Gus likes to talk about dialogue, but there IS no dialogue since words like dialogue, communication, and conversation are all reciprocal or two-way processes. There is no way that citizens can participate since there is no clear entry point into the process. When we share our thoughts and when they don't like what we say, they simply refuse to process or consider our comments. The entire Stategic Plan is a top down intiative. He says that he is rolling it out slowly because it is a work in process. I attended his soft roll out of the plan in Olivenhain, and he talked about the importance of community character and said that he wanted to know what community character means for at least 15 minutes, but it did not appear on his handout at all. An audience member pointed out that his oral and written presentations need to match.Public participation is encouraged only so long as it fits within staff's narrowly defined set of acceptable opinions (e.g. the dot exercises pitting neighborhoods against each other over high-density development). But it's not just the public whose options are curtailed. Similary, Gus Vina limits the City Council's power. By presenting limited information and a limited set of options, Vina neuters the Council and preserves the status quo. Example: Vina's options for Encinitas' financial problems only include more revenue via more development or higher fees on residents, never substantial cuts to Encinitas' bloated budget and excessive payroll and pensions. And the new council that so many had so much hope for either doesn't recognize the dynamic, or worse, happily accepts it. It's enough to make one think Russell Brand has a point in saying, "Don't vote; nothing changes." See also North Coast Current: Encinitas aims to increase engagement on strategic plan.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
The ruse of public participation
From the Inbox:
Vina defines citizen participation in terms of those who agree with him. His definition of Encinitas revolves around how he can liquidate our property values and raid our city funds to secure his own retirement.
ReplyDeleteEncinitas residents want to keep Encinitas the way that it is (was) before they increased the number and intensity of downtown bars, increased the number of high density housing projects, welcomed piercing and tattoo parlors into Cardiff, and increased the number of City staff to serve as additional insulation between Vina and citizens.
What does this vision of Encinitas have to do with anyone who lives here?? What type of a process is citizen participation if these are the policies that are put into place?
Council and Vina's idea of public participation is to have the public come to workshops and listen to what they have planned for us. Sometimes they can be a bit generous and allow the public to comment while they pretend to listen. In the end, they do what they want. If they really were keen on listening to the public's wishes they would acknowledge the importance of Prop A passing and the public turnout to fight the downtown bars. All that Vina is missing is a pair of horns and a pitchfork. All that council is missing is common sense.
ReplyDeleteThe GP workshops went bad before Vina got here. Barth was writing editorials telling the public to "participate" in these propaganda exercises and reeducation sessions. It is time to show Barth the door. Vina works at the pleasure of the council majority. Without Barth's protection, Vina is gone.
ReplyDeleteBarth is a sellout.
DeleteI agree Vina should be gone, but all of you have been around a long time know that it has been a long time since we have had a City Manager that is any good. Why can't we get someone who really understands that the citizens pay the bills? In fact, I cannot think of one City Manager that was very good, except the interim manager (forgetting his name) until Council found someone else. Does anyone remember his name? It wasn't Phil Cotton. He was here for about 9 months. Perhaps the citizens need to find someone and then find people to run for Council that would support that person/ Just a thought. I know many of you don't think the citizens should have to do all work that the staff and Council should do, but it seems that is the only way the majority of citizens are going to win. The newcomers to our City have no "city history" and somehow us older citizens have to educate them. They moved here for a reason. Let's find out what it it was.
ReplyDeleteRaising the eternal question, who replaces Vina?
DeleteHopefully someone who does not have a background as Director of Finance in 2 bankrupt cities under his belt!
DeleteBarth has admitted that the dots exercise "input" workshops were a sham. That was when she had the minority position to hide behind. Now that she's in the supposed majority, she hides behind Vina. Disgusting.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can confirm that Terresa expressed her concerns about the GP update workshops, especially the detailed questionnaires and the dot exercise. The problem now is that she completely supports Vina without any reservations.
Delete
ReplyDeleteIt is the other way around. Vina hides behind Barth and is playing her and the others as fools. He is making a quarter of a million per year--more than Justice John Roberts and Jerry Brown. He gloats that councils will all be gone, and he and his staff will still be there still collecting the money that the councils are approving for him and others. When he is gone, we will owe him over $200,000 per year for the rest of his life.
If Teresa had not sold out and lost the respect of all who put her into office while still serving as the butt of jokes of her traditional enemies that she now works for, she would be a very sad figure indeed. She will be remembered as the worst mayor that we have ever had in Encinitas.
However, it is the City of Encinitas that is the real tragic figure in this story.
Interesting how the council is mocked and dissed behind their backs by the employees they are generously bestowing undeserved money upon. City workers "work" at maintaining their position at minimum effort with the main goal of the retirement pension payday. THAT IS THEIR WORK. And they have made no secret of just wanting to make it to retirement, they have no admiration or respect for council but love the undeserved benefits.
ReplyDeleteIt is OUR money that the council is giving to the undeserving City of Encinitas employees. Is our council detached from their responsibility to serve the people who voted them into office?
ReplyDeleteApparently, yes.
1:02-How do you know that? I have never heard anything disrespectful said about the Council, at least at the Parks and Rec. Dept. where I serve as a Parks and Rec. Commissioner. The problem with statements like yours, is that people get turned off by even looking at what we could accomplish. Wc, has provided us with a forum to express ideas. And, I realize anyone can post whatever they want anonymously. Personally, I think it is great that people can do that. But, perhaps, even anonymous posters could remember that we all want our community to be the best it can be. ANd, "trashing" all of the staff is like a question on a true/false test. Anytime someone says all or never, it has to be false, as nothing is that definitive, or at least I don't think it is.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good point, but what may cause some citizens to make generalizations is that the council and Gus Vina make sweeping comments about the excellence of the staff. I have almost never heard them direct anything but praise onto staff.
DeleteI think comments posted here are a response to how self complimentary Gus and the city workers are and that this has polarized our city. I did not nor write the 1:02 comment, but I have seen a lot of terrible performance at the City on a consistent basis. Any other place and these people would be history.
When was the last time that anyone was fired? When was the last time that someone highlighted a staff mistake, an untruth, or an omission? At least once a week.
Amen, it's a harsh thing to condemn all staff. I've worked with some of them, especially in planning, and had some good results. Then, there's the other side of the coin. My comment would be, it's like that everywhere. I'm not saying it's right, don't get me wrong, but to think that every organization would have 100% effort and quality is ludicrous. Every company, team, army etc. has some wink links. It's how you address that issue that separates you.
DeleteCertainly no one can expect perfection from any organization, and no one here is asking for expecting that.
DeleteBig however: when senior staff members actively work against the very residents they were hired to serve, we have a huge, huge problem.
9:18
DeleteEven some spellers have weak links.
Listen on the street corner.
ReplyDeleteAsk how it is working in a disorganized environment. Ask about needing to cover your tracks out of fear.
ReplyDeleteIs 1:30 a city staff member? The City of Encinitas is unquestionably a disorganized environment. Nobody will dispute that.
DeleteWhat is there to fear at the City? Nobody loses their jobs.
Perhaps I am the one out of the loop, and if so, I apologize. I cannot remember a time when a staff person was fired, but then again, I didn't realize that so many people think they don't do their jobs. I will say I was try disappointed in Jace Schwarms's staff report the other night, however, I made the assumption that it was what she was asked to do. She just compared price of Contract City Attorneys. I do know that at least some of her numbers were low, so perhaps I am mistaken about some staff performance.
ReplyDeleteCorrection I will say I was VERY, not try. Given I am typing one handed these days, I do hope you will forgive my typos.
DeleteSome of staff are excellent public servants, the "rank and file." In any organization, there will be good apples and bad apples. Part of the challenge in our city is that most of the Department Heads, now "rebranded," as Gus Vina's "Cabinet," are new, as is our City Manager. In my opinion, our "new" Council could and should have looked at reducing the pay for department heads, to set a good example, also in fairness to the rank and file, "represented" employees, who were held to no pay increases for this cycle.
ReplyDeleteDepartment heads new to the City, should be hired at a lower rate of pay, and should get increases, after a year, perhaps, after COUNCIL determines, with the help of the City Manager, and peer review, as well as public input and other staff input, whether or not they're doing a good job. Merit pay increases should be encouraged, NOT an automatic, overly high starting point.
Council should change the procedure for hiring and compensating Department Heads. Also, I don't care for the term, "Cabinet," because it's just another way of pitting "us vs. them."
I do think that some members of staff have had questions about Council. Of course they don't want to lose their jobs! They aren't going to openly criticize or even question, if they know what's good for them.
We have given a newcomer to our city, Gus Vina, tremendous power to set policy. Our Mayor's judgment has become clouded by her inability to listen to, or to attempt to comprehend, what she sees as "detractors" are saying to her, to all of Council, and to one another, in the media, and in person.
Someone new to our city is believed and "followed," given an excellent in his evaluation, when that is very obviously not how the public feels about how our City has been run since Vina was hired, as recommended by the panel that included Teresa Barth and Patrick Murphy.
It is Council, including the Mayor, who has turned its back on the public.
Excellent post. Employees are not going to "question" without some discretion since the city offers obvious perks.
DeleteIt is called staff bias. They are too well paid and cushy to risk upsetting the apple cart, and if they were to lose their jobs, they could never find anything as good.
DeleteIt is the wrong set of rewards since they seem to identify and hire people who are lacking in credentials to have the job in the first place.
Again, Fred, you are giving us a false choice, below, either stop signs, or roundabouts. That's NOT our alternative.
DeleteJust as the dot exercises during the MIG workshops, later facilitated by Peder Norby were a "ruse," actually discounting and distorting public participation, so the dot exercises through Peltz and Associates were uncontrolled, statistically insignificant. The Peltz & Associates workshops were another ruse, a manipulative marketing strategy used to push roundabouts and to downplay the public's true wishes.
These bogus workshop "findings" were used and are being used to stifle dissent, to cut out the "little guy," not part of special interests' partnership/subsidiary/sponsor relationship with the City. Average, often unaware citizens are cut out of meaningful public participation, deleted from a "public process" weighted against the typical resident voter.
Of course in a city of less than 60,000, many people are children, Fred, so they are not voters. But allowing a public vote encourages public participation, through more direct democracy. I feel we should have an Election Committee, composed of citizens, who can bring forward ballot measures for Council to seriously consider putting on the General Election ballot, for only approximately $23,000 per question. In the case of roundabout plan on Highway 101, the streetscape from A St. to La Costa, there are well over 10000 signatures of citizens who are AGAINST four one-lane roundabouts and lane elimination for motorists. When there are over a thousand signatures, for or against something, Council should consider putting a question on the ballot, as it did, before, regarding the location of the library.
Honest question to anyone out there, how do surrounding cities like Solana Beach, Carlsbad etc. handle these pay and employee issues. Would love to see a comparison of how we stack up with surrounding cities, I think it would be valuable.
DeleteMy question is, isn't that how it always is? They're not going to hire Vina and NOT give him a lot of power to set policy.
DeleteThe usual municipal practice is to continue increasing payroll costs until there's a budget crisis. That's what happened at Vina's prior two cities, Stockton and Sacramento, and that's what's happening now in Encinitas.
DeleteCity managers and their high-priced HR directors look around to other cities who also have excessive pay, and use those comparisons to justify the status quo. They never question why they get 100 highly qualified applicants for every job posting, or why the pay and pension packages are so obscenely beyond anything available to people with similar skills in the private sector.
Another trick they use is to require a BS (Bull S__, not Bachelor of Science) degree like a Masters of Public Administration that you can get online or at a third-rate night school. Because nobody in the private sector gets this stupid degree, they eliminate highly qualified applicants and comparisons to private sector compensation.
I'm not aware of Carlsbad or Solana Beach doing anything unusual on compensation costs.
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DeleteLynn, Believe what you will. More STOPS are the alternative future of N 101 if not for roundabouts; what you're hoping for are wider lanes, more pollution, more gas, money and time burned, more difficult left turns for everyone, more dangerous roads and beautificaltion improvements matching what was done at Leucadia Roadside Park "Sent To Disneyland". Why would anyone else want that, let alone 10,000?
DeleteObviously, you are believing what your closed mind is set on.
DeleteDon't tell me what I'm hoping for. I'm NOT hoping for "wider lanes, more pollution, more gas, money and time burned," ad nauseam. Please stop with your BS LIES.
People who signed the petition, over 1,000, up to 3,000 signatures, do NOT want four one lane three way intersection roundabouts and lane elimination.
Tell all your jive to your hand. I'm not arguing with you about this anymore. Leave my name out of it from this point forward.
Probably true, WC, but wasn't that going on in Encinitas with Phil Cotton and his predecessor? If what you say is true, why will the next guy be any different. I asked about Carlsbad to get a comparison, what does their city manager get paid, how many people do they have over $100k? BTW, the reason they don't question it, is because this is the system that has always been in place. The private sector used to have things like decent pensions, but those have all been removed in favor of 401k's, which are great when the market is up, but not so good in 2008. It's a fair question, why did we let one of the keystones of working, ie the pension, go by the wayside. I'm not in favor of outsize pensions in the public realm, it has to change, but if you've worked in the private sector the last 30 years, you know all to well about wage stagnation, layoffs, removal of pensions and a host of other drawbacks. I've worked at plenty of companies where "high level" execs fleeced the company, and then gave themselves a buyout to leave.
DeleteLooks like pay for the Cbad city manager is around 220k a year. City attorney is 210k a year. This is down from what the prior city manager made. Also looks like she retired suddenly.
Deletehttps://thecoastnews.com/2012/04/carlsbad-city-manager-attorney-receive-pay-raises/
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/Oct/23/carlsbad-city-manager-part-ways/
Here's a chart:
Deletehttp://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/Nov/03/city-manager-pay-averages-204000/
9:20,
DeleteEven when pensions were common in the private sector, they were much more modest than current public pensions. Nobody got full salaries for life at 55.
Any company that tried to offer pensions as generous as Encinitas gives its employees would soon be bankrupt.
True, firefighters got a lot of there's on the backs on 9-11, and public employees unions got the rest while everyone in the state was napping. My point was more to the effect of, people are angry, because public employees are getting something they're not. That's a lot of it on a gut level. I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying I support it, but you can't deny it's a source of a lot of hostility. Nobody cared in the late 90's or early 2000's when the Qualcomms of the world were pumping out stocks options. Even sham operations like MP3.com had people fired up. But when that engine ran out, then and only then did people start to care about public pensions. Thirty years ago was probably the time we should've started taking a look at the issue.
DeleteMy observation is that of our 60,000 residents, most are indifferent to change. Only a fraction are registered voters, and only some of them vote at all on local issues. The vast majority of the ones that do vote want someone else to run the city as they don't have the time and/or interest in getting up to the microphone at city hall every week with their input. That leaves only a fraction of those voters who care enough to become engaged in a decision making process like going to council meetings, emailing council, joining a town council, business association etc. etc.. Sure, when one person has a problem with one issue you'll see them all the time until it if or not becomes resolved.
ReplyDeleteMy experience with public workshops is that they're usually well advertised in local papers, mailers from the city and with banners at busy intersections around town. I think we're lucky to receive the participation we do - which sometimes brings a few hundred people in like at Leucadia Streetscape workshops, LTC campaign forums or recent meetings about drinking downtown that flooded city hall out into the courtyard.
I think it was a General Plan meeting a while back at the Community Center in which I noticed a forced choice attempt. "Which kind of 3 story building do you like better?" as they showed various 3 story buildings on a large Powerpoint screen. "None of the above" was not a choice! Fortunately, now it is.
I agree, DOTS are not as reliable as legitimate surveys or elections. But I can say that the survey Leucadia Merchants Association took in 1993 shared identical concerns to the top 5 or 6 things that were wanted at Streetscape meeting with: attractive street lamps, sidewalks, bike lanes, traffic improvements, parking, and restoring the canopy of trees both times topping the list. The only differences between those polls now and then are:
#1. 101 Storm drainage issues. Concerning that particular issue, well over 5 million dollars of improvements were made and now canoe rides are no longer possible for 5 blocks on N 101. (Not that there still isn't room for improvement on sidestreets etc).
#2. In 1993, few had computers to easily research anything, but virtually NO ONE was savvy as to how beneficial roundabouts are; saving gas, time, money, improving air quality, easier left and U-turns, increasing safety and beauty and preventing more dangerous, ugly and wasteful signaled intersections from inevitably popping up instead. Consequently, roundabouts were not on the radar then. Now, there is no good excuse to not adopt them here. Incidentally, back then nearly everyone who had a business on a corner wanted a stop sign for slowing traffic - benefiting from better visibility of course was also a perk for wanting that. But today we know the more stops you put in, the longer it takes to get through town and the more back-up and cut-through traffic you get (along with the other negative features they inherently have).
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DeleteThere were not "hundreds" at any of the Peltz & Associates workshops, according to the sign-in sheets, Fred. The category of roundabouts was brought up by Dan Burden, not by a member of the public, who brought up the category, NO ROUNDABOUTS, first.
DeleteWe all do want a bicycle lane, preferably in the railtrail corridor, a dedicated bicycle lane, separated from the highway. That's "in the works," but only from Chesterfield to E Street! It should be planned NOW from Chesterfield to La Costa. Northbound lane ELIMINATION for motorists is NOT popularly supported by local commuters and local residents.
You are correct, only a minority get involved, including by coming to workshops. At Workshop number three, the one which was advertised with banners, with the help of Sub Palace and Leucadia Glass, the workshop held at City Hall on 11/13/2008, over 60% of the people did NOT support roundabouts. Some of the answers to the last two questions are missing from the Peltz and Associates report submitted on 1/5/10, over a year later.
But the Peltz & Associates report for ALL the workshops and open houses, only show enthusiastic support for one single roundabout, the one at Grandview, although "enthusiastic support" is not quantified. We don't know how many people at the first workshop, Part B, supported even that roundabout.
We can agree that we would like to preserve and protect the canopy, provide more parking (the city, perhaps in cooperation with L101MA could buy some of the empty lots for parking lots), more u-turn lanes, continuing improvement in the sidewalks. We can agree that we need to address storm drainage issues.
Roundabouts are a trend. They are used by some, in "partnership" with city authorities, as development tools, to avoid full environmental impact report for development, as intersections with roundabouts no longer have to be graded.
When the roundabout workshops happened, we were in a huge housing bubble. Workshop 3 was after the bubble had begun to pop. Although a public make-work project may sound good, we would much rather the money go toward a dedicated bicycle lane in the railtrail corridor, and more safe, at grade crossings. We would rather the potholes, including the one on Encinitas Blvd, near 101, turning from the Highway onto the Blvd, in order to turn south, at Vulcan, could be fixed. I had called Public Works about this particular pothole. It's still there, creating tire damage, I'm certain, for many cars.
During peak periods, roundabouts do not decrease stops; they would increase them, as they do on Leucadia Blvd., when traffic backs up. Also, roundabouts do NOT decrease stops when they are put in at intersections that do not already have north/south stopsigns. Someone approaching the highway from a street west of 101 would still have to come to a "rolling stop" at the least, to make sure that it would be safe to enter the roundabout.
The workshops did not accurately "vet" the plan that included roundabouts, because the data was distorted, "massaged," and twisted. Plus, it is now outdated, five years later. Although sharrows went through the Traffic Commission and the Environmental Commission, roundabouts and lane elimination for motorists on the highway has NEVER gone through ANY of the commissions, including Planning, Traffic and Environmental, as it should for a $20 MILLION+ public works highway project. Lobbyists sponsored workshops are less well attended, overall, than City Council Meetings.
You can do as many push polls as you want; you can do as many advertisements through oral communications at City Hall as you want. The fact is, while the public does support improving our roadways and beautifying our city, we don't support four one-lane three-way intersection roundabouts with NO cross streets, reducing the speed limit from an already lowered 35 MPH to 15 MPH.
As with all Lynn post's, most of her content is trash. Same incorrect statements week after week.... Its to painful to read, so I just skip.
DeleteGarbage in, garbage out.... plain and simple.
What a talent you have....instantaneous comprehension without reading a word!
DeleteWill there be canoe rides today, weather permitting?
Delete"There were not "hundreds" at any of the Peltz & Associates workshops, according to the sign-in sheets, Fred. "
DeleteGuess you missed the Oak Crest meeting. Besides, it wasn't the same 200 people showing up at following meetings, but many new comers. But don't check the sign-in sheet. Ask the janitor.
I too went to the Oak Crest Meeting, and the above sounds right. It was really well attended. You may have an issue with their methodology on how they took input, but the opportunity was definitely there.
DeleteI was at the initial workshop, Part A, over five years ago, at Oak Crest Middle School, on February 21, 2008. The sign in sheet shows only 99 people, although the "head count" was allegedly 130 + people.
DeleteThat is NOT hundreds of people. Also, EVERYONE I saw coming in the door signed in and got dots and other materials; we were supposed to be handed out only seven dots each.
The "opportunity" was there, but more heavily weighted in favor of those people, with a huge emphasis on STAKEHOLDERS, such as L101MA Board of Directors, who were best notified of the workshops.
At that Oak Crest Workshop, as you remember, "heavily" attended, only 14 dots were placed on ROUNDABOUTS. Someone, on EU, has already admitted placing all seven of his anonymous dots on that one category.
The NO ROUNDABOUTS category got 11 dots, randomly placed, ONLY ONE by each person opposing roundabouts on Highway 101. That was at Phase A of Workshop 1. In the "order of priorities, Roundabouts, with 14 dots, seven of them placed by the same individual, and probably 14 placed by one or two individuals, rated #12, NO ROUNDABOUTS was rated #15, with a difference of only three fewer dots. Had I placed all seven of my dots on NO ROUNDABOUTS, that category would have received 17 votes, placing it #10 in the list of priorities.
Number One was restore the tree canopy, with 47 dots, including one from me. #7 with 26 dots was bury the RR Tracks, far more than roundabouts!
At Phase B, two days later, on 2/23/208, there was a walkabout, beginning at City Hall, with people bused to 101, beginning at A Street, divided into two walking groups. There were no numbers given for the amount of individuals in each group. Again there were wildly discrepant numbers of people who signed in, 49, and the "head counts" of people allegedly participating in the walkabout, 100+.
That walkabout was followed by focus groups, of indeterminate numbers, later that day, after walkers returned to City Hall. During those focus groups ONLY the roundabout at Grandview was enthusiastically supported. No mention was made of the count required for the level of "enthusiastic." The first roundabout now planned, at El Portal, was only "discussed and supported, " again with no numbers given of actual people supporting. Also "discussed and supported" were roundabouts at A Street and Marcheta.
Marcheta and A St. roundabouts on Highway 101 were later eliminated because of grading and drainage problems, by staff. El Portal was left in, not because it's needed or because it was ever enthusiastically or strongly supported, but because "that's where the Downtown Streetscape Phase I left off, and there are less grading and drainage problems at El Portal and 101," according to Diane Langager, Senior Planner, on 12/15/10.
You can see Diane saying that on the webcast for the 12/15/10 Council Meeting, when most roundabout opponents were absent, probably due to the holidays. But L101MA Board of Directors was there, of course, with their unreported (on publicly disclosable tax forms) incessant lobbying for roundabouts, come hell or high water!
The below paragraph is just one example of Lynn's delusional mind at work.
Delete"The NO ROUNDABOUTS category got 11 dots, randomly placed, ONLY ONE by each person opposing roundabouts on Highway 101. That was at Phase A of Workshop 1. In the "order of priorities, Roundabouts, with 14 dots, seven of them placed by the same individual, and probably 14 placed by one or two individuals, rated #12, NO ROUNDABOUTS was rated #15, with a difference of only three fewer dots. Had I placed all seven of my dots on NO ROUNDABOUTS, that category would have received 17 votes, placing it #10 in the list of priorities."
Because she dreams it up in her head, she believes it to be true. Do a fact check and its completely false. But that doesn't matter to Lynn. Truth is not the point. Mis information is the point.
Classic Wacko.
More like crybaby. It's the World Series fault, the holidays fault etc. Or the L101's fault. God forbid a group or series of individuals should be entitled to an opinion other than hers. The headcount doesn't matter, plenty of people were there, chairs were full, people who were interested came....
Delete"the "head count" was allegedly 130 + people."
DeleteI stand corrected. Thanks for the annonymous allegation.
http://archive.encinitasca.gov/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=653047&dbid=0
DeleteCheck pages 52 and 53 of the 209 staff report for verification. Also many signatures of opponents can be verified through:
http://archive.encinitasca.gov/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=653225&dbid=0
Thanks for the links, Lynn. Looks like 136 people present at the meeting that actually filled out paperwork while whoever was counting heads came up with "130 - 150" present according to your thorough links. My head count was different. But I'd venture to say that that large of a turnout is probably the best from any community turn out so far compared to any other workshop.
DeleteWill read more of your links later, but wanted to share a clip from one CARLSBAD resident upset with Leucadia Streetscape four years ago. She was under the impression that it would make her 101 cut-through Encinitas/Leucadia drive to work in SOLANA BEACH more time consuming and less pleasant. Parts of her letter to Encinitas City Council:
"This has to be a joke....I can't even imagine. The shops/restaurants in this section frankly, don't have the quality or variety to justify such a huge expense. ...short-sighted and ridiculous. People will get so frustrated they will avoid the whole area."
Problem is, fat chance she attended any of our workshops to learn what traffic improvements are, but relied of whatever else to mislead her. The other problem is her letter was written before Interstate 5 was widened in Solana Beach and Del Mar which cut commuter traffic on N 101 nearly in half.
Wonder how she likes our new speed limit?
I asked that you leave my name out of it. As my final comments to you about this topic:
DeleteYou pull out one person and ignore thousands of people who signed petitions opposing roundabouts and lane elimination.
Part A of Workshop 1 had ONLY 99 people fill out the sign-in sheets. I don't know where you get 136 people "filled out paperwork." At all the meetings there was a BIG, unexplained discrepancy between the sign in sheets and the wide ranging "head counts." 130-150 is too wide a range for the "head count" to be statistically significant, as is your belated "guesstimation" of HUNDREDS.
That woman from Carlsbad relied on her own, direct experience. I don't agree with her sentiments about "the quality and variety" of the shops, but there is not the QUANTITY to justify such a huge expense. Many motorists like to travel up and down Highway 101. It is not right for a series of obstacles to be placed on State Highway 101 to "prevent" cut through traffic, from the freeway, without taking into consideration the cut through traffic through our Leucadia Neighborhoods, which WOULD be created. Many people living west of N101, have NO CHOICE but to use 101 for access/egress to our residential/recreational streets. Those going to Stonesteps, Beacon or Grandview beaches also MUST use 101. Putting four one-lane roundabouts on 101, which roundabouts would be for three way intersctions only, is NOT cost effective, and would hurt more than help business, during construction, and after, when tourists would begin avoiding Historic Highway 101, for example, during peak summer periods due to the bottlenecking of our former four lane highway down to two lanes, one in each direction, through the one lane roundabouts, including the same two lanes for bicyclists. Also we would lose more parking along the RR right of way than we would gain through the angled, back-in parking, benefiting a few businesses, only, at our great expense.
Nowhere else, in California, on Highway 101, or adjacent to RR tracks, have you shown examples of one-lane, three-way intersection roundabouts, with NO cross streets. That's because they are NOT cost-effective, NOR effective as traffic calmers. Instead, they would create more health and safety problems with frustrated motorists racing through residential/recreational neighborhood streets, and would also reduce already subpar emergency response times.
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DeleteSorry 12:37, missed your request to leave your name out of whatever it was.
Delete.
"It is not right for a series of obstacles to be placed on State Highway 101..."
Should have told that to Solana Beach, etc. etc. before they put in more stops on 101. Besides, Birdrock is old 101 that received 5 roundabouts in 5 blocks. People there LIKE them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQki1Aecktk
There are over 200 businesses on N. 101, and many other home based businesses adjacent. Traffic improvements will not hinder but help them and all other residents / visitors.
Your railroad argument baseless because our roundabouts do not interact with the tracks (much like they don't interact with tracks that are 300 miles away - except for that occasional noise). I have showed you pics of 3 ways next to railroads.
Carlsbad is getting a roundabout on 101. They are very popular because they are an innovation that works so well. and you'll be seeing a lot more of them in US cities as time goes by.
"they are NOT cost-effective,"
Everything online says they are.
" NOR effective as traffic calmers."
Wrong again.
"Instead, they would create more health and safety problems with frustrated motorists racing through residential/recreational neighborhood streets, and would also reduce already subpar emergency response times."
More unfounded and fear based allegations against sound change - for whatever reasons.
That said, HAPPY HALLOWEEN anyway, 12:37
She's a lost cause Fred. I really hope she follows through with her claims but we all know it won't be long before she starts in on you again with hearsay and second hand facts that she never backs up with any verifiable proof, She is chicken little and the little girl who cry's wolf all in one!
DeleteAnyone had a problem with gridlock on 101 yet?
I didn't think so.
Yeah. It's no wonder religions can't see eye to eye on anything untangible if political folk can't see eye to eye with verifiable facts.
DeleteI've been in Encinitas a long time, way before incorporation. I've known a number of city workers, some retired now and others still working. I've heard many negative things about staff and council. One thing is clear. Staff is discouraged from making public comments, and any city employee speaking publicly about the city will suffer severe consequences. One person still working at the city assures me that he/she will blow the whistle after retiring. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for those good employees who are asked to do things that they know are wrong like fudge numbers or destroy or hide files. On the other hand, there are some who willingly do these things with no hesitation. As weird as it sounds, some do unethical and potentially illegal things out of "loyalty."
DeleteWe need to get different leadership so that employees can be their best, not their worst.
Yup, right now is a tough time to speak out, when there are no jobs to be had. I've seen the same movie going on for staff at city hall at other places I've worked, both public and private. the fact that people are trying to earn pensions makes the secrecy more likely, because you have to hang on to make your time. That's one of the reasons I would oppose pensions, it doesn't reward effort in the right way.
Delete3:49 This is ludicrous!!! There are plenty of avenues for whistleblowers to be heard. So many that if an employee does not avail themselves of one they can be held liable as well for the perceived trangression. Or they could get a good lawyer and start building a case. Waiting for retirement to "blow the whistle" is a cop-out. It's gutless and cowardly.....OR........the transgression really doesn't rise the the level of criminality. This doesn't even pass the smell test........
Delete- The Sculpin
Sculpin,
DeleteI don't think "blow the whistle" necessarily means criminal activity. I interpreted the above to mean the usual waste, incompetence, and contempt for the public.
Surely you can see that there's a huge incentive not to rock the boat or follow "plenty of avenues" when you're cruising toward a set-for-life-at-55 retirement.
Hey WCV, You may be right, but assuming these were truly grave occurances, I have to believe (for my own sanity) that person would not be "cruising", rather they would be guilt ridden or perhaps disgusted with themselves to make such a pact with the devil. I understand people being trapped unawares, but character means something, and I would hope that someone in such a position would do whatever it took to uphold their character. At the ends of the day, that's all you got.......
Delete- The Sculpin
Sculpin:
DeleteYou are either naive or you've never faced the situation. I had to confront the dilemma. There was drug use going on in my place of employment. I told the owner, and he did nothing. Then the unpleasantness started. Later there was financial manipulation that affected my pay. I told the owner and got fired. He was tightly connected with local law enforcement. I had no recourse but to get on with my life. The owner made this difficult because he would not give me a recommendation.
I paid a high price. In my experience most people won't do what I did, and I understand why. So a city employee has more to think about that upholding their character. It's not as simple as you try to make it appear.
1:57 - you made the right decision and had to suffer for it. I applaud you! So why are you willing to hold others to a lessor standard? People always have a choice. If their retirement or lifestyle or whatever is more important than sheding light on malfeasance, then they own it, plain and simple. They can either bring it to light, or walk away. Either one is a statement by itself. And you're first sentence is flat out wrong.
Delete- The Sculpin
Sculpin
DeleteWhat makes you so high and mighty?
1:17 - only your perception.....without it I am nothing........
Delete- The Sculpin
Citizens as well are afraid to speak out. If you live here you may need something at city hall, and they can and will be punitive if they don't like you. They few who will post their names here have already had their run ins at city hall or are the braver minority. What a shame the city runs the citizens, symbolic of what is wrong in the "land of the free". Encinitas - From Flower Capital to Power (trip) Capital.
ReplyDeleteThere are staff members who threaten people that they will never get a project through the City if they report a bad experience with a City employee.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there have been cases of employees who harass citizens. Isn't it a form of harassment to lie and hide information that citizens have a right to know and which will impact them directly? That happens very often in some departments.
Go to the home of every council member, city manager and city atty. bang pots and pans. Drive them out!! Drive them out!!
ReplyDeleteUh, actually, it's called voting, the election will be next November. We gave up on the pitchfork thing a while back...
DeleteYou gave up out of cowardice.
DeleteBang your pots. Bang your pots.
The history of pot banging for social change goes back thousands of years. The most recent/modern change were the Argentinian women that banged pots and brought down their entire govt. You don't think pot banging will bring down this crummy little city govt?? You are a fool.
Bang your pots.
Bang your pots.
Bang away then, bang away. Trust me, I've been involved in every election the past 16 years, I haven't given up. And by comparison, Argentina is slightly more corrupt and less democratic than we are, having only gone back to democracy for the last 20-25 years. What we need, is more participation from everyone in the cities, the more people vote, the more the pols are held accountable. When people don't vote, incumbents get re-elected without even trying, and the beat goes on.
DeleteYour lack of faith is why you fail.
DeleteHorse puckey. Faith is what kept the non development side going the last 16 years. I wouldn't be out campaigning at 4am the sunday before the election without that faith. I probably didn't see you out there.
DeleteI think you just made 3:10's point.
DeleteHorse Feathers (I'm on a roll)! Hey, I'm down, if you want to bang a pot, bang a pot, I'm still going with the election route. Nobody said Democracy was easy.
DeletePut up or shut up!
ReplyDeleteAgain...we thought that's what we were doing when we campaigned for Lisa and Tony: putting up. Back to the drawing board....
ReplyDeleteSculpin: Two people I can think of the blew the whistle are now in jail or in Russia. Thinking Snowden and Manning. I realize that is a much larger scale but the citizens of the US should have had the right to know what they shared. Smaller scale here, but the same principle, unless of courser you think they should have not revealed all of the things that our government was doing. If any of you think that, then don't say staff should tell anything.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with you. Blowing any whistle does have consequences. Short term it's usually not so good for the whistle blower. Long term it has a way of working itself out.
Delete- The Sculpin
For these two men, I hope you are right-Sculpin. Would you have risked it? If not, staff should not have to risk getting fired close to retirement. And they are usually the ones that know stuff.
Deletesnowden is a traitor to america and our brave armed forces. He should be jailed but instead is in hiding under the protection of Vladimir Putin.
Delete8:03- You just proved my point. Snowden had information that the citizens of this country should have been informed of. And yet, he is a traitor. Can you imagine what would happen to staff if they revealed all of the things really going on at City Hall? There would be severe consequences, I can assure you. Perhaps you would be OK with losing a pension you worked for 25 years to get, but in this economy I am not sure I would.
DeleteI think the comparison with Snowden is a bit much, the stakes are a little higher. Still, if you're counting on the pension, that's no small thing.
DeleteSnowden is only a traitor to the cogs of the Machine. The cogs breed and thrive in ignorance and blind trust.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI can remember many a time that I was sexually and verbally harassed by a couple of former councilmen. The verbal attacks were heard by others. The sexual innuendos were also heard by another Council member. Did the other Council members who either heard or saw this happen did to step forward and do what I thought would be the right thing. And, if I said much more than I did, I actually feared a trumped up charge, which eventually did happen. I think we may all know who I am speaking of, so I will not mention names.
DeleteWould people please stop and support this council..... by herding them out the door.
ReplyDeleteWhen you see them during meetings, they look miserable! It looks like they would like it to end as much as we would. I have to say that Gaspar and Muir are the only ones who look comfortable up there.
DeleteThat's because they're not troubled by anything resembling a thought. At least the other 3 have some interest in the job. Gaspar is completely irrelevant with Jerome to tell her what to do. Muir is just a showpiece.
DeleteWho cares who is comfortable? I care that they do a good job!
DeleteI would rather have a council that was competent but derelict than a council made up of well meaning but incompetent bumblers.
Do you mean like Sheila Cameron?
ReplyDeletePlease run Sheila.
DeleteNice cheap shot, very classy and fair.
ReplyDeleteAnd so true.....
DeleteSheila truly cares about the city, sometimes her "approach" is more than a bit rough in the interpersonal matters. But she was up on her stuff, and tried to listen to all sides. I'd take one Sheila over Jerome, Christy, Bond, Dalager combined any day....
Delete4:14 agreed. 95% of Encinitas would agree.
Delete4:14 and 4:21 How can you make statements like that. I would say 95% of Encinitas doesn't know any of these characters. You really need to get real and back to planet earth.
DeleteI can make a statement like that because I worked on Sheila's campaigns, and yes this was over 10 years ago. I also worked on Tony and Lisa's campaigns, and not on Mark or Kristen's. The general "vibe" in this town is are you going to allow big money to dominate and develop everything and call the shots (Jerome Stocks, Kristin Gaspar, Mark Muir) or are you going to work hard in a grass roots fashion (Teresa Barth, Tony Kranz, Lisa Shaffer, in the past, Maggie to a degree) and try to serve the people a little bit more.
DeleteNow there are several new big issues, pensions and prop A, along with traffic, Pacific View etc. A lot of people don't care, I just had that illustrated. My neighbor just said "working on the mayoral campaign this year"? (It's next year). Who are the next candidates, we don't know yet. Depends who runs for mayor.
Why would we if we land in a city that doesn't know or value it's best citizens.
ReplyDeleteHow bout 95% of concerned & caring citizens.
ReplyDelete4:55 - it really doesn't matter what percent of Encinitans know the names, the characterization are accurate.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I agree. At the last Council meeting where Dr. Lori presented the information on Sabine, it was Muir who asked the tough questions. I don't think anyone else asked a thing, except Lisa, when she asked to do a Request for Proposal for another attorney or firm. Why was Muir the only one to ask Sabine anything? It sure made him mad, which I have to admit, I enjoyed. Of course, nothing changed, but it could if we had some courageous council people. WHich leads me to believe, what another poster said "what does Sabine have on these people?" Didn't seem to deter Muir from asking.
ReplyDeleteTeresa, who has had horrible advice from Sabine, was silent and didn't even second Lisa's motion. I cannot tell you how disappointing that was to many of us who watched.
ReplyDeleteGus & Sabine. Council is there for the fakey votes they are scared into. Nothing spookier for halloween than our leadership.
ReplyDeleteMuir & Sabine are on a page...Muir has nothing to fear from Sabine, which is why he can at least have the appearance of pushing an issue without fear. Are city watchers fooled by Muir's appearances? Not for a minute.
ReplyDeleteThese discussions are such an act by bad actors. No one is fooled.
DeleteMuir plays "bad cop" for theatre only - the oldest ruse in the book. He is in thick with the status quo.
DeleteMuir has nothing to fear from Sabine because he knows Sabine has to protect the fire dept and explain in court why every house that catches fire burns to the ground.
ReplyDeleteWhy is Gus Vina getting paid so much? Carlsbad has 110,000 residents, and Encinitas has just under 60,000, which is about twice the number as Encinitas. The State of CA has 38,000,000 who live here. Why does Gus Vina get paid more than the Carlsbad City Manager and more than Jerry Brown? Encinitas is about 19 square miles and he gets more to manage our city than the person who manages the entire state. This is just unreasonable!
ReplyDeleteVina gets 2.5 times as much pay as the city manager of Escondido! Why?? Do we get 2.5 times the service??
DeleteI'm not defending what he makes, but doesn't it say he makes less than the city mgr. of Escondido? Frankly, almost all of the salaries of these folks seem high to me.
Deletehttp://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/Nov/03/city-manager-pay-averages-204000/
FYI, here's the non-process that gave Phil Cotton the job when he was hired:
Deletehttp://www.utsandiego.com/news/2006/Sep/21/phil-cotton-appointed-to-encinitas-city-manager/
This has more on cotton and a link to more info on city manager pay:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/Jan/24/encinitas-city-manager-got-extra-pay/
I think Vina makes less than the Cbad city manager, if I read the chart right
Deletehttp://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/Nov/03/city-manager-pay-averages-204000/
The question is why do all the city managers in SD county make so much. Should be more like 150, not 250k a year....
Gus goes to council and tells them that he is unable to do his job without a $130,000 Director of Communications. Who else can you think of who needed someone like that except for a totalitarian leader like Hitler or Stalin?
ReplyDeleteDid it ever occur to anyone that Gus Vina just can't do his job, or that he views his job as how to secure his own personal pension and not to secure the City of Encinitas?
Where will it end? We have too many city workers on board already. Will Gus next request that council provide him a Groom of the Stool?
ReplyDeleteIt all started when Sheila Cameron was Mayor - She approved these pay raises!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the pay raises started under Sheila Cameron, but it reminds me of the old argument of blaming FDR for all of the current budget problems in the United States without taking into account that Reagan and GW Bush did more damage than anyone before or since.
DeleteRegardless of who is to blame, we need a council that will do something about the problems that we have now. They need to do something different than giving Gus all that he wants.
The last big pay increase was in 2005 under Jerome/Bond/Dalager. Note the comments by Stocks and Dalager.
Deletehttp://www.utsandiego.com/news/2005/Mar/17/encinitas-workers-get-improved-salaries-benefits/
You forgot Maggie
DeleteYup, you are correct.
DeleteAnd Sheila gave money/fees back to her relatives and friends: and hundreds of thousands of dollars: not to mention the pay raises/retirement improvements given the ousted City Manager who kept the recordings of her foul-mouthed threats and used them as leverage. Thornburg.
DeleteAnd Sheila gave money/fees back to her relatives and friends: and hundreds of thousands of dollars: not to mention the pay raises/retirement improvements given the ousted City Manager who kept the recordings of her foul-mouthed threats and used them as leverage. Thornburg.
DeleteDon't know about the ambiguous "pay raise" comment, but this horror is a hard fact: http://encinitasundercover.blogspot.com/2012/09/encinitas-has-second-worst-pension.html
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned the Park and when it will be complete. Here is the latest.
ReplyDeleteCouncil Members
Please find an update regarding ECP which is proceeding smoothly.
Completion of the Park
Per the contract specifications, additional days have been added to the original schedule to allow for rain days when the weather did not permit work to proceed, and for field changes, such as reclaimed water line relocation.
Construction Start Date: September 24, 2012
Working Days as per Beginning Schedule: 432
Holidays During Construction: 21
Rain Days 9/2012-1/2013: 13
Rain Days 2/2013-End of Contract: TBD
Change Order Days Approved as of 10/2013: 37
Change Order Days 11/2013-End of Contract: TBD
Total Working Days: 503 Days + Any Additional Change Order or Rain Days
As shown above, the Contractor has 503 working days from September 24, 2012 before liquidated damages for contractor delays begin to accrue (September 24, 2014). The work is proceeding ahead of the original contract schedule, with most of the park improvements scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013. However, turf in the fields and passive play areas cannot be planted during the months of Fall and Winter due to colder ground temperatures. The turf is therefore scheduled to be planted in Spring 2014, and will require a 120 day turf establishment period followed by 90 days of Contractor maintenance. Under this schedule, the turf maintenance period will extend beyond September 24, 2014, and the Park will remain fenced/ closed to the public until Fall 2014.
Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.
Lisa Rudloff
Parks & Recreation Director
City of Encinitas
505 S Vulcan Avenue
Encinitas, CA 92024
760.943.2210
Lrudloff@EncinitasCa.gov
EncinitasCa.gov
Isn't September 24 in Fall?
DeleteDoesn't professional planning take into account planting seasonality.
DeleteHasn't the park been late from day 1? Whatever happened to widening that bridge where the entrance is?
DeleteSo the park will be finished but no one will be allowed to use it until sept of 2014........ Another COE ripoff of taxpayer money.
DeleteSep of 2014 last 6 days of the month...maybe. But somehow Rudloff thinks it's "on track" and the council pretends they didn't hear a thing.
DeleteWhy was the reclaimed water line relocated?
ReplyDeleteGood questions. Ask Lisa.
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY way pension reform will be accomplished is by public referendum via the initiative process. The Prop A group would be good candidates to do this, as they know the process and have the 'machinery' to get the votes. It'd be very interesting to hear the 'arguments' against pension reform and where they'd be coming from. Encinitas is headed to severe indebtedness under the current realm of operation -ast the hogs slop at the civic trough with their 6 figured salaries and retirements.
ReplyDelete"The Prop A people" are done running initiatives and need a rest. They can advise, but not do. Sorry, not to mention it ain't over on A: the city is planning to undo it through "improvements" they mean to put on next year's ballot and need watching.
Deletewould that be legally possible, to challenge the pensions of city workers via referendum? My guess is no, but curious to find out.
DeleteThe only way to even the score after being ripped off and abused for a decade is to enact severe pension reform. These folks are just crooked. 100K a year ... for what? Undeserved.
ReplyDeleteThese unions are a criminal organization. Sadly the people we pay to protect us from these con artists are leaders of the gang. There is NO hope.
ReplyDeleteStocks & co could hardly be considered union supporters, yet look at what he and his cronies put in place that taxpayers now have to cover!
DeleteWell you can do as I'm going to do, leave. 5 more years tops, then dump this state and it's taxes. For what I'll save I'll be able to go to Europe for a month.
DeleteMost calif pension earners leave the state and take the money with them.
Jerome Stocks, Gaspar Muir Kranz Barth Shaffer are all huge public union backers. They all would prefer to take our hard earned dollars made in the private sector and redistribute that to their friends and cronies in city government employee
DeleteNot sure about that, I'll give you Muir, but Gaspar? Tony, methinks not. Not sure on Lisa or Teresa. Sounds like random gov. bashing. We definitely need some pension changes, don't know if it will be fast enough for the followers of this blog...
DeleteI wouldn't go that far, to call them criminals, but the pension system needs reform. I don't think you can get the 2.7% at 5 yr. pension anymore, I believe that ended last year.
ReplyDeleteRead today WSJ page A3. All about city pensions eating into city budgets and no money for city maintenance.
ReplyDeleteSickening and soon to be happening in Encinitas!
ReplyDeleteSan Bernardino comes to mind, but they had a severe tax base issue.
ReplyDeleteRetire San Bernardino sheriff pulling down $235+K per year. They are broke, Enc is broke, st of Cali is broke and Incase you are wondering.... So are the Feds.
ReplyDeleteActually California is in the red. Brown has actually done it.
ReplyDeleteI have been talking about his for 10 years.
ReplyDeleteWhere the F(*)& have you people been?
This is not new. Call you councilmember and demand that they do something.
First good thing would be to fire all the bad slackers pulling in 2.7 per year and making bad decisions for the City on a daily basis. The parks, finance, planning, and public works have a bunch of them.
Hire the new managers on with a 401k style retirement program. The City would still have hundreds of qualified applicants to chose from and would end up twice as effective then it is today.
Amen, the topic is not new. And FYI if it wasn't Gus in that chair, it would be someone else with the same pension deal. Anyone know if it's possible to switch workers out of Calpers into 401k plans? Don't forget Matt Tucker of NCTD when you talk about Cal. pensions...
Deletefrom WSJ- Sound familiar?.... demand some action from your council members.
ReplyDelete"An analysis by Springfield officials earlier this year said below-par investment returns have exacerbated the pension problems, with the police and fire funds falling far short of the forecast annual return of 7.5%. Actuarial reports, which use an average return over several years to smooth sharp market swings, show the funds met their annual forecast only once in the past decade. That has left them with only about half the assets needed to pay all promised benefits, after being around 75%-funded a decade ago.
The result: The long-term obligations continue to increase, and funding shortfalls keep getting pushed into the future.
The police fund has called the 7.5% target set by the city increasingly unrealistic.
But Mayor J. Michael Houston, a former bank chief and investment management executive, opposes lowering the return target, saying it's realistic over the long term. In the meantime, he's cut some city positions and put surplus funds at the end of the last year into the pensions.
"The more money that we're putting in the pension funds, the less money we can put into other services for people within the community," Mr. Houston said. "This is not a problem that was created overnight. We need to approach the solution on a long-term basis."
Chicago-based consultancy Marquette Associates, which has advised the police and fire funds for the past three years, declined to comment.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in its most recent report on the city's finances acknowledged the steps Springfield is taking to alleviate its problems, including the workforce cuts and additional pension contributions. Still, when city debt is combined with the cost of promised pension and retiree health-care benefits, the total is $6,956 per capita. The credit-rating firm views a number more than $5,000 as high.
Although Illinois is one of only a handful of states with locally run pension funds, the state dictates how they can invest. So while cities control salary negotiations, retirement benefits are set by the Legislature. Lawmakers, for example, voted in 2004 to give the spouse of a retired firefighter continuing benefits after any death, affecting about 290 local funds. Springfield estimated it cost an additional $653,000 in the first year.
In Springfield, the temporary pay spike may soon be a thing of the past. The new police contract ends the perk next year, and the firefighters are likely to lose it, too. Former firefighter John Sullivan, now president of the Springfield Firefighters' Pension Fund, said the benefit was originally designed to entice more highly paid older employees to leave. But, he said, "ideas have changed." Also, starting next year, the city will raise the sales tax to 8.5% from 8%. That follows an increase in sewer rates earlier this year.
The state has its own pension woes. Illinois has chronically underfunded its retirement system for state workers, university employees and teachers, while also seeing investment returns fall short of forecast levels. As a result, the state's credit rating is the lowest in the country.
As for the Legislature, so far lawmakers confronted rising costs only by reducing retirement benefits for newly hired state and local government employees. But those savings will take years to materialize.
"The real question for municipalities like the city of Springfield is: How long can we hang on?" said William McCarty, director of Springfield's budget and management office."
6:05 AM
Delete"Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in its most recent report on the city's finances acknowledged the steps Springfield is taking to alleviate its problems, including the workforce cuts and additional pension contributions. Still, when city debt is combined with the cost of promised pension and retiree health-care benefits, the total is $6,956 per capita. The credit-rating firm views a number more than $5,000 as high."
What is the Encinitas city debt combined with the cost of promised pension and retiree health-care benefits per capita?
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303471004579163602529729442
ReplyDeleteCheck out the pension cost table in the left hand side of this article, all but two of the city's listed are CA Cities. Its a sign of thing to come and our lame City Council is wasting time on Gus's retirement plan, instead of focusing on this no 1 priority.
Demand some action from your Council members on the subject.
First Rule about the City of Encinitas Management or Council Members- Don't talk about Pensions.
ReplyDeleteThe second rule is to lavish praise onto staff for coming back with partial comparisons with other cities or other incomplete or inaccurate information.
ReplyDeleteFor example, person A in the City of San Diego is paid this amount as person A with a similar job title in Encinitas, staff claims that they should get paid the same amount in a city with 59,000 residents as the same person does in a city of 1.3 million. These types of comparisons also do not take into account the level of performance or if a person is part time or full time, or if they are even qualified to have the job in the first place.
Giving a person a title at the city does not mean that they are qualified to do the job. We see this over and over again.
ReplyDeleteRead today's WSJ, page A-3. All about bankrupt cities.
ReplyDeletePension reform has been started with the city. All new hires are 2% @60. Those od us who are still there have been required to pay in 5% more every pay period. We used to only contribute 3%, now it is 8%. I'm rank and file blue collar staff who works with back and hand and that is what a pension was designed for. When you get to 55 -60ish your body cant take the ware and tear and pensions where designed for the labor force, not management. They have corrupted the system. I agree more needs to be done, like a cap at 100K. It's obscene that those who make 100k or more can get that kind of income in retirement on the taxpayers dime.
ReplyDeleteOhhhh so it's managements fault that pensions are so high. Noooooo. Their are more Indians than chiefs so the reality isssssss, more " rank and file" will pull down obscene pensions than management. Limit it to $100K?? Ha. How about limiting it to ... Oh say, $1000 per year worked only vested after 20 years employment. Only work 18 years.... No pension!! Too bad.
DeleteBut the city is broke as is the state and the Feds. Enjoy it, your future is bleak. Better start saving your own hard earned money.
And your future is... Well, it's just bitter isn't it?.
DeleteLL, if Encinitas is driven bankrupt by pensions, you and others at the City will also go down. I don't wish for anyone to lose their pensions, but the way things are going, it will not be sustainable. Many in the private sector lost huge chunks of their retirements when Wall Street tanked and when interest rates dropped so low. The days of an assured retirment payout are over.
DeleteLL - better keep your back in shape LL or learn a new trade, free rides will be coming to an end shortly when Encinitas like so many other CA cities file Bankruptcy. I cant wait. The sooner the better.
DeleteOh did you hear, Sad Sac will be retiring in a year or two and will be pulling down over $200k alone every year forever. That helps the situation doesn't it?
While Sad Sac and Muir pull down giant pensions now, after the great releveling they will get perhaps $35-40K per year. With a inflationary depression that won't buy squat, but it will be $35K more than the man/woman in the street picking through garage for a few scraps of food. If they can fight their way past the roaming gangs of dogs.....
DeleteLL-Fear not, your professional skateboarding son can get you all the decks you'll need. You can sell those, trade them, barter them, burn them to stay warm.
DeleteAnd since you are already accustomed to sleeping in Leucadia roadside park...you'll feel right at home.
Wrong again.
DeleteVery funny though.
My son is not a pro skateboarder. The only sponsor that kid has is his family. All of my so called disposable income goes to decks and shoes.
The only thing I fear is not being able to provide for my family.
Keep the bitterness and hate going. It's working so well for you.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYup.
ReplyDeleteUnion slugs got an 8% raise to pay for their pensions.... no net loss out of pocket.
Cadillac pay for hugo performance. Bottom line.
"No net loss"?
DeleteWrong.
Not that any of you care or give a $hit about anyone but yourself.
I was forced into a higher tax bracket and actually take home less now than I did before the higher contribution and a "pay increase" was applied to offset the employee pension contribution.
Damn!! You poor baby!! You pay higher taxes. Lololll. But still you bitch about your pay increase to offset your pension contrib Increase..... So the whole thing is revenue neutral. And you are correct I don't give a damn about you or your friends at the city. I hope the city goes broke and everyone of you stands on the side of the road holding signs asking for money.
DeleteYou are so happy rooting for failure. That is very disturbing. You offer no positive solutions for anything. Just more bitterness and anger directed at those who you don't agree with. Better stay in that cozy delusional Fox Beck Rush bubble that you seem to believe in so much.
DeleteWhile the sheep graze in the withering pasture , , ,
ReplyDeleteIf the City were to leave CalPers it would have to pay back CalPers a heck of a lot of money. Not sure the exact figure, but since CalPers administers the pensions, the City would have to make good on all of the pensions that are already being paid, and the ones that will have to be paid. Perhaps Jerome Stocks, who we all know posts on this site, could give us the amount of money that would involve. It would probably most likely bankrupt our city. That's just one of the problems folks.
ReplyDeleteDrL if every city leaves Calpers together, all at the same time, CalPers can do nothing and will fold like a house of cards. But no city will do that because the politicians are bought and sold by the unions which are be holding to Calpers.
DeleteThe Calpers fund is a trillion dollar industry. do you really think Wall St is going to let that pool of money dry up? Get real! The 1% is making so much money from it they will never let it go.
DeleteDid anyone watch Nova last week? A great piece on Wall St and how the money managers are fleecing 401K's of your hard earned cash for the benefit of themselves and their hedgefunds.The industry wins either way so they will let all of you angry anons crush the Unions and their pensions so they can get 100 percent of America into 401k's because 93% is not enough. They want the entire market. Divide and conquer! That's the American way for big corporations to suck up all the wealth in this country.
Lololll. LL telling all us anon we are screwed by big business. Well I guess if we all go to work for the govt and let it hold our hand through life everything will be just fine and dandy. Hey Loser, China isn't buy your bonds any more!! What will you do, what will you do??
DeletePS- here's a hint.... Chinese don't surf.
I'm not that worried but you should be.
Delete401K holders...How's that boom bust bubble working for you the last 30 years?
I have had mine stripped away twice in the last 30 years by bubble crashes while those who manage them seem to be doing just fine.
You must like giving your hard earned private $ to a hedgefund manager with no ethics.
Big government is bad for the taxpayer and big corporate monopolies are sooo good aren't they?
They get bailed out by the taxpayer while they continue to fleece all your capital. They have rigged the market by betting on your investment to win or lose. It doesn't matter to them they get paid either way.
So go ahead and laugh at loud and continue to hope that this city and all the rest of America fails, while you sit on your high horse and judge us all who disagree with your vision of America.
You're such a patriot!
Thank you. You got one thing right. I am a patriot.
DeleteHate business all you want it pays the bills of govt. let's imagine an enc without any private business .....yep ZERO revenue for the city and ZERO pay checks for you.
PS- have you figured out that Chinese don't surf??
I don't hate business. My wife has her own small business and I can always get a private job that pays for me and my family. I've had my own business too and will have no problem starting up another one if your apocoliptic fantancy ever does comes true.
ReplyDeleteI'm just trying to raise a middle class family like most in this town and hope they all suceed in that quest for the American dream. You seem to be just out for your own self interest and financial gain and want everything else to fail even if it means those around you will fail too.
Yeah you're such a patriot.
LL- can you tell me why Chinese don't surf ?? I'm still waiting.....
DeleteI have no idea what that has to do with anything but you're wrong again. There are many Chinese surfers. There are plenty of great surf spots in China and they even have contests.
DeleteNow go back to your cozy dilusional bubble please.
Said the city worker.
DeleteLoser- it is so much fun to play mind games with you. You get so bent out of shape over skateboard comments, surfing, city unions, pay salaries, Chinese surfing. Lol. Nothing you do or I say will change the fortunes of this town. its complete lack of leadership for decades will never change. Now go to PE Central school and buy something from the Farmers market. That action will piss off the KLCC and they are the most fun to fuck with.
DeleteYour comments do not bend me at all. Quite the contrary. I like to spar with half wits and troglodyte's It's fun proving that you're just a bitter troll out to fuck with posters who call you on your many falsehoods and inaccurate statements, as well as the never ending bullshit opinions, that you spew.
DeleteKLCC does not exist except in the twisted mind of the person who thought up that defecation obsession, fecal fixation club. More projections of his own anal explosive personality disorder, AEPD.
DeleteKeep Leucadia Funky!
LL- I like to spar with half wits.... Your co-workers?? Nahh, all COE workers earned Masters and PHds in elementary school. Now go fix my street....
DeleteAEPD- my goodness!! You have shit for brains. I suppose that's why you spend so much time at city hall. Bird of a feather and all......
and the Fat lady sings.
Delete"KLCC does not exist and Keep Leucadia Junky!"
Horay! Go get em'
I can't wait for your pathetic Council seat run. Put up or shut up rambler.
That's "troglodytes."
ReplyDeleteThis troglodyte does not understand the high level of customer service that Gus Vina boasts about when he praises his staff. It does not sound like a real customer relationship when they have so many extra people on their staff and we have to pay them now and until they die. We have no say in how they perform their jobs, and when they keep messing up, the solution is to bring in more to insulate Gus.
ReplyDeleteIn exchange for paying them more than we make and funding their retirements more than our own, they seem to make fun of us and call us names.
LL seems to be saying, "let us eat cake and let the troglodytes eat grubs, but make sure that they pay us no matter what!"
Customer service is not supposed to mean that they define all that we are supposed to want, control every step of the process, pay themselves double or triple what anyone else would pay themselves, then send us the bill. BUT WAIT, THERE'S EVEN MORE!!
ReplyDeleteWe get to pay them a pension for work we never wanted in the first place for the rest of their lives!
You nailed it.
ReplyDeleteFire Sad Sac and vote out any Council Member supporting him.
He is bad for Encinitas Financial future just take a look at what he did as Director of Finance for Stockton and Sacramento.
It seems like our City leaders believe in the following strategy;
If someone fails repeatedly at their past assignments, Promote them, give them more responsibility and more pay and let the citizens pay the cost.
Sad Sac wants to have his staff do cross training of other city employees.
ReplyDeleteExactly what kind of training would Loser Leucadian provide other employees? He is hostile towards the citizens who pay his check and fund his retirement. It seems that this is more of a city culture than an isolated case since there are many instances of city employees losing or hiding documents, telling untruths and doing many other unethical acts against citizens.
The worse the performance is at the city, the more that they are rewarded. Maybe if they were using their own money instead of ours, they would expect standards of performance--standards of GOOD performance, not what we currently have at the city!
Hostile?
ReplyDeleteTo whom?
An anon troll who may or may not actually live in Encinitas.
A troll who is openly gleeful of making hostile statements to those who disagree with the make believe BS accusations that they claim are true.
A troll who continuously throws slander at the wall with the faint hope that it sticks.
Prove that you're a citizen of this town and not just a hostile, slanderous, bitter troll who openly cheers for this city's distruction and America's failure as well.
Yeah, you're such a great patriot. Not!
I treat all citizens in this city who I come in contact with personally, with the utmost respect and ethical integrity.
Except when those citizens post on this blog. Right LL?? Not to worry you have a 3 day weekend coming up, you can practice your respect and integrity.......NOT.
DeleteSo was calling posters on the blog and other Encinitas citizens troglodytes meant as a compliment LL? It is advisable that if you are going to hurl an insult at people, that you know how to punctuate it! What do you call the people who you wait on when you see them at the city?
ReplyDeleteAlso, could you explain why you think that people who dislike Encinitas employees would not live in Encinitas or maybe not even know them? It seems rather far-fetched to me to think that there are so many haters in the word with free time to all gang up on Encinitas employees without justification. You seem to question if people who dislike city employees even live in Encinitas.
I do live in Encinitas, and the reason that I don't appreciate most city employees is because they do not deserve to be paid what they are paid, and I don't want to be stuck paying their pensions. There are at least 60 or 70 people who are now making over $100,000 per year at the City, and many taxpayers think that that money could be spent more gainfully in other ways. I don’t think that this view makes people bad. Many of us don't want or use the services that are offered to us, and we really don't like paying for them.
Also, could you specifically identify anything that has been written on this post that is slanderous or defamatory? I’m sure that WC Varones would want to have you set the record straight, and I am interested in hearing a response that corrects a position with facts and doesn’t attack bloggers personally.
Leucadia Loser says,"I treat all citizens in this city who I come in contact with personally, with the utmost respect and ethical integrity."
ReplyDeleteBut behind our backs how do you treat us and what do you call us? Do you think that we don't know?
Who teaches them to be snarky and condescending I wonder. Why do they lack basic people skills.
ReplyDeleteThe perception that they are public servants here to work for us is reaching a tipping point. Most people who know the city do not feel that they treat citizens with respect. Read Loser Leucadian's comments over the years to see how some employees really view themselves and view the people who pay them.
ReplyDeleteWould it be possible for our 5 communities to withdraw from the city and close down City Hall before it gets worse? Wouldn't it be a better idea to have a planned dissolution instead of the secret bankruptcy that Gus is leading us towards?
If we are in such great financial shape like Gus claims, why all the secrecy regarding pension liabilities and other debt?
Many years ago I was invited Into the inner sanctum of the staff at city hall. We stopped and posted on the bulletin board was a photo copy of a business license check. Written in the memo section were the words " extortion payment". I'm sure the city fire dept made that business owner's life miserable. The city staff believes we work for them. It least the mafia can be negotiated with.....
ReplyDelete"Extortion!" Their words AND our words! Wake up taxpayers!
ReplyDeleteThe fault lies with Teresa, tony and Lisa.
ReplyDeleteAfter their win and the new majority swashing the Stocks regime, they could have cleaned up City Hall and created a fresh rebirth where staff respects city council and citizens. Did she seize that opportunity. No, she wanted to get along........ bad call
Nothings has changed at City Hall and I know support Term Limits more than ever. Teresa who was Council member for the people's quality of life, has to go. She is now a Staff supporter who does not like the public.
But maybe its just the way it is... when you have fat haters like Lynn bitching at you every second about every issue and they sychos like Sheila that act like all the crazy shit that they pulled is forgotten. I don't know. but I support term limits and hope crazy ass Sheila runs again. I will laugh none stop for like 10 months straight!!!
This Town Needs an Enema!!!
ReplyDelete