Fiddling through the floods

Coast News commentary:

Before he was elected to the city council in 2012, Mayor Tony Kranz was in the audience and among those begging the city council for solutions to the extreme flooding dangers. However, once elected, he took a back seat to the issue and sat on his hands. Here’s just a smattering of Mayor Kranz’s non-responses to the dire situation:

Click on over for the rest.

Leucadia residents and businesses still pleading for city to fix drainage

Encinitas Advocate:

With buckets and sandbags, the people who live and work near Leucadia Roadside Park desperately fought an ultimately unsuccessful battle to keep rising floodwaters from entering their homes and businesses as a record-setting rainstorm hammered the region Monday, Jan. 22.

Two days later, they pleaded with the Encinitas City Council to finally resolve drainage problems that have bedeviled the low-lying area for decades, saying the city’s previous attempts have done little, if anything, to improve the situation. The Jan. 22 storm, which dropped more than 3 inches of rain onto Encinitas, provided ample evidence that drainage is still a huge unresolved issue in Leucadia, they said.

Stacy Reddell, the new executive director of the Leucadia 101 Main Street Association, listed all of the small businesses that sustained damage from the recent flooding, including coffee shops, a pizza place and a ceramics studio. Some people, particularly the owners of The Mudd House Studio, were “completely devastated” by the amount of water that came pouring into their buildings after the roadways around the park on Coast Highway 101 began flooding Jan. 22, she said.

Seems like this should have been a higher priority than a second senior center.

Leucadia still flooding

Leucadia Roadside Park this morning

1/17/24 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Cronyism on Parade

Coast News Op-Ed:

“I have an opportunity to apply for an appointment to an open seat on our town city council, and it’s very likely if I do it that I would be the one to get the appointment.”

Mali Woods-Drake (now Mali Shook after her marriage in 2022) disclosed this during an If You Knew Me podcast episode in 2023 entitled, “Deciding between motherhood and personal ambition.”

Mali entered Encinitas politics at a BLM rally at the Cardiff Kook in 2020. From there, she quickly allied herself with then-mayor Catherine Blakespear, Councilmember Kellie Hinze, and current Mayor Tony Kranz.

During her work on their election campaigns, Mali became known for her attempts to silence those who disagreed with her by aggressively branding them “racist” and inviting them to “leave town if they don’t like the direction we want Encinitas to go.”

Since 2020, the council has rewarded Mali’s efforts with a string of increasingly influential appointments to the Encinitas Equity Committee and, more recently, the Encinitas Public Health and Safety Commission. Mali’s growing connections also earned her a board seat on the Pacific View nonprofit, Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance.

Raw oysters from Fish Shop suspected in norovirus outbreak

NBC 7:

The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency have linked 41 confirmed and probable cases of norovirus illness to raw oysters imported from a specific harvest location in Northwest Mexico, it was announced Thursday.

According to the HHSA, the cases began mid-December when people dined on raw oysters from Sonora, Mexico. The oysters have only been available through restaurants and wholesale locations and the county is asking those who purchased "Rocky Point oysters" packed by GOLPAC, located in Bahia Salina, Sonora are asked not to eat or serve them until an investigation of the outbreak is complete.

Cases to date have been tied to oysters served at three locations of The Fish Shop -- in Pacific Beach, Point Loma and Encinitas -- and the Carlsbad Aquafarm. Other locations may emerge during this investigation.

Train fatality downtown

Fox 5:

A man was fatally struck by a southbound BNSF freight train in Encinitas Saturday night, authorities said.

According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the incident happened around 11:30 p.m. near the intersection of Vulcan and D Street.

Responding deputies confirmed the man did not survive his injuries. The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office will publicly identify the victim once his family is notified.

Beacon’s Beach closed again

 City Instagram:

A bluff failure occurred this morning at Beacon’s Beach, causing damage to the trail access. As a precaution, the beach access has been closed. City experts are currently assessing the extent of the damages and determining the repairs needed. The reopening of the beach access will occur once it is deemed safe for public use. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

City Council meeting cancelled

 Here’s your open thread.

Mali Woods-Drake records podcast

Race activist and friend of the progressive city council Mali Woods-Drake has recorded a podcast:

This week’s story is entitled “Deciding Between Motherhood and Personal Ambition”

Bomb threat at Encinitas temple and preschool

 Encinitas Advocate:

A Jewish temple and preschool in Encinitas was evacuated Tuesday morning, Jan. 2, after someone sent a message with a bomb threat, a sheriff’s official said.

Just after 8:30 a.m., a person at Temple Solel called the Sheriff’s Department to report receiving an email that said explosives would soon be detonated at the campus, Lt. Zheath Sanchez said. The temple is on Manchester Avenue east of Interstate 5 in the Cardiff area.