases via rezoning, untimately restricting govt employees from pay raises and pension increases. Although the city will probaby create a citywide assessment district for fire control thereby allowing massive increases in pay and pensions for the fire dept. No politician can be against public safety and be re-elected. A won but the citizens of Encinitas lost. In the long term the consequences will be dire.
You (6:46) seem very confused."Long term A will restrict the cities ability to raise money via property tax increases via rezoning, untimately restricting govt employees from pay raises and pension increases."So now you're all about bloated staff pay and benefits.I gotta go keel me some unborn yungins now you effin freak.
I know a number of conservatives who voted YES on Prop. A. It didn't have to do with an "out of control budget and pension system." It was about letting the citizens having the final say in density and height increases, thus having a voice in deciding the future of our city.
If Prop. A ends up reigning in an "out of control budget and pension system," that's a good thing. The public has not been well served by city, county, and state governmental bodies who have rewarded themselves with overly generous salaries and benefits. It's clear the elected representatives aren't going to do it.
Rancho Santa Fe is the most conservative voting region in the county.They have a regulatory code that is designed to "perserve property values".Before you confused con-servatives EVER refer to a prop A supporter as a NIMBY, please read this document (in PDF form on the net). Brian Brady is what I would call a Papa Doug conservative. Government subsidies are evil, unless they are for ultra-wealthy white folks. Every dime Carl Demio made before coming here was on the tax payers back.
restrict the rights of the remaking 90%, it's tyranny.
Dude, people don't have a right to upzone now. Now, when cronies want to be subsidized by the taxpayer they have to do in through the voters rather than late at night at city hall. The only thing that changed was who voted for INCREASES in development rights.
The elitist few that believe they know best for everyone.
You seem to think that you know better than the majority of people willing to vote.
Agree wholeheartedly with 10:29. Prop A petition volunteers came from the entire political spectrum, some beyond conservative. That was the beauty of A: it cut across all demographics and affiliations in the name of taking back control of out-of-control development.
You want to see something that will make your head spin and a huge part of the reason the City is broke.
Check out page 4 of item number 5 in the next council meeting.
Fire Boys want yet even more pay and benefits and top dogs don't want to work 40 hour weeks like regular people. They did the 2- 24 hour shift. That way they realy only work two days a week and get paid for sleeping, watching movies, playing cards, shopping etc.....
Man.... the life of a fire fighter. What a windfall gain to become a fire fighter. Everyone should be one. There is no other job were you get paid big time for all the non working stuff mentioned above.
If our City Council was smart, they would tell the fire chief to find a way to reduce costs not increase them, and get the fireman working 12 hour shifts and no regular overtime. The City needs to start reducing these horrendous fire department costs. The question is does any of our City Council have the intelligence and transparency to take on this important issue.
Really, it was only 50 years ago when most towns had voluntary fire departments. The union sure put a fork in the City's budget with these two workday a week freeloaders. Geeze.
Fancy job title nomenclature to describe the ordinary fire fighter is a psychological ruse to justify the outrgeous salaries. Starting salaries over 6 figures outstrip many doctoral jobs; this is an area out of control. The salaries need to be drastically cut and budgets constrained - pay raises should be out of the question. Half the time these guys cruise the beach or shop Vons - tough job....
Several years ago I watched 3 firefighters from Solana Beach buy a broom while on duty. It took 3 firefighters to buy a broom. WTFUCK??? Most interestingly was ...they couldn't make up their minds which broom to buy.
Yes, and didn't Del Mar just drop out of our Fire Dept's "coverage?" Will Solana Beach be next?
Doesn't Rancho Santa Fe still have volunteers manning its fire trucks?
People have to get real and realize that we can be fiscally conservative, and still provide for health and safety. Council would have to make prudent decisions; so far, with respect to the Fire Dept. (and many other issues), they haven't been.
Bob Bonde called for some reform for the fire dept, through the ETA. It seems to me, for such a small city, comparatively, we have too many chiefs, including Battalion Chiefs, and they, especially, make too much money. I do honor our "men in uniform," and they should honor the public, too, and be realistic about receiving reasonable wages.
The cake walk job, working 2- 24 hour shifts in Encinitas and getting paid $225,000 per year for sleeping through 1/4 of it, and shopping, working out, giving tours of the fire station, etc..... another 1/2 of your "shift". Wow. Unbelievable.
"If our City Council was smart, they would tell the fire chief to find a way to reduce costs not increase them, and get the fireman working 12 hour shifts and no regular overtime."
If our City Council was smart?
No. This should be the recommendation from the City Manager who is supposed to be our financial watchdog. Instead, he supports the staff salary and expenditure building.... WTF?
The problem being that our City Manager is watching the clock with well over 30 years in PERS and in a year in a half he will be another pig on the tit- Nothing more.
Encinitas will be so much loser to bankruptcy just like the other Cities, Vina "managed" their finances. How is Stockton and Sacramento doing this days? That is where Encinitas is heading with Vina.
Council needs to step up and represent the true interests of us citizens and tax payers- Fire Vina. Every day he remaining in office is a day the City is heading in the wrong direction. He is just trying to get by for another 1.5 years until he can retire. That is his only interest.
Fire him now! Or be fired next election!!! If you don't fire him and he retires, we will also remember that when you are up for re-election and you will be fired. Just like what happened when Stocks gave all Council and Staff a 35% increase in pensions in 2005. We citizens will never forget that damaging action.
Don't really know if this is true, but I heard that the citizens of Olevenhein wanted these firemen and wanted 3 of them. Perhaps someone from Olevenhein can check this out?
I had no idea there were any conservatives in Encinitas! The real shame of Prop A is that it fractured the Barth/Shafer/Kranz coalition into smithereens, and it will have a very hard time coalescing around any useful issues. The political goodwill it earned in defeating Stocks has been spent, and their next goal of recalling Barth just makes them appear petty and childish. This leaves a huge power vacuum to fill, and, yes, Barth will be gone next cycle, only to be replaced with Stocks v2. But that's been my problem with the left - it hates winning more than losing - very frustrating.....
We would all benefit if we could take off the glasses forced upon us by water boy's like Logan Jenkins who prefer we see life thru an us versus them, or green versus grey prism.
Stocks was not and is not a fiscal conservative. Gaspar and Muir are not and will not be fiscal conservatives. Muir gets a fat bloated pension of $170K heaped on the back of taxpayers. Muir supported public union pay and wage increases on the backs of taxpayers. Muir rallied supported for more that $10 million in unnecessary firehouses that reward a handful of overpaid city employees with better beds, TV's and toilets while not improving response times or services to residents.
Gaspar could have painted herself a fiscal steward but instead chose to pay city manager cotton and extra paycheck spiking his pension and voted to raid 15 fully capital projects of $7M.
It is my opinion that you, Brady and errand boys like Jenkins are dinosaurs in the that you fail to see that political transformation has come to Encinitas. Big Money will no longer buy elections, big money will no long set policy. Wake up, the people don't see the council as green or grey. The people was a council to spend wisely, protect community character and preserve quality of life.
Morevoer, the public has discovered a way to influence policy and leadership thru the ballot, both with council elections and propositions.
If this council fires Vina, terminated the contract of Pedr Norby, pushes back against inflated SANDAG and State HCD population forecasts, implements pension reform, does not move forward with hiring a PR person the public will respond favorably.
If the council does not do these things the they will all be voted out of office and we will see a new Prop P in 6 months that will be about pension reform at the will of the people, not elected bureaucrats who get their donations from public employee unions. This will be another good thing for the right to self determination and the defeat of special interest government. Just like Prop A was.
11:17 - Big money has never bought elections. Ideas are what wins elections. I'm not sure what political transformation you are referring to - as far as I know, the public has always influenced policy and leadership through the ballot. All those years that Stocks was winning was precisely because he was showing leadership to his constituents. Now we have new leaders, and they no longer have constituents! Is that the political transformation you're referring to?
Try as you might we both know that Stocks, Dalager and Bond won elections at a time when mailers, penny savers, oversized signs and favorable press from controlled editors of the UT and NC Times coupled with water carrying errand boys like Logan Jenkins had great sway over voters.
Try as you might scuplin you can't deny the facts that when Stocks was winning 3 elections he was raising hundreds of thousands from out of town developers and outspending home grown local candidates often by a factor of $10 dollars to one.
This of course was a time when the electorate could be manipulated. Accredited Partners and Randy Goodson had yet to try and force high density on Olivenhain, 101 residents hadn't lost their quality of life to the crime and drunkenness that the change in community character had brought by the upzoning of the 101 with a vote, Cardiff residents had yet to see video of a city facilitator leading votes of residents reaching a consensus and then telling the planning commission no consensus was reached. New Encinitas residents had yet to participate in a bogus dot mapping exercise intended to manipulate public input.
Today the residents of Encinitas are not only aware of mismanagement by the council and city staff- the residents are interconnected with each other and have formed a powerful voting block of common sense citizens seeking common sense solutions to pensions and the protection of quality of life and community character.
A pro-development big money candidate will not win as Stocks, Dalager and Bond did. The political strategy of these big spending union pension loving relics was misinformation and divide and conquer where residents of one community did not talk to the others. Stocks leadership you tout was horrific! Build the park ?_ failed for more than a decade. Spend wisely? Increased pay and pension 35%. Lower debt? Increased city debt by close to $100M dollars- yes $100 million. Jerome Stocks was and is an abject failure as a city leader.
There is no denying that today that is not the case.
First off, I'm agreeing with you on Stock's leadership. I hold him personally responsible for not getting the park built. I was not his constituent, but many people were. He took care of them. It was much more than out of town developers because they don't vote. He was a mini Bill Horn. Besides, none of his opponents had a compelling alternate vision for Encinitas. The press is more controlled today than in the past, so clearly they were not a factor. I never buy the argument that voters are easily manipulated. Especially in Encinitas where we have more post graduate degrees than 99% of the nation. Please, don't insult yourself. However, a pro-development big money candidate might still win, but not because they're pro-development or have big money but because they might articulate a vision that resonates. "Common sense citizens seeking common sense solutions to pensions and the protection of quality of life and community character" sounds fantastic but breaks down when it comes to day to day governing. Replacing the fire department with volunteers? Seriously? That is a common sense solution?
scuplin- you crack me up........where did the person you are responding to mention replacing the fire department with volunteers? I think you are trying to make them look bad by throwing out bad bunk.
Common sense solutions? NO pay raises at city hall. No Pension Increases at city hall. No new debt at city hall. NO more new six figure hires at city hall. No more siding with developers over residents at city hall. How is this hard for day to day governing? It isn't.
3:42 - the volunteer fire department was in another thread - OK a stretch! Has there been a pay raise under BSK? Or pension increases? I don't follow that closely so sorry if I missed it. Salaries have always been tough for me. Yea, I get that the union has a seat at both sides of the table, and I agree that's inherently wrong, but there are others at that table as well, and atthe end of the day it's the voters who decide. When times were good, voters were generous and entered into long term contracts that are very difficult to renegotiate. That's definetly long term. So today, 6 figure salaries, I assume, are market?
voters never approved the 35% pay and pension increase Stocks gave em. City staff stood and clapped. Prop P............let's pass a prop on pensions giving citizens the power to enact pension reform.
six figures are not the market. WCV has a recent post listing all the 100K club, it is staggering.
Sculpin with all due respect you want it both ways, your arguments lack consistency and you cherry pick in hopes of scoring points but only make yourself look foolish. For instance your respnd to one post referencing a volunteer fire department when none was mentioned by the poaster. Then you post an argument claiming voters decide and when a rebuttal argument is made that voters did not decide the pension increases or desrt rose etc you respond that the voters did when the voted for BSKMG , or SDGB.........but the truth is you oppsed A and the citizens right to vote, so you can't claim voters approved pensions etc on one hand but the oppose their right to a direct vote when they demand, kina makes you look like a hypocrite
6:14 - ah yes, the perils of identifying yourself - you're held accountable! Care to join me? Yes, I voted no on a because i believe we had the right to vote through representative government. That didn't go my way - doesn't make me a hypocrite. I think you're confusing my no vote with the desire to prevent people from voting. I saw it as the voters already had that right becuase they could vote candidates in or out. So now voters have the ability to vote on specific zoning issues. Fine. I still believe it's a mess, but neither you of I can answer that. Only time will tell. As for the fire volunteers, that was on another thread - sorry - but when everyone is Anonymous then everyone is cherry picking and no one owns the arguments. There is no incentive to stay consistent, i.e. I have no idea if you've been consistent in your argumnents, or if you've changed your thinking on anything. I thnk the true hypocites are the posters who hide behind the Anon moniker. So, as I asked before - care to join me?
Scuplin, you crack me up! Is that your real name? Or do you care to identify yourself? You are just like the others hiding behind anonymity. I don't have a problem with unknown, but for you to castigate unknown commenters while you yourself remain unknown except for some bogus thing called Scuplin is laughable. Come on man, or woman!
2:11 - sigh - you've completely missed the point. If I told my my name was Steve Hendricks would you believe me? How about Jeremey Franks? You like that one better? Or I could use Daisy Mae Collins - sounds sexier, huh.......
Odd to blame prop A for divisiveness (same as Teresa and Lisa did, incidentally), when it was the council who unanimously chose sides against residents. Blame the messenger, eh Sculpin? No responsibility placed on city shoulders for so rolling out the red carpet for up-zoned developments and decades of variances that residents felt they had no choice but to go through the initiative process?
They as a group came together against residents, as you know. They're now crying over people took sides while trying to forget or better yet hope people don't notice they all took a side, thus helping divide.
Stop trying to promote some imagined divisiveness with BSK- it is in your mind or you are a political stooge hoping to influence the 2014 election. My guess is you are a political hack.
Encinitas residents want simply, easy to understand leadership. When the 5 council members voted against Desert Rose it sent a message to the community. WHen the five council members approved hiring a PR person for 135K it sent a message to the community. When the 5 opposed A it sent a message to the community.
There is no problem with BSK, there is a problem with the Council. All five have been against residents. Not surprisingly , all five have voted exactly the way Jerome Stocks and Dan Dalager would have voted, we know what happened to those two self-serving clowns.
2:43 - I guess my point is just too subtle. My point is not that there is divisivness among BSK themselves, but between their supporters and constituents. I'm sure all three are looking at each other and thinking "WTF?". My point is that the institution called "Encinitas" is a juggernaut that does not change directions easily. People want city hall to change quickly, but what they don't realize is that change at any city hall occurs slowly. Stocks was there 10 years - that's how long he had to put his vision of Encinitas together. It's not going to get unwound in 3 months, or even a year! BSK have figured this out. They're not against residents, they just don't know how to unwind this thing! Besides, if BSK, Stocks and Dalager all vote the same, what does that tell you? Probably that the decisions are fairly self evident! Desert Rose? Frankly they had no choice. It's a stupid project in the wrong place but it was so far along by the time BSK got it that they couldn't do anything. Can anyone articulate what motive BSK have for being "against residents"? I'm not a political hack, more like a political junkie. I could never do this stuff for a living!
Even though Prop A came on top, it is a sad chapter in City history. Our City Council chose to waste $400,000 of our taxpayers money on the hopes that they could use propaganda and poor ethics to confuse voters and overturn the will of Encinitas citizens. Instead of simply accepting the 8650 signatures that were verified, they chose to take this issue to an election and tried to play both sides acting as both supporters and victims when the No on A people misquoted them.
If they make one more misstep, I fear that we will have a Prop R--for Recall of Council.
Desert Rose was the perfect opportunity for the council to stand with residents on the issue of safety and the environment - they sided with the developer instead.
On Prop A the council could have remained neutral- they opposed residents instead.
On the PR person they could have told the city manager now is not the time, instead they ignored residents and sided with Vina.
I do not buy your argument that change somehow comes slowly. Change comes with effective leadership.
Hello Sculpin BSKGM have become enamored with Gus Vina. Mr. Vina is making the recommendatio to first oppose residents on DR threatening the council that Gonzalex the high density for maximum proft over the enviornment lawyer would sue. This included Vina probably suggesting to BSKGM that the DR residents would not. Next is Prop A and the record is clear that Vina retained Rutan for $40K before ever being directed to do so............no surprise Vina suggested the council not remain neutral but oppose residents, then ther is the PR hire when the city can't afford it .....another Vina suggestion. BSKGM are being led by the nose by high spending bankrupting Gus Vina, The motive is BSKGM need to muster the courage to lead, now the 5 blind mice are following Vina right off a cliff..
And not to worry re: the next election...even those now opposed to Barth, Shaffer, and Kranz would not be so far gone as to choose a Forrester over one of them.
That's right. Hold your nose and vote for the least stinky of the many- Stocks, Dalager, Guerin, Long, Forrester, Jacobsen- wheeeewwwiieeeee that stinks!
12:03 Excuse me only 8000 plus residents voted yes on prop A .there are 60000 plus Who live in this town and yes many of them like me voted NO or don't care,you make It sound like it was unanimous .
You might find it interesting to know that Kristin Gaspar was elected with about 8,000 votes, Barth had maybe 7,500 votes. For a special election the turnout was phenomenal. Considering the out of town profit seek high density carpet baggers spent 100K it is amazing yes on A won
Elections and ballot initiatives are decided by registered voters who cast votes. As of the Prop A ballot, there were 39,839 registered voters in Encinitas. Of those, 12,867 (32.3%) voted. The split was 6,671 for and 6,196 against, making the gap 475 (3.7%). The US census has the Encinitas population at 60,400. The difference between that figure and the number of registered voters is 20,651. Those folks are kids who are too young to vote and other people who for whatever reason didn't register.
This was a very close and hotly contested election to now yell and pound your chest serves know real purpose .This is not over ,infacted the real work is just beginning by the council,planning staff and coastal comm. Yes and later The court.
Of course it wasn't unanimous. It was mighty close. But an interesting study how the scale was tipped which included:
The NO folks spent what? 100K?
The YES folks spent what? 20K?
The YES folks won by 4%
If the investment each side made above is close, the NO folks spent 500% more than the YES folks did and got less votes.
The NO folks name dropped without permission and quoted city council members without permission.
The NO folks used city funded business organization logos without permission.
The NO folks misled. They assured voters on the ballot argument that "5 story buildings" were not and will never be on the radar for Encinitas. (But the ERAC tape is clear, and if the committee was not significant, why bother gathering a room full of influential local multi-millionaires to make reccomendations to council?)
The NO folk did a great job of confusing the public, claiming Prop A would upzone properties allowing any area to go up to 30' without a public vote. Not true. What's zoned for say 24' stays 24'. The NO folks claimed upzoning ALWAYS has gone to a public vote. But a group of 5 Planning Commissioners upzoned a lot of areas in Encinitas from 2 to 3 stories completely WITHOUT a public vote, and completly against the Sparc committee's recomendations. When the Planning Commission completed their tweaking of the Specific Plan for Leucadia, it went to COUNCIL for finalization - not the people. 4 of the 5 council members approved it, upzoning and all.
The NO folks were heavily funded by out of town interests. I don't thinks the YES side had any foreign support. Just a lot of local volunteerism, dedication and a fraction of the signs, robocalls and flyers that NO folks did.
It's frustrating to live in a town where even a Planning Commission overrides Specific Plans they themselves helped to create. So I think Prop A is good recourse for that. A lot of time had to be spent by YES people undoing damage done by the NO's. It's true that it's hard to unring a bell, but I think the YES folks actually did it. Barely!
Great points Fred. As has been pointed out earlier, we are $400,000 poorer because of Gus Vina and his recommendation to the Council and their vote to have an election. I hold them accountable for the split City that we have today since a number of citizens begged them not to spend the money on this election.
I cannot help but think if the City Council had said Yes on A, that there would be a lot of angry people who didn't want this. So, I think it was important for it to go to a vote of the people. Yes, it cost a lot of money. But, if one was for A, it was worth it. If one was against A, perhaps it does seem like a huge waste of money. The argument on the No side might have been, couldn't you have waited until the new Council got up to speed?
In conversation with Teresa, Tony, Lisa, they showed zero indication that they would work with the people. Teresa was non-responsive, Lisa wanted four stories, and Tony was more worried about multi-million dollar property owners poised to up-zone than the average resident. Let them "get up to speed"? No way. The red flags were there and the gamble that they would listen to residents - really listen - not worth the risk.
Based on public information on the PAC activities, I calculated that the NO on A side collected $95K for this election, a cost of $15.40 per vote. yes on Prop A collected $10.5K a cost of $1.57 per vote. Money does not buy you everything in Encinitas!
Wait until the council strategic plan workshops start for the public. Surprise! Same old - same old. As Gus tells the council - I will tell you a little bit now and more later. It is tooooo complicated for the council to understand it at once.
It is called the mushroom treatment a la Vina. Feed them some manure slowly but surely to make them grow in the dark just the way he wants them to. When they have benn molded, retire, enjoy the pension, and finally learn how to surf.
Loser. take a chill pill and if you can see the problems at City Hall, then you too are a part of the problem. Go ahead and drop in on me and act like a big Dick, see what happens big guy.
Wow- are you a city employee Loser L ? You sound very angry and bitter. It is interesting sociologically as if you are a city employee/public employee you are correct that many of the posts on EU are critical of local government leadership- and I can see how you might take that personally.
What I find interesting sociologically is that residents of Encinitas and certain segments of the country are waking up to the decades of mismanagement and waste of taxpayer money and are starting to do something about it.
There is a growing divide in our country of those who work for the government and have one lifestyle and those who work in the private sector and have a diminished lifestyle. Add to this that it is the private sector worker with flat/stagnant of falling wages that is paying for the increased salary and pension of city and state/federal employees.
While private workers can't fund their own 401K's they are on the hook to pay for the lifetime luxurious retirements of kings such as Mark Muir and his 170K, Phil Cotton and his 103K and Pat Murphy and his 140K lifetime pensions plus health care-
Their is growing and building resentment among the public for the creation of a two tiered economic systems of well paid and rewarded public employees and struggling private employees-
Add to this that while the cost of public administration is going up as the result of bloated pensions and wages services for residents is going down. In Chicago and Oakland cops there is no longer police service to residents for break and entering, robbing and burgularly- the cops don't have resources. In Oakland residents have begun arming themselves and forming neighborhood watch groups-
In Encinitas there is not money for the Hall Park but there is money to build firehouses like the $6.3M Cardiff FH that was unneeded. Add to this the 35% wage and pension increase good Ol' crony Stocks gave his union supporters, then look at the new $1M dollar cabinet Vina has hired in the last year, then look at the commando martial law gear the cops are wearing at city hall meetings.
I sense your angst and anger, you sound like a person who knows they are living the highlife built on the backs of others and that the public is beginning to notice.
ps- your comment of dropping in- way uncool bro, aloha
I for one love this blog. It is the best news source for Encinitas. Its like the Leucadia Blog used to be before they shut it down.
It beats papa manchesters developer rags and the Patches heavy editing and pushing the government propaganda and wantabe writers like flanders crap.
Keep up the free speech press WC. If people don't like the content, don't read it.
People has also shown restraint on the flame level as well lately. Obviously, its safer and more enjoyable to post Anon.
Closing- I support firing Vina considering he only give broken methods to problems. We need a City Manager that can get positive things done. Lets get things heading in the right direction.
Have you ever been to a council meeting or a city event? The city is already doing a great job of patting itself on the back. It's not required that W.C. or anyone else to do the same. In fact, when things are going well, it's not necessary to do anything but sit back an enjoy it. Things will get off track soon enough. This is when outsiders need to step in when the insiders are doing nothing.
You are too sensitive about criticism directed at the city administration, which includes council, city manager, and the staff that sits in cubicles at city hall. It takes an effort to keep things running well. It's my experience that we all need constant reminders to keep to a high level. W.C. and others are providing that reminder.
I agree that there is no shortage of praise or made up staff awards at City Hall. The thing that citizens take away from this elementary school, gold star system is that the City has low standards!
We work in the grown up world where people who hide and destroy records, omit information, lie and go surfing or talk on cell phones in the parking lot during work hours get in trouble or may lose their jobs. I have personally experienced or observed all of these things with various staff members over the year. Yet, how many staff members have ever gotten fired at the City?
I would like to address those above and below who think there are no conservatives in Encinitas. How short are your memories? Do you not remember the outrage when the guy built the topless bar off Encinitas Blvd.? People were out there with their kids, taking pics of people going in and out and posting them on the internet. Encinitas has a law that says businesses like those cannot be opened or built in certain proximity to any Encinitas school. This whole community and original laws were set up as a extremely conservative area. the families that live here love the fact that crap like that cannot go on here and that is why the values of this area stay up! I am proud of Encinitas and Rancho Santa Fe that those conservative values keep our community they way it is. I am a conservative and I raised my kids here because of those very laws. I know we have other issues, but what a major plus that our schools are strategically placed so nothing like that can ever be built here. Great job conservatives of Encinitas, Leucadia, Cardiff, and Olivenhain. You keep our communities beautiful and our kids safe.
Brian Brady is severely lacking in any knowledge of the Encinitas General Plan. The nincompoop editorials out of the Union Tribune and Jerome Stocks' regurgitation of the same were so full of lies.
ReplyDeleteBrady doesn't know that since incorporation Encinitas has a General Plan that requires a vote of the people when there is a change in density. Unfortunately, there was also a policy in the General Plan that allowed the city Council to change density with only 4 votes and no vote of the people.
Brady doesn't know that since incorporation the citywide building height has been 30 feet. Various Councils in the past abused their power and approved taller buildings. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the General Plan that requires a vote of the people for increasing building height. Encinitas residents are faced with a real threat of 5 story buildings that would only need 3 of the 5 Council to approve.
Wcv. Any thoughts on the post above?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment above.
DeleteI think Brady is probably a good guy who is relying on bad information from questionable sources... kinda like our city council.
Thank you for your comment on the City Council, WC. They need to be aware that the staff are a special interests group. A number of them lack degrees in the areas where they make major decisions that impact our community for decades. One example is the Planning Department!
DeleteWith all of the people who graduate with advanced degrees in Urban Planning, why do we have 8 or 9 planners making 6 figures, who lack undergraduate degrees in the field? Maybe people wouldn't be so resentful if we were actually paying top money for qualified people!
Each week, citizens have to point out major mistakes made by City staff and managers. More than anything that I can think of, this is what has split our City.
I agree with 7:56 too, with WCV, and with many of the pro people's right to decide comments on the referenced Rostra Blog.
ReplyDeleteBrian Brady doesn't live here and he has been misinformed. He can't see straight, perhaps because some of his associations are crooked.
Mr. Brady is 100% correct in his comments with the exception of direct democracy. And while I know of few if any conservatives that voted for prop A I do know many liberals that voted against A. ( is there hope for them?? Doubtful, they still believe that killing an unborn defenseless baby is ok ). If conservatives in encinitas voted yes on A it's simply a reaction to a small city with an out of control budget and pension system. Restrict the cities ability to raise money via rezoning and you restrict it's purse strings. When less than 10% of the people restrict the rights of the remaking 90%, it's tyranny. The elitist few that believe they know best for everyone.
ReplyDeleteFacinatingly, those in govt unions sat back and took it right in their pocket books. Long term A will restrict the cities ability to raise money via property tax increases via rezoning, untimately restricting govt employees from pay raises and pension increases. Although the city will probaby create a citywide assessment district for fire control thereby allowing massive increases in pay and pensions for the fire dept. No politician can be against public safety and be re-elected.
A won but the citizens of Encinitas lost. In the long term the consequences will be dire.
You (6:46) seem very confused."Long term A will restrict the cities ability to raise money via property tax increases via rezoning, untimately restricting govt employees from pay raises and pension increases."So now you're all about bloated staff pay and benefits.I gotta go keel me some unborn yungins now you effin freak.
DeleteI know a number of conservatives who voted YES on Prop. A. It didn't have to do with an "out of control budget and pension system." It was about letting the citizens having the final say in density and height increases, thus having a voice in deciding the future of our city.
DeleteIf Prop. A ends up reigning in an "out of control budget and pension system," that's a good thing. The public has not been well served by city, county, and state governmental bodies who have rewarded themselves with overly generous salaries and benefits. It's clear the elected representatives aren't going to do it.
Rancho Santa Fe is the most conservative voting region in the county.They have a regulatory code that is designed to "perserve property values".Before you confused con-servatives EVER refer to a prop A supporter as a NIMBY, please read this document (in PDF form on the net). Brian Brady is what I would call a Papa Doug conservative. Government subsidies are evil, unless they are for ultra-wealthy white folks. Every dime Carl Demio made before coming here was on the tax payers back.
DeleteWhat RSF resident Doug Harwood could not build in his town, he was more than happy to push on Encinitas.
Deleterestrict the rights of the remaking 90%, it's tyranny.
DeleteDude, people don't have a right to upzone now. Now, when cronies want to be subsidized by the taxpayer they have to do in through the voters rather than late at night at city hall. The only thing that changed was who voted for INCREASES in development rights.
The elitist few that believe they know best for everyone.
You seem to think that you know better than the majority of people willing to vote.
Agree wholeheartedly with 10:29. Prop A petition volunteers came from the entire political spectrum, some beyond conservative. That was the beauty of A: it cut across all demographics and affiliations in the name of taking back control of out-of-control development.
ReplyDeleteYou want to see something that will make your head spin and a huge part of the reason the City is broke.
ReplyDeleteCheck out page 4 of item number 5 in the next council meeting.
Fire Boys want yet even more pay and benefits and top dogs don't want to work 40 hour weeks like regular people. They did the 2- 24 hour shift. That way they realy only work two days a week and get paid for sleeping, watching movies, playing cards, shopping etc.....
Man.... the life of a fire fighter. What a windfall gain to become a fire fighter. Everyone should be one. There is no other job were you get paid big time for all the non working stuff mentioned above.
If our City Council was smart, they would tell the fire chief to find a way to reduce costs not increase them, and get the fireman working 12 hour shifts and no regular overtime. The City needs to start reducing these horrendous fire department costs. The question is does any of our City Council have the intelligence and transparency to take on this important issue.
Really, it was only 50 years ago when most towns had voluntary fire departments. The union sure put a fork in the City's budget with these two workday a week freeloaders. Geeze.
Fancy job title nomenclature to describe the ordinary fire fighter is a psychological ruse to justify the outrgeous salaries. Starting salaries over 6 figures outstrip many doctoral jobs; this is an area out of control. The salaries need to be drastically cut and budgets constrained - pay raises should be out of the question. Half the time these guys cruise the beach or shop Vons - tough job....
DeleteSeveral years ago I watched 3 firefighters from Solana Beach buy a broom while on duty. It took 3 firefighters to buy a broom. WTFUCK??? Most interestingly was ...they couldn't make up their minds which broom to buy.
DeleteYes, and didn't Del Mar just drop out of our Fire Dept's "coverage?" Will Solana Beach be next?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Rancho Santa Fe still have volunteers manning its fire trucks?
People have to get real and realize that we can be fiscally conservative, and still provide for health and safety. Council would have to make prudent decisions; so far, with respect to the Fire Dept. (and many other issues), they haven't been.
Bob Bonde called for some reform for the fire dept, through the ETA. It seems to me, for such a small city, comparatively, we have too many chiefs, including Battalion Chiefs, and they, especially, make too much money. I do honor our "men in uniform," and they should honor the public, too, and be realistic about receiving reasonable wages.
Too many chefs in the kitchen.
DeleteThe cake walk job, working 2- 24 hour shifts in Encinitas and getting paid $225,000 per year for sleeping through 1/4 of it, and shopping, working out, giving tours of the fire station, etc..... another 1/2 of your "shift". Wow. Unbelievable.
ReplyDelete"If our City Council was smart, they would tell the fire chief to find a way to reduce costs not increase them, and get the fireman working 12 hour shifts and no regular overtime."
ReplyDeleteIf our City Council was smart?
No. This should be the recommendation from the City Manager who is supposed to be our financial watchdog. Instead, he supports the staff salary and expenditure building.... WTF?
The problem being that our City Manager is watching the clock with well over 30 years in PERS and in a year in a half he will be another pig on the tit- Nothing more.
Encinitas will be so much loser to bankruptcy just like the other Cities, Vina "managed" their finances. How is Stockton and Sacramento doing this days? That is where Encinitas is heading with Vina.
Council needs to step up and represent the true interests of us citizens and tax payers- Fire Vina. Every day he remaining in office is a day the City is heading in the wrong direction. He is just trying to get by for another 1.5 years until he can retire. That is his only interest.
Fire him now! Or be fired next election!!! If you don't fire him and he retires, we will also remember that when you are up for re-election and you will be fired. Just like what happened when Stocks gave all Council and Staff a 35% increase in pensions in 2005. We citizens will never forget that damaging action.
Act now and fire Vina!
Don't really know if this is true, but I heard that the citizens of Olevenhein wanted these firemen and wanted 3 of them. Perhaps someone from Olevenhein can check this out?
ReplyDeleteI had no idea there were any conservatives in Encinitas! The real shame of Prop A is that it fractured the Barth/Shafer/Kranz coalition into smithereens, and it will have a very hard time coalescing around any useful issues. The political goodwill it earned in defeating Stocks has been spent, and their next goal of recalling Barth just makes them appear petty and childish. This leaves a huge power vacuum to fill, and, yes, Barth will be gone next cycle, only to be replaced with Stocks v2. But that's been my problem with the left - it hates winning more than losing - very frustrating.....
ReplyDelete- The Sculpin
scuplin
DeleteWe would all benefit if we could take off the glasses forced upon us by water boy's like Logan Jenkins who prefer we see life thru an us versus them, or green versus grey prism.
Stocks was not and is not a fiscal conservative. Gaspar and Muir are not and will not be fiscal conservatives. Muir gets a fat bloated pension of $170K heaped on the back of taxpayers. Muir supported public union pay and wage increases on the backs of taxpayers. Muir rallied supported for more that $10 million in unnecessary firehouses that reward a handful of overpaid city employees with better beds, TV's and toilets while not improving response times or services to residents.
Gaspar could have painted herself a fiscal steward but instead chose to pay city manager cotton and extra paycheck spiking his pension and voted to raid 15 fully capital projects of $7M.
It is my opinion that you, Brady and errand boys like Jenkins are dinosaurs in the that you fail to see that political transformation has come to Encinitas. Big Money will no longer buy elections, big money will no long set policy. Wake up, the people don't see the council as green or grey. The people was a council to spend wisely, protect community character and preserve quality of life.
Morevoer, the public has discovered a way to influence policy and leadership thru the ballot, both with council elections and propositions.
If this council fires Vina, terminated the contract of Pedr Norby, pushes back against inflated SANDAG and State HCD population forecasts, implements pension reform, does not move forward with hiring a PR person the public will respond favorably.
If the council does not do these things the they will all be voted out of office and we will see a new Prop P in 6 months that will be about pension reform at the will of the people, not elected bureaucrats who get their donations from public employee unions. This will be another good thing for the right to self determination and the defeat of special interest government. Just like Prop A was.
11:17 - Big money has never bought elections. Ideas are what wins elections. I'm not sure what political transformation you are referring to - as far as I know, the public has always influenced policy and leadership through the ballot. All those years that Stocks was winning was precisely because he was showing leadership to his constituents. Now we have new leaders, and they no longer have constituents! Is that the political transformation you're referring to?
Delete- The Sculpin
scuplin
DeleteTry as you might we both know that Stocks, Dalager and Bond won elections at a time when mailers, penny savers, oversized signs and favorable press from controlled editors of the UT and NC Times coupled with water carrying errand boys like Logan Jenkins had great sway over voters.
Try as you might scuplin you can't deny the facts that when Stocks was winning 3 elections he was raising hundreds of thousands from out of town developers and outspending home grown local candidates often by a factor of $10 dollars to one.
This of course was a time when the electorate could be manipulated. Accredited Partners and Randy Goodson had yet to try and force high density on Olivenhain, 101 residents hadn't lost their quality of life to the crime and drunkenness that the change in community character had brought by the upzoning of the 101 with a vote, Cardiff residents had yet to see video of a city facilitator leading votes of residents reaching a consensus and then telling the planning commission no consensus was reached. New Encinitas residents had yet to participate in a bogus dot mapping exercise intended to manipulate public input.
Today the residents of Encinitas are not only aware of mismanagement by the council and city staff- the residents are interconnected with each other and have formed a powerful voting block of common sense citizens seeking common sense solutions to pensions and the protection of quality of life and community character.
A pro-development big money candidate will not win as Stocks, Dalager and Bond did. The political strategy of these big spending union pension loving relics was misinformation and divide and conquer where residents of one community did not talk to the others. Stocks leadership you tout was horrific! Build the park ?_ failed for more than a decade. Spend wisely? Increased pay and pension 35%. Lower debt? Increased city debt by close to $100M dollars- yes $100 million. Jerome Stocks was and is an abject failure as a city leader.
There is no denying that today that is not the case.
First off, I'm agreeing with you on Stock's leadership. I hold him personally responsible for not getting the park built. I was not his constituent, but many people were. He took care of them. It was much more than out of town developers because they don't vote. He was a mini Bill Horn. Besides, none of his opponents had a compelling alternate vision for Encinitas. The press is more controlled today than in the past, so clearly they were not a factor. I never buy the argument that voters are easily manipulated. Especially in Encinitas where we have more post graduate degrees than 99% of the nation. Please, don't insult yourself. However, a pro-development big money candidate might still win, but not because they're pro-development or have big money but because they might articulate a vision that resonates. "Common sense citizens seeking common sense solutions to pensions and the protection of quality of life and community character" sounds fantastic but breaks down when it comes to day to day governing. Replacing the fire department with volunteers? Seriously? That is a common sense solution?
Delete- The Sculpin
scuplin- you crack me up........where did the person you are responding to mention replacing the fire department with volunteers? I think you are trying to make them look bad by throwing out bad bunk.
DeleteCommon sense solutions? NO pay raises at city hall. No Pension Increases at city hall. No new debt at city hall. NO more new six figure hires at city hall. No more siding with developers over residents at city hall. How is this hard for day to day governing? It isn't.
3:42 - the volunteer fire department was in another thread - OK a stretch! Has there been a pay raise under BSK? Or pension increases? I don't follow that closely so sorry if I missed it. Salaries have always been tough for me. Yea, I get that the union has a seat at both sides of the table, and I agree that's inherently wrong, but there are others at that table as well, and atthe end of the day it's the voters who decide. When times were good, voters were generous and entered into long term contracts that are very difficult to renegotiate. That's definetly long term. So today, 6 figure salaries, I assume, are market?
Delete- The Sculpin
voters never approved the 35% pay and pension increase Stocks gave em. City staff stood and clapped. Prop P............let's pass a prop on pensions giving citizens the power to enact pension reform.
Deletesix figures are not the market. WCV has a recent post listing all the 100K club, it is staggering.
How do you figure voters decide?
Because they reelected the people who made the decsions.
Delete- The Sculpin
Sculpin with all due respect you want it both ways, your arguments lack consistency and you cherry pick in hopes of scoring points but only make yourself look foolish. For instance your respnd to one post referencing a volunteer fire department when none was mentioned by the poaster. Then you post an argument claiming voters decide and when a rebuttal argument is made that voters did not decide the pension increases or desrt rose etc you respond that the voters did when the voted for BSKMG , or SDGB.........but the truth is you oppsed A and the citizens right to vote, so you can't claim voters approved pensions etc on one hand but the oppose their right to a direct vote when they demand, kina makes you look like a hypocrite
Delete6:14 - ah yes, the perils of identifying yourself - you're held accountable! Care to join me? Yes, I voted no on a because i believe we had the right to vote through representative government. That didn't go my way - doesn't make me a hypocrite. I think you're confusing my no vote with the desire to prevent people from voting. I saw it as the voters already had that right becuase they could vote candidates in or out. So now voters have the ability to vote on specific zoning issues. Fine. I still believe it's a mess, but neither you of I can answer that. Only time will tell. As for the fire volunteers, that was on another thread - sorry - but when everyone is Anonymous then everyone is cherry picking and no one owns the arguments. There is no incentive to stay consistent, i.e. I have no idea if you've been consistent in your argumnents, or if you've changed your thinking on anything. I thnk the true hypocites are the posters who hide behind the Anon moniker. So, as I asked before - care to join me?
Delete- The Sculpin
Agree & appreciate it.
DeleteWCV
Scuplin, you crack me up! Is that your real name? Or do you care to identify yourself? You are just like the others hiding behind anonymity. I don't have a problem with unknown, but for you to castigate unknown commenters while you yourself remain unknown except for some bogus thing called Scuplin is laughable. Come on man, or woman!
Delete2:11 - sigh - you've completely missed the point. If I told my my name was Steve Hendricks would you believe me? How about Jeremey Franks? You like that one better? Or I could use Daisy Mae Collins - sounds sexier, huh.......
DeleteWhat does that have to do with city issues.
ReplyDeleteSculpin-
U sound clueless.
I predict Gaspar is gone next election, following her mentor-Crappy Stocks!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh ma God! Like where will fashion be then? Ellen DeGeneres Barth??? Like not!
DeleteOdd to blame prop A for divisiveness (same as Teresa and Lisa did, incidentally), when it was the council who unanimously chose sides against residents. Blame the messenger, eh Sculpin? No responsibility placed on city shoulders for so rolling out the red carpet for up-zoned developments and decades of variances that residents felt they had no choice but to go through the initiative process?
ReplyDelete12:03 - Are you suggesting that there was divisiveness in the Barth/Shafer/Kranz coalition before Prop A?
Delete- The Sculpin
They as a group came together against residents, as you know. They're now crying over people took sides while trying to forget or better yet hope people don't notice they all took a side, thus helping divide.
DeleteSculpin
DeleteStop trying to promote some imagined divisiveness with BSK- it is in your mind or you are a political stooge hoping to influence the 2014 election. My guess is you are a political hack.
Encinitas residents want simply, easy to understand leadership. When the 5 council members voted against Desert Rose it sent a message to the community. WHen the five council members approved hiring a PR person for 135K it sent a message to the community. When the 5 opposed A it sent a message to the community.
There is no problem with BSK, there is a problem with the Council. All five have been against residents. Not surprisingly , all five have voted exactly the way Jerome Stocks and Dan Dalager would have voted, we know what happened to those two self-serving clowns.
2:43 - I guess my point is just too subtle. My point is not that there is divisivness among BSK themselves, but between their supporters and constituents. I'm sure all three are looking at each other and thinking "WTF?". My point is that the institution called "Encinitas" is a juggernaut that does not change directions easily. People want city hall to change quickly, but what they don't realize is that change at any city hall occurs slowly. Stocks was there 10 years - that's how long he had to put his vision of Encinitas together. It's not going to get unwound in 3 months, or even a year! BSK have figured this out. They're not against residents, they just don't know how to unwind this thing! Besides, if BSK, Stocks and Dalager all vote the same, what does that tell you? Probably that the decisions are fairly self evident! Desert Rose? Frankly they had no choice. It's a stupid project in the wrong place but it was so far along by the time BSK got it that they couldn't do anything. Can anyone articulate what motive BSK have for being "against residents"?
DeleteI'm not a political hack, more like a political junkie. I could never do this stuff for a living!
- The Sculpin
Even though Prop A came on top, it is a sad chapter in City history. Our City Council chose to waste $400,000 of our taxpayers money on the hopes that they could use propaganda and poor ethics to confuse voters and overturn the will of Encinitas citizens. Instead of simply accepting the 8650 signatures that were verified, they chose to take this issue to an election and tried to play both sides acting as both supporters and victims when the No on A people misquoted them.
DeleteIf they make one more misstep, I fear that we will have a Prop R--for Recall of Council.
Hello Sculpin
DeleteDesert Rose was the perfect opportunity for the council to stand with residents on the issue of safety and the environment - they sided with the developer instead.
On Prop A the council could have remained neutral- they opposed residents instead.
On the PR person they could have told the city manager now is not the time, instead they ignored residents and sided with Vina.
I do not buy your argument that change somehow comes slowly. Change comes with effective leadership.
3:38 - could you take a stab at motive? Why is the council (BSK) being anti-resident? What do they have to gain?
Delete- The Sculpin
Hello Sculpin BSKGM have become enamored with Gus Vina. Mr. Vina is making the recommendatio to first oppose residents on DR threatening the council that Gonzalex the high density for maximum proft over the enviornment lawyer would sue. This included Vina probably suggesting to BSKGM that the DR residents would not. Next is Prop A and the record is clear that Vina retained Rutan for $40K before ever being directed to do so............no surprise Vina suggested the council not remain neutral but oppose residents, then ther is the PR hire when the city can't afford it .....another Vina suggestion. BSKGM are being led by the nose by high spending bankrupting Gus Vina, The motive is BSKGM need to muster the courage to lead, now the 5 blind mice are following Vina right off a cliff..
DeleteAnd not to worry re: the next election...even those now opposed to Barth, Shaffer, and Kranz would not be so far gone as to choose a Forrester over one of them.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. Hold your nose and vote for the least stinky of the many- Stocks, Dalager, Guerin, Long, Forrester, Jacobsen- wheeeewwwiieeeee that stinks!
Delete12:03
ReplyDeleteExcuse me only 8000 plus residents voted yes on prop A .there are 60000 plus
Who live in this town and yes many of them like me voted NO or don't care,you make
It sound like it was unanimous .
Turnout: 12867 out of 39839 registered voters = 32.3%
DeleteYes: 6671
No: 6196
Gap: 475 = 3.7%
Again: 39,000 residents out of 60,000 residents.
DeleteYou might find it interesting to know that Kristin Gaspar was elected with about 8,000 votes, Barth had maybe 7,500 votes. For a special election the turnout was phenomenal. Considering the out of town profit seek high density carpet baggers spent 100K it is amazing yes on A won
DeleteFor 2:22—
DeleteElections and ballot initiatives are decided by registered voters who cast votes. As of the Prop A ballot, there were 39,839 registered voters in Encinitas. Of those, 12,867 (32.3%) voted. The split was 6,671 for and 6,196 against, making the gap 475 (3.7%). The US census has the Encinitas population at 60,400. The difference between that figure and the number of registered voters is 20,651. Those folks are kids who are too young to vote and other people who for whatever reason didn't register.
Again....
ReplyDeleteSomeone is trying to divert attention away from the priority issues of huge fire department costs and an incompitant City Manager.
This was a very close and hotly contested election to now yell and pound
ReplyDeleteyour chest serves know real purpose .This is not over ,infacted the real work
is just beginning by the council,planning staff and coastal comm. Yes and later
The court.
Coastal commission three experts - 2 on the Coastal commission said no involvement or approval with A, stop spreading that falsehood.
DeleteI've heard no beating of chests, just No folks being over-sensitive.
Of course it wasn't unanimous. It was mighty close. But an interesting study how the scale was tipped which included:
ReplyDeleteThe NO folks spent what? 100K?
The YES folks spent what? 20K?
The YES folks won by 4%
If the investment each side made above is close, the NO folks spent 500% more than the YES folks did and got less votes.
The NO folks name dropped without permission and quoted city council members without permission.
The NO folks used city funded business organization logos without permission.
The NO folks misled. They assured voters on the ballot argument that "5 story buildings" were not and will never be on the radar for Encinitas. (But the ERAC tape is clear, and if the committee was not significant, why bother gathering a room full of influential local multi-millionaires to make reccomendations to council?)
The NO folk did a great job of confusing the public, claiming Prop A would upzone properties allowing any area to go up to 30' without a public vote. Not true. What's zoned for say 24' stays 24'.
The NO folks claimed upzoning ALWAYS has gone to a public vote. But a group of 5 Planning Commissioners upzoned a lot of areas in Encinitas from 2 to 3 stories completely WITHOUT a public vote, and completly against the Sparc committee's recomendations. When the Planning Commission completed their tweaking of the Specific Plan for Leucadia, it went to COUNCIL for finalization - not the people. 4 of the 5 council members approved it, upzoning and all.
The NO folks were heavily funded by out of town interests. I don't thinks the YES side had any foreign support. Just a lot of local volunteerism, dedication and a fraction of the signs, robocalls and flyers that NO folks did.
It's frustrating to live in a town where even a Planning Commission overrides Specific Plans they themselves helped to create. So I think Prop A is good recourse for that. A lot of time had to be spent by YES people undoing damage done by the NO's. It's true that it's hard to unring a bell, but I think the YES folks actually did it. Barely!
Great points Fred. As has been pointed out earlier, we are $400,000 poorer because of Gus Vina and his recommendation to the Council and their vote to have an election. I hold them accountable for the split City that we have today since a number of citizens begged them not to spend the money on this election.
DeleteI cannot help but think if the City Council had said Yes on A, that there would be a lot of angry people who didn't want this. So, I think it was important for it to go to a vote of the people. Yes, it cost a lot of money. But, if one was for A, it was worth it. If one was against A, perhaps it does seem like a huge waste of money. The argument on the No side might have been, couldn't you have waited until the new Council got up to speed?
Deletethe council should have remained neutral
DeleteIn conversation with Teresa, Tony, Lisa, they showed zero indication that they would work with the people. Teresa was non-responsive, Lisa wanted four stories, and Tony was more worried about multi-million dollar property owners poised to up-zone than the average resident. Let them "get up to speed"? No way. The red flags were there and the gamble that they would listen to residents - really listen - not worth the risk.
Deletethe council should have remained neutral. Bad call on their part.
ReplyDeleteFred
ReplyDeleteOpinions are like assholes every one has one
Decorum, please!
DeleteBased on public information on the PAC activities, I calculated that the NO on A side collected $95K for this election, a cost of $15.40 per vote. yes on Prop A collected $10.5K a cost of $1.57 per vote.
ReplyDeleteMoney does not buy you everything in Encinitas!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete9:14
ReplyDeleteLucky us.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWill our City Council do something positive this week or continue to just sit on their hands?
ReplyDeleteWill they vote no against any fire department promotions and associated cost increases?
Will they fire Sacramento Gus?
How long can Encinitas survive with this bleeding checkbook at the helm?
Our Council members should reacquaint themselves with their own campaign promises!
ReplyDeleteWait until the council strategic plan workshops start for the public. Surprise! Same old - same old. As Gus tells the council - I will tell you a little bit now and more later. It is tooooo complicated for the council to understand it at once.
ReplyDeleteIt is called the mushroom treatment a la Vina. Feed them some manure slowly but surely to make them grow in the dark just the way he wants them to. When they have benn molded, retire, enjoy the pension, and finally learn how to surf.
ReplyDeleteBINGO!!!
DeleteChampiñónes al Modo de Vina
DeleteYou will not be welcome at my break.
DeleteYour break? Where might that be? I cant wait to drop in on you and fade you into more kooks on the inside getting in the way like yourself.
DeleteLL most posts here are informative, intelligent and witty. Yours seem bitter, angry and self serving , maybe you do work for the city
DeleteHongos a la Vina crecidos y desarrollados en la oscuridad.
DeleteLoser. take a chill pill and if you can see the problems at City Hall, then you too are a part of the problem. Go ahead and drop in on me and act like a big Dick, see what happens big guy.
ReplyDeleteMeant to say, "if you can not see the problems at City Hall"
ReplyDeleteDon't act like a dick.
You don't like it when the shoe's on the other foot kicking your ass do you?
ReplyDeleteYour break?
Where is it?
Tabletops, Seaside, Georges, Cardiff reef, Suckouts, Tower whatever at the campground, pipes, dabbers, Swamis, Boneyards, inbetweens, D street, moonlight, A street, Roseta, Beacons, Northreef, Pheobe, Whitefence Roundhouse. Avocados,Grandview, Seabluff, or Tomatoe patch?
Take your localism somewhere else.
See you in the water.
Some posts are witty and informative.
Most of the commentators are not!
Wow- are you a city employee Loser L ? You sound very angry and bitter. It is interesting sociologically as if you are a city employee/public employee you are correct that many of the posts on EU are critical of local government leadership- and I can see how you might take that personally.
DeleteWhat I find interesting sociologically is that residents of Encinitas and certain segments of the country are waking up to the decades of mismanagement and waste of taxpayer money and are starting to do something about it.
There is a growing divide in our country of those who work for the government and have one lifestyle and those who work in the private sector and have a diminished lifestyle. Add to this that it is the private sector worker with flat/stagnant of falling wages that is paying for the increased salary and pension of city and state/federal employees.
While private workers can't fund their own 401K's they are on the hook to pay for the lifetime luxurious retirements of kings such as Mark Muir and his 170K, Phil Cotton and his 103K and Pat Murphy and his 140K lifetime pensions plus health care-
Their is growing and building resentment among the public for the creation of a two tiered economic systems of well paid and rewarded public employees and struggling private employees-
Add to this that while the cost of public administration is going up as the result of bloated pensions and wages services for residents is going down. In Chicago and Oakland cops there is no longer police service to residents for break and entering, robbing and burgularly- the cops don't have resources. In Oakland residents have begun arming themselves and forming neighborhood watch groups-
In Encinitas there is not money for the Hall Park but there is money to build firehouses like the $6.3M Cardiff FH that was unneeded. Add to this the 35% wage and pension increase good Ol' crony Stocks gave his union supporters, then look at the new $1M dollar cabinet Vina has hired in the last year, then look at the commando martial law gear the cops are wearing at city hall meetings.
I sense your angst and anger, you sound like a person who knows they are living the highlife built on the backs of others and that the public is beginning to notice.
ps- your comment of dropping in- way uncool bro, aloha
The 35 percent increase in 2005 was for pensions only. Houlihan also voted for it.
DeleteISD that you Jerome? You always did try to hide your failed leadership by pointing fingers at others, even people who can not defend themselves
DeleteI think loser thinks Anonymous is one poster.
ReplyDeleteI for one love this blog. It is the best news source for Encinitas. Its like the Leucadia Blog used to be before they shut it down.
It beats papa manchesters developer rags and the Patches heavy editing and pushing the government propaganda and wantabe writers like flanders crap.
Keep up the free speech press WC. If people don't like the content, don't read it.
People has also shown restraint on the flame level as well lately. Obviously, its safer and more enjoyable to post Anon.
Closing- I support firing Vina considering he only give broken methods to problems. We need a City Manager that can get positive things done. Lets get things heading in the right direction.
Loser:
ReplyDeleteHave you ever been to a council meeting or a city event? The city is already doing a great job of patting itself on the back. It's not required that W.C. or anyone else to do the same. In fact, when things are going well, it's not necessary to do anything but sit back an enjoy it. Things will get off track soon enough. This is when outsiders need to step in when the insiders are doing nothing.
You are too sensitive about criticism directed at the city administration, which includes council, city manager, and the staff that sits in cubicles at city hall. It takes an effort to keep things running well. It's my experience that we all need constant reminders to keep to a high level. W.C. and others are providing that reminder.
I agree that there is no shortage of praise or made up staff awards at City Hall. The thing that citizens take away from this elementary school, gold star system is that the City has low standards!
DeleteWe work in the grown up world where people who hide and destroy records, omit information, lie and go surfing or talk on cell phones in the parking lot during work hours get in trouble or may lose their jobs. I have personally experienced or observed all of these things with various staff members over the year. Yet, how many staff members have ever gotten fired at the City?
I would like to address those above and below who think there are no conservatives in Encinitas. How short are your memories? Do you not remember the outrage when the guy built the topless bar off Encinitas Blvd.? People were out there with their kids, taking pics of people going in and out and posting them on the internet. Encinitas has a law that says businesses like those cannot be opened or built in certain proximity to any Encinitas school. This whole community and original laws were set up as a extremely conservative area. the families that live here love the fact that crap like that cannot go on here and that is why the values of this area stay up! I am proud of Encinitas and Rancho Santa Fe that those conservative values keep our community they way it is.
ReplyDeleteI am a conservative and I raised my kids here because of those very laws. I know we have other issues, but what a major plus that our schools are strategically placed so nothing like that can ever be built here. Great job conservatives of Encinitas, Leucadia, Cardiff, and Olivenhain. You keep our communities beautiful and our kids safe.