Pedestrian killed crossing El Camino del Norte

Coast News:

A woman died Friday evening after being struck by a vehicle while crossing El Camino Del Norte, authorities said.

The collision occurred around 7:15 p.m. in the 2700 block of El Camino Del Norte, according to Sgt. Kristy Trampus of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.

Sugar Sweet Farm wins goat yoga fight; Shaffer charges dropped

Coast News:

Sugar Sweet Farm in Olivenhain will now be allowed to offer goat yoga as part of its educational agritourism programs, following the Encinitas City Council’s unanimous approval of revisions clarifying the farm’s agricultural permit.

Farm owner Elizabeth Sugarman told The Coast News that returning to the City Council for a second discussion helped establish clearer rules governing the farm’s educational offerings and its efforts to highlight the area’s agricultural heritage.

Also Coast News:

The criminal case against Encinitas City Councilmember Luke Shaffer, who was initially charged with assaulting a resident during a parking dispute, was dismissed Wednesday after a judge ruled he successfully completed a misdemeanor diversion program.

Murder on C Street

10 News:

An investigation is underway after fire crews and paramedics found an 85-year-old woman unresponsive in her home in Encinitas Saturday, according to the San Diego Sheriff's Office.

The woman was transported to a local hospital, where medical staff discovered "suspicious" injuries.

On Sunday, the woman's condition declined.

The San Diego Sheriff's Homicide Unit is now taking responsibility for the investigation.

Fox 5:

On Saturday, fire personnel and paramedics responded to a call about an elderly woman found unconscious inside a residence in the 1000 block of C Street in Encinitas.

There's a C Street at Moonlight Beach and a C Street in Olivenhain. I don't think the Moonlight Beach area has a 1000 block of C Street, but Olivenhain does.

Modern Times shuts down

Very sad.

Sandiegoville:

Modern Times' Far West Lounge in Encinitas has permanently closed, marking another major setback for the once-sprawling San Diego craft beer brand as questions now surround the future of its remaining local hospitality projects, including downtown's Timestead, Flavordome tasting room and the planned Cathedral of Caffeination coffee concept in North Park.

The Encinitas closure comes after Modern Times initially told customers the North County venue would be taking what it described as a brief "pre-summer sabbatical" on June 8 and 9 for maintenance, calibration, and "the occasional ceremonial tightening of a mysterious bolt." Days later, the company posted that the Far West Lounge would remain closed until further notice due to unspecified "licensing difficulties."

Now, according to Wes Van De Vort, CEO of Wings & Arrow and current owner of Modern Times Beer, the Encinitas closure is permanent.

"The hospitality group that is licensing the Modern Times name has made a decision to walk away from both Far West Lounge and Flavordome in North Park," Van De Vort told SanDiegoVille. "Wings & Arrow has decided to take over the North Park location, but could not come to an agreement to take over Far West. I do not know their plans with that location moving forward."

Blakespear tries to tie council’s hands on road infrastructure with SB 569

Save Encinitas Now:

Catherine Blakespear has "gutted and amended" Senate Bill 569 to try to prevent the needed changes from happening to Santa Fe Rd. This ignores all of the daily drivers, residents, physicians and emergency service personnel who have highlighted the problematic design.

Seems like this might prevent removal of Blakespear's fatal 101 bike obstacles too?

6/10/26 City Council open thread

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Encinitas history in Times of San Diego

Times of San Diego:

Beneath today’s surf culture, cafés, and coastal neighborhoods are traces of very different eras: a silent film actor who invested in early town lots, a historic movie palace still operating downtown. This cliffside spiritual retreat gave a surf break its name, and flower fields that once helped define the region’s economy.

Most of it is still there — if you know where to look.

Sydney Chaplin, the older brother of Charlie Chaplin, purchased acreage in Encinitas in 1923 during a coastal land boom, paying about $5,000 for property along what was then a developing stretch of Highway 101.

More at the link on La Paloma, the Ecke flower fields, Swami's and the Olivenhain Germans.

Happy Friday open thread

5/13/26 City Council meeting open thread

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Seattle negligence looks suspiciously like Santa Fe Drive bike lane fiasco

 Facebook:

The city of Seattle will pay $9.25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a bicyclist who slammed into a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury while riding in a “protected bike lane” near Green Lake, according to attorneys for the injured man.

The settlement came after King County Superior Court Judge Kent Liu found the city was negligent, violated its own standard of care and breached its duty to the bicycle-riding public in designing the bicycle lane, according to court documents.

 

Supervisors try to extend their own term limits under the guise of “ethics”

 Encinitas Votes:

It is a bundled power grab.

On April 21, the Board of Supervisors pushed it forward on a 3–2 vote. On May 19, they decide whether to send it to voters as a single take-it-or-leave-it package. #UnBundle

Here’s what’s buried inside:

– Extending supervisor term limits from 8 to 12 years
– A so-called ethics commission controlled by the same supervisors, with no subpoena power and no enforcement
– New authority for supervisors to control senior county officials

4/22/26 City Council meeting open thread

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4/15/26 City Council meeting open thread

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Don Hansen passes away

Surfer Magazine:

Sad news washed over the worldwide surf community today, as news that legendary surfer and shaper Don Hansen has passed away. He was 88 years old.

Hansen was a lifelong surfer, and the mind behind Hansen Surfboards, an iconic surfboard brand born in the sixties and enduring throughout decades. Out of the shaping room, Hansen was also a notable wave-rider, landing on the cover of this very magazine in 1962.

Blakespear: public transit über alles

Union-Tribune editorial:

[...] state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, treats the declining demand for transit as secondary to what she calls its status as a “fundamental public benefit.”

So much for the idea that public goods still have to be used to justify their cost — especially when subsidies rise even as usage falls. She does, however, acknowledge that the pandemic has made it far more common for people to work from home and says “transportation patterns must adapt” to this fact.

Uh, senator, they did! Many people happily gave up on this “fundamental public benefit,” welcoming not having to spend an hour a day or more going to and from work. The private sector has figured out that people like working from home. This is why construction of new office buildings has plunged and why CNBC reported last year that more office space is being removed than added in the U.S. for the first time in at least 25 years. CEOs have “updated their priors” and grasped the evidence that 2019 isn’t coming back.

But for many government officials who are spending taxpayer money and don’t have shareholders to worry about, their belief in public transit is unwavering. So what if it needs more than 80% in subsidies, year in and year out, and soon maybe 90%. Transit is inherently good and cars are inherently bad. And if a great majority of Californians disagree, tough luck for them.

In related news. the subsidies have become so budget-busting that NCTD wants to raise fares on the already ultra-low-ridership buses and trains:

Homeless man arrested in downtown smash-and-grab burglary

Coast News:

The incident occurred at about 10:37 p.m. on Feb. 14 at the Brixton clothing store, 670 S. Coast Highway 101, Suite 120. Deputies said a man threw a rock through a side window of the business, then reached inside and stole merchandise before leaving the area.

A video of the incident was subsequently shared with the public in hopes that someone would recognize the suspect.

Another injury at Blakespear’s cycle trap

Facebook:

This was the CycleTrap crash in the last Bike the Coast event. Anyone happen to know how the woman is doing? She seemed concussed at the time. She was behind the barriers and went down hard when her wheel hit the wheelstops. It seemed she had to swerve around something or was startled. No vehicles were involved (except for the ambulance which took her to hospital).

 

There have been numerous crashes serious enough for an ambulance ride at Blakespear's bike obstacles, and one fatality.

Local war hero honored at State of the Union

10 News:

Royce Williams, a 100-year-old Navy pilot, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

"Our post had the good fortune of having Royce with us for over the 10 years,” Peter-Rolf Ohnstad, District 22 Executive Board - American Legion, said.

“We all knew at some point in time, Royce Williams was going to get the Medal of Honor, and when he was going to get the Medal of Honor, we weren't sure. Because it was for u,s it was a 10-year process."

2/25/26 City Council meeting open thread

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2/18/26 City Council meeting open thread

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Wild weather

Nextdoor:

Okay that was a little wild…just drove my car through the eye of a little tornado and saw a dozen eucalyptus trees snap off at the intersection of Via Cantebria and Encinitas Blvd. Anyone else have any crazy encounters? 😳

More:

100 foot water spout in front of Cardiff, Swami's at before sunset. About 5:15pm

2/11/26 City Council meeting open thread

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Landscape designer runs for city council, opposes current majority

North Coast Current:

Lefkowits is positioning himself as an alternative to the current council majority, which includes Mayor Bruce Ehlers and councilmembers Luke Shaffer and Jim O’Hara, along with Marco San Antonio, who was appointed to the District 4 seat in January 2025.

UPDATE: And school board member Viskanta to challenge Ehlers for mayor. She'll have the Democratic Party endorsement and mailers, which might be enough. It worked for Blakespear, though she had much weaker opposition.

Leucadians to finally be allowed to cross railroad tracks

For years, Leucadians have had to climb over or cut the city fence to get to 101 or the beaches. Finally, some relief.

Union-Tribune:

Encinitas has just received a preliminary ruling from the California Public Utilities Commission that will allow it to build two, long-sought, at-grade crossings over the railroad tracks in Leucadia, the city manager announced.

“This is big,” City Manager Jennifer Campbell declared at the very end of Wednesday’s City Council meeting as she announced the news and praised the “huge team effort” it took to get to this point.

Audience members cheered, council members bumped fists, and the mayor declared, “Holy cow.” The two proposed crossing points — one at Grandview Street and one at Phoebe Street — would go within a 1.3-mile stretch of railroad tracks between La Costa Avenue and Leucadia Boulevard where there currently are no legal crossing spots.

Summery winter’s day open thread

Nice day out there!

LCC teacher arrested for child porn

Coast News:

A Carlsbad educator was arrested and booked into county jail this week following a California Department of Justice investigation involving alleged child sexual abuse material, according to a complaint filed in Vista Superior Court.

Joseph Anthony Zyburt, 55, a math teacher at La Costa Canyon High School, is charged with two felony counts of possession of child or youth pornography and one felony count of attempted possession of the material, according to a Jan. 26 felony complaint seeking an arrest warrant.

1/28/26 City Council meeting open thread

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1/21/26 City Council meeting open thread

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Lyndes out

The Coast News:

Councilmember Joy Lyndes announced she will not seek reelection this week following the completion of her current term later this year.

Lyndes told The Coast News that the decision is an effort to “push the reset button” amid a period of mixed emotions.

“After having done a lot at City Council, I felt it was time to refocus my time on personal things,” she said.