Dear Encinitas City Council,Well said, Mr. Keyes!
Having just watched the May 20th "alcohol ban" issue on the city website … I'm blown away that this non-issue made it all the way to this dais. Who's driving this thing? The only real take-away from this session that I could see is the potential liability in the combination of skateboarding and beer in the new Encinitas Community Park. Well then, set up new parameters for that park for 12 months and monitor that. End of story.
The rush by Parks and Recreation to legislate an across-the-board, scatter-shot law that will give teeth to policing Encinitas adults enjoying a glass of wine as they celebrate the setting sun is highly disturbing. What happened to the "less government is more" as a template for governing? Especially when it comes to creating legislation that cannot easily be undone, as long-time resident and speaker Denis Puscas noted at the podium. Mr. Puscas speaks for a much larger group of people, you may be sure.
As Puscas mentioned, it’s about the larger neighborhood coming together to appreciate community and celebrate sunset, most with dogs, once a week. Not everyone knows one another. And that’s part of the beauty of it: people are plugged in to different degrees. Welcome to the neighborhood! It’s about neighbors, enjoying the quality of life right here, where we live.
This proposal by Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Rudloff banning alcohol at all city parks -- citing cookie-cutter "continuity and consistency" for Encinitas sheriffs -- is unnecessary and punctilious in the way that big government, unchecked, becomes its own worst enemy. Why not regard each park as its own entity, with its own community identity? There is no homeless/alcohol problem at Orpheus Park, for example, and only an occasional skateboarder. Ms. Rudloff further mentions the other cities that have alcohol bans, but fails to include the many others that do not. Her lobbying for more government regulation loses credibility quickly. The four Encinitas parks where alcohol have been banned all had everything to do with the combustible combo of homeless and alcohol. Period.
Even more ridiculous bureaucratic rhetoric was put forward by Jason La Riva, Encinitas Parks and Beach Superintendent, who along with Director Rudloff is proposing new sunrise to sunset hours because the city doesn’t want people congregating at night. Yes, he said that. When did Marshall Law arrive in Encinitas? Mr. La Riva went on to clarify that “tripping, falling, and other safety hazards are a greater risk at nighttime.” Yes, he said that too.
So the real question before the city council seems to be: Should Encinitas create a greater governmental monolith because something might happen in the future? Or because we tidily want to make things “consistent” for the Sheriff’s Department? At what cost do we do that? Although respected, the opinion of the Encinitas Sheriff Department is not sacrosanct, nor should it be. It serves the people, and the peace -- not the other way around. The city council creates legislation for the citizens who put their trust in them at the ballot box. The Sheriff's Department did not elect city council. Nor did the councils’ staff, or the Head of Parks and Recreation. Curtailing rights that citizens here now enjoy should not be so flippantly put forward. Once gone, they are lost. That’s the political rule-of-thumb.
I am genuinely surprised by the opinions of Mr. Kranz and Ms. Shaffer. I think Catherine Blakespear is wise and magnanimous in seeing a bigger picture -- we're lucky to have her broad mindset onboard. I did not vote for Mr. Muir or Ms. Gaspar in this last election, but with what I see, I am completely open in the next election. Thank you, you three, for your wisdom and sensibility in this vote.
Long live free Encinitas.
Stephen Keyes
Leucadia
Monday, June 1, 2015
Long Live Free Encinitas!
Letter in Seaside Courier:
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Over the Memorial Day weekend, the overcast weather kept beach crowds to a minimum. Yet there were the Sheriffs in their 4 wheel off roader cruising the near vacant beach. Supposedly the new $3 million dollar Ivory Tower lifeguard station will have a tactical room dedicated for the Sheriff - the question is why? The lifeguards should be sufficient safety monitors for the beach; should it become necessary, the Sheriff could be summoned to intervene.
ReplyDeleteIt is an unnecessary added expense to permanently station a redundant layer of "protection" at the beach - it gives the appearance of a police state
with militaristic personnel patrolling the area. I bet the Sheriff's personnel all vie for the coveted "bikini patrol"!
Agree. they should be on the roads giving tickets to the idiots that take the mufflers off of vehicles and run straight pipes. They could issue 1000 tickets a day on Hwy101 alone.
DeleteThursday the planning commission is approving the state's lifeguard tower with a 2800 square feet administration building next to the tower on the bluff. Where is the coastal commission in all this? Where is the council?
DeleteAgreed.
DeleteBig Brother watching!
ReplyDeleteExcellent letter. Thanks to Mr. Keyes for writing it. Also, 9:51 is a good comment. We don't have to sit idly by, while governmental "authority" takes away our individual liberties, one by one.
ReplyDeleteKranz and Shaffer blew it again on their votes on this issue. Don't tread on me; don't tread on us.
Here here to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and CRUSHING any 'social justice' (aka socialist) legislation intended to make American citizens into 'sheeple.'
DeleteWell put. I find this question intriguing. "Should Encinitas create a greater governmental monolith because something might happen in the future?" There are many here who complain that Council is not proactive, and yet, the above question is very valid. Council has to achieve a balance - they will always be blamed when they are not proactive, and yet, when they are proactive, the get blamed for being overly aggressive.
ReplyDeleteDon't make their excuses: they "get blamed" because their decisions are often illogical and perverse. Some of them work for personal agendas, others - most notably, Kranz - seem to be working for someone else. In fact, the above sounds like something Tony would say.
DeleteWork purely for residents and you'll hear a lot less blaming.
12:07- You have hit the nail right on the head. We are not children (unless of course, kids are posting on this blog), and we don't need to be told how to live every minute of our lives. Let's see, we are supposed to bike to work, no matter what age one happens to be, or where there workplace happens to be; we're supposed to eat special food (organic) even if we can't afford it; I think we are adult enough to know that getting drunk at the park in front of kids, is not in anyone's best interest; I could go on. The irony of so much of this is none of it is enforced. So, we make criminals out of people and then if the cops have a boring day, they can whip over to a park and ticket someone for having their dog off least 10 minutes past the hour they were supposed to be leashed. Meanwhile over on 101, the bars are cracking up their happy hours; the staff is having meetings for the public at some of these establishments; and Kranz is proud of the fact he got rid of Cox Cable because he can watch all the sports he wants on any number of television sets in any one of many bars in Encinitas. I wonder if he gets free drinks too.
DeleteYou wonder? He gets free trips to Israel....
Delete5:46- It was a rhetorical question about Kranz. He sold out as soon as he was elected. But he is in the pocket of Leichtag so watch out for Prop. A to be trampled upon if possible. And, for you naysayers that say it won't happen, just watch how they are going to do it. It is mind boggling. Can't say more.
Delete5:54 - I'm right there with you. When the time comes, I plan on blasting what "they" are doing from the rooftops. I don't plan on sitting back and watching ;)
DeleteAnd as for being in the pockets...even casual city watchers are convinced of the worst. Kranz has a problem.
DeleteGaspar, oops, Mayor Gaspar is perky, lively, and a shill for developers wanting to destroy the municipal code. Blakespear professes to be an attorney with knowledge of the law but is seriously lacking in the knowledge of ethics.
DeleteNo wonder Leichtag wanted to court Kranz when they gave him the free trip to Israel. He is most likely the least intelligent Council member, and has already been swayed by people who would have never spoken to him before he was on the council.
DeleteThere's a siege mentality.
ReplyDeleteSheriff's and fire departments wave the "public safety" banner, council cowers because they don't want to be seen as against public safety, and the departments get whatever they want.
Then they overreact to harmless incidents and escalate them into major incidents. Four deputies' cars show up for a traffic stop and car tow. Things like that happen daily.
Circling and hovering helicopters blaring warnings that can't be clearly heard or understood on the ground. The sheriff's department is over-militarized and thinks citizens are terrorists.
They're creating what they're supposed to prevent.
Good point. They escalate situations.
DeleteI totally agree. The sheriffs do not enforce come traffic laws like require mufflers on vehicles, yet they waste $10,000 a day on senseless helicopter flights and beach cruises watch us. Nice.
DeleteWTF?
There sure is a lot of kool-aid (un-spiked?!?) being drunk here.........
ReplyDelete- The Sculpin
New moniker - Brown Shirt Sculpin! Goose Stepping Sculpin. Ya Vole Sculpin.. You get the idea.....
DeleteSculpin -- at least we use our brain. What in the hell are you smoking out there in Never Never Land? You certainly have made it clear on this blog that the council should never take any blame, that city staff is doing more than they should and gets praised for raising a pencil. Now, you stand behind a lame sheriff's office where it takes at least 2 or 3 cop cars to make a stop. I had a motorcycle cop stop me to say I didn't have my seat belt on and I DID. He then became embarrassed and started harrassing me about my dirty tail light. They are a frickin joke. All of this happened at a very busy intersection with cars having to manage to get in another lane. There were almost two accidents during his big diatribe. Wish they would do their job and get the real crooks and criminals.
DeleteFrankly, your theories, analogies and comments don't hold much weight with me.
Jack Boot Sculpin.
DeleteMy experience mirrors 5:02. He is absolutely correct.
DeleteOf course I use my brain, 5:02 - that's why I have you so upset! Sorry, but I just don't see this issue as being an assault on our personal freedoms. Congress just booted the NSA out of our phone records - now that's something! Not being able to have a beer at the park as a harbinger of the end of western civilization? Naw......don't see it, especially since I haven't been able to do that at Cardiff Reef or Seaside for how long? 10 years?
Delete- The Sculpin
Congress didn't boot the NSA out of our phone records - they failed to act to reinstate the invasive provisions. That's not "something" - the NSA should have never been there in the first place! Thank the patriot Snowden, who is now an enemy of the State for informing the people.
Delete8:03 PM You wear your brain on your ASS and that is putting it mildly.
DeleteSculpin,
DeleteI regret the name-calling here but I do wish you would exhibit a little civil disobedience with respect to drinking on the beach.
If I'm following along, and I think I am, please add me to the chorus of people who have correctly identified the moral equivalence between The Sculpin, a local anonymous blog commenter who thinks A park alcohol ban might not be the end of the world, and the Third Reich, who systematically eradicated 20 million souls in an industrial scale genocide.
DeleteAfter much careful consideration, I can see the connection, and do not think it hyperbolic. In fact, it's actually a very clever and imaginative connection. I am not smart enough to have thought of it myself, but I marvel at the superior intellect that did.
Well done.
As an aside, I have enjoyed a beer on the beach, but don't make it a regular habit.
Also, I have reason to believe that Sculpin is working on a prototype Death Star in his garage.
--FP.
The Sculpin may wear his brain on his ass and wait until he gets home to have a brewski, but he's still got a better take than 90% of the folks posting here during the "off-season".
DeleteDon't worry, it won't be long and the assault on Muir, Shaffer and Tony will begin...
-MGJ
MGJ = shadow reflection of the lame Sculpin.
DeleteMGJ, not so fast on Muir. He's showing himself to be more of the peoples' ally than phony tony and ivory tower shaffer will ever be.
DeleteNext time my vote goes to Muir. Tony's performance at last week's council appeal reeked. He is not reelection material...instead, he's on the fast track to be the next Andreen.
Still the same paper owned by Alice Jacobson....
ReplyDelete3:30- So what if it is owned by Jacobson. What in the paper has you riled up?
Delete5:56 - have you looked at the ads lately?? It's a Who's Who of the most rapacious lot you could ever hope not to see. That's what has me riled up...they flock to that rag like bird s*#t on a statue.
Delete10:02- I agree that the ads in the Seaside Courier are what you say. However, the paper itself has some interesting stories, and not all of them are a conspiracy just because Jerome Stocks bought an ad. In fact, Stocks is probably too busy figuring out how to make a living selling insurance he doesn't even think should be there to sell (Obamacare). Hence, the ad(s).
DeleteSo you're unaware of Jaconson's long association with the over-development bloc in this town, whether on the planning commission or her close association with Stocks, Bond and Dallablabber?
DeleteThat paper is a mouthpiece for Muir/Gaspar/David Mayer/Doug Harwood and anyone else who wants to ram in density bonus projects in your neighborhood....
First a disclaimer: I didn't vote for Muir. However, I can respect some of his votes. Most recently he voted to support the appeal on the Orpheus property next door to the fire station. Even Shaffer commented in her newsletter on the odd coupling in the 2 to 3 vote, with Muir and Shaffer against Kranz, Gaspar, and Blakespear. The appeal failed, but Muir and Shaffer had it right.
DeleteThere was a disgusting round of congratulations, almost high-fiving, between staff and developer after the decision. Council took a break and unfortunately didn't see it. Some of the public did. When is council going to wake up to planning staff's collusion with developers?
What does an "almost" high-five look like? I think we call it a handshake, no?
DeleteHad you been there, you would not have called it a handshake...not even close.
Delete8:32- Again, I am aware of Jacobson's close ties with all of the people you mentioned, and there are a few more. However, I would still like to know what personally offends you about the content. Yes, Muir writes an op-ed piece now and again. So does Gaspar. But, is Whitlock reporting the news of this town, or is he a spin doctor as well?
ReplyDeleteKeyes sent his letter to the Courier because the people who run it, advertise in it and read it are exactly the people Keyes wanted to expose and criticize. In the two other papers, Keyes would be preaching to the choir.
ReplyDeletePlus, Keyes' letter is longer than the Advocate's 400-word limit.
Whitlock is a reporter at the Advocate. He was formerly a reporter at the Coast News.
Half-truths, half-truths and more half-truths. Morons. Say aloha to Prop A.
DeleteThink repeating it enough will make your dream come true, 3:12? The genie is out of the bottle and the town becomes more awake every day, too bad for you and your ilk.
Delete3:12 sounds like $tock$ssssss.
DeleteLet's say Aloha to 3:12.
Deletemeow
ReplyDeleteMore "Stack and Pack" on the 101
ReplyDeleteSomeone posted here a month ago that the hotel/motel in front of the Potato Shack was going to be scraped- and in it's place a lot line to lot line stack and pack with underground parking-
Some troll posted that there was no plan to scrape the building- turns out the troll was wrong
Stack and Pack is next coming to that Corner lot at the 4 way stop- where Coastal Furniture used to be -
The Stocks-Shaffer-Gonazalez high-density assault continues
The existing building was a 1950"s eyesore that needed to come down. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Delete12:39, yes, that motel is uttbugly. And guess what 9:13? Prop A passed; underground parking will be excellent for a new building there and YOU and your friends may go to Planning Commission meetings to meet the developer and address the board re whatever changes to the design you'd like to see. But please don't ask them to make it look like it does now.
Delete12:39 the existing development provided affordable housing alternatives and beach access- while maintaing a small beach town feel-
DeleteMoreover it fit with the characther the neighbors wanted.
After the Stack and Pack supremacists and Norby changed the zoning developers rule and residents get stuck with the loss of quality of life.
I am sure you want to see Cadiff scraped just like Encinitas. Next on the high density chopping block is VG's.
12:50
DeleteOnly Prop A saved residents from that stack and pack urbanization debacle from becoming an eye-sore larger than it will be.
Downtown Encinitas is lost. The small town is gone - the money land-grab is on!
Will El Camino Real, Olivenhain and Cardiff be next?
From your mouth to God's ear.
Delete4:07 PM
DeleteYou mean Ranu, Murphy, and Kranz.
Yep, so they think. All are liabilities to themselves...just a matter of time. Shouldn't be long now.
Delete"Moreover it fit with the characther the neighbors wanted. "
DeleteSo the neighbors are fond of less parking and 70's oatmeal architecture? The last thing that building has is character, with "affordability" running hard for second place.
Good to see everyone is on top of things. The mixed use project was approved over a year ago. It's two stories replacing a motel that was also two stories. Simply regurgitating "stack and pack" isn't even pavlovian. More like autism.
DeleteMaybe you want the city to demand that the motel stay in use whether or not it's profitable. I don't know why the motel owners sold it but by the looks of it they didn't appear to be throwing a lot of money in upkeep.
Most of the developers sell the approved plan to other developers. The motel is an ugly mixed-use building with underground parking. All the trees will be cut down. Planning commission didn't care. The commission's only purpose is to approve anything that comes before them. The corner lot at the 4 way stop may not have been approved. The SD reader has an article on the proposed building. Another one with underground parking. Lots of glass because of atriums.
ReplyDeleteWhen will the planning commission stop approving underground parking. Most people avoid it and will be parking in the surrounding neighborhoods.
When I visit Whole Foods I always use the underground parking, in fact I enjoy parking close to the elevator in the USPS only parking location.
DeleteViva el underground parking....
One less above ground parking lot for DEMA to use for their Thursday nights car shows. DEMA can move everything to the underground parking lots. Why isn't the planning department requiring all the underground parking lots to have connecting walls so drivers won't have to surface to find parking. A regular maxi-mole underground parking town. Will the property owners charge for parking.
DeleteIf you don't like the building, talk to Brett Farrow, the architect. He lives in Cardiff, and is very proud of his designs- his website.
Deletehttp://www.brettfarrowarchitect.com/information.html
Apparently USPS and 'low emission vehicle' owners are the new 'protected classes' with special privileges in the City of Encinitas...don't mind granny, the prego mom, or the mom with 2 or 3 kids in tow...they don't need to park close to the elevator...let them take their chances crossing the underground lot on their own!
DeleteHas The Coast News lost all relevancy? They used to be voice of reason providing a regular editorial page that presented a different point of view then the one being put out by the high density city council and city staff- I didn't always agree with Bob N or other community commentaries- but at least they provided the public a different way of considering things
ReplyDeletesince they hired the new editor that paper is really useless to providing commentary that challenges city leaders
I've read plenty of Community Commentary articles in the Coast News that expressed various points of view.
Delete11:26, if you want to express yours, send your 700-word (or fewer) commentary to Tony Cagala. He's the editor.
2:29, before you make allegations and jump to conclusions, maybe you should show your Tony Cagala's connection to the group you cited and prove it's the same Tony Cagala who's editor of the Coast News.
DeleteThe second time Jim Kidd got caught violating State laws probably scared Jim straight!
DeleteThanks 4:09, aka Stocks/Andreen - can anyone tell them apart?
DeletePam Slater Price and Brucie Ehlers can.
Delete2:29 is the anti-Semitic jerk who posted hate speech last week.
ReplyDeleteThe clock is running. Let's see how long it takes WC to see and delete the hateful, anti-Semitic comments at 9:39 and 9:57. The comments come from the same gutter mentality that created and supported the Holocaust and lynched blacks in the American South.
ReplyDelete11:06 are you the same as 2:29?
DeleteIf so it your "opinion" that Hamas is as you say occupied. The facts- tell a different story.
You can choose to stand with Hamas and ISIS- stand for the murder of innocents, stand for hate, stand for the subguagation of woman and homesexuals. You can choose to side with HAMAS and ISIS who launch rockets at innocents, kidnap innocents and terrorize innocents.
I will choose to stand with the only democratically elected government in the middle east. I will stand with the only Middle East country that is tolerant of all religions, tolerant of all sexualities, tolerant of all races, tolerant of all creeds.
You can choose to side with hate, intolerance, propaganda and the muderers of HAMAS, HEZZBOLLAH and ISIS -
I will side with tolerance and the facts
Namaste
It's a dilemma. If I censor the comments, it bolsters the conspiracy theories.
DeleteI don't even want to get into discussing the merits of StandWithUs (right-wing, pro-Israel) or BDS (the left-wing, pro-Palestine Israel divestment movement).
Both sides paint the other side as monsters, and both have some valid grievances. But this is not a matter for a local blog.
With respect to Leichtag, the Kranz junket and subsequent council vote to allow office uses on agricultural land is fair game for discussion. Tying Leichtag to some grand Jewish supremacy movement is offensive and not relevant, and seriously undermines the commenter's credibility.
Agreed! This is an Encinitas blog about local issues.
DeleteNational leaders from around the world have been trying to assist with the Israel/Palestine issue for at least 50 years. Every time some progress appears to be happening, something sets it off again.
It seems like this particular global issue is beyond the scope of our local Encinitas blog since it is such a divisive issue and is more less out of our control anyway.
June 4, 2015 You are following the Nazi campaign to suppress and censor to a 't'. "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed (you have ridiculed me and my right to my own thoughts and opinions above). Second, it is violently opposed (you have threatened the private owner of this blog with a time clock exerting 'social pressure' on this individual to suppress/destroy/censor my written thoughts and opinions). Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
ReplyDelete11:32-
DeleteIn America today the truth is now being ridiculed- while the press promotes lies and distortions.
Bruce Jenner has a penis. He has a scrotum. He is a man.
Vanity Fair, CNN, ABC, PBS, the NY Times, Huff Post- ALL want us to believe that that Bruce Jenner is not a man, AND they want us all to believe that anyone who points out that Bruce Jenner has a penis and a scrotum and is in fact a man- is some kind of weirdo
I disagree with the contention that Israel is the blame of the problems in Gaza or elsewhere
I agree that the press in the USA is trying to shape and control thought
side note- last weeks Coast News community commentary written by the Building Industry to promote high density housing referenced multiple times "support from the LBGT community"
The "LBGT" community is roughly 3% of the population. Why did they insert LBGT into the column? Likley to try and intimidate people from speaking out against the housing element.
If you all haven't figured out who is writing many of the anti-Semitic issues, look no further than a young man who ran for City Council last time we voted. He has changed his name to an Arabic one, but I have seen too much of his writing to not know it's him.
DeleteWell said 11:32 thank you.
Delete4:44, Yes, but how do you feel about roundabouts?
ReplyDeleteOMG, 4:20, you're right! The anti-Semite is Alex Fidel, the certified lunatic who ran for mayor last year. Compared with Alex, Gaspar is a blessing.
ReplyDeleteLet's all chip in and buy Alex a one-way ticket to Syria!
I'll be watching for Alex's Community Commentary in the Coast News.
ReplyDeleteIt may not be Fidel. Scratch the surface the anti-semitism isn't far below.
ReplyDeleteDear EU Blog - This a wonderful place for discussion of local issues, a great place to read views that may not have media access, and also a place to understand better where various view points are "coming from." It is your blog, and you have every right to determine what is appropriate and what is not, including what to delete. That you give a lot of latitude is creditable, but it seems to me that a local blog need not give an outlet to hateful rhetoric that has little to do with local politics. I'm seeing a lot of hate above.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought this blog couldn't sink any lower. I see I was mistaken. There is a difference between criticism and hateful rants whether or not those rants contain any truth. This blog has gone way past the dark side. If the proprietor can't tell the difference then that says it all about this blog.
ReplyDelete