Injured cyclist files claim with city

Mark Muir and Julie Thunder's news site Encinitas Current:

Roberta Walker, a cycling advocate and the Executive Director of Cardiff 101 Main Street Association, along with her husband, John, filed a claim against the City of Encinitas for damages sustained in a bike accident. In December, she was hit by a truck at and critically injured while riding her bike in the southbound sharrow lane of Highway 101 in Leucadia.

[...]

The claim states that there existed a dangerous condition of public property, including “confusing and distracting” pavement markings, confusing signage, and there was “no separate bicycle lane creating a dangerous condition on public property.”

3/27/19 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Kellen Winslow selling house

New Haven Register:

Currently in jail, former NFL star Kellen Winslow Jr. is selling his Encinitas, CA, home for $3 million. Winslow and his wife, Janelle, have listed the home amid mounting legal troubles for the former tight end.

In June 2018, Winslow was charged with rape and kidnapping, but posted $2 million bail and was placed on house arrest. Earlier this month, he was arrested again on two counts of lewd conduct.

After the latest accusations, the judge revoked his bail, landing him back behind bars on March 4. On Sunday, the Winslows put their home up for sale.

The property is 1310 Lake. Background on the crimes is here.

Exodus

Californians leave as foreigners move in.



Within San Diego County and Encinitas, people are heading out to Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, and being replaced by people from LA and OC.

McDermott: "we need to clear out the mayor and council"

Voice of San Diego:

Before the ruling came down, Charlie McDermott, an Encinitas resident and corporate exec, told me that he and his allies have long considered Prop. A a check on housing plans that only benefit well-to-do people. If the city was serious about housing low-income people, it should force developers to actually build more affordable units, he said.

It’s not immediately clear — to McDermott or to me — what types of rules the city could draft to get there. But we’ll be living with this tension for a very long time.

“I think we need to clear out the mayor and Council in the next election,” McDermott said. “You don’t win every battle, but there are some things we know now that we can begin layering in, and there may be another initiative.”

Red Porsche on the tracks south of Swami’s

From the position of the car, it looks like it was northbound on 101 and went up the embankment and got stuck on the tracks.

There are lots of cops at the scene.

UPDATE: NBC7:

Minor injuries were reported but it was not clear how many people were injured.

NCTD wants permanent maintenance road at San Elijo construction site

San Diego Reader:

The North County Transit District and SANDAG, with the support of Encinitas's mayor, want to make a temporary construction road near the San Elijo Lagoon permanent, and they quietly took the request to the California Coastal Commission last week – after SANDAG stalled on releasing documents about the change, according to concerned residents.

[...]

The neighbors up on the bluff are living through the construction with the complaints you’d expect to hear: noise, traffic back-ups and congestion, dust. But they didn’t expect to see the temporary road become permanent. They fear the road will allow for illegal fishing in the lagoon, for trash dumping, parking for partying and vice, as an off-road bike access and even for using the land as an unofficial off-leash dog park, residents said in the half dozen letters that came in too late to be added to the coastal commission report.

Ellen Burr said she was astonished to learn the road would become permanent – especially since there was no notice to the neighboring homes. She went to Encinitas city hall on Nov. 29, and couldn’t get any information. “They said the road isn’t theirs, it belongs to SANDAG,” Burr says. Mayor Blakespear wrote to the NCTD the same day that Burr, who lives on the bluff above the lagoon, went to the city to try to get whatever documents the city has on the decision to make the road permanent.

Bill would end Encinitas' dubious document destruction practice

VOSD:

State law requires cities to hold on to public records for at least two years. But many cities and other local governments delete emails far sooner, relying on an argument that the law doesn’t clearly define the rules on emails.

Now, Assemblyman Todd Gloria is proposing a bill to change that, an attempt to ensure that taxpayer-funded records are not deleted, Sara Libby reports.

Last year, we found that many San Diego cities delete emails quicker than the two-year mark, and some – like Encinitas and Poway – retain them for as little as 30 days. That makes it hard if not impossible to find out why something happened the way it did.

Transparency and Trust!

3/13/19 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Transients kill Carlsbad woman in her home

We've had problems with aggressive transients in Encinitas. It became much more serious this week in Carlsbad.

10 News:

Police have identified the suspects who reportedly attacked a Carlsbad woman, stabbing her to death during an attempted burglary Monday morning.

According to police, Ian Bushee, 37, and Malissa James, 26, who are both transients, were arrested on the 4800 block of Park Drive Monday. Both are on probation in San Bernardino for residential burglary.

Solace & the Moonlight Lounge bites the dust

San Diego Magazine:

For 12 years, Urban Solace helped revive North Park into an eating and drinking attraction, then brought good, honest food to Encinitas.

Tomorrow night will be their last night of service at both places. It's the end of an era.

[...]

"It has been an uphill battle for quite some time now, and it's just time to move on. We love you all and thank you and San Diego in general for the wonderful 12 years that we were able to live out our dreams. We will be doing our last dinner service, tomorrow night, Wednesday at both locations and would love for you to join us tonight or tomorrow to help us empty the bar and pantry!"

David Meyer proposes 48-house development on Batiquitos Lagoon

Thursday's Planning Commission meeting:

8A. PROJECT NAME: La Cost 48; CASE NUMBER: 15-222 TMDB/DR/EIR/CDP; FILING DATE: August 24, 2015; APPLICANT: DCM Properties, Inc. - David Meyer; LOCATION: 510 - 514 La Costa Avenue (APN: 216-030-10, 45 & 46; ZONING/OVERLAY: The subject property is located in the Residential 3 (R3) Zone, the Coastal Zone, Hillside/Inland Bluff Overlay Zone and the Scenic/Visual Corridor Overlay Zone of the City of Encinitas; PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Continued Planning Commission deliberation from February 7, 2019 to consider a Tentative Map Density Bonus, Design Review Permit, and Coastal Development Permit to create a total of 48 lots (44 market rate and 4 very low affordable).

Manhole sinking on Cornish

By request:

The manhole on Cornish is sinking, SINKING!! The street is buckled at the manhole [...]

A larger area around the manhole appears to be sinking, and someone has applied a small amount of asphalt to patch over it.

The area has had major sinkhole problems in the past.

Mizel Foundation stops community grants after not being allowed to buy library naming rights

Coast News:

A Colorado-based family foundation known for its local philanthropic efforts, has cut ties with Encinitas and its community grants program.

Encinitas officials confirmed that the Mizel Family Foundation is no longer providing its $75,000 matching grant, which it has contributed to the city’s program since 2007.

The community grant program doles out small grants to groups in the areas of arts and culture, the environment, economic development and recreation.

Two years ago, the Mizels tried to buy the naming rights to the Encinitas Library, but the council backed down from the plan after public outcry.

It's unclear whether the Mizels' planned monuments to themselves have been installed on Encinitas Ranch trails.

Kellen Winslow II back in jail on new charges

Encinitas resident and former NFL player Kellen Winslow II was arrested last year on multiple charges of rape in Encinitas.

CBS 8:

Winslow, who had been out of custody on $2 million bail in connection with his felony case, is now accused of touching himself and asking a 77-year-old woman if she "liked it" on Feb. 13, then groping her while she was in a hot tub at the same gym on Feb. 22, according to police and prosecutors.

Residents report string of mail thefts

CBS 8:

Residents in Encinitas have taken to social media to complain about a recent rash of mail theft in their area of North County San Diego. On the apps Nextdoor and Ring, several residents in Encinitas and Cardiff have claimed their mail has been snatched directly from their mail boxes.

The thieves reportedly strike in the early morning hours before anyone is up to catch them.

One woman that spoke to News 8 by phone said she had three outgoing checks stolen from her Encinitas mailbox.

It's a good idea not to put outgoing checks in the mailbox, especially overnight.

Planning Commission delays Pacific View over traffic and noise concerns

Four years after the city council borrowed $10 million to buy an abandoned school, the site has fallen far short of the council's dreams.

Coast News:

The Encinitas Planning Commission punted approval of the proposed revitalization of the shuttered Pacific View Elementary School site to April, citing a lack of details in the plan.

A group called the Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance wants to transform the school site, which has been closed since 2003, into an arts, culture and ecology center called the Pacific View Academy of the Arts.

The commission voted 4-0 last week to postpone its decision until April to give the group a chance to address concerns raised by commissioners and neighbors about the parking, lighting, number of events and noise.