Grand Jury criticizes Leucadia flooding

NCT:

The San Diego County Grand Jury on Tuesday urged the city of Encinitas to create a comprehensive plan to improve storm drains in flood-prone Leucadia.

"Leucadia's existing storm water infrastructure is inadequate to handle the chronic rainwater flooding along Highway 101," the jury said in a press release announcing its latest report.

[...]

The jury recommended a project to relieve runoff that collects at Roadside Park, Leucadia's lowest point. That would require drilling a drainage outlet west through a bluff allowing water to empty onto the beach, the jury said.

The jury also suggested the formation of a special tax district to fund Leucadia drainage projects.

The city is broke and can't even afford a skate park at the long-overdue Hall Property. There is no way we are taking on a big infrastructure project like this.

No new taxes until the city addresses the real problems: pay and pensions, and bad real estate deals.

Summer's here

Perfect weather: air temp around 70, water high 60's, leave your wetsuit at home. It's almost a crime against nature to leave town for summer vacation when you live in Encinitas.

Encinitas Memorial Day

There will be a ceremony at 11:30 at the corner of Cottonwood Creek Park (Encinitas Blvd & Vulcan).

Olivenhain Gone Wild!!!

Residents of Olivenhain were out in force tonight at City Hall to speak out against a half-assed, part-time fire station being proposed there.

Olivenhain currently has absolutely horrible fire and ambulance response times, and it's only a matter of time until someone dies because of it.  City staff's recommendation to Olivenhain: don't have an emergency during off hours.

Olivenhain residents contribute far more than their fair share to the city in property taxes, and they get virtually nothing in return.  Olivenhain would be far better off seceding and going back to the county.

All this debate has been about a trade-off of priorities: Olivenhain lives vs. Cardiff and Leucadia beach and park improvements.  But nobody's really raising the biggest issue: that if we didn't have such horrible financial mismanagement at City Hall, there would be a lot more resources to go around for everything.  I'll just list a few of the issues:

- city salaries higher than comparable private sector workers
- set-for-life-at-55 pensions
- vast overpayment for Hall Property
- failure to investigate toxic waste cleanup costs before purchasing Hall Property
- library cost overruns
- vast overpayment for Mossy property
- fire castles too grandiose (and cost overruns on top)

It's hard to find a single thing the clowns at City Hall have done right with respect to fiscal stewardship.  If they hadn't screwed all this up so badly, we wouldn't be talking about trading off Olivenhain lives for Hall Park development.

UPDATE: OK, I spoke too soon.  Lisa Shaffer (a candidate for council in November) and Andrew Audet (sadly not yet a candidate) brought up my points quite eloquently.

UPDATE 2: Olivenhain to get a permanent fire station!  No word on where the money is going to come from.  Pension reform and bloated payroll reduction, anyone?

Eclipse over Encinitas

The marine layer makes for a good viewing lens so you can see it with the naked eye.  If the clouds are too thick, head east a mile or so where the clouds are thinner.

Afoot and Afield in Encinitas

This is the view from the top of Encinitas, past the end of Lone Jack in Olivenhain. Some hiking and biking trails connect it to


the south end of La Costa Oaks, where a four-lane Highway to Nowhere (complete with sidewalks Cardiffians can only dream about) hints at future development plans.



La Costa Canyon is not just a high school; it's a step and rugged canyon with a creek even in late spring.

Your May 2012 HoodLink

Encinitas' longest-running, excellent underground newsletter.

Link.