We Don't Need No Stinkin' Vote!

Lease revenue bonds are Encinitas' favored method of financing unpopular purchases and projects.  This way the City avoids the public vote that would otherwise be required if floating a General Obligation bond.

Lease revenue bonds should have a revenue source to repay the bond.  Here is Pacific View school's revenue collected to date since its $10M purchase in 2014: $150, or $30 per year.  Because the City can't repay the $10M with $150, it quietly raids other taxpayer-funded accounts.

Now the City plans to partially fund Streetscape with $22M in lease revenue bonds, again in order to avoid a public vote.  And as with the school, the City once again has no identified revenue source to repay the bond.  What accounts will be raided this time?  

Juanita’s founder killed in car crash

Rest In Peace, and thank you for those amazing chile relleno burritos all those years ago.

Encinitas is gay!

6/19/19 City Council meeting open thread

Looks like some action tonight. There's a news van outside.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

An Exercise in Virtue Signaling and Green Piety

When it Comes to Road Diets, Small Businesses are the Biggest Losers 

Twenty-one businesses have closed in less than two years since the city of Los Angeles reconfigured a 0.8 stretch of Venice Boulevard as part of the city’s "Vision Zero” and “Complete Streets” program.  But despite the usual promises to reduce accidents and improve safety for all modes of transportation while boosting local businesses and reducing emissions, the effect has been the opposite.

It turns out that Streetscape and lane diet opponents' claims that people sitting in traffic are less, not more, likely to stop and shop is exactly what's happening nationwide where these projects have gone in.

Our Mayor has also committed to Vision Zero and Complete Streets, so this should all sound familiar.  But she should take heed: in one tiny Oklahoma town, their Mayor's support for lane diets contributed to his recent reelection defeat.

More vibrancy coming to downtown

Eater San Diego:

Huge Cocktail and Beer Bar Surfs Into Downtown Encinitas

Old Town pub Home & Away has expanded in a big way in Encinitas, where the “craft everything bar” has completely renovated the large corner spot on South Coast Highway that was previously occupied by D Street Bar and Grill. Founded by Jonathan Frank and Dennis O’Connor (Thorn Brewing) new operating partner Eric Johnson is overseeing this location. Johnson is an Encinitas resident and an admired vet of the local bar industry, having made his mark at Noble Experiment, Craft & Commerce, El Dorado, Sycamore Den, and Juniper & Ivy; most recently, he helped to open The Smoking Gun in the Gaslamp.

6/12/19 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Do as I say, not as I do

With extensive street striping makeovers taking place citywide and Blakespear's near-hyper campaign for bike safety in the wake of the Walker accident, why are they all bareheaded?

Blakespear VOSD interview

On housing, SANDAG, etc.

HT: Jim the Realtor.

Council to raid open space acquisition funds to build Leucadia Streetscape

Coast News:

But the budget also calls for the council to redirect $590,000 of the $1.18 million it has available to purchase open space to help pay for the circulation element, a plan that addresses how to move people through the city, including improvements to roadways, bikeways, pedestrian paths and other modes of transportation.

[...]

“I know that the acquisition of open space is a very important issue for not only for the community but especially for this council,” Kranz said. “So it’s a little bit painful to be using funds that were originally set aside for open space acquisition for the circulation element.”

Kranz, however, also said that he was comfortable with transferring the money because the city was not taking all of the funds.

We wonder if bank robbers ever successfully used that defense: "Well, I didn't take ALL of the money in the bank..."

Longtime Encinitas Undercover readers will recall that an official city survey showed that residents wanted more open space, not more Leucadia Streetscape.