Thursday, December 17, 2015

Carlsbad moving forward to underground tracks while Encinitas focuses resources on $3 million lifeguard tower, $10 million abandoned school, and $100,000 early retirement pensions for city workers

Read all about it in the Seaside Courier:
Now, the city appears to be bent on making up for lost time with a series of out-of-the-box conceptual ideas in the new draft master plan for the downtown Village and Barrio — including undergrounding the train tracks with either roadway or a park on top.

[...]

The city is holding a series of meetings to present the draft master plan to the public for input. An “open house” for the public to view the plan was scheduled to be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 15-16 [...]

56 comments:

  1. Incorporation of the city was a mistake - a costly one!

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    1. Worse than incorporating these 5 villages into a city would have been to leave them under county administration or let them be merged into Carlsbad and Solana Beach. At least we can protest locally and elect leadership that might respond to our concerns.

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    2. 9:51- at least neither of those cities has their heads so deeply up their asses as to never see the light of day. Both those cities run rings around Encinitas, you (this city of Enicintas) are the laughing stock of north county.

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    3. 9:51 is right, they had to incorporate, as did Solana Beach. And FYI, the laughing stock of North County is Oceanside. For a city of millionaires, people sure are dissatisfied....

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  2. you forgot the proposed $6 M rail trail in Cardiff

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    1. Yes, we forgot. But you reminded us. Thank you for that.

      Having a $6M trail that will only cost us $1-2 M will be great.

      Looking forward to it.

      Merry Christmas.

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    2. The concrete corridor is projected to cost $8 million of taxpayer money. Since when is $1-2 million "only"?

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    3. 4:42- you have no clue. Don't get hit by the train tonight. OK.

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  3. Bet Norby's got his mitts all over the Carlsbad plan and "open house."

    I have one word for concerned Carlsbad residents: "video."

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  4. Carlsbad isn't changing for the better. From one of the paragraphs in the article:
    "In February 2013, the Carlsbad City Council increased density through a zoning change. The higher density allowed up to 759 additional dwelling units to be built in the area, compared to 174 under the prior zoning. Many residents spoke out against the zoning change, citing fears of traffic congestion and a lack of parking. Ofie Escobedo, owner of the popular Lola’s restaurant and a longtime Barrio community leader, said during one public hearing at the time, “We’ve tried higher density before, and look what it got us,” referring the clusters of aging apartments built up against the freeway."
    High density and mixed use for lowering the tracks isn't a fair tradeoff for residents.

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  5. Headline not written on Wednesday council meeting -
    Councilman Kranz proposes that the council join the "White House Task Force on New Americans campaign of Building Welcoming Communities" to encourage local communities to engage in local immigrant and refugee integration efforts.
    "There are many ways in which state and local governments across the country can demonstrate their commitment to building welcoming communities and immigrant and refugee integration including establishing Offices for New Americans and Immigrant Affairs, passing proclamations or resolutions, or creating and implementing immigrant integration plans."
    Encinitas could commit to bringing immigrants and refugees and the broader community together to develop policies, programs, or initiatives that build welcoming communities and provide all residents with the knowledge and tools to thrive and fully participate in their communities.
    A subcommittee of Councilman Kranz and Deputy Mayor Shaffer was formed, and they will bring back recommendations in January. Grants are available but the application deadline is in February.
    The council vote was 4-0 with Muir absent.
    The agenda item was 12A.

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    1. Kranz, real-life version of Flowers for Algernon.

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    2. One flew over the cuckoo's nest comes to mind.

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  6. "Encinitas wants to join campaign welcoming refugees and immigrants"
    Found on the Encinitas Advocate.

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  7. "Passing proclamations" - that's about as much action as you'll see out of Kranz. Shades of Barth.

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  8. The council could set up emergency resolutions to house refugees and immigrants with Encinitas taxpayers footing the bill. Gaspar just ruined her chances of county supervisor. She wants to run housing for refugees and immigrants.

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  9. Actually this was what the confrontation between Gaspar and Shaffer was when arguing as to WHO would sit on SanDag last Dec.. If Gaspar had been seated on the SanDag board then she would have voted for Matt Hall to be the exec dir. Hall was willing to find a way to help Encinitas lower the tracks in Leucadia; but, Shaffer was the Swing vote for Lisa Heebner to win the leadership seat on SanDag; so instead of Gaspar/Hall and lowered tracks, you guys get Shaffer/Heebner and $9 billion dollars of bike lanes.


    Chumps; enjoy your rail-trail. Kranz and Cathy voting for Shaffer cost Leucadia lowered tracks. What's new?

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  10. If the tracks were underground, not only would the trains not be able to run on them, they would be invisible because they would be covered with dirt.

    Solana's tracks are in a trench. If the trench were covered, the tracks would be in a tunnel.

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  11. 4:38pm. Trolling much? Without such as you, we would have no basis for comparison. Thanks for not elevating the discussion one iota.

    The tracks should be trenched and covered/tunneled to provide pedestrian safe crossing everywhere along the whole corridor. Besides providing an endless parking lot for the bars and restaurants [is there any difference these days?] there would be plenty of space for two wheeled traffic to ride safe off of the 101, if they so choose. The sharrows will remain but this faulty plan to single lane our 101 would not be needed nor would the stupid roundabouts that will only drastically worsen the traffic flow.

    When this plan goes into effect, I certainly hope those most responsible will gladly take the heat from an outraged citizenry. You will have earned it, if this goes through like Streetscape currently wants.

    As this will never be allowed to go to a vote, we will all clearly know who to blame when it is bumper to bumper, crawling along, endlessly polluting the whole corridor. You vast minority of 101 businesses that support disastrous plan this will be welcomed to breath deep every day you spend on our 101 when this comes to fruition.

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    1. Got to Love the illogical Keep Leucadia Crappy comments.

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    2. 6:41 You really ought to engage your brain before you post.

      "Application of the term troll is subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial."

      Delete
    3. More raving lunacy from the La Veta Locos...How embarrassing for you but it is CRAPPY so it must be OK.
      Get a life and plant a flower or two on the corridor.

      Delete
  12. The details of the Rail Trail keep changing. I have seen 3 different versions sent to 3 different citizens. The only way that I can see we can stop this project is what the citizens in Carlsbad did- an initiative process. The Council cannot change what they already voted on. Although it seems rather odd that they cannot tell us what it looks like, even with an artist's rendering, which should not be that hard. When Blakespear is asked she has always, at least to me "I don't know the answer". I am concerned that the 3 that voted for the project have no idea what they really voted on. Not one of them can answer even simple questions. So, why did they vote Yes? Anyone know?

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    1. Because it was seen as a big benefit with local taxes having to cover only a fraction of the cost.

      That motivation should sound familiar because it's also behind another unbelievably stupid project: Leucadia Streetscape.

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    2. The rail trail is a NCTD project being coordinated by SANDAG. A vote by the people of Encinitas (and it's not clear a majority would vote to stop the rail trail) would not be able to stop the rail trail. The city of Encinitas does not have jurisdiction over this. Council voted on a preferred alignment, but NCTD does not have to follow their direction. The Carlsbad initiative is very different since the property is within the jurisdiction of the city.

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    3. Wrong, 10:24. The Coastal Rail Trail is a SANDAG project in the NCTD right-of-way.

      http://www.keepsandiegomoving.com/RegionalBikeProjects/encinitas_chesterfield_to_E_intro.aspx

      Then see "Why We Are NCTD" at the bottom of this page:

      http://www.gonctd.com/nctd-overview

      Delete
  13. They need it for the housing element update.

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  14. put the rails underground first. Then I will support slightly higher density.

    I don't trust government, so it will probably never happen.

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    1. You want to bury the rails, 11:28? What, like a corpse in a coffin? Underground covered with dirt?

      I hope you mean you want to lower the rails into a trench like the one through Solana Beach.

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  15. No Clueless-

    Read the article and try and understand. the concept is cut and cover.

    I rather the trains go underground than our residents trying to get to the beach.

    If you are interested in keeping residents out of coffins, then cut and cover is the way to go.

    If you don't care about cutting off the community to the beach and kids dyeing, then vote for status quo.

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    1. Hey, moron, whether the trains are in an open or covered trench, they are not underground. "Underground" means under guess what — ground, not nothing as with an open trench or an artificial cover as with, hmm, let's see, an artificial cover.

      Kids will be dyeing? What color?

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  16. Are these trenches far enough away from the ocean that sea level rise and storms won't flood them?

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    1. Have you ever been to Solana Beach? If you're new to the area, Solana Beach borders Encinitas on our south side. The rails have been in a trench there since 1995. That's 20 years with no floods about a quarter mile inland behind an 80-foot cliff.

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  17. Without Federal money, the tracks aren't getting lowered. Didn't see anything about that in the piece.

    -MGJ

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    1. Kind of like without state subsidies, affordable housing cannot be built in Encinitas.

      Sorry...wrong thread, parallel situations, but I could not resist.

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  18. And FYI, the term is "below grade" when they talk about lowering the tracks...

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    1. The funding for trenching the tracks should come by reallocating the $6.5 billion SANDAG will spend on the North Coast transportation corridor by 2040. Only $820 million is earmarked for the railroad right-of-way. Hundreds of millions more should be switched from roads to rails.

      Which conveys the meaning better and is better marketing? "Lowering the tracks below grade" or "trenching the tracks"?

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    2. Not going to happen. That pot of money isn't available to be switched around. It's a nice thought, but Federal money will be needed, just as it was in Solana Beach.

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    3. 10:35 You should stop posting on this subject because you don't know what you're talking about.

      I found the information below by doing my homework. If you want to post with credibility, you could do the same, or you could continue to spread your ignorance.

      Only about 15% of the $6.5 billion for the North Coast transportation corridor is local, that is, Transnet tax revenue. The rest is grants SANDAG gets from the state and feds. What you ignorantly claim isn't there is already the lion's share of the funding.

      SANDAG already split the funding between roads and rails, so they should now tip the balance more to rails, which they'll probably have to do to a great degree anyway to satisfy the CNFF CEQA lawsuit.

      Here's the breakdown for funding trenching the tracks in Solana Beach:

      This is from the Amtrak website regarding the Solana Beach trenching project, which was done in 1995.

      The grade separation cost approximately $18 million, with funds gathered from the following sources:

      • $5.8 million through Proposition 116, a 1990 state initiative to fund rail projects

      • $6.7 million from the Federal Transit Administration

      • $2.5 million from Amtrak

      • $1.4 million from the City of Solana Beach

      • $1.1 million from the state’s Capital Improvement Program

      • $500,000 from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad

      The construction company’s website cites $17.7 million. The figures above add to $18 million, so they’ve been rounded.

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    4. How many hours/miles per year do you spend in your car vs. on a train?

      And you are suggesting we shift wholesale from spending on roads to rails? And you are suggesting we spend that money on a project that does zip to improve the capacity, price, comfort or convenience of rail travel to encourage more people to take rail trips?

      So, to summarize:

      Assure road traffic gets worse by shifting spend away from road capacity.

      Marginally improve rail corridor safety while underfunding road improvements that would save hundreds or thousands of lives of drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.

      Spend a fortune without encouraging more rail travel.

      Spend a fortune so that a few people who live near the tracks don't have to see or hear trains that were there long before they bought their house.

      I'd love to have the rails trenches and covered, but it's just not a high priority when you look at it in the context of other projects.

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    5. 1:48 You're missing the point, which isn't surprising.

      Of the $6.5 billion SANDAG will spend on the North Coast transportation corridor by 2040, $5.68 billion is for roads, and $820 million is for rails.

      If however many millions of that road money were shifted to rails to allow trenching while doubling the tracks through coastal North County, the frequency of trains could be greatly increased safely and quietly. The jams at the grade crossings would be eliminated.

      Doubling and trenching would let tens of thousands of commuters who pack the I-5 freeway every day go by train rather than car. That would unpack the freeway and decrease or eliminate the perceived need to widen it. It would also hugely reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It's also a way for SANDAG to comply with state GHG emissions law, which they'll have to do because they lost the CNFF lawsuit twice.

      Maybe you pour concrete and have a contract with SANDAG, so you can't offer an objective, truthful view?

      You've misconstrued other commenters' posts, and you've been hereby busted.

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    6. Encinitas is green-lighting every tear-down and build multiple houses on 1/4 and 1/2 acre lots that is proposed. Especially in Leucadia. Walk any street west of the 101 and see the posted permits. Building / Engineering has been co-opted - they are for-sale. Need to cut ancient coastal pines? Go ahead - they were "infested" or "rotted on the inside". Encinitas wants these projects to move forward and the 1-2 MUSD east-facing (toward the tracks) houses to be build but they do not support the trenching that is needed to eliminate the amphitheatre like horn blasting from Amtrak, The Coaster, and the Freight trains. Trenching to control noise, for safety / access and to improve the general quality of life on the coast is essential. Kudos to Solana Beach and Carlsbad for acting on the obvious. Encinitas is run and engineered by hooterville knobs. So much money and such lousy governance.... amazing.

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    7. 4:20. So tell me exactly how the Sandag money can be repurposed in this instance, not the past. Obviously the cost is going to be a lot higher.

      And BTW, I lived in Solana Beach at the time, so I'm well aware of the cost and the breakdown of the money. The reason that the railroad was put below grade there was largely due to the work of the SB city council, going out and lining up the funding.

      This was something Encinitas could have done, but our council didn't have the will.

      So the point being, if you can show me how the wheels are in motion to re-allocate that SANDAG money, I'll buy in. What I'm saying is politically right now, the will isn't there for that lever to be pulled by SANDAG or the city to lower the tracks.

      Eventually it will happen, but I suspect NCTD will have to be in the lead, as that will go hand in hand with the eventual double tracking of the entire rail corridor.

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    8. Grade separation would cut the town in half, and take away waking access to the beach.

      And it's not the sort of barrier that can be mitigated after sunset by a teenager with a pair of bolt cutters. It's the kind of barrier that takes away access permanently.

      Too many people east of the rails with surfboards in the garage and an outdoor shower. If you think the objection to a cable fence is something, wait until there is an actual viable proposal for grade separation.

      Thankfully, that only exists in the dreams of EU posters.

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    9. It will happen. You cannot have a double track running through the entire town with open access to the rail corridor. Too much liability for NCTD. I'm sure they will build overpasses as they did in Solana Beach.

      It's a ways off, but double tracking is coming, there's too much traffic for the existing infrastructure...

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  19. Encinitas is just so split up with I5 and the Railroad impeding circulation and with so few east-west routes due to the terrain. I think we all agree that more ways across these barriers are sorely needed. I wish the City would pay attention to this.

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  20. The latest proposal for the Rail Trail:

    Just a "heads up" about what is included in the "Rail Trail" project!
    I have heard so much conflicting information regarding this project I visited city hall and met with the city engineer to see for myself what is actually proposed. I always thought the basic idea was good, but now I am having second thoughts. This is a MUCH bigger project that just includes a "rail trail"! As designed at the present time, the project will widen San Elijo Ave to 40 feet in some areas not including an additional 12 to 15 feet of "rail trail" to the West of the roadway. There will also be curbs and gutters (East and West sides) throughout the length of the "improved "complete roadway". The roadway "improvements" will only be between Santa Fe to the North and Montgomery to the South. There will be approx. 150 yards of no parking on the "improved" portion of the road. This is a SIGNIFICANT change to San Elijo Ave and will change the character of this area of Cardiff by the Sea. This was confirmed by the Mayor of Encinitas. And we don't have all of the money we need.

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    1. Another poorly conceived "improvement" that costs more than any benefit that might arise for the limited numbers using the 'trail'. Repair the existing infrastructure first, before launching into these half-cocked schemes, that add to the budget woes.

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  21. Muir wants a cost of living raise on his pension - he can't survive on $189,000/year. ***BURP*****

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    1. Muir is a HUGE drain on the pension system. The sad part is he is laughing all the way to the bank. Get rid of this pension hog once and for all.

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  22. Why don't we go after this pension craziness? The 35% increase in one evening? Why aren't taxpayers doing something after being taken like this? Talk about being scammed!

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  23. Because tax payers are dumb, and don't mind giving $5million dollars to 5 retired firefighters in 5 years.

    Someone with some balls should start a petition for a class action lawsuit. The City did not properly state the financial impact on the agenda report and did not properly notify the public.

    This issue is criminal and $tock$, Dalager, Christy, Mag (new she's gone) and others should go to jail. Jim was still in the present at that point and new he could not vote for such madness!!!

    Jail the criminals like $tock$ and lets let the old timers getting 110% of their highest paid year, pay 75% state taxes on the income.

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    1. Sounds good, but ain't gonna happen. The sheep will be bled....

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    2. And throw away the key so these assholes will never be able to spend our money again.

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  24. King's ransoms are paid out in pensions - this is outrageous! Most of these jobs are not extraordinarily complex - just bureaucratic desk jobs. When you allow the monkeys to allocate their own banana ration, expect to see only the stem remaining in short order.

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