Covering civic issues, news, and the secret life of Encinitas
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
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.
So 3:14 you'd like to have more of the same stupid spending, lack of infrastructure upkeep and all round general stupidness for our city. I'm willing to take a chance on the unknown versus more of the same bull$hit.
Santa Monica has had enough as well. Go sue them too Marco you can be the catalyst that finally gets this affordable housing scam fixed.
Del Mar, Santa Monica, Solana Beach, Escondido(?), Encinitas, there must be more. Prop A has spread , just a matter of time until we are off the hook. Payoff the BIA, Marco and every other cockroach, we would still be better off in the long run.
The next scare tactic will be to raise property taxes on communities that resist infill density.
Protect our lagoons, coast, water supply, open spaces, and views. We need infrastructure not brakedust wholefoods and bankrupt lofts. Include in any HEU enviromental safeguards that deal with runoff.
It is, so here's the back story: Mike Andreen, an Oceanside resident, is your basic dirty-deed dude for hire.
Whether getting a clown to follow ex-Coiuncil member around (yep, and it's as weird as it sounds) or hosting a "profit from upzoning" luncheon together with Kristen Gaspar, Andreen is your go-to guy. (How he got ahold of the City's select resident contact list is a mystery. KG, anyone?)
There is no job too low for him to do for the developers who pay him or city staff/council who associate with him.
Finally: he was Kristen Gaspar's campaign manager in 2010.
I so remember that clown. He or she went to every meeting Maggie Houlihan went to. I thought it was David Meyers who hired the clown. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was Mikey. Although someone told me the other day he is in the hospital so I "almost" hate to say anything mean about him.But the key word here is "almost".
What's driving this? Answer: Too many people. We're killing the planet and, eventually, just about all life on it. We must reduce the global birth rate and the overall human population.
Sounds like they already did with all the peeps getting hit lately.
But actually, maybe a four foot fence is a good idea. If you cAnt hop over it, go to a legal crossing. Or better yet have a rail crossing lic. Where you have to pass a train dodging test and then you can cross wherever.
4:50 All of those peeps were suicides, except for one. We don't need a friggin fence because some people want to die by train. They would do it anyway, as sad as that is.
Ranu was not the T architect! He was a paid liar and propagandist. He wasted millions of dollars when a competent person should have been able to handle this project with his ample planning staff.
Anyone who wants to file a complaint against him can do so at American Planning Association. He is a member, and should be taken out of the profession for stupidity, low ethics and low professional standards.
Why so hot to protect Murphy? He was slime personified.
I attended several of his "outreach" meetings to sell the HEU (Measure T) over two years ago. He was caught in outright lies, but that never stopped him. His hands in the current plan are far from clean.
Ranu learned from Murphy and carried on the tradition.
The plan was put in place by all the Murphys: Put in motion by Patrick Murphy, fine tuned by Jeff. Prop T - Murphy's Law. Watch the next Planning director be Rick Murphy. It could happen!
Best thing for the City is to have Pruim gone. That guy has no common sense and bad judgement. Getting rid of Pruim is the best thing the City Manager has done to date. At least she is cleaning house which was needed and welcome.
Great Job City Manager. Keep up the good work and get some good staff working for the City.
Jeff Murphy seems to be having problems under his planning department in the city of San Diego. First it was the building that exceeded the 30-foot height limit in Point Loma. The builder must reduce the height. Now there is a situation in Ocean Beach that has the neighborhood riled up.
It's all what a recent L.A. Times editorial called "soft corruption" in land use departments:
"It’s no secret that developers give heavily to local officials, presumably because they believe the contributions will help them buy their way around land-use rules and greatly increase the value of their projects at the expense of neighboring residents and property owners. Critics say the mayor and City Council are not only complicit in this soft corruption, they enable it by refusing to fix the city’s broken planning and land-use system. The Times investigation gives those critics yet more ammunition."
The departures of Jeff Murphy and Manjeet Ranu are the first step in cleaning up this soft corruption. Let's not forget that the problem starts with the city council itself.
10:49 Bailing cause you've been caught out to lunch? But also trying to have the last word? 7:24 said Murphy has been gone for more than a year. He was not here for big changes in the HEU, much of its selling to the public, its adoption as Measure T by the council, and the ballot statement. Ranu was here from the start till a day or two ago.
Noooo and in the interest of educating others on this blog, who do you think oversaw the city's secretive contact with those 95 parcel owners 2.5 years ago? I'll leave you to answer your own question.
More than 95 parcel owners are involved and the whole scam wasn't consummated 2.5 years ago. Murphy started just before the Prop A vote, which was June 18, 2013.
The Andreen invitation to the 95 that came on the heels of the city's letter is dated April 8, 2014. Try as you might, you cannot get Murphy off this hook.
T was put in place by the city council and planning commission. These are our representatives. City staff may have steered the plan, and tried to sneak in developer supported language, and favored certain parcels over others. Blame or credit goes to our elected representatives.
T was developed by City Staff in the Planning Department and railroaded through the Planning Commission and City Council. When planners such as Drakos and Brandenburg wanted to make changes they were told by Ranu that there was no time and so they took it as given and told that this was the only possible outcome. They didn't just "steer" (as in neutering a bull), they drove the cattle to slaughter with their bull poop. Now the rats are leaving the ship.
Staff and consultants created the plan, commission and council approved it. Key staff leaving sure seems to say they know T will fail, and they don't want to be around to take the heat.
Join that club...we are that club you elitist! Trump Train's coming and your 1960's cultural marxism will be called out moving forward. No more touchy feely civil discourse, its time the Alt Right execute the Rules For Radicals playbook.
9:54 makes reference to the Alt-Right, of which he is a part.
If you don't know much about this movement, but are inclined to write them off as a small fringe crank group, I highly suggest you read this feature-length exposee.
Frankly, it shocked me. There is real danger here, and we should all be aware and active in defeating it.
City broke ground on Larry Giles $3M Lifeguard Mansion. Tv station says new lifeguard MCMansion will improve response times. Yeah sure. Larry you don't think we are that gullible do you??
It's $3.73 million. The bond issue was $3 million. Interest on the bonds will approximately double the payments to $6 million or more.
Two or three years ago, Giles excused two men drowning near the mouth of Cottonwood Creek out in front of the supplementary lifeguard tower at the north end of Moonlight Beach.
He has never been in a job for more tha 2 years. My other question is how did he end up here? Glenn Pruim was detested in Carlsbad and was ready to get the boot, Gus Vina had been chased out of Sacto, and Manjeet moved around constantly.
Who was the one who said, "Gee, I think Encinitas should hire this guy!" in any of these cases? Encinitas seems to be a magnet for sleaze! Also, all of these people stayed WAY past their welcome.
Barth was the biggest promoter of Vina. However, all five council members voted to hire him, including Jerome Stocks. It was obvious that Vina had been put on probation in closed session when he had his performance review in July. Barth made one last futile attempt to save him just before she went off the council in December. Vina preempted the January performance review by announcing he was leaving.
Vina had been able to appoint all new department heads by sheer luck. He chose people he could control. All are now gone except Tim Nash in Finance.
Unfortunately certain present and past council members blame Vina for decisions the council made. Talk about passing the buck!
Honestly it's Blackspar, Krans, and Schaffer who got us into this mess. Don't blame the planning department. Those 3 city council members literally have no clue. At the last city council meeting I confronted Krans about the transportation plan he and his 2 associates pitched to the planning commission and his response was they wanted "more complete roads". I mean seriously, what does that mean? They want to reduce traffic lanes to add more bike lanes even though 90% of the people commute out of the City.
TLDR version. Get rid of those 3 city council members and you'll see results.
Yea right. As if Kristin and Mark have done such a bang up job.
At council sessions while we pay attention to the endless meandering, beating a dead horse, Mark often asks questions that were covered in the preceding minutes and hours, as if he wasn't even there up on the dais.
If we can sit through and comprehend the endless council discussion, where the heck was his mind? He may have been there physically, but his mind was elsewhere. We deserve better from him for his next four years. I can dream.
Yea, Muir has ADD or something. He looks dazed and confused at meetings and his comments are usually inappropriate for the context of the discussion. I think he is there to protect his pension and has nothing better to do. Four more years of this guy will be a complete waste of representation and will only serve the private interests that he has aligned with.
Shaffer is leaving on her own...with a little encouragement from writers on this blog and others.
It is really sad that Shaffer is teaching ethics when she has applied the lowest standard of ethics throughout her time on council. What is the lowest level of ethics? The ends justify the means. She is a pathological liar and the most unaware person who has ever been on council. There is a saying that people "teach what they need to learn." Read your ethics text, Shaffer!
Fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteOne less thing to complain about!!
- The Sculpin
YESSSSSS! Cut the head off the Planning Dept snake!
ReplyDeleteWho will we blame next!
ReplyDeleteNext the council must go.
DeleteDo not re-elect any incumbents, none.
That would mean clowns like Brandenburg, Graham and Gaspar the non doctor would be in. Use your head, not empty rhetoric.
DeleteYes give them no votes, send a message.
DeleteSo 3:14 you'd like to have more of the same stupid spending, lack of infrastructure upkeep and all round general stupidness for our city. I'm willing to take a chance on the unknown versus more of the same bull$hit.
DeleteRead what I said, Moron. Do you really want Paul Gaspar as mayor of this town?
DeleteWhat's his pension?? How much are we on the hook for???
ReplyDeleteWith Ranu and Strong gone, who's going to be holding the bag? Hehehe.
ReplyDeleteAnd who wants to bet golden boy Jeff Murphy hired Ranu away?
Well, there goes away the pension padding conspiracy. No planners left to get the benefit of their work.
DeleteNot really, 8:56. Your conspiracy is reality for those still "toiling" at Starbucks, erm I mean City Hall.
DeleteI'm opposed to the next Planning Director.
ReplyDeleteCalled it first.
I'm opposed to hiring any director for any department. Ha, beat to it.
Deletehttp://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-measure-lv-santa-monica-20161027-story.html
ReplyDeleteSanta Monica has had enough as well. Go sue them too Marco you can be the catalyst that finally gets this affordable housing scam fixed.
Del Mar, Santa Monica, Solana Beach, Escondido(?), Encinitas, there must be more. Prop A has spread , just a matter of time until we are off the hook. Payoff the BIA, Marco and every other cockroach, we would still be better off in the long run.
The next scare tactic will be to raise property taxes on communities that resist infill density.
Protect our lagoons, coast, water supply, open spaces, and views. We need infrastructure not brakedust wholefoods and bankrupt lofts. Include in any HEU enviromental safeguards that deal with runoff.
Poor Mikey, he has to "re-educate" the next people and worry about the two that just left exposing him.
ReplyDelete12.22 PM, say what? This sounds like 'inside baseball' to most of us.
DeleteIt is, so here's the back story: Mike Andreen, an Oceanside resident, is your basic dirty-deed dude for hire.
DeleteWhether getting a clown to follow ex-Coiuncil member around (yep, and it's as weird as it sounds) or hosting a "profit from upzoning" luncheon together with Kristen Gaspar, Andreen is your go-to guy. (How he got ahold of the City's select resident contact list is a mystery. KG, anyone?)
There is no job too low for him to do for the developers who pay him or city staff/council who associate with him.
Finally: he was Kristen Gaspar's campaign manager in 2010.
I have a word of advise for Mikey: The next time you sell you black soul make sure that you at least get paid well for it.
DeleteDevelopers consider the perks they throw around as education.
DeleteI so remember that clown. He or she went to every meeting Maggie Houlihan went to. I thought it was David Meyers who hired the clown. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was Mikey. Although someone told me the other day he is in the hospital so I "almost" hate to say anything mean about him.But the key word here is "almost".
DeleteYou are right in that was David Meyers behind it, but Mikey was right there to assist.
DeleteGood use of the word "almost."
T architect gone, sure looks as if it means T will fail to pass. NO wins the day!
ReplyDeleteWhat's driving this? Answer: Too many people. We're killing the planet and, eventually, just about all life on it. We must reduce the global birth rate and the overall human population.
ReplyDeleteLimitless population growth is global suicide.
The planet is not even close to its carrying capacity. We just need to be smarter about how we do things.
DeleteSaw today that san diego gets a F in air quality.
Infill without the right infrastructure just adds to the pollution.
Maybe instead of fences, we should install slip n' slides along the rail corridor.
DeleteSounds like they already did with all the peeps getting hit lately.
DeleteBut actually, maybe a four foot fence is a good idea. If you cAnt hop over it, go to a legal crossing. Or better yet have a rail crossing lic. Where you have to pass a train dodging test and then you can cross wherever.
1:35- lead by example. The train passes by dozens of times daily....
Delete4:50 All of those peeps were suicides, except for one. We don't need a friggin fence because some people want to die by train. They would do it anyway, as sad as that is.
DeleteDeaths by train average one per year in Encinitas alone, and they're not all suicides. Even if they were, that's no excuse.
DeleteIt doesn't matter if you think you need a fence or not. NCTD will at some point put in a fence when they double track the corridor.
DeleteThe planet is way past its carrying capacity. That's why it's dying. Overpopulation is killing it.
ReplyDeleteSo we need condoms instead of condominiums...
DeleteGood slogan!
DeleteDon't fret - WWIII will thin the herd...
DeleteRanu was not the T architect! He was a paid liar and propagandist. He wasted millions of dollars when a competent person should have been able to handle this project with his ample planning staff.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who wants to file a complaint against him can do so at American Planning Association. He is a member, and should be taken out of the profession for stupidity, low ethics and low professional standards.
If Ranu was not the T architect, who was?
DeleteJeff Murphy, natch! Ranu was his happy henchman.
DeleteMurphy, Ranu, & Strong. All involved. I'm guessing new director from anywhere usa will say the same things!
DeleteI guess you do want staff following the laws, don't you. Laws don't allow a pick-and-chose plan...
DeleteLosing pruim, strong, and Ranu is an extremely big deal. Huge losses outside of this blog.
DeleteWait. I though the community with 140 meetings was the Architect. LOL!
DeleteNo, no, no...he was just a minion. A willing one, though, and no less oily.
DeleteMurphy has been gone for more than a year.
ReplyDeleteAnd the plan was put in place over two years ago.
DeleteNot the current plan that became Measure T. It has developed and changed significantly since Murphy left.
DeleteWhy so hot to protect Murphy? He was slime personified.
DeleteI attended several of his "outreach" meetings to sell the HEU (Measure T) over two years ago. He was caught in outright lies, but that never stopped him. His hands in the current plan are far from clean.
Ranu learned from Murphy and carried on the tradition.
The plan was put in place by all the Murphys: Put in motion by Patrick Murphy, fine tuned by Jeff. Prop T - Murphy's Law. Watch the next Planning director be Rick Murphy. It could happen!
DeleteCorrection: No Rick but Dick Murphy
DeleteWho's protecting Murphy? Place the blame where it belongs. Both Murphy and Ranu. Ranu's been there from the start. Murphy left more than a year ago.
ReplyDeleteYour story now changes. You first made it sound like Murphy wasn't around for the mess.
DeleteOAO
Best thing for the City is to have Pruim gone. That guy has no common sense and bad judgement. Getting rid of Pruim is the best thing the City Manager has done to date. At least she is cleaning house which was needed and welcome.
ReplyDeleteGreat Job City Manager. Keep up the good work and get some good staff working for the City.
Jeff Murphy seems to be having problems under his planning department in the city of San Diego. First it was the building that exceeded the 30-foot height limit in Point Loma. The builder must reduce the height. Now there is a situation in Ocean Beach that has the neighborhood riled up.
ReplyDeleteIt's all what a recent L.A. Times editorial called "soft corruption" in land use departments:
"It’s no secret that developers give heavily to local officials, presumably because they believe the contributions will help them buy their way around land-use rules and greatly increase the value of their projects at the expense of neighboring residents and property owners. Critics say the mayor and City Council are not only complicit in this soft corruption, they enable it by refusing to fix the city’s broken planning and land-use system. The Times investigation gives those critics yet more ammunition."
The departures of Jeff Murphy and Manjeet Ranu are the first step in cleaning up this soft corruption. Let's not forget that the problem starts with the city council itself.
10:49 Bailing cause you've been caught out to lunch? But also trying to have the last word? 7:24 said Murphy has been gone for more than a year. He was not here for big changes in the HEU, much of its selling to the public, its adoption as Measure T by the council, and the ballot statement. Ranu was here from the start till a day or two ago.
ReplyDeleteNoooo and in the interest of educating others on this blog, who do you think oversaw the city's secretive contact with those 95 parcel owners 2.5 years ago? I'll leave you to answer your own question.
DeleteRanu learned at Murphy's knee, no doubt about it.
More than 95 parcel owners are involved and the whole scam wasn't consummated 2.5 years ago. Murphy started just before the Prop A vote, which was June 18, 2013.
DeleteThe Andreen invitation to the 95 that came on the heels of the city's letter is dated April 8, 2014. Try as you might, you cannot get Murphy off this hook.
DeleteT was put in place by the city council and planning commission. These are our representatives. City staff may have steered the plan, and tried to sneak in developer supported language, and favored certain parcels over others. Blame or credit goes to our elected representatives.
ReplyDeleteT was developed by City Staff in the Planning Department and railroaded through the Planning Commission and City Council. When planners such as Drakos and Brandenburg wanted to make changes they were told by Ranu that there was no time and so they took it as given and told that this was the only possible outcome. They didn't just "steer" (as in neutering a bull), they drove the cattle to slaughter with their bull poop. Now the rats are leaving the ship.
DeleteStaff and consultants created the plan, commission and council approved it. Key staff leaving sure seems to say they know T will fail, and they don't want to be around to take the heat.
DeleteThey are rats jumping ship. We all know that they were rats from the beginning!
DeleteI just wandered over to (not a real) Dr. Paul Gaspar for Mayor on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteOn the right side column is a little box telling me that people who like this page also like Donald J. Trump.
Do you really want to join that club? Something to keep in mind on Nov. 8.
Join that club...we are that club you elitist! Trump Train's coming and your 1960's cultural marxism will be called out moving forward. No more touchy feely civil discourse, its time the Alt Right execute the Rules For Radicals playbook.
Deletee·lite
Deleteəˈlēt,āˈlēt/
noun
1.
a select part of a group that is superior to the rest in terms of ability or qualities.
I guess I am an elitist, as I do want the best and brightest running the country.
The alternative is called kakistocracy, and I do not think it's a good model.
Duterte in the Philippines is the opposite of the elite running the country.
Delete9:54 makes reference to the Alt-Right, of which he is a part.
DeleteIf you don't know much about this movement, but are inclined to write them off as a small fringe crank group, I highly suggest you read this feature-length exposee.
Frankly, it shocked me. There is real danger here, and we should all be aware and active in defeating it.
City broke ground on Larry Giles $3M Lifeguard Mansion. Tv station says new lifeguard MCMansion will improve response times. Yeah sure. Larry you don't think we are that gullible do you??
ReplyDeleteIt's $3.73 million. The bond issue was $3 million. Interest on the bonds will approximately double the payments to $6 million or more.
DeleteTwo or three years ago, Giles excused two men drowning near the mouth of Cottonwood Creek out in front of the supplementary lifeguard tower at the north end of Moonlight Beach.
At 4 mill station will do nothing for saving lives. dumb asses.
ReplyDeleteWho is going to get stuck with Manjeet Ranu next?
ReplyDeleteHe has never been in a job for more tha 2 years. My other question is how did he end up here? Glenn Pruim was detested in Carlsbad and was ready to get the boot, Gus Vina had been chased out of Sacto, and Manjeet moved around constantly.
Who was the one who said, "Gee, I think Encinitas should hire this guy!" in any of these cases? Encinitas seems to be a magnet for sleaze! Also, all of these people stayed WAY past their welcome.
In the case of Gus Vina, I believe that was Teresa Barth and Patrick Murphy who led the search committee that chose him.
DeleteBarth later rated Vina "excellent" along with the other council members.
Barth was the biggest promoter of Vina. However, all five council members voted to hire him, including Jerome Stocks. It was obvious that Vina had been put on probation in closed session when he had his performance review in July. Barth made one last futile attempt to save him just before she went off the council in December. Vina preempted the January performance review by announcing he was leaving.
DeleteVina had been able to appoint all new department heads by sheer luck. He chose people he could control. All are now gone except Tim Nash in Finance.
Unfortunately certain present and past council members blame Vina for decisions the council made. Talk about passing the buck!
Honestly it's Blackspar, Krans, and Schaffer who got us into this mess. Don't blame the planning department. Those 3 city council members literally have no clue. At the last city council meeting I confronted Krans about the transportation plan he and his 2 associates pitched to the planning commission and his response was they wanted "more complete roads". I mean seriously, what does that mean? They want to reduce traffic lanes to add more bike lanes even though 90% of the people commute out of the City.
ReplyDeleteTLDR version. Get rid of those 3 city council members and you'll see results.
Yea right. As if Kristin and Mark have done such a bang up job.
ReplyDeleteAt council sessions while we pay attention to the endless meandering, beating a dead horse, Mark often asks questions that were covered in the preceding minutes and hours, as if he wasn't even there up on the dais.
If we can sit through and comprehend the endless council discussion, where the heck was his mind? He may have been there physically, but his mind was elsewhere. We deserve better from him for his next four years. I can dream.
Yea, Muir has ADD or something. He looks dazed and confused at meetings and his comments are usually inappropriate for the context of the discussion. I think he is there to protect his pension and has nothing better to do. Four more years of this guy will be a complete waste of representation and will only serve the private interests that he has aligned with.
DeleteShaffer is leaving on her own...with a little encouragement from writers on this blog and others.
ReplyDeleteIt is really sad that Shaffer is teaching ethics when she has applied the lowest standard of ethics throughout her time on council. What is the lowest level of ethics? The ends justify the means. She is a pathological liar and the most unaware person who has ever been on council. There is a saying that people "teach what they need to learn." Read your ethics text, Shaffer!
Shaffer is to Ethics as Jeffrey Dahmer is to vegetarianism.
ReplyDelete