Residents see city council and Leichtag luring region's homeless to Encinitas

Facebook:

These guy have LIED THEIR ASSES OFF from day 1. Now they are destroying our town. EVERY HOMELESS person knows about the parking lot. The Swamis crew is getting FURIOUS about them FILLING UP THE LOT.

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I have VERY BAD NEWS. Their advertising is working. I saw more bullshit vans today BY FAR than any other day. Already the architects have likely more than DOUBLED or TRIPLED our numbers. This is reckless behavior, we have no idea who these people are and 100% of communities suffer the consequences of these actions.

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A friend talked to a nice homeless woman who just came here from Berkeley because she heard about the Encinitas “camp” already. She wants a “cleaner” place

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word is spreading in Berkeley. Someone else said they were up there giving food to homeless with pets up there and one of them had heard about our “camp” opening!

Encinitas Guerrilla facing technical difficulties

From the Inbox:

The Encinitas Guerrilla's blog and email have been blocked.

There appears to be no limit to the treacherous reach of the Guerrilla's opponents.

This week's entry is attached should you care to post it on Encinitas Undercover.

We hope the Guerrilla is back to health soon! In the meantime, here's the post:

Hmm, What Can I Do to Make Myself Even More Unpopular?

The list of my transgressions and doing the opposite of what Encinitas residents want is so long and thorough that it’s hard to come up with other things to do to increase my unpopularity.

However, I have a few ideas.

I could push to reduce El Camino Real from six lanes to four and to shrink Encinitas Boulevard and South Coast Highway 101 from four lanes to two. Since there’s been such an outcry against reducing North Coast Highway 101 from four lanes to two, I’m sure the other road diets would be seen as an outrage.

Next, I could support the 69-foot, 277-unit apartment complex in Olivenhain and advocate for similar development at all the other HEU sites. That would go deeper than merely getting under residents’ skin.

Audience applause for people who speak during Oral Communications and to agenda items really bugs me. I say the clapping disrupts the meetings and makes them longer, but that’s not the real reason I object. The council and staff almost never get applause, and sincere praise from a speaker is rare. That justifies my anger.

So I’m thinking about strictly enforcing jazz hands and forbidding audience members from talking to each other and passing notes among themselves. That should really stick in their craw.

But I’ve saved my best unpopularity gambit for last. Banning surfing could be my zenith move. Maybe I can inch up to a ban by starting with restricting surfing to certain hours of the day. Eventually, a full ban would achieve my goal of being the most unpopular mayor since incorporation.

Marco's sister smashes gig economy, puts freelance writers and artists out of work

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the sister of Encinitas developer attorney Marco Gonzalez, is the author of Assembly Bill 5, which bans many types of independent contracting work.

SF Chronicle:

“My concern is that we’ll see a massive creative drain out of the state,” said Susie Medak, managing director of Berkeley Repertory Theater. “What will happen to the small dance, theater or opera companies where there is so little income? That’s why they pay stipends. Nobody’s getting rich.”

Many smaller performing arts companies in the Bay Area say that while they support a fair wage for artists and theater makers, they fear AB5 would destabilize them. They hope for an exemption for nonprofit arts companies or for artists who work minimal hours.

Reason:

"These were never good jobs," Gonzalez said earlier this month. "No one has ever suggested that, even freelancers."

But many of the freelance journalists, writers, and content creators who now have to navigate the disastrous consequences of Gonzalez's legislation beg to differ.

"I've been able to earn nearly three times the amount I did working a day job, doing what I absolutely love, and having more to volunteer and spend time with loved ones," wrote Jackie Lam, a financial journalist. Kelly Butler, a freelance copywriter, echoed those sentiments. "Thousands of CA female freelancer writers, single moms, minorities, stand to lose their livelihood due to this bill," she said. "I was told by a client because I live in CA they can't use me. I made $20K from them this year."

Grauso says that CAFWU, the group fighting against AB5, is composed primarily of the people that Gonzalez claimed the bill would help. It is currently 72.3 percent women, which, according to Grauso, is no coincidence.

"The reality is it still falls primarily on women to be the caretakers and caregivers of their families, and freelancing allows women to be stay-at-home mothers or to care for an aging parent," Grauso notes. "Being made employees kills their flexibility and ability to be home when needed. I cannot stress enough how anti-women this bill is."

The 35-piece per publication limit comes out to less than one piece per week. Anyone who writes a weekly column, for instance, is likely out of a job if their publisher cannot hire them as an employee.

Shooting in Cardiff

City News Service:

A person was shot Monday at an Encinitas home, authorities said.

The shooting was reported shortly before 5:45 a.m. at a home in the 1200 block of Greenlake Drive, San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Nancy Blanco said.

Deputies responded to the scene and found a victim suffering from at least one gunshot wound, Blanco said.

The condition and gender of the victim – who was hospitalized – were not immediately available, the lieutenant said.

No suspect description was revealed.

The circumstances leading up to the shooting were under investigation.

That's just off Santa Fe, east of the high school.

UPDATE: Fox 5:

A man defending his wife shot his son in North County, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department

It happened around 5:45 a.m. Monday at a home on Greenlake Drive, in the community of Cardiff, San Diego County Sheriff’s Lt. Nancy Blanco said.

A man in his 50’s was threatening his mother, a woman in her 70’s, with a knife, deputies said. The woman screamed for help and her husband came to her aid. Her husband, a man in his 70’s, shot the son in the torso, according to deputies.

Deputies found a victim suffering from at least one gunshot wound when they arrived, Blanco said. He was rushed to the hospital and is currently in critical condition.

Detectives are waiting for a warrant to go into the house and investigate.

12/18/19 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Council plans to borrow $30 million for Leucadia Streetscape

Encinitas Votes:

Item 10C for City Council meeting on Dec. 18, 2019. Re: Leucadia Streetscape and $30 million dollar loan

Council plans to ban straws

Encinitas Advocate:

A proposal to phase out the use of plastic straws and utensils at fast-food restaurants and takeout places in Encinitas will go before the City Council this week.

Initially, the proposed ordinance, which the council is scheduled to consider Wednesday, Dec. 18, will require fast food workers to ask first before they hand out plastic straws or utensils to their customers. Some months later, plans call for a phased-in ban of plastic straws but not utensils, city environmental programs manager Erik Steenblock said.

And they said the moral panic over plastic straws was subsiding.

Cardiff fire burns duplex on Stafford Avenue

KUSI:

An investigation was underway Friday into the cause of a fire that tore through an Encinitas duplex and left a resident with a minor injury.

The blaze, which was reported around 11 p.m. Thursday in the 300 block of Stafford Avenue near Oxford Avenue, also destroyed a truck in the driveway, according to the Escondido Fire Department.

The fire burned both garages on the first floor of the two-story duplex before spreading to the rest of the residence, Encinitas Fire Chief Robert Ford said.

Power lines also fell in front of the driveway, making access difficult for firefighters who got the flames doused in about an hour.

A man, who was the only person in the duplex, was able to get to safety, but suffered a minor injury and was treated by paramedics at the scene, Ford said.

NBC 7:

Author and screenwriter Michael Allin, known for writing the classic Bruce Lee film "Enter the Dragon," was rescued from his burning Cardiff home late Thursday night by two teenage neighbors.

12/11/19 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Restaurant closures on El Camino Real

San Diego Reader:

What’s happing to restaurants on Encinitas’ El Camino Real? In the last two months, eight restaurants have closed in the ten blocks between Encinitas Boulevard and Leucadia Boulevard.

The latest being on November 25. The owners of the Greek American Family Restaurant, opened since the 1980s, reportedly wanted to retire.

Gone are franchised or corporately owned restaurants of Noodles and Company, Subway, and Firehouse Subs. Also out of business, vacant, and up for lease are the former locations of locally owned businesses Pie Craft, Swirls Frozen Yogurt, and 2 Good 2 Be Bakery. (The McDonalds in the Encinitas Ranch Town Center was closed three weeks ago due to fire. Its expected to be reopened.)

101 is also seeing businesses struggle. There, it seems the rents are being set by the very profitable bars, and other types of businesses can't afford it. Two restaurants have failed quickly at the old El Callejon site, and it remains vacant, as do the former Whole Foods and Ace Hardware sites.

Car burglaries go unpunished

From the Inbox:

Car burglaries in some California cities are at crisis levels. Prosecutors say their hands are tied.

My street gets hit weekly. People don’t even bother reporting anymore.

From personal experience and Nextdoor.com posts, car burglaries seem to be common throughout Encinitas. Lack of response from the sheriff's department has led many people to stop bothering to report the crime.

What's your neighborhood experience?

Who is committing the burglaries? Vagrants, local druggie kids, gangs from out of town? Anybody know of anyone caught and prosecuted?