Monday, February 16, 2015

Seaside Courier questions Pacific view involvement of Barth arts groups

Seaside Courier:
Questions are being raised about two groups eager for a say in the future of the Pacific View Elementary School site, which the city of Encinitas last year agreed to purchase for $10 million.

The two groups are Engage Encinitas and Friends of the Arts. Former Encinitas City Councilwoman Teresa Barth, who while on the council pushed for the city to buy the 2.8-acre site for a future arts center, is involved with both groups — and other organizations that would like to run the arts center question whether this involvement gives her an unfair advantage once the city council decides to choose an operator.
Our first reaction to this was that it was a big nothingburger, that Encinitas Friends of the Arts just wanted to help out and provide volunteers. In that case, this looked like a pretty weak anti-Barth shot from Tom Arnold and the Seaside Courier, both known for their opposition to the Barthist faction on the city council.

But then on the other hand, it would be highly problematic to give any group control of a $10 million public asset based solely on the group's political connections to council members. Encinitas Friends of the Arts is a small organization with extremely limited financial resources, unable to contribute meaningfully to the expenses of rehabilitating the old buildings and running a museum. Giving EFA or any private organization anything more than an advisory role in the management of an eventually revenue-producing operation would be at serious risk for conflicts of interest.

What do you think?

47 comments:

  1. I would not want anything that Teresa Barth was involved in controlling the Pacific View project or any other City resource.

    She had a chance as mayor to follow through on her promises and take important actions, but she instead chose to split her base and empower Vina and Sabine at the expense of Encinitas citizens.

    No thank you.

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  2. If this quote is correct there is no issue here. "EFA’s assistance would most likely be in the form of providing volunteers, organizing fundraising events and/or special programs at the Pacific View site or in support of the activation plan."

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  3. Good for Teresa staying involved in something positive. Most ex-council folk never bother. Developers will always bitch about PV - as though some day they will end up with it. And yes, PV will create revenue privately, publically and legally. Tuff titty said the kitty.

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    Replies
    1. HOW will PV produce revenue? We are so far on the hook for $10,000,000, and nothing has been done to restore it yet.

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    2. Actually, after a couple of decades the total price is $25.5 mil.

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    3. 3:33
      1. Jobs
      2. Retail
      3. Performance

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    4. 1. Jobs: Based on the promise of jobs in the conversion of the Wal-mart, the building jobs will be performed by subcontractors from Arizona. Very few Encinitas citizens have gotten to benefit from building projects in the past that were pushed through with promises of high-paying construction jobs for locals.

      2 & 3. Retail and Performance: Nobody can deny that we have a tremendous arts community in Encinitas, These activities for big events require parking on a scale that is just not there right now.

      Other performance centers like the one in Escondido have had financial problems for years. The evidence that this will work is based on the Kevin Costner movie where he says, "build it and they will come." How about looking a actual examples and not fictional stories to make these decisions!

      I think that they want to spend more money and mess around doing experimentation. This is what they have done with the Housing Element. The in-house Housing Element has already set up contracts for $300,000 to outside consultants. I thought that "in-house" meant that the 30 plus Planning staff, many of whom make six-figure salaries, would be doing it themselves!

      There is no guarantee that we will get a workable Housing Element since we spent at least $1.3 million on the failed General Plan Update.

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  4. Wait a minute,

    I seem to recall voices in this very room asserting that Barth had gone mad with power--that she was motivated by her title and position as doyenne of the dais.

    What happened?

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    Replies
    1. She wanted to run for mayor and had lied to people so many times that her former supporters said that they refused to back her and that she would lose.

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  5. How many art places do we need in Encinitas? Seems to me there could be better use for PV to generate more revenue.

    After this gigantic purchase by the council, why are they not using the name "Pacific View"? If it was so very important, at least keep the name.

    A "living museum". What a joke.

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  6. The bonding for the purchase does not allow for the types of uses that a museum has like galleries, workshops, studios, or retail space. Jeff Murphy has said that they can't focus on this project until the Housing Element has been voted on in 2016. Calling something a museum does not make it a museum when the activities that take place in museums are prohibited by the bonding that was sold.

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    Replies
    1. Zoning restricts the uses at PV, not bonds. The city went with taxable bonds that do not have restrictions.

      Early cost estimates assumed lower cost tax free bonds. Gus Vina caught council off guard when he had to jack up the cost estimates to support council's proposed uses.

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    2. This sounds like Lisa or another council member making excuses for why we actually had to pay MORE for taxable bonds. The council looked very foolish and out of control of our City Manager, but Anon 5:11 is trying to sweep this under the rug.

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    3. Blind trust in a city manager that "obstructionists" warned the council about on a nearly-weekly basis is what enabled Vina to pull a fast one. Responsibility squarely on concil's shoulders, period.

      That does sound like Lisa, forever playing the "I wasn't told" victim.

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  7. I think PV is a total pipe dream Trophy Project Debt machine. Its not needed. If an Art Center is soooo great a private nonprofit would have already done it.

    I also predict that both Tony Dalakranz and Shafer will not be re-elected for there foolish behavior on PV.

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  8. There is plenty of space at the Community Center or Library for art groups.

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  9. No PR will make her look good, the truth came out about her damage at city hall. The thought of naming some trees after her is ridiculous.

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  10. Call Barth the PV Candystriper - no more authority than that in the eventual projects. Add another "p" to the title and she can work downtown at the bars.

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    Replies
    1. now that is just gross.

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    2. That would scare the bar scene away, sickening bad visual but a great idea.

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    3. There'd be an epidemic of blindness! Like Day of the Triffids - except it'd be Night of the Barthids!

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  11. Art? We should make it a big soccer/baseball field with night lights and loud speakers. That's what this city likes to do to neighborhoods. Carlsbad needs more fields so why shouldn't the encinitas taxpayers pay for it?

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  12. We could have a world class world famous skate park on the site at PV. That would bring people (kids) in from all over the county. It would get a lot more use than a museum or art gallery. There are plenty of art studios, galleries and museums in Balboa Park. Why waste our money something that is minor in use? It might make people like Barth happy but why should be spend one dime on making her happy?

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    Replies
    1. Good idea but........................we might get sued.

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    2. We just built a skatepark.

      And the people who use it insist on riding in the street adjacent to the park illegally. Also, they leave fast food wrappers, cups, broken boards, and other trash all over the skatepark. One boarder yesterday flicked his lit cigarette into the street. There is no smoking in the park.

      I'm happy we built a skatepark, but spread the word to your buddies that the community will not support any more skatr facilities unless the brand new one is respected.

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    3. World class, world famous skateboard park ??? Contradiction of terms! Skateboard park - first step to being homeless.

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    4. Some of my neighbors are sk8trs - and they've built their own bowls on their property. Drives the horses nuts seeing someone come flying up out of the ground 20 feet in the air - silently!!! I dunno - they certainly don't seem homeless to me......

      - The Sculpin

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    5. So long as they can live with their parents.

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    6. I assure you - these sk8trs own their own homes (most likely free and clear), and live in them with THEIR families.

      - The Sculpin

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    7. not the aging ones in my neighborhood...but sculper's hardly on the bell curve.

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  13. Skateboard parks accomplish one thing - they concentrate the losers in one location. Skateboarders smoking??? Not the MENSA crowd....

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    Replies
    1. So it is okay for Cardiff but not PV? Sounds like a nimby to me.

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  14. You see an American kid in his late teens or early 20's on a skateboard in the park during the work day hours. "Cowabunga dude - that was knarly!" Meanwhile, the Korean kid of the same age is either in college classes or on the job training for advanced skills. The dumbing down of America can be witnessed in skateboard parks.

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  15. 11:05, Then why is Kim Jong-un a world class skateboarder? Hmmmm?

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  16. I think we've just gone of the rails here.

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  17. 4:19 PM I meant "off the rails". I can't even get a joke right.

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  18. The sad joke is on the tax payers from the lame City Council Majority. Buying a $4 million dollar property for $10 million and then pegging it with an art museum.

    What a said joke…..that stupid pipe dream trophy project will get us $35 more million in DEBT and pull money from other needed projects.

    My prediction, incumbents defeated in the next election- Big time.

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  19. This temporary museum use that they are proposing until this issue can be brought before voters in 2018 is about nothing more than Shaffer, Kranz and Barth trying to mask the stench of this rotten deal!

    They don't like having a building sitting empty for another 4 years and are trying to recover so that they can claim that it has served an important purpose that benefits the community.

    Where is the information that they are basing their decisions on that says we need another museum more than road repairs, fixing drainage in Encinitas, or other unfunded projects?

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  20. Is this the same Seaside Courier that's owned by Stocks, Bond and Dalager crony Alice Jacobson? Written by ex Reader and LA Times Music columnist TK Arnold? The wanna be politician from Carlsbad who got no traction in a recent election in Carlsbadistan?

    Sorry, but I'll wait for Jared Whitlock or some other writer to weigh in. Arnold's history of having no facts or being loose with the the facts carries no weight with me.

    -MGJ

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    Replies
    1. agreed. the fact that an opinion writer has a piece masked as "news" is unprofessional, frankly.

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  21. 2008:

    Ann J. Kulchin .......... 20484 votes 26.55%
    Keith Blackburn .......... 18670 votes 24.20%
    •Farrah Douglas .......... 17349 votes 22.49%
    •Thomas K. Arnold .......... 8399 votes 10.89%
    •Glenn R. Bernard .......... 7405 votes 9.60%
    •Evan Delaney Rodgers .......... 4833 votes 6.27%

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  22. Wow, home media magazine:

    http://www.homemediamagazine.com/hmm-author/thomas-k-arnold

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JNitneENtg

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  23. the fact that an opinion writer --- Arnold in this case --- has a piece masked as "news" is unprofessional, frankly.

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    Replies
    1. On the top of unprofessional and unethical to boot...

      This is no worse than Barth, Shaffer and Kranz pushing through this deal using OUR money for the benefit of the arts community but MOSTLY for political gain for themselves.

      Delete