Gaspar’s departure would leave Councilman Mark Muir as the only member of the city’s leadership team with a thorough understanding of how a city should be run. Lisa Shaffer, Tony Kranz, and Catherine Blakespear are committed public servants, but they tend to fly off into a utopian la la land that keeps getting them, and the city, into trouble. It was Shaffer and Kranz who floated the idea of a sales-tax hike and then, just a few months later, voted to spend $10 million of the public’s money on a dilapidated old school that’s going to need millions more just to clean up and be transformed into something useful.
[...]
Is it time to bring Jerome Stocks back? He’s Encinitas' most experienced policy wonk who understands that in government, what’s right isn’t always popular, and what’s popular isn’t always right.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Jerome Stocks 2016: Tanned, Rested, Ready
Thomas K. Arnold in the Seaside Courier on what happens if Gaspar runs for Supervisor:
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All you need to know about this article is: "... not to mention the widespread belief that the chief reason he won election in the first place was the fact that he shares a surname with Ron Roberts, the well-respected Republican who’s been in office since 1994." Really? He's saying, in effect, that voters are so stupid that having the same surname got Dave Roberts elected. Or maybe he just referring to the GOP voters.
ReplyDeletePay no attention to what that hack Arnold writes. For that matter, pay little attention to anything the Courier publishes. Stocks has no chance of getting elected in Encinitas or anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteIf the field doesn't change much from what it is now, Gaspar will run for supervisor. She might be bland and innocuous-sounding enough to win. If she runs and loses, that will taint her mayoral run.
Muir won't run. He's done. Shaffer is done. If Kranz runs for anything, he'll lose. He abandoned his original supporters and can't get them back.
The only guaranteed holdover is Blakespear. We need four honest, community- and resident-oriented people in those seats. No more hacks beholden to special interests. Dennis Holz won't run, but he's a good model.
Damn straight. Arnold is a former poodle haircut rock journalist for the Reader. He's clueless on politics, and a Carlsbad resident. No way we let Stocks get back in here.
DeleteI dissagree about Muir, why wouldn't he run? He's up there to protect his pension and the pension of all the FF. Tony will run again and probably win.
FYI here's who's up for election: Shaffer, Kranz and Muir and the mayor's seat.
Dump Muir - he is the poster child of the over pensioned budget parasite. Plus he adds nothing to the council.
Delete11:32, you could add that the new council should get spending on city contracts and management compensation under control. The city pays about twice what it should.
ReplyDeleteThanks in very large part to Stocks' 35% employee pension raise designed to buy him their compliance and silence...taxpayers and public benefit be damned.
DeleteHoulihan. Stocks and two others voted for that raise. Only Bond voted against it. It's incorrect to blame it only on Stocks.
DeleteBut he's the only left who could try making a comeback...and I don't care who else voted for it, doesn't make his vote right.
Delete3:04
DeleteIt must be your poor reading comprehension and lack of logic coming back to haunt you.
First, Stocks isn't making a comeback. Even he knows he's not electable.
Second, Arnold is just trying to get people to read his idiotic writing and to stir controversy.
Third, four of the five 2005 council members voted for the 35% pension increase. That means nobody can blame it only on Stocks. Saying that is not an attempt to justify Stocks' vote.
Whatevah :)
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DeleteNot so laughable. Stocks has tried with others...you sound nervous or at the very least overly concerned, 2:32.
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DeleteDeleting this thread until someone wants to go public with the allegations.
DeleteThank you! I think the rash reaction by the all powerful blog administrator to all this nonsense has proven my point.
DeleteEU
DeleteYour blog has become a soapbox for pithy lame comments and petty diatribes with very little substantive public value.
It's beginning to be somewhat of a joke to those of us who really have salient comments to make about what really goes on in the secret life of this city.
Really scummy things have gone on at City Hall. EU has improved the dialog and been the cause of change for the better. Incompetence and petty egos have been around for too long and improvement seems awfully slow, but we will get there eventually.
Delete6:25- What was your point? Maybe it was deleted but I don't see it. Can you repost it?
Delete6:53,
DeleteSorry to disappoint and please let me know what I can do to improve.
In the meantime, please keep the salient comments coming and email tips to encinitasundercover at gmail.
Thanks for the feedback!
Please God, let the winners be Sheila, Dadla, Gary M. and Louie from downtown; did I forget Lynn, yeah, Lynn too!
ReplyDeleteLet's get it over with fast! This is cruel and inhuman at this point. The poor community.
This is so laughable.
ReplyDelete"Tanned, Rested and Ready". That is not what I saw when I came across Stocks in the grocery store not too long ago. Quite the opposite.
ReplyDeleteHe smelled of sweat (I had to cover my nose), had on dirty clothes that didn't fit, looked extremely overweight (might catch up with his good friend Muir), and looked overly tired. I didn't see any tan.
Mr. Arnold likes to paint different colors for his friends so that we can believe them. You need another line of work Arnold. Your articles are ridiculous.
Do you really think the people of this city would elect the most arrogant and obnoxious person that has ever been on council ? I think not.
Whoever has that lawsuit, bring it on.
EU deleted the lawsuit stuff. Maybe he likes Stocks.
Delete$tock$ is like Ebola - just when you think the epidemic is contained. it breaks out again. Anyone suggesting he should return is the vector of this disease.
ReplyDeleteHaven't voted for him yet but always keep an open mind!
DeleteYou don't need an open mind with Stocks. He has already shown everyone who he is and we sent it packing. Remember?
DeleteOops meant that as a tongue-in-cheek reply to 7:!2 above.
DeleteI call B.S. om E.U. If you really didn't like Stocks you would have not have deleted so many posts. I read them before you deleted them and in my opinion they were right on. Man, you really like him E.U. At least we know this. If you didn't you wouldn't have even given Arnold any press at all. This sucks big time. You probably like the Dugger guy as well. No wonder you won't tell anyone who you are. Makes sense now.
DeleteW.C. Varones is EU. The internet knows all. He is also on FB.
DeleteYou must be new here.
Delete#notasecret
12:15 Someone wanted to know, so I told them. No, not new so you should not assume. Now go do something productive.
DeleteThis is EU:
Deletehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17663570682958847976
Thank you city of Encinitas for depriving the center medians in Leucadia of water for the flowers.... We like it crappy.
ReplyDeleteThey medians are being watered already and will be ripped out soon when the Streetscape gets implemented. New flowers and drought tolerant plants will be replanted in the new medians. Just ask Caris if you want to really know what's really going to happen on Leucadia 101.
Delete8:15- You so funny.....What delusional world do you live in that you believe the streetscape will ever be built??? Why do you need to plant new flowers after the streetscape?? Why can't the city water the flowers that are there now?? You so funny.
DeleteWhen last time Charis walk 101?? I never see her walk 101...You so funny.
Looks like Sylvia forgot to sign her name....
Delete10:09, We're in a drought. But I'll bet your lawn looks great.
ReplyDeleteNope, my lawn looks crappy but my flowers look great.
DeleteKeep it crappy.
This is precisely why many were opposed to the Barth Urban Forest plan. Fruit trees take more water than flowers, so how is planting a food forest during a drought a wise use of funds?
DeleteThe drought we are in is going to be the new normal. With changing policies at the state level, why should we plant fruit trees in Encinitas when experienced farmers are being encouraged to cut down their orchards.
Some of the ideas should be better vetted by politicians themselves. To force through ideas just to have something to take credit for is really wasteful.
Our parks and medians are purple pipe. Would you rather that water be pumped out to sea to send some silly message about austerity?
DeleteSpeaking of great looking lawn, Leucadia Roadside Park lawn has been reseeded and given all the water it needs for the ArtWalk this Sunday. The medians look like crap but the park looks great...just in time for the citizens to trample the grass for ArtWalk.
DeleteOnly the city of Encinitas could have such ass backward thinking.
If they are purple pipe, why are they not using it for the medians?
DeleteAlso, the cost of water is a fraction of the cost for the Urban Forest.
I would rather that our water go to what most citizens support instead of a pet project that council members can point to as having done something. Doing something that the majority doesn't want is still a waste of resources.
Every pool that people have in their yards should be emptied. What a waste of water when it evaporates from the sun, and then it has to fill up again. C'mon city council, we are in a drought and it should include this issue.
Delete4:31 Good idea. Here is some relevant information.
Deletehttp://www.lrm.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/354865/WaterResNT_Factsheet_Swimming-Pools-CA.pdf
Mine has a cover--no evaporation.
DeleteI leave the cover open when it rains. Haven't put a drop in in years.
4:21,
DeleteLet me guess, "the majority" usually is the same as your opinion, but you don't have any data to back it up, right?
6:40, Remind me not to come to your next pool party.
DeleteWe must not be in a drought. City is still allowing hundreds of water meters for all kinds of new development. Plus you see all that grass at the sports complex watered with potable water. If it were recycled you would see signs warning kids not to eat the grass like you see on golf courses using recycled water.
ReplyDeleteThis City kids existing trees and waste millions of gallons a year on fricken grass. Go figure. Fire the Director of Parks, and the director of Art. Both useless.
You are the useless one with the half baked comments about the park. It is irrigated with reclaimed water and there are purple recycled water signs all over the park, so pull your head out of your ass before making stupid comments about a subject you obviously know nothing about. If you want to sound like the Donald go fire yourself!
DeleteYou realize that if we stop building houses, then the greenhouses stay put, and that ag businesses use far more water per acre?
DeleteThat's precisely why Encinitas consumes far less water than it did 20-30 years ago.
7:31 Now there is one person I would not care to be around. What a god damn cranky ass!
DeleteI posted at 9:33, but meant my comment to go to 8:10 PM Excuse the error.
DeleteEvery city north of San Jose has all there houses without water meters, direct your ire there, please.
DeleteI thought the kids aren't supposed to 'smoke' the grass?
Delete8:11, interesting point.
DeleteJerome Stocks - the father of the fat City Hall pension. What a loser
ReplyDeleteNo matter how many times the fact is posted on EU that four council members voted to hike pensions by 35% in 2005, some persistent ignoramus will blame the increase solely on Stocks.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to make yourself useful, 7:33, go into the archived minutes or videos — if there were videos then — and see who agendized the item, who made the motion, and who seconded it. Only Bond voted against it.
9:37 Let me put it to you bluntly, we don't like Stocks. That's the bottom line and nothing else is relevant.
DeleteI don't know anybody who likes Stocks, but that doesn't mean it's OK to blame him for stuff he didn't do alone.
DeleteJust how dumb are you?
No argument about Stocks not doing this alone. But he was the dominant personality and twisted lots of arms to get what he wanted. It's very possible that if Stocks had not been there, the vote would have gone with Bond as the senior council member and the 35% increase would have been defeated.
DeleteWhat is inarguable is the increase was a huge financial mistake. I was at the meeting and could only shake my head at the stupidity.
It's fair to hold council members individually accountable for their horrible decisions, even if staff told them to do it and others went along (see also the Barth-Shaffer-Kranz-Gaspar-Muir's unanimous and dishonest campaign against Prop A).
DeleteAmong the four who voted for the pension giveaway, Stocks is the only one being touted in the local press for a comeback. So it's fair to remind the public what he did.
And if Stocks had done the right thing and publicly denounced the giveaway, it's possible he could have persuaded Dalager or Guerin or Houlihan to vote no, and Encinitas wouldn't be in the financial mess it is in today.
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Delete11:40, I had to remove your comment due to a possibly libelous personal allegation, but I will respond in a separate post tonight.
DeleteComments on this blog are rife with "possibly libelous personal allegation"s. The bar for proving libel on public figures is extremely high. If EU were truly concerned about libel, he would have deleted every defamatory comment about Lynn Marr, among others.
DeleteThe truth is 11:40 exposed EU's manipulative game. EU is too small to admit error, so he deleted 11:40's comment as he will probably delete this one, so catch it while you can.
For this Stocks item, EU = BS.
6:21 AM
ReplyDelete"It's fair to hold council members individually accountable for their horrible decisions". Then it's also fair to hold your commenters for their role in the Pacific View $10M purchase. But you wouldn't do that as that would be asking them to take responsibility instead of cheap shots. Don't want to have any skin in the game.
Sure, if you think a handful of anonymous blog comments played a meaningful role in the decision to buy PV.
DeleteSeems like a stretch to me.
That is a big stretch. How dumb are they?
Delete9:26 AM
DeleteI guess you've forgotten the many exhortations to sign the PV petitions and email council to save PV. How did that turn out? O yes, I know you didn't say to spend $10 Million. That played a part in the council's decision but you can't even accept that small role in the PV fiasco. Responsibilty is only for others.
11:17,
DeleteYou've got some kind of fuzzy memory there.
Many exhortations? I posted one letter "From the Inbox" linking Chatfield's site.
Even Chatfield's petitions said nothing about the city buying PV, much less for $10 million. I thought the whole Save PV thing was to get the EUSD to go back and sell to a nonprofit as had been discussed earlier with Art Pulse.
There's a search button at the top of the blog. You might try using it.
12:04 PM
DeleteA number of commentors said to go fill out the form and some even said they had already done it. This of course was after a number of PV related entries inwhich so many said the city should buy it. Of course the discussion was often about whether EUSD had followed proper procedures but the discussion was primarily about the city acquiring PV. Some of the later comments did say they didn't want to pay $10M.
If you have this blog to enable discussion and effect change and then it happens but not like you may want, you can't duck responsibility. I don't say you are primarily responsible but you played a part. I know it's often the commenters who are most enthusiastic but you set the tone. It seems you don't learn from it. Too bad.
12:19 You are dumber than you write.
Delete12:47 PM
DeleteThanks for validating my point.