6/18/25 City Council meeting open thread

 Please use the comments to record your observations.

Planning Commish trains for June 14

From the Inbox:

Fire on Denk Mountain

6/11/25 City Council meeting open thread

 Please use the comments to record your observations.

Encinitas is gay

Popular conservative X account "Libs of TikTok":

 

11-year-old girl missing from Encinitas Community Park

Fox 5:

An 11-year-old girl last seen at the Encinitas Community Park in Encinitas has gone missing, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.

Around 3:59 p.m., the law enforcement agency posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about the missing girl who goes by the name “Star.”

She is described as having a thin build with long blonde hair in a braid. Star was wearing a tan tank top and blue shorts.

Judge sides with parents over EUSD teaching gender ideology

Coast News:

A federal judge has granted a request for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Encinitas Union School District’s buddy program from teaching gender identity topics without first notifying parents and allowing them to withdraw their children from the lesson.

The ruling is the latest development in a lawsuit filed by local parents last year alleging that a school mentor program violated their constitutional religious rights by exposing their children to gender identity content without prior notice or the ability to opt out.

5/21/25 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

No charges in Encinitas road rage beating

10 News:

A retired race car driver is recovering after suffering devastating injuries in a road rage incident that ended with him being repeatedly punched while sitting in his truck.

[...]

Kunewalder, who also suffers from multiple sclerosis, was hospitalized with serious injuries.

"Fractures in skull and eye socket," Kunewalder said.

He was treated for multiple broken bones that required reconstructive surgery. He now has double vision in his right eye.

[...]

The case was sent to the District Attorney's Office, which declined to file charges. Kunewalder says he was told there weren't enough impartial witnesses.

Council endorses "Our Neighborhood Voices" initiative

Coast News:

The Encinitas City Council voted 4-1 on Wednesday to support the Our Neighborhood Voices initiative, a statewide effort to restore local control over land use and zoning through a state constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot.

Councilmember Jim O’Hara and Councilmember Luke Shaffer introduced the resolution, saying the city should oppose state housing mandates that have limited its authority over development decisions.

[...]

Deputy Mayor Joy Lyndes cast the lone dissenting vote, stating that while she supports efforts to address housing challenges, she did not believe the resolution would result in meaningful change.

5/14/25 City Council meeting open thread

Roundabout fail

Union-Tribune:

Traffic statistics for the only two roundabouts installed so far along old Highway 101 in North County indicate the devices may be causing more problems than they solve.

Collisions have skyrocketed at a roundabout finished in 2014 near Carlsbad’s border with Oceanside, where the historic highway, known locally as Carlsbad Boulevard, intersects with State Street. After fewer than one collision annually before the installation, 15 collisions were reported in the five years from 2015 through 2019. There were 28 collisions in 2020 through 2024.

Also performing poorly is a roundabout completed in July 2022 in Encinitas, where the old thoroughfare is called North Coast Highway 101. That intersection with El Portal Street recorded just one collision in the 11 years prior to the installation. Since then there have been at least 17 collisions, making it the most hazardous intersection in the city.

To be fair, a lot of the crashes are single-car drunks and speeders, and it's arguably a good thing to decommission their vehicles before they hurt somebody.

Coast News letters: density bonus flaws

Coast News letters:

Dear Sen. Blakespear,

I’m writing to express concern about the threat Senate Bill 79 poses to those of us who genuinely care about providing affordable housing. SB 79 has virtually no affordability requirements and threatens to override voter-approved Proposition A height limits in Encinitas.

As you may know, Encinitas has already been hurt by the state’s current density bonus laws, which heavily favor market-rate units and allow only a minimum number of affordable homes.

A recent example is the 30-home Torrey Crest development on Melba Drive. Of those 30 homes, just three will be affordable — and that’s after three existing lower-income homes were demolished.

Bottom line: Existing lower-income renters will be displaced, and there will be zero net gain in affordable housing.

On top of that, a large number of trees will be cut down, and bird and wildlife habitats will be replaced with heat-producing hardscape.

It’s clear that the Building Industry Association and certain developers — who value profit over community — hold the most sway in Sacramento. Rather than improving current density bonus laws to meaningfully increase affordable housing, our legislators seem to be blaming the public for pushing back.

This tactic — straight out of Trump’s playbook — paints concerned residents as NIMBYs. SB 79 is just the latest example of California’s flawed housing policies, pushed by Sen. Scott Wiener and backed by legislators who appear ready to support them.

I’m looking for answers, not excuses. Why are lawmakers pushing laws that cater to developers while ignoring the real need for affordable housing? Why aren’t they fixing the current policies to better serve lower- and middle-income Californians? Why aren’t they working with local governments — instead of setting them up to be sued?

I would appreciate hearing your perspective on SB 79 and the state’s approach to density bonus laws in general.

C.J. & Bernard Minster
Encinitas

Kranz, with buddies, tries to film Shaffer constituent meeting

Coast News:

[T]ensions flared when former mayor Tony Kranz, seated alongside local attorney Marco Gonzalez and Marlon Taylor, school board president for the Encinitas Union School District, set up a camera on a tripod and started recording the event.

According to several attendees, Shaffer asked Kranz to stop filming, saying he wanted to create a welcoming environment where people could speak freely without the pressure of being recorded.

“I have every right in the world to record the video,” Kranz told The Coast News. “It’s pretty common for elected officials to be recorded when speaking.”

The disagreement escalated, prompting two attendees to contact law enforcement. One resident, who asked not to be named, told The Coast News the exchange made the atmosphere tense and disappointing, especially for residents who wanted to speak with their elected official without being recorded or filmed.

Another crash at Blakespear’s bike obstacles

Facebook:

Another crash because of the "protective" barrier today. This is #36 as far as we know. Herb Chin, an experienced cyclist who has ridden up and down the 101 countless times, was apparently momentarily distracted during the gap in the barrier just south of Ki's, glanced off it and went down. He told witnesses he was fine but could not identify the current president or year. As far as we know he's okay but is under medical observation to be sure.

Per Stephen Stewart: Northbound just south of Ki’s restaurant this am. Several witnesses (doctor and retired paramedic) saw it from Ki’s and came out immediately. Concussion, bruises and abrasions on hip. MRI and CT scan performed at hospital and cleared. Herb didn’t remember the crash and didn’t know current president at crash site. [Herb is a] Friend of ours that rides it every Tuesday. Same location as Ken’s (NC3 ride lead) crash.

Per Douglas C. Hoffman: "He's pretty beat up, concussion but no brain bleed or fluid. Big hip hematoma and lots of raspberries. He doesn't remember the actual accident. He is a long time rider (decades of experience), rides that route often."

Some cyclists were not so lucky.

4/30/25 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

12-year-old girl killed in crosswalk near Trader Joe's

NBC 7:

A 12-year-old girl was struck and killed by a car in Encinitas on Friday, according to a press release from the San Diego Sheriff's Department. The incident happened near Encinitas Boulevard and Village Square Drive just before 7 p.m.

Officials said a Nissan Xterra, driven by a 44-year-old man, was heading westbound when it collided with a Ford Fusion driven by another 44-year-old man. The Xterra then struck the 12-year-old girl who was walking the crosswalk. She succumbed to her injuries, according to them.

Both drivers stayed at the scene. The use of alcohol or drugs is not believed to be a factor in the ongoing investigation, according to the press release.

4/23/25 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Wide open spaces

Encinitas 1947.

4/16/25 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Blakespear’s fatal bicycle obstacles in news again

San Diego Reader:

Nineteen accidents, including one fatality, involved these flexi posts (bollards) or wheel stops, he said. "They're not protected."

"The cyclists would almost immediately start riding in the class II bike lane. Motorists would get their #2 lane back."

The road between Chesterfield Dr. and Solana Beach has plenty of space for a wide, buffered class II bike lane in both directions, Medak said. He also recommended usage data be recorded starting as soon as possible and continuing for a period after the changes are made.

D Street stairs closed indefinitely

Coast News:

The City of Encinitas has closed the D Street beach access staircase, citing emergency structural concerns that make it unsafe for public use.

The closure, announced Tuesday, is effective immediately and applies to the staircase at 404 W D Street. The staircase is a popular entry point to a stretch of beach running below the bluffs from Moonlight Beach south to Swami’s Point.

“Barricades will be installed to secure the area,” according to a city press release. “The staircase will remain closed until repairs can be made. The reopening date will be determined once further assessments are completed.”

4/9/25 City Council meeting open thread

 Please use the comments to record your observations.

Blakespear Scores 100% on Equality Scorecard

From the Inbox:

She's woker than Gavin Newsom, who scored only 76.9%. 

Happy 5th Anniversary, Surfing Coronavirus!

 April 2, 2020:

Kim Prather, a leading atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wants to yell out her window at every surfer, runner, and biker she spots along the San Diego coast.

“I wouldn’t go in the water if you paid me $1 million right now,” she said.

The beach, in her estimation, is one of the most dangerous places to be these days, as the novel coronavirus marches silently across California.

3/26/25 City Council meeting open thread

 Please use the comments to record your observations.

Encinitas Tesla store targeted in nationwide wave of political attacks

From the Inbox:

Might be a good topic for conversation?

RIP Ian Thompson

The widower of late councilwoman Maggie Houlihan.

I didn't know them much, but from what I can tell she was a gregarious hippie chick who settled here a long time ago and got a job as a bank teller. I don’t know how she got into politics, but she was beloved as a goofy, big-hearted council member, and mourned as she died from cancer.. Ian presented as a well-bred proper English guy. I gather they married later in life. He seemed in good health the last time I talked to him a couple years ago.

Another protest at Encinitas Tesla store

Fox 5:

A protest took place outside the Tesla dealership in northern San Diego County on Saturday as community members rallied against federal funding cuts while protests took place simultaneously across the country.

A crowd lining the street outside the Tesla dealership in Encinitas could be seen holding signs with messages like “boycott Tesla” and “save social security” at 1302 Encinitas Blvd Saturday afternoon.

UPDATE: Apparent vandalism to the cars reported on Facebook.

3/12/25 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Blackwell owned stock in developer whose project she approved

Coast News:

A former Encinitas City Council member may have violated state conflict-of-interest laws by voting to approve a project from a real estate developer in which she held investments, according to campaign finance experts.

Allison Blackwell, who served on the council as the District 1 representative from January 2023 until the end of last year, cast multiple votes in favor of the Piraeus Point development during her time in office.

Since Blackwell had a living trust set up with a significant investment holding in Lennar Corporation — the real estate developer behind the Piraeus Point — these votes appear to have violated conflict of interest rules set by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), according to multiple former FPPC regulators interviewed by The Coast News.

Pedestrian killed by elderly driver in Leucadia

Behind Just Peachy:

A pedestrian died in Encinitas Sunday evening after being struck by a vehicle at about 6 p.m., a sheriff’s official confirmed.

The collision occurred on Jupiter Street near North Coast Highway.

The person who died was an adult. No other information was immediately available.

Post office suspends delivery to Santa Fe Drive residents due to unsafe road design

Another surprise left behind by the ousted mayor and council:

Twenty-four residences have had mail delivery suspended after the U.S. Post Office announced it will no longer service mail along portions of Santa Fe Drive due to “unsafe” road conditions.

The announcement came as a shock, but not a surprise to Mayor Bruce Ehlers, who was first informed of the situation in an interview with North County Pipeline on Thursday. He said the suspended service, among other safety concerns, is why the City Council pumped the brakes on the project in January.

An email from Carrie Mannon, supervisor of customer services for the Encinitas Post Office, confirmed those residents must pick up their mail as delivery is suspended. The city has reconfigured Santa Fe Drive from Gardena Road to Evergreen Drive east of Interstate 5, which has received significant backlash from residents, healthcare workers, businesses and motorists for months.

Bad government: the gift that keeps on giving

Many of the policies of the Blakespear and Kranz councils will continue costing the city money long after they're gone. They created a new full-time staff position for a manager of the homeless, making the city responsible for something that had always been the county's job, for example.

And Blakespear's bike obstacles, which she was warned about vociferously by the bicycling community, have already been the cause of dozens of bicycle accidents and two fatalities, which will certainly cost the city millions in legal damages.

One of the more absurd, and still significant, costs of previous bad ideas is the frequently needed removal of sand from the bike lanes. Since the early days of the Coast Highway, the sea breeze and the drafts of passing cars had kept the highway and bike lanes free of large build-ups of sand. Blakespear's bike obstacles, however, trap the sand so that it piles up in the bike lanes and must be removed by crews at least weekly, and often even more frequently by a local's observation.

The city initially got a bike-lane-sized Sand Zamboni for the job, but lately it's apparently either out of service or otherwise inadequate for the job, so crews manually hose down the bike lane from a tanker truck. All the way to Solana Beach.

What a waste of city resources. No wonder Kranz wanted a sales tax increase so badly!

Suspect vehicle identified in fatal hit-and-run

Coast News:

Sheriff’s traffic investigators determined the suspect was driving a gray 2019-2023 Audi Q3. Authorities said the driver initially stopped before fleeing the scene. The vehicle may have damage to the lower left portion of the front grille or could be missing parts from the grille.

2/26/25 City Council meeting open thread

Belated. Apologies.

 (see the 2/19/25 thread for some comments posted during the 2/26 meeting)

2/19/25 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Encinitas Tesla store gets anti-Musk protest

Escondido Grapevine:

1302 Encinitas Blvd. just west of El Camino Real was hit by a massive anti-Elon Musk protest all day Saturday where hundreds of patriots lined the pavement outside the criminal Musk Tesla ripoff facility.

Builder’s remedy

 Councilman Luke Shaffer and Mayor Bruce Ehlers on the “builder’s remedy,” a sort of nuclear option for the state to push high-density development:

Link

2/12/25 City Council meeting open thread

 Please use the comments to record your observations.

City faces millions in lawsuits over Leucadia flooding mismanagement

Coast News:

The city of Encinitas now faces three lawsuits from Leucadia homeowners after two more households filed claims last week, alleging the city’s mismanagement of its drainage system has caused repeated flooding of their properties.

Thaddeus Gardner and Timothy and Kerrilynn Calver, who own properties on Europa Street, filed lawsuits on Jan. 21, claiming that the city’s failure to properly maintain stormwater drainage systems has resulted in extensive property damage, loss of rental income and ongoing safety hazards.

Last January, heavy rainfall and flash floods wrought havoc in Leucadia, transforming the Europa Street alleyway into a knee-deep river of stormwater and damaging businesses and several homes, including residences owned by the Calvers and Gardner.

Bush fire at Swami’s

Pretty hard to start a fire in this rain. Almost certainly a homeless campfire.

There has been at least one other fire in recent years in the same location. 

Coast Highway was closed between Swami’s and the Kook for a few hours.  

Councilman Luke Shaffer wants to “adjust” Prop A

Coast News:

"Prop A, as great as it is, I’m not going to say outgrown itself, but at some level, there are some adjustments that might be needed,” Shaffer said during the meeting. “Are you willing to open it up and see if there are ways to adjust it to the advantage of our city?”

I don't think Shaffer even understood that as a citizens' initiative, Prop A would require another ballot initiative to "adjust".

What parts of Prop A does he see as a problem?

Pickleball Wars!

Reportedly, a developer bought the Shadow Mountain Church next to the Bobby Riggs pickleball club, and found that pickleball violates the city's noise ordinance.

The city recently shut down 2/3 of the club's courts.

Angry pickleballers are expected to pack tonight's council meeting.

Grab your popcorn!

Fatal hit-and-run in Leucadia

NBC 7:

A 66-year-old woman died after she was struck by an SUV whose driver left the scene, authorities said Monday.

The crash occurred at 6:52 p.m. Sunday in the 900 block of North Coast Highway 101, according to officials at the North Coastal San Diego County Sheriff's Station.

Preliminary information indicated the possibly light-colored SUV struck the woman in the roadway and the driver immediately left the scene, investigators said.

That's the block just north of Leucadia Boulevard, where Solterra and Nectarine Grove are.

Blakespear's fire hazard has been a problem for years; city ignored under previous administration

Coast News:

Dozens of dead palm trees on a state lawmaker’s private land, viewed by neighbors as a dangerous fire hazard, have sparked urgent calls to clear the mounting piles of tinder-dry fronds in light of the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles.

Rossini Canyon, a property in Cardiff-by-the-Sea owned by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), has drawn several complaints in recent years about potential fire hazards posed by more than 40 dead palm trees and mounds of dried fronds on the site. According to neighbors, dozens of Canary Island and Queen palm trees on the parcel were killed during a palm weevil infestation starting in 2021.

[...]

In November 2023, Cummings reported the potential fire risk to the city through MyEncinitas, a civic engagement app that allows residents to share their concerns quickly. The city responded on Dec. 29, 2023, stating the area was not located in a “very high fire hazard severity zone” and, therefore, the dead palms did not necessitate action, according to emails obtained by The Coast News.

[...]

Chapter 11.12 of the Encinitas Municipal Code states that it’s “unlawful for any owner, lessee or occupant of any real property within the City to place or maintain dirt, rubbish, materials, grass, weeds or vegetation on or about such property or on or about adjacent sidewalks, parking areas, alleys or streets in a manner that is either dangerous or injurious to neighboring property or the health or welfare of residents in the vicinity; or interferes with the use of public rights-of-way.”

1/15/24 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Blakespear organizes work party to clean up canyon fire hazard

From the Inbox:

California depopulation continues

Press-Democrat:

California saw the country’s lowest number of people arriving compared to leaving the state via one-way U-Haul rental trucks in 2024, U-Haul announced in a report out Thursday.

It is the fifth consecutive year that the Golden State came in last in the Phoenix-based company’s ranking.

Ehlers outlines priorities

"Narrowly":

When Bruce Ehlers narrowly defeated incumbent Tony Kranz in the Encinitas mayoral race last fall, it was seen as a rejection of how the city was run.

[...]

One of the biggest issues he wants to tackle is infrastructure, especially storm drains to prevent flooding in places like Leucadia. That area is prone to flooding, which has been an issue since before Encinitas was incorporated as a city in 1986.

Ehlers said the previous council has been prioritizing unneeded projects such as streetscaping and buying Surfer’s Point.

“What had happened is we'd spent $100 million over the last 10 years on nonessential vanity beautification projects where we should have been spending it on basic infrastructure, pavement flooding and storm drain refurbishment,” he said.

And more errors from KPBS:

This past November, voters rejected a half-cent sales tax increase that would have paid for road repairs and other infrastructure.

It was a one percent sales tax increase, not a "half-cent".