Brandenburg, Mosca, Marotta apply for vacant council seat

Coast News:

Planning Commissioner Tony Brandenburg, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Joseph Mosca and retired technology executive Daniel Marotta have submitted applications for the vacancy, according to the Encinitas City Clerk’s office.

We've suspected that former LA-area politician Mosca was eyeing a council seat ever since he surfaced in Encinitas in early 2015.

UPDATE: Some discussion of Mosca's history on the Sierra Madre City Council here. And Mosca donated the maximum $250 to everyone on the council majority: Catherine Blakespear, Tony Kranz, and Tasha Boerner Horvath.  Well played, Mosca!  It looks like the fix is in, and this is what we have to look forward to:


There's a very lively Mosca discussion going on in the comments today at the Sierra Madre Tattler.

UPDATE 2: The Tattler refutes a pro-Mosca statement posted in the comments below.

Readers question Voice of San Diego's slant on housing, Measure T

Former Supervisor Pam Slater-Price over at Encinitas Votes:

This article is a piece of poorly researched trash presented as factual information when it's nothing but a whiny apologia for cry baby developers. Facts are utterly ignored in order to make the citizens look like the bad guys when the truth is that greedy multimillionaire development interests are attempting to monetize every square inch of SD county to enrich their bottom line and destroy OUR quality of life! There is NO AFFORDABLE HOUSING produced by these schemes and VOSD has been shown the facts repeatedly but they refuse to listen. Then they keep dunning the reader for donations throughput their insults. Let Lilac Hills Randy Goodson and Encinitas David Meyers and their ilk support VOSD! Don't give them a stinking dime! And tell them why!

Most recent VoSD article here, which refers to earlier reports by Maya Srikrishnan.  We have no idea where she got her ax to grind, or why she has repeatedly written articles telling only one side of the story.

UPDATE: Here is Maya Srikrishnan's view on "journalism" (highlighting in original):



She doesn't have to tell Measure T opponents' side of the story because she's already decided they're all like Trump.

CalPERS to charge cities much more; still not enough to cover pension obligations

... starting in 2018 and then phasing in over 8 years, at which point they'll still be extremely underfunded.

Sacramento Bee:

The cost of that government pension is about to go up again, for California taxpayers as well as some public employees.

CalPERS moved to slash its official investment forecast Tuesday, a dramatic step that will translate into billions of dollars in higher annual pension contributions from the state, local governments and school districts.

[...]

CalPERS’ Finance and Administration Committee voted 6-1 to lower the forecast from 7.5 percent to 7 percent in phases over three years, starting next July.

[...]

The move is a recognition that investment returns are falling and that the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which is just 68 percent funded, needs higher contributions from government agencies to solve its long-term problems.

“We’re in a low-growth (investment) environment, and it’s expected to remain that way the next five to 10 years,” board member Henry Jones said.

CalPERS adviser Wilshire Consulting has predicted the fund will likely earn just 6.2 percent a year over the next decade, and critics such as Dan Pellissier of California Pension Reform said Tuesday’s move doesn’t go far enough.

Board members, however, defended the action as a compromise; it will help stabilize the fund while giving municipalities and other government agencies some breathing room before they absorb the impact. Richard Costigan, chairman of the finance committee, said CalPERS officials will continue to look at the fund’s investment strategies over the next year.

“This is just a start,” Costigan said.

The state will start to absorb the impact of higher rates with the start of the new fiscal year next July. Municipalities and school districts won’t start feeling the effect until a year later. All told, the higher contribution rates will be phased in over eight years.

The average Encinitas career retiree (30+ years of service) gets $98,700 per year for life, more than the median household income, and retires many years earlier than private sector workers (source: Transparent California).

This isn't good [UPDATE: just stupid, not tragic]

Right now at Cardiff, it looks like someone was hit by a train:

UPDATE: 20-year-old man struck by train walks away with minor injuries to hand.

Council majority promised developers something it couldn't deliver

The settlement agreement:

Defendants will adopt an Updated Housing Element in accordance with the Housing Element Law no later than the date that the City Council adopts the resolution required by Elections Code Section 10263 declaring the results of the November 8, 2016 election.

The council majority (Kranz, Blakespear, and Shaffer, with Muir and Gaspar opposed) promised this to developers, knowing that the massive upzoning to three story mixed-use and 48-foot-high buildings without adequate parking would be highly unlikely to be approved by voters.

The city of Encinitas is now in an extremely difficult legal position, being in default of a settlement the council had no right to make nor reason to believe could possibly be fulfilled.

... which leads us to wonder: is this just gross incompetence, or is the council colluding with developers? Outgoing councilwoman Lisa Shaffer's comments would seem to support the latter view as she said:

I think we should be finding the cheapest and fastest way to get this to a judge.

Washout at beach tower site

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
- Matthew 7:24-27

Looks like big trouble at the city's $3 million lifeguard tower.

From the Inbox:

I was talking to a contractor that mentioned the wash out at the lifeguard tower construction site on Moonlight Beach. He claimed the runoff from the adjacent streets overwhelmed the flimsy drainage set-up at the site and has done damage. The caisson holes were drained and there are large gullies within the fenced off area, which can't be part of the plan. He suggested this will stall the project some and involve added costs. The specific details would probably have to be revealed by the contractor building the tower. Don't look for the city to publicize this incident, as someone forgot about winter rains.

The little black pipe was supposed to handle the run-off; the orange fencing is where the torrent actually tore thru. The other shots are erosion damage.

David Meyer threatens legal action again

Developer David Meyer, husband of Ecke heiress Lizbeth Ecke, is threatening to take the city to court yet again, and wants the council to overturn the will of the voters on Measure T.

Threat letter here.

City contractor parks on flower garden at Cottonwood Creek

From the Inbox:

I took these pictures at 1pm today on Wed. Dec 14th 2016. On the corner of
Vulcan and Encinitas Blvd., city hired workers adjusting the flags decided
to simply park on the flowers and whether or not they were crushed was of
no concern to them. They could've parked and walked to the flagpoles to do
their job. 

The city manager was notified, and the next day the tire tracks were brushed away, but the smashed flowers haven't been replaced.  

Before and after:

12/14/16 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Dancing Queen Kook

Progressives to take supermajority on city council; will they revive push for sales tax increase?

Progressives have taken a 3-1 majority on the Encinitas city council, and will be able to appoint a kindred spirit to the vacancy created by Catherine Blakespear's election to mayor.

In 2014, the Barth-Shaffer-Kranz majority pushed for the hiring of a sales tax increase campaign manager, but was thwarted only by the lack of a fourth vote to put a tax increase on the ballot when Mark Muir and Kristin Gaspar made it clear they would not go along.

Now the progressives have their fourth vote.

Bar patrons arrested after closing time seek $15 million in lawsuit

San Diego Reader:

According to the lawsuit, Bernardo Villanueva and some friends went to a bar with friends in downtown Encinitas in January of this year. Villanueva had two mixed drinks at the bar and was not intoxicated, claims the lawsuit. After the bar closed, the group of men walked to the 7-Eleven on D Street to buy beer and wait for an Uber driver to pick them up and take them home. Sheriff's deputy James Steinmeyer arrived at the store parking lot as the men waited for their ride.

According to the complaint, Steinmeyer and his partner were patrolling Encinitas streets on the lookout for those who were disturbing the peace on their way out of the bars.

Reads the complaint, "At that time, and in the moments prior, Steinmeyer had been accosting random pedestrians on the sidewalk, near bars in the vicinity of downtown Encinitas, for no apparent reason, other than to enforce a 'zero tolerance' ban on bar patrons being 'drunk in public.'"

Here's the court case. The presiding judge is Gonzalo Curio, recently famous for being called "Mexican" by Donald Trump.

CalPERS may come clean, devastate cities

Pensions & Investments:

The stakes are high as the CalPERS board debates whether to significantly decrease the nation's largest public pension fund's assumed rate of return, a move that could hamstring the budgets of contributing municipalities as well as prompt other public funds across the country to follow suit.

But if the retirement system doesn't act, pushing to achieve an unrealistically high return could threaten the viability of the $299.5 billion fund itself, its top investment officer and consultants say.

[...]

Two years of subpar results — a 0.6% return for the fiscal year ended June 30 and a 2.4% return in fiscal 2015 — reduced views of what CalPERS can earn over the next decade. Mr. Junkin said at the November meeting that Wilshire was predicting an annual return of 6.21% for the next decade, down from its estimates of 7.1% a year earlier.

Indeed, Mr. Junkin and Mr. Eliopoulos said the system's very survival could be at stake if board members don't lower the rate of return. “Being conservative leads to higher contributions, but you still have a sustainable benefit to CalPERS members,” Mr. Junkin said. The opinions were seconded by the system's other major consultant, Pension Consulting Alliance, which also lowered its return forecast.

But a CalPERS return reduction would just move the burden to other government units. Groups representing municipal governments in California warn that some cities could be forced to make layoffs and major cuts in city services as well as face the risk of bankruptcy if they have to absorb the decline through higher contributions to CalPERS.

“This is big for us,” Dane Hutchings, a lobbyist with the League of California Cities, said in an interview. “We've got cities out there with half their general fund obligated to pension liabilities. How do you run a city with half a budget?”

CalPERS documents show that some governmental units could see their contributions more than double if the rate of return was lowered to 6%. Mr. Hutchings said bankruptcies might occur if cities had a major hike without it being phased in over a period of years. CalPERS' annual report in September on funding levels and risks also warned of potential bankruptcies by governmental units if the rate of return was decreased.

CalPERS has now missed its investment return targets -- badly -- for the past 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. Cities and state agencies are legally 100% liable for the difference.

Methane found on EUSD Farm Lab site

From the Inbox:

On Nov. 14 the Encinitas City Planning Department approved an Encinitas Union School District development for a Farm Lab on Quail Gardens Drive. (PBD number 2016-52 in the notice of decision city archives) There is methane on this property. The Planning Department, the School District, the Director of the farm lab seem oblivious to the fact that elementary schoolchildren will be in the same area as the methane. Anna Yentile, the City’s planner for this project, wrote:



The planner also wrote as part of the approval:

“No potentially significant adverse impacts to the environment will result from the project and the project is exempt from environmental review pursuant to Section 15304(b) and 15311 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.”

City Senior Planner Kerry Kusiak approved the project.

Developer attorney Marco Gonzalez publicly calls Measure T opponents liars

(We suppose that's an improvement -- two years ago he was calling them racists!)

On NBC 7:

"Really the disappointment came from the campaign against it.  The folks who were behind it were found to be using some misleading factual information.  And, you know it's not terribly hard to get people to vote against growth in a city like Encinitas, but I felt like they took the rhetoric to a new level.  They used a lot of just misinformation and lies and half-truths to scare people into believing that the plan was something that it really wasn't."

Gonzalez gave no specifics about what the alleged "misinformation and lies and half-truths" were, or who "found" opponents "to be using some misleading factual information."

NBC 7 interviewed Gonzalez and Measure T supporter Catherine Blakespear at length, apparently making no effort to get the No on T side of the story. Measure T opponents have offered to work with the city to come up with a plan that complies with state law and, unlike Measure T, actually contains affordable housing.

Popout neighbor from hell

In early 2015, the City Council majority voted to approve some extraordinary setback exemptions for what appeared to be a ridiculously narrow, unbuildable sliver of a lot.

An EU commenter wrote:

These are encroachments into side yard setbacks. The municipal code has restrictions on encroachments. Using the words "pop outs" suggest a legal use which it isn't.  Kranz, Blakespear, and Shaffer legalized an open season of illegal encroachments for every property owner in Encinitas. The builder wanted to live with his family and attorney wife on this nonconforming lot with illegal encroachments. The builder threatened a lawsuit and had contacted the attorneys that represented the BIA against the city if he didn't get his building permit. The builder also wanted the council to give him special treatment. Read his letter. This isn't a case of decks encroaching into side yard setbacks. The developer pushed out the house sidewalls to put in kitchen cabinets, a wet bar, 12 feet long "window seating" extending out from the house and other encroachments.

And here it is under construction:



The neighbors aren't pleased.

Building to the max

From the Inbox:

Who at City Hall decided this fits our community character? And don't we know this is going to be used as an excuse for more to come?

Gaspar surges in absentee vote for Supervisor

Tuesday night's absentee ballot count brought Kristin Gaspar's campaign back from the brink of extinction.

Last night's vote count makes her the favorite to win. With just 82,000 of 396,000 remaining votes counted since Tuesday, Gaspar has cut Roberts' lead from 1735 votes to just 560 votes.

If the remaining absentee and provisional ballots are anything like those counted so far, Gaspar wins. Roberts' only hope is if the remaining ballots to be counted are markedly different somehow. This could happen if the registrar is counting some geographies ahead of others, or counted absentees ahead of provisionals.

Developer attorney Marco Gonzalez REALLY wants 48-foot-high mixed-use buildings in Encinitas

... rather than the city working with residents to develop an affordable housing plan that fits Encinitas' community character.

From Lisa Shaffer's newsletter:

Attorney Marco Gonzales [sic] proposed an alternative path, which is for the City to adopt Measure T despite the public vote, and offered to work pro bono to defend the City against an anticipated lawsuit from the opponents of Measure T.

11/16/16 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Supervisor race now too close to call?

While it looked like Kristin Gaspar lost the Supervisor race last week, the absentee ballots are turning out to tilt conservative. Gaspar trailed by 2% in early results, but now trails by just 1%, with 396,000 ballots (county-wide) yet to be counted.



The conservative tilt in the absentees is consistent with the Congressional race, with Rep. Darrell Issa narrowing the gap in San Diego County and expanding his comfortable lead in Orange County.

Super Moon

Deputy shoots robbery suspect on South El Camino Real

10 News:

San Diego Sheriff's Department is investigating a deputy-involved shooting of a robbery suspect Monday morning.

A sheriff's representative said law enforcement officers were attempting to pull over the motorcyclist in connection to a restaurant robbery when he sped off. Deputies chased him and he crashed in front of the Pacific Pines housing community on El Camino Real, south of Santa Fe Drive, around 5:45 a.m.

The suspect then took off running, according to authorities, and that is when he was shot. He was subsequently transported to the Scripps La Jolla hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

UPDATE: Suspect is 53-year-old Robert Parkin of Encinitas, which would appear to be this long-time Seaside Market employee and San Dieguito grad. Thanks to "123" for the tip.

11/9/16 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Trumpocalypse Now! Gaspars' budding political careers die in Trumpster fire

Back in June, it looked like Kristin Gaspar was a shoo-in for Supervisor.  We noted:

What's really got to have Gaspar backers excited is that Roberts pulled only 39% of the vote, while the two Republicans pulled a combined 61%. With most Abed supporters likely to vote Gaspar in November, Gaspar is now the clear favorite to win the seat.

Similarly, Logan Jenkins in the U-T:

[...] the highly disciplined Gaspar is the odds-on favorite to beat incumbent Dave Roberts in the general election.

Again, that’s not preference talking. It’s the implacable math.

Get out your own calculator.

Roberts won a pathetic 39 percent of Tuesday’s vote. 39 percent.

Not since incumbent Supervisor Paul Eckert, a deeply wounded candidate, finished third in the 1986 primary has a sitting supervisor performed so poorly in a primary.

For her part, Gaspar earned 34 percent while skirmishing with another well-funded Republican mayor, Escondido’s GOP-backed Sam Abed.

“I think it will be tough for Dave to capture Sam’s voters,” Gaspar told me, doing her best not to smirk at the self-evidence of the statement.

If you give Abed’s rock-ribbed conservative votes to the center-right Gaspar, which you logically must, she trounced Democrat Roberts by more than 20 points.

Indeed.  Gaspar was on the cusp of seizing one of the most prized and powerful public offices in the county.  And then this happened:



Despite Donald Trump's stunning national upset tonight based on strength in blue-collar rust belt states, the vulgar Trump was then and remains now politically toxic in moderate, well-educated North San Diego County. Gaspar's huge unforced error revived Robert's near-dead campaign.

Compounding the error of Gaspar's spontaneous Trump endorsement were a couple of more deliberate bad ideas. First, Paul Gaspar's decision to pretend to be a medical doctor in campaign ads, presumably on bad advice from a consultant (Paul Gaspar's campaign filings show payments to the same consultant that council candidate Phil Graham used, to ruinous effect). Second, Kristin Gaspar's decision to trump up a charge of Brown Act violations against council members Blakespear and Shaffer, a charge that neither the public, nor the city attorney, nor even Gaspar's colleague Mark Muir bought. Tonight, Paul Gaspar has lost the mayor's race in a landslide, and Kristin Gaspar is down by two points with 72% of the vote in. How quickly fortunes change.

UPDATE: Or not!  Gaspar surges in late counting of absentee and provisional ballots.

Election night open thread

One Gaspar out, one behind. Measure T barely losing.


SD Vote:
Mayor and Council
County Supervisor
County Measures A and B
Measure T
Issa vs. Applegate: San Diego County / Orange County

Election predictions

Time to step up and make your predictions.

1. Mayor: Blakespear or Gaspar?

2. City Council: which three of the five get seats?

3. Supervisor: Gaspar or Roberts?

4. Congressman: Issa or Applegate?
5. Measure T: Yes or No?

Tie breaker: what percent of the voters vote Yes on T?

Make your predictions in the comments.  Attach a moniker if you want everlasting glory.

Cardiff Kook weighs in on Measure T

The Kook, while wishing a happy birthday to Carla, is firmly in the No on T camp.

Measure T: Know before you vote!

We've heard the city council's arguments that Measure T is the best plan they could come up with and we'll get sued more if we vote no.

It behooves us to be informed voters and hear both sides of the argument before voting.

From the No on T folks:

Watch these 4 short videos that explain the main issues with Measure T:

Measure T overview – http://vimeo.com/189479622

Building height under Measure T – http://vimeo.com/189478755

Location of Measure T upzoning – http://vimeo.com/189479275

Lawsuit threats and Measure T – http://vimeo.com/189480676

And there's more- the city admits that the 48-foot height limit is a completely unnecessary giveaway to developers:

The City admits Measure T would work within our 30' height limit.

“Even without an amendment to the height limit, however, local developers have confirmed that R-25 sites could develop at densities of 19-24 units per acre under Proposition A limits."

(City of Encinitas, Housing Plan, Appendix B, Page 68.)

Planner Manjeet Ranu reportedly out

From the Inbox:

Manjeet Ranu has officially resigned. Time to party.

Ranu was known for his difficult relations with Encinitas residents who perceived him as pushing for maximum density and favoring developers over residents.

48-feet tall is similar to 30-feet tall?

Facebook ad:


Say what?

Ah, but we see what they did there.

They didn't say the proposed heights and densities were similar to current city code; they said similar to "what exists," meaning 3-story mixed-use buildings like Pacific Station and Moonlight Lofts and the things next to Caldwell's Antiques.  Those properties were upzoned by a prior city council without a public vote (which the 2012 council lied about to voters in the ballot argument against Prop A).  Prop A subsequently restored the General Plan's 2-story, 30-foot height limit, which Measure T would overturn.

Yes on T: make 3+ miles of the 101 corridor similar to Pacific Station!  But are Pacific Station or Moonlight Lofts even close to 48 feet tall?

Gaspar trails Roberts in Supervisor poll

Here are the results of a push-poll run presumably on behalf of Kristin Gaspar. The poll finds, not surprisingly, that when told about Roberts' alleged poor treatment of female staffers, voters choose Gaspar.

But what's more interesting is that before the push-poll question, Dave Roberts has a 13-point lead over Gaspar.

DUI driver rescued from burning car on Manchester

Times of San Diego:

A Sheriff’s deputy pulled a woman from a burning vehicle filled with smoke in Encinitas early Sunday morning, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputy Steve Gusman from the North Coastal Station smelled smoke as he was driving northbound on the 3300 block of Manchester Avenue at about 1:20 a.m., said a deputy.

10/26/16 City Council meeting open thread

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Peter Stern on Measure T

Coast News op-ed:

Councilmember Lisa Shaffer has written that if Measure T fails, the city will be sued again. While her opinion is pure speculation, two things are unarguably true: first, by putting Measure T on the ballot, Encinitas will have satisfied the Building Industry Association (BIA) settlement agreement and tried to enact an updated housing element.

Second, should Measure T fail, the Order to develop a housing element would still stand. The City would start over to (hopefully) create a housing element that voters can pass: one that guarantees low-income housing, keeps building heights 30 feet and doesn’t transfer powers to an unelected official (including 230 pages of developer-friendly “policy changes” the State does not require).

Shaffer’s conjecture that a court will take over Encinitas’ housing or planning department(s) is absurdly exaggerated. In the Pleasanton case, that City had capped the total number of houses that could be built — a violation of State law. Conversly, Encinitas has no housing cap. Threats that the State will “send in a judge” are groundless. California State Housing & Community Development (HCD) Deputy Director Campora has assured us that the State will never sue a city over not passing a housing element update.

Lawsuits might come from developers, but why does Encinitas get sued? Because we settle quickly, pay off developers, and even change our codes to suit them. It’s time we take back our city before we lose it to developers' interests.

Want to SEE what a 48' building looks like? Live demo Wednesday 5pm

From the Inbox: 

Measure T will raise height limits from the current 30' to 48' - but that increase can be hard to imagine. 

Come see a live demo of what 48' will actually look like:

Wednesday, October 26, 5 p.m.

City Hall parking lot - 505 S. Vulcan Ave.    

An example: 48' (red balloon) vs. 30' (green balloon) measured from the City Hall parking lot will obliterate the library's ocean view – and City Hall is on the upzone map!

​
​

Big trouble in little Encinitas

Deputy shoots carjacking gang member after chase from Olivenhain to Leucadia.

Yes on T mailer comes from developer attorney Marco Gonzalez's office

The Yes on T mailer that recently hit Encinitas mailboxes comes from "League of Conservation Voters" with the address of 1140 South Coast Highway 101.  Coincidentally, that's the office of notorious developer attorney Marco Gonzalez.





The San Diego County "League of Conservation Voters" had only $947.67 on hand as of June, so we are likely to learn in subsequent filings that this mailer was funded by a large contribution from developers.

Resident Denise Martin debunks Marco's mailer at City Council here, beginning at about minute 12.

10/19/16 City Council meeting open thread

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Tim Baird partied it up in Pittsburgh & Boston on school district credit card

Two years ago, EUSD Superintendent Tim Baird was criticized for partying with the school board at an expensive retreat.

But you can't keep a party animal down.

From the Inbox:

Attached is the April 2016 statement for the Encinitas Union School District credit card issued to superintendent Tim Baird for district business.

$8,372.06 was charged by Baird that month, the vast majority for his travel to Pittsburgh, PA for the "Innovation Cluster Meeting" on Feb. 21-23, and for Baird and board members Emily Andrade and Patricia Sinay to attend the National School Boards Association Conference in Boston on April 8-11.

Note the upscale hotels (Westin in Pittsburgh; Marriott in Boston) and the meals/drinks at various bars, brew pubs, and restaurants.

EUSD Board Policy 3350 prohibits using district funds to pay for alcohol. Apparently the $74.62 Baird charged on April 1 at "Pittsburgh Bar" and the $76.20 he charged at "Cisco Brew Pub" on April 11 were for soda pop.

Baird himself approved his own credit card bill for payment.

Measure T: luxury condos with inadequate parking

Former Supervisor Pam Slater-Price:

We attended [the Measure T forum Thursday night]. Even the proponent publicly admitted that high density in expensive beach communities produces ZERO "affordable housing", just more luxury condos with inadequate parking that causes residents to crowd the local streets with their parked cars. VOTE NO ON MEASURE T TO PRESERVE AND PROJECT ENCINITAS!

Residents rip council and staff deception and stonewalling on Measure T

Wednesday night's Council meeting saw four Oral Communications speakers, all of whom opposed Measure T and some of whom were scathing regarding the city's handling of the issue.

Watch here, beginning about minute 43.  The first and last speakers are particularly informative.

Leo Mullen neighbors object to late night lights

No Lights Please:

Dear Fellow Encinitas Ranch Homeowners,

As you may know, the Encinitas Express Soccer Club has been pressuring the City to install permanent field lighting at Leo Mullen Park to facilitate regular night usage.

Leo Mullen Park, the baseball and soccer field adjacent to the Cambria at Encinitas Ranch homes and Target was created and designated as a day-use only facility. The city planners knew that Cambria homes would require a delicate balance between the surrounding commercial properties and parks. They made the wise decision to NOT allow night hours or field lighting at Leo Mullen. Recently, without explanation, the City removed the “Day-Use” signage from Leo Mullen.

[...]

The Encinitas Ranch Specific Plan clearly states (section 3.3.1 C/7) that if a maintenance district is created, the owners have the right to decide on all lighting issues at Leo Mullen. A maintenance district WAS created seventeen years ago and you pay for it. You can see it on your annual tax summary as the Zone H Assessment. Therefore, lighting Leo Mullen is currently our decision, not the City’s.

The Encinitas City Council seems to support the lighting of the park and could vote to modify the ERSP and approve 30' towers on the soccer field in the coming weeks!

Click on over to read the whole thing.

Would Leo Mullen lighting be so important to the soccer league if the city hadn't made a backroom deal with the YMCA to give away one of the four Ecke Park fields?

10/12/16 City Council meeting open thread

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Nice stethoscope, Doc!

Olivenhain candidate forum open thread

What are they saying?

Encinitas Guerrilla on the $3.73 million lifeguard tower and how business is done at City Hall

Encinitas Guerrilla:

Deputy Mayor Lisa Shaffer: “Two years ago, before the council approved a $3 million bond issue to construct a replacement for the Moonlight Beach lifeguard tower, I said that $3 million sounded like an awful lot and asked if maybe we could try to build it for $2 million, and if that proved impossible, to grow the amount little by little from there. Nevertheless, the council approved the $3 million bond issue.

“Now, Mr. Deane, you say the total cost for what we have taken to calling the Moonlight Beach Marine Safety Center will be $3.73 million. A short time ago, a city engineer — I assume that city engineer was you, Mr. Deane — estimated the construction cost would be $2.2 million. Giving you the benefit of the doubt, I’ll conclude that your $2.2 million figure was strictly the construction cost, that is, it didn’t include the add-ons that I always find baffling when I look over contracts the city lets. With the 10 percent contingency, the lowest strictly construction cost bid was $3.2 million, which makes it $1 million more than your estimate.

“I know it’s the city’s habit to pay far more that anybody in the private sector would pay for a construction project but even given that fact, a $1 million discrepancy seems quite large. Please explain if you would, Mr. Deane.”

Deputy Director Ed Deane: “Humma, humma, flub, flub.”

Click on over and read the whole thing.

Brust picks outsider for Assistant City Manager

Patch:

The city of Encinitas has selected Mark Delin as the city’s new assistant city manager. Delin has over 30 years of experience, serving the San Diego County area for more than 17 years in public sector senior management positions.

9/28/16 City Council meeting open thread

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Local Summer arrives late

In the 1890's, early German settlers in Olivenhain coined the term "Lokalen Sommer," referring to that time from early September to early October hen the Zonies headed back home and the grommets were back in school, but the weather remained spectacular and the beaches were all for locals.



In the tradition of those early settlers, Encinitans from every corner (especially Merle), rejoice in Local Summer to this day.

This year, September got off to a cool and damp start.  But Local Summer has finally arrived!

Trouble in Paradise?

From the Inbox:

What goes on at D St. that they need such a lengthy dress code full of anti-gang references?

The D Street bar was the site of a stabbing a few years ago.

Lisa Shaffer: if everyone who lives in Encinitas would just work in Encinitas, then high-density Measure T wouldn't create any traffic nightmares

Lisa Shaffer's newsletter:

If people can live in Encinitas near to where they work, especially for bigger employers like Scripps Hospital, that can reduce traffic. Most of the people who work in Encinitas do not live here because housing is not accessible. Commuters create a bigger traffic impact than if they could live nearby and walk or bike a few blocks to their jobs.

Remind us again what the population of Encinitas is and how many people work at Scripps Encinitas and where the massive Encinitas business parks are?

9/21/16 City Council meeting open thread

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Miraculous appearance of Surfing Madonna in Leucadia

More than five years after the Miracle of the Surfing Madonna, the image of the Madonna has once again appeared, this time in a tree by a trailer park on Vulcan in Leucadia.



Locals believe Mary has appeared to herald the return of the Surfing Madonna Beach Run, set for October 15.

Is there a doctor in the house?

From the Inbox:

A lot of us would gently roll our eyes when confronted with the Art History PhD who insists on being called "doctor." But few are aware that the use of "doctor" as a title in a variety of healthcare roles is controversial, because it can be confusing to patients. The problem is serious enough that the American Physical Therapy Association has issued guidelines that any Physical Therapist using the title "Doctor" in a clinical setting must clarify that they are in fact not a physician.

In the context of the controversy, it is noteworthy that Encinitas mayoral candidate "Doctor" Paul Gaspar chooses to use the title, but certainly not disqualifying. The fact that he uses the title 17 times on the brief homepage of his campaign website begins to raise one eyebrow.

But, it's still not disqualifying.

Where it really goes wrong is the large-font campaign slogan that Paul Gaspar puts at the top of every single page of his campaign website:

"Prescribing Common Sense for Encinitas"

Prescribing. That's worth both eyebrows and a "wow."

pre·scribe
prəˈskrīb/
verb
(of a medical practitioner) advise and authorize the use of (a medicine or treatment) for someone, especially in writing. "Dr. Greene prescribed magnesium sulfate" synonyms: write a prescription for, authorize "the doctor prescribed antibiotics"

Do you get it? He's a "doctor" and he's going to "prescribe" common sense for Encinitas.

There's one tiny problem. Paul Gaspar has never been to medical school.

He doesn't have an M.D. He's not a physician.

Paul Gaspar can't "prescribe" anything, because he's not that kind of doctor, but he certainly wants you to think so.

Without an advanced degree in Psychology, I can't tell you if the use of these terms is evidence of a specific mental disorder. But as a lay person, I can state the obvious: that Paul Gaspar thinks he's smart enough to dance on the head of a pin and play clever word games in an attempt to mislead and confuse the good people of Encinitas.

That's a skill set we've seen often enough in politics, and it is disqualifying.

Well, if Kristin Gaspar can call herself an "educator" on the ballot based on volunteering in her kids' schools, we guess Paul can play "doctor."

9/14/16 City Council meeting open thread

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Phil Graham wants to protect Encinitas' bays

Ever get the feeling this guy is just cut-and-pasting his campaign from somewhere else?

Measure T impact on Olivenhain

The Waves to Ride blog has taken an in-depth look at the impact of Measure T's high-density development on Cardiff, Leucadia, Old Encinitas, and New Encinitas.

Now, Olivenhain:

If Measure T Passes, Plan to Idle More on Olivenhain’s Rancho Santa Fe Road

[...]

Traffic is heavy at and near the intersection of Encinitas Boulevard, Rancho Santa Fe Road and Manchester Avenue. The string of stop signs and traffic lights on Rancho Santa Fe Road backs up traffic in long, maddening lines every day. Packing more people and businesses in high-density developments at Olivenhain’s main intersection would only magnify an already difficult problem.

And the Grand Finale:

The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) numbers have varied wildly. If the RHNA number the city is required to upzone to meet is 1,093 units, and the 82 percent buffer to 1,987 units is only to ensure the 1,093 number is met, why does the proposed plan say the upzoning creates “an opportunity for at least 1,987 units that are allowed by-right”?

Remember that “by-right” means a voter-approved Measure T would “pre-empt local discretionary land use approvals of specified housing developments by having all such approvals be considered ‘ministerial’ actions, meaning eliminating opportunities for public review, project-level environmental review and restricting design review.”

If the city had worked with residents rather than catering to developers and other special interests, we could have found a way to comply with state housing law without further urbanizing our city, destroying its small town look and feel, overpopulating it, and producing more traffic and crowds everywhere. And there wouldn’t have been several lawsuits to drain hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

All this begs the question: Why did the city take the route it did? We can only speculate: The city is using the state housing law to ensure city solvency by urbanizing Encinitas to gain more building permit and property tax revenue, and by increasing the population to gain more sales tax revenue. Increasing revenues also perpetuates extremely high compensation packages and pensions for employees. Through this years-long fiasco, the city ignored resident input because it was contrary to what they had already decided to do. Sadly, that’s par for the course.

[...]

We’ll vote NO on Measure T and we hope it fails. If it does, we call upon the City Council to abandon its devotion to city staff, developers and “stakeholders” and, from November 8 forward, to represent the best interests of Encinitas residents. City Council members should remember who elected them.

Brandenburg opposes Measure T?

From the comments:

Tony Brandenburg says he is voting against T; he says that while he voted as a member of the Planning Commission to place Prop T on the Ballot for November so the voters are empowered to choose, he doesn't believe it does enough to create any affordable housing. He also couldn't understand why there wasn't any ability to make changes to At Home In Encinitas when it came before the Planning Commission in late May?

It looks like Brandenburg is the only candidate for council that is against Prop T out of the 7 council/mayor candidates.

Cardiff candidate forum open thread

Tonight at 6 p.m. in the Ada Harris School auditorium, 1508 Windsor Road.

Former Encinitas triathlete arrested in plot to murder husband in Carlsbad

NBC 7:

Diana Lovejoy, 43, and Weldon McDavid Jr., 49, were arrested Thursday near their homes in Carlsbad and Fallbrook, respectively, police said. They were charged with Attempted Murder, Conspiracy, Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Assault with Great Bodily Injury.

Investigators say the pair conspired and planned the shooting, which happened in early September.

Authorities say McDavid, an employee at a local shooting range in Oceanside where the victim reportedly took lessons, called the victim and arranged a meeting on the access road off Avenida Soledad the night of the shooting.

[...]

Lovejoy, also charged in the shooting, is the estranged spouse of the victim, police say.

Police are still piecing together why Lovejoy and McDavid conspired to shoot the victim, as well as the connection between the two suspects, said Chief Neil Gallucci.

Lovejoy is a UCSD graduate and was a competitive amateur triathlete when she lived in Encinitas 10 years ago.

Cardiff candidate forum Monday night

Encinitas Advocate:

With election season descending upon the city of Encinitas, tradition will hold as the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Town Council, in coordination with The League of Women Voters, is slated to host the first public election forum for Encinitas City Council and Mayoral candidates on Sept. 12.

[...]

6 p.m. in the Ada Harris School auditorium, 1508 Windsor Road

Despite push for full-time, pensioned "Lorax" on staff, city decides to massacre 2nd & 3rd Street ficus trees

November 2015:

Encinitas officials are looking for an in-house arborist who can speak for the trees.

Call it the city’s very own Lorax.

The council at last week’s meeting voted unanimously to direct City Manager Karen Brust to determine if they can staff the position in-house with existing personnel.

September 2016:

Four massive ficus trees in downtown Encinitas will be removed within the coming weeks, despite a neighborhood push to save the towering plants.

Public Works Director Glenn Pruim delivered that news during an emotion-packed community meeting Tuesday, saying the purpose of the gathering was to collect input on how to replace the trees — not to revisit the city’s decision to yank them.

Dozens of people said the targeted trees — two in the 600 block of Second Street and two in front of rental housing at 1011 Third Street — are an integral part of the neighborhood’s character and help soften the effects of noise from downtown bars and restaurants.

"We have been under siege for years ... (removing the trees) is going to make it worse," said Third Street resident Joe McNelley.

Next to meet the city's chain saws: Leucadia's historic eucalyptuses.

Suicide at D Street

10 News

An apparently suicidal man laid down on the railroad tracks near the Encinitas Transit Station and was fatally struck by an oncoming train, authorities said today.

A northbound Pacific Sun freight train struck the victim on the tracks running across East D Street shortly before midnight, sheriff's Deputy Marcus Levine said. The name of the person killed was not immediately available.

The engineer told authorities a man stepped out in front of the train and laid on the tracks, ignoring the locomotive's warning horn. The train was traveling at about 48 miles per hour. The man died at the scene, Levine said.

If Voters Pass Measure T, High-Density Housing Could Clog New Encinitas

Waves to Ride.

Teresa Barth's "Engage Encinitas" to push high-density development Measure T

Engage Encinitas:

Housing has been in the news a lot lately. Is it a crisis? What is affordable housing? Why don't developers build housing most people can afford? Can government help? Why does it matter? As part of its Citizens Academy series, Engage Encinitas invites you to dig deeper into the topic of housing in Encinitas.

The discussion is not intended to be a 'debate' about the Ballot Measure rather an opportunity to learn more about this complex topic.

Hear from a panel of experts who will discuss what's possible or probable, the regulatory challenges and the economic, environmental and social impacts to our city and the San Diego region.

The discussion will be moderated by USD Professor Norm Miller. Panelist will be:
Keith Harrison, Encinitas resident and real estate investor
Josh Lichtman, Resident and real estate professional
Stephen Russell, San Diego Housing Federation, Executive Director

Keith Harrison is a 101 commercial property owner who would get a huge financial windfall from Measure T's upzoning to high-density 3-story buildings. We don't know Josh Lichtman, but as a self-described "real estate professional," we're pretty sure he's going to be in favor of pushing more high-density development on Encinitas.  Stephen Russell's SDHF is a high-density-pushing front group backed by SANDAG, developers, and mortgage lenders.

Conspicuously absent from from Engage Encinitas' "opportunity to learn" are any neighbors and community members opposed to the high-density development agenda.

As for the "affordable housing" in the catch line?  Read the fine print. There's nothing affordable about Measure T's high-density luxury condos.

Measure T's impact on Cardiff

Previously, the Waves to Ride blog looked at Measure T's high-density impact on Leucadia and Old Encinitas. Now, Waves to Ride sets its sights on Cardiff:

But the planners have built in an 82 percent buffer, so the proposed plan upzones to allow at least 1,987 units by right. "By right" means a voter-approved Measure T would "pre-empt local discretionary land use approvals of specified housing developments by having all such approvals be considered 'ministerial' actions, meaning eliminating opportunities for public review, project-level environmental review and restricting design review."

None of the at least 1,987 units are guaranteed to be affordable for people earning very low or low incomes, as defined by the feds and the state. If voters pass Measure T, some affordable units might become available if density bonus and/or inclusionary units come into play.

Chaos at the Kwik-E-Mart

It was pandemonium at the corner of Mountain Vista and El Camino Real yesterday as a 77-year-old woman mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal and plowed into the Quickie Food Store, causing an estimated $100,000 in damage.

Phil Graham running on fiscal responsibility, doesn't mention pensions

Graham for Council:

We should be proud that the City of Encinitas has had balanced budgets for many years. This fiscal prudence is important because our state and national economies ebb and flow. By planning for the long term and spending the city's revenue as carefully as we would our own, we can stop wasteful spending, abuse of our citizens' tax dollars, and plan for unexpected economic downturns.

Don't almost all California cities run nominally balanced budgets even as they let pension liabilities balloon and infrastructure decline? Is that really something we should be proud of?

Does Graham know anything at all about Encinitas finances or is this just a generic, feel-good statement suggested by his campaign consultants?

The same vagueness and vapidity applies to the rest of the issues on Graham's site. Graham may be an intelligent guy and may have some good ideas about Encinitas, but you certainly wouldn't know it from his web site.

Encinitas Forward launches blog

A new blog has popped up covering the Encinitas election: Encinitas Forward. Though the creators are anonymous, it's professionally designed and, so far, quite even-handed in its treatment of candidates and issues. The creators are paying for sponsored Facebook links, so somebody's investing at least a little money in this.

Here's the blog's first poll: Do you support or oppose Measure T, the Housing Element Update?

Shaffer: dirty tricks and debate-dodging cowards

Lisa Shaffer's newsletter:

Well, campaign season is in full swing, with several campaign kickoff events last weekend. Accusations of dirty tricks are already being made. Let me offer my view: telling the truth is not negative campaigning. Comparing one candidate's position and record against another, if done accurately, with sources noted, is not a dirty trick - it's educating voters. Distorting your opponent's record and misrepresenting votes - that's dirty politics. Claiming you're taking the high road while anonymous PACs spend enormous sums sending hit pieces on your opponent IS negative campaigning. Candidates are clever enough to maintain plausible deniability about negative mailers on their behalf, but if they wanted to keep things clean and positive, they could publicly disown the negative efforts and ask anyone who supports them to stop.

I also believe that refusing to participate in a debate organized by the League of Women Voters, even after being given a variety of dates to choose from, is cowardly and disrespectful of voters.

UPDATE: Though Shaffer weirdly refuses to tell anyone what she's talking about, Shaffer supporter Dennis Lees writes in the Coast News that Kristin Gaspar is refusing League of Women Voters debates.

8/24/16 City Council meeting open thread

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Prop T impact on Old Encinitas

Having previously written about the impact of Prop T's upzoning on Leucadia, the Waves to Ride blog now turns its attention to Old Encinitas:

In Old Encinitas, the parcels proposed for upzoning line both sides of Highway 101 from Encinitas Boulevard to K Street, include City Hall and its parking area, and four lots between Quail Drive and Quail Gardens Drive on the north side of Encinitas Boulevard.

Note these adjustments to the Highway 101 specifics: The parcels on the east side stretch from Encinitas Boulevard past K Street to where the open ground becomes the railroad right-of-way. The parcels on the west side stretch from the bluff above Cottonwood Creek in Moonlight Park to the north corner of K Street.

WtR doesn't think City Hall will be turned into condos; we disagree. Sell that property to a developer to put a huge 3-story luxury condo building, and the windfall will help cover up quite a bit of past fiscal mismanagement.

Here come da judge!

Judge Tony Brandenburg joins the city council race.

There are now five candidates for three seats, with a fourth seat opening up if Blakespear wins the mayor position.

Tony Brandenburg is a retired Superior Court commmissioner, current planning commissioner and long-time Olivenhain community activist. Unlike the other four candidates, we're not aware of his partisan affiliation.

Waves to Ride blog analyzes Prop T's impact on Leucadia

Waves to Ride:

The HEU doesn’t require three-story buildings to line Highway 101 in Leucadia, but if the commercial strip there is upzoned to allow them, you can bet at least some will be built.

Anyone who doubts that should check the six three-story mixed-use monstrosities that march north from the corner of Phoebe Street. They were allowed under the city’s North 101 Corridor Specific Plan before voters passed Proposition A.

After June 2013, Prop A required buildings above two stories or 30 feet to be approved by a vote of the people. Hence, only two stories since. The proposed HEU, affectionately called “At Home in Encinitas” by city staffers and council members, effectively cancels Prop A in designated areas of the city’s five communities.

If approved by voters, the HEU will upzone every parcel fronting on 101 from the Leucadia Creek Apartments at address 1786 to the north corner of Leucadia Boulevard at addresses 902/914 with two exceptions: Sea Bluff and Pacifica condos.

North of Diana Street, the HEU identifies the zoning as both AHE-GC-X30 and AHE-101SP-X30. As far as we can tell, the two codes mean the same thing: At Home Encinitas-General Commercial-Mixed Use 30 Housing Units Per Acre; 101SP = 101 Specific Plan.

North of Diana, the zoning will let property owners build three-story buildings that can be either all residential, or commercial on the first floor and residential on the second and third floors. Although the building heights will be limited to 38 feet, stuff on the roofs can push the heights to 48 feet. Developers of buildings with five or more housing units who invoke the state Density Bonus Law can raise the density from 30 to 41 units per acre.

Click on over and read the whole thing. They don't allow comments, but you can comment here.

Mountain Vista area homeowner with kitchen knife chases away burglar

10 News:

An Encinitas woman told 10News she confronted an intruder in her garage and chased him away, but she now regrets her actions.

When Amy Kong saw images of a man inside her garage, there was no hesitation. She grabbed a kitchen knife and went after him.

Just before midnight on Monday night, she got a push alert on her phone that let her know the surveillance camera in her garage had caught movement.

"I saw that there were six images of a gentleman breaking into my car," said Kong.

That was no gentleman.

T is for Too Tall

From the Inbox:

Measure T on the November ballot is the HEU is At Home in Encinitas (AHE). This graphic explains the huge building height ​ ​increase proposed by Measure T.

 
Today, all Encinitas developments, except certain medical and school buildings, are limited to a maximum of two stories or 30 feet. This includes the peak of a pitched roof, the equipment on top of flat-roofed buildings and all other structures. This is a true maximum limit.
Measure T misleadingly describes an increase of height to 38 feet.​ ​However, this is only to the midpoint of a pitched roof or the flat surface on a commercial building. The pitched roof can extend above 38 feet ​ ​as much as the eaves are below. ​ ​A flat-roofed building can have up to a 6-foot parapet around the entire building, extending its height to at least 44 feet. Elevator shafts and stairwell structures are allowed to cover 25 percent of the roof and can ​push the total height to 48 feet.

Measure T also allows an attic to not be counted as a floor if less than half of the attic ceiling height is greater than 7.5 feet. This is a loophole to avoid counting the habitable attic floor as a fourth floor.

There is a similar exemption to avoid counting a basement as a floor. From Chapter 30.36.070D "Height" (Page B-35) At Home in Encinitas Zone, City of Encinitas Zoning Ordinance

Vote NO on Measure T

Too Tall, Too Dense,​ ​Too Much Traffic