Thursday, February 5, 2015

City hires outside attorneys to defend Building Industry Association lawsuit over density bonus

San Diego Daily Transcript:
The city of Encinitas has hired outside counsel to defend itself against a suit brought by the Building Industry Association of San Diego challenging the city's amended policies for enforcing the state's density bonus law.

Encinitas has brought Goldfarb and Lipman LLP, which is based in the Bay Area and has a San Diego office, to defend against the suit, according to a substitution of attorney filing earlier this week.

The attorneys listed from Goldfard and Lipman as representing the city were Barbara Kautz and Celia Lee.

Previously, City Attorney Glenn Sabine had represented Encinitas in defending against the complaint filed last fall.
This will be very welcome news for Encinitas residents who viewed the assignment of Glenn Sabine as a sign that the city was not interested in vigorously defending the suit.

51 comments:

  1. Once again our over paid city attorney cannot do his job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While you have very legitimate beefs with Sabine, this shouldn't be one of them. His job is to provide advice to the Council and handle the more administrative duties of the city's legal footprint as well as litigate smaller, more mundane cases. In a nutshell, the position should be seen as having a generalist skill set. Cases such as these are far more complex and require more resources than the office of legal council has or should have. Keep in mind that a company the size of Encinitas may not even have legal council on staff, while GE or Goldman Sachs or Apple will have legal departments that put national law practices to shame. So our city attorney may be overpaid, and he may not be able to do his job, but this isn't his job.

      - The Sculpin

      Delete
    2. The citizens are being played as he stands shoulder to shoulder with local attorneys on the other side of the suit and the citizens get reamed again and again. Council is blind to his behavior.

      Delete
    3. Agree with the Sculpin, it's pretty standard for cities like Encinitas to bring in an outside firm to handle a case like this one. I wouldn't want Sabine handling this anyway....

      Delete
    4. 3:13 meant to post below 2:11.

      Delete
    5. I finally agree with Sculpin. It took 4 years.

      Delete
  2. Hey WC none of my friends nor I can post on this blog using our iPhone6... why??? My iPhone 4 worked fine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Others have had the same problem. It seems to be with the Safari browser. Try downloading the free Mercury or Soar browsers from the App Store.

      Let me know if that works.

      Delete
  3. Whatever monies are paid to these outside attys should be deducted from Sabines salary or future commissions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't Sabine a contractor?

      I'm pretty sure he doesn't
      have a salary. If he bills hourly,
      Then this lawsuit defense is being deducted from his pay, in the sense that he's not billing the city for it.

      Your wish has, in effect, already been granted.

      Delete
    2. I agree. He did the right thing by passing it to an expert

      Delete
  4. I had the same problem with Safari and WC said to try Chrome and it works. Kind of a bummer about Safari since that is my usual but Chrome does work.

    It would be nice if the outside legal costs could be paid by Sabine, but yea, that will not be happening. He has and continues to rake this town over and should follow vina out the door onto greener pastures elsewhere. We have way too many sycophants sucking this town dry on our dollars and what we get in return is dismal performance.

    Way to go Kristen for calling bs on Peak Democracy and E-Town Hall. To hear Murphy and his staff rely on this manipulatable product is infuriating. The rest of council [Lisa and Tony] wake the freak up and dump this unreliable product. The money spent of this and other outside contractors to arrive at a predetermined result needs to end. Vina is gone and so should most of these that he brought here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why is Sabine still around? According to Sculpin, he only has to rearrange the paper clips. Dump him!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sabine and his from Morrison and Sabine, have been paid per 10 million dollars in the last 7 years. Sabine also gets his continuing education paid; has a $500.00 a month car allowance; and never bills for a paralegal, which is usually less expense than an attorney. Nice gig he's got going, that's for sure. however, no council that I have ever shown all of the documentation to has shown any interest in even looking for another contracted city attorney. I have no idea why Sabine is still here unless he knows things about others that would be embarrassing to them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh shut the F up. Sue him if you have something or keep it shut. You are one annoying person.

      Delete
  7. I forgot to add that he is also La Mesa's contract attorney, so he must be sitting on a lot of money. Sorry for the grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes. I cannot edit it so I'll just say sorry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An engaged and thoughtful citizen like Dr. Lorri will always be attacked by the manipulators or the power brokers and their stooges. They fear the light of day revealing their personal agendas, which generally are not in the public interest.

      Delete
    2. I have a question for Dr. Lorri. Didn't Sabine marry the Director of Finance while she was still working for the City? If os, would she be filling him in on things?

      Delete
    3. I wonder how many cases La Mesa has lost due to Sabine? This guy can't even handle all the cases - like most of them? Thank Barth and Kranz for the continuance of this misrepresentation. But Sabine certainly has figured out how to milk the city coffers - $10 million for what?
      Come on, Sculpin - defend your hero.

      Delete
  8. Welcome back Lorri. your comments are always welcome. I will try and go easy on you. I know how sensitive you are.

    -- the caring one

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey "doctor". We knew all of this a long time ago. This is very old news. Try staying current if you can.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lorri-

    Why would you even sign in ? You might want to ask yourself that question.

    Ego? Self worth issues?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 6:56,

      Why would you heckle a commenter who uses her real name? You might want to ask yourself that question.

      Delete
    2. Kettle calling the pot black syndrome.

      Delete
  11. The only reason I used my name is because I was the person who spent the money and time to find our the information I posted. I have posted many times recently without using my name and many posters have agreed with me. Since many people already knew I had requested the information from the city, I thought I might as well post it using my name. The 10 million number being spread around town cost me personally $200.00, a lot of time, and pissed off some people. When this happens I will post my name. As MLK once told me "If everyone likes you,you stand for nothing." Since I admire MLK more than perhaps anyone posting on this blog, I'll post my name when I have discovered something, pissed off some people and made people aware of how much someone or something costs. If it is not my work, I comment without my name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sabine probably has a voodoo doll with your image on it. The 10 million dollar man at "work".

      Delete
    2. Thank you Lorri. It's nice to know that there are some citizens that are working for free, paying out of their own pockets to find out what is really going on, and then having to take the heat for it. This is a strange blog. I have read it for a long time, but never posted. Today I felt compelled to say something. I have no idea how many actually post on this blog. I do know that Stocks, Andreen, Shaffer, and several other people you may have heard of do read and post. I have listened to them bully, not just Dr. Lorri, but anyone who dares to suggest that there may be quid pro quo going on at city hall. I will say yes there is. It is hidden in the accounting and risk management depts. but it would take a super sleuth to find it. All is not what it seems in Encinitas, but what's new there.

      Delete
    3. It is a fact there was corruption at city hall. It is a fact Vina was removed regardless of the spin. It is also time to say good bye to Sabine.

      Delete
    4. Yes, it was the beginning of the end for Vina when Barth, Shaffer and Kranz forced him to secretly and illegally sign the Peak Democracy contract waiting 3 months before holding a public hearing on it: without a doubt. Muir and Gaspar voted NO.

      Delete
    5. Ms. Lorri, you are not the only person in history of this city who has spent their own money doing investigative research. Quit patting yourself on the back.

      Delete
    6. 12:07- We all know you are Jerome. So why don't you just post it. We get it. You don't like Lorri. Some other people may not like her either. But until you are willing to step up and share why you thought it was such a great idea to give 35% pay increases to city staff, why don'y you join Kranz for a beer somewhere. That is something you both have in common.

      Delete
    7. And alcoholics shouldn't vote on issues while hungover.

      Delete
  12. And we are not taking about tree trimmers that contract with the city showing up in front of council members homes doing tree trimming "favors". It is much deeper than just the cute stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please send tips to encinitasundercover at gmail. Your anonymity will be protected.

      Delete
    2. Is the Vina-Rudloff giveaway of the Little League fields involved?

      Seems like there had to be a quid pro quo there; that one's too big to chalk up to incompetence.

      Delete
    3. Thinks about it. Sandy Shapiro decided not to re-up on Parks and Recreation Commission. Both Lorri and Dennis Lhoto also did not re-up last year. So who is on the Commission now? That would be Doug Long, Doug Goad, and John Gjata that would be the old-timers. So 3 out of 7 commissioners have left after Rudlof took over. It's pretty well known that both Dennis and Lorri had problems with Rudloff. So how about those soccer teams?

      Delete
    4. Are there kitchen appliances involved too? Grillgate to Trimgate - whose the latest taker?

      Delete
    5. 12:52 PM And your point being....?

      Delete
  13. I was involved in a privately held corporation years ago. Management perked themselves outright and took "liberties" thru accounting "cover-ups" "Miscellaneous" can sweep a lot under the carpet; there are undoubtedly many other vague accounting categories where indiscretion is disguised. A board member funded a forensic audit and management threw every road block up possible, but it disclosed a free wheeling expenditure style that was possibly illegal, but certainly unethical. Nothing came of it, as key board members refused to take action (possible co-conspirators).. Sounds like there might be some scandal buried in the books of City Hall,,,,

    ReplyDelete
  14. The citizens need to come together and demand an audit at least from the beginning of Stocks being elected. Many of us have participated for change and that needs to continue. Why so much resistance to an audit? Obviously it is not to save money.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 3:35- The citizens have asked for an audit many times. And, every time one of them ask, it is denied. This has been going on for years. I also see that someone ask Dr. Lorri a question about Sabine marrying the finance director. I will answer it since she many not read it, or see it. The answer is YES. They dated for quite a while when she was Director of Finance. She left when she became pregnant and she and Sabine married. Before she was Director of Finance she was Kerry Miller's assistant. When Kerry left, she was promoted to Director of Finance. There were more qualified people than she was in the finance dept., but nevertheless she got the position. Many employees were pretty angry.

      Delete
    2. Sabine apparently disseminates and inseminates - dual functioning city attorney. Had his legal briefs at half mast for certain staff members. Peter Principle has gone wild at City Hall.

      Delete
  15. She was pretty hot. Sabine was smart to snag her.

    ReplyDelete
  16. More back room deals.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yup… baby has Back!

    ReplyDelete
  18. So I wonder how old Gustavo is doing up in N. CA. ?

    Selling a load of horse shit and getting that City into a load of DEBT that will haunt them for 50 years?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Dalager can address the council on the importance of personal ethics in politics - sponsored by Shaffer. Dalakranz can take notes.

    ReplyDelete