Kookie Monster

Bond slams liberal, mean-spirited public in farewell interview

North Coast Current:

Looking back at how the political climate has changed since he was first elected in 1992, [retired Councilman James] Bond said that coastal Southern California has gradually shifted toward a more liberal or left-of-center way of thinking. He said that accompanying that shift has been a swing toward more mean-spirited elections and campaigns.

Bond was critical of people who he said abuse the public comments portion of the council meeting, which is reserved for members of the public who want to address the City Council regarding non-agenda items.

“This year I was really disappointed to see that we had regular herds of people to criticize the sitting council,” he said. “To make disparaging and in many cases totally untruthful comments or remarks is not the way you elect, select and support your representatives.”

As council watchers the last few years, our perception is that criticism of the council majority's actions came from across the political spectrum, was usually well-founded, and was overwhelmingly validated by the public in November's landslide election.  Mean-spiritedness went both ways, and was often originated or exacerbated by council members' contemptuous, erroneous dismissal of public speakers as being a fringe minority.

We hope the new council gives, and earns, more respect, regardless of individual political affiliations.  Public civility is likely to follow the tone set by the council.

Lonely lives of deputies

Deputies seek man who exposed himself in Cardiff.

90-foot stadium lights coming to Cardiff sunsets

U-T letter to the editor:

Lights will cause air pollution

I’m sure readers are aware of the development of the Hall Property Park off Interstate 5 in the middle of an Encinitas residential neighborhood. But they may not know about the 90-foot-tall lights the city of Encinitas is planning to install in the park.

The plan calls for the use of four 90-foot-tall lights and 10 80-foot-tall lights, which will be installed by the end of 2013. The standard height for lights in a residential neighborhood is 30 feet, 60 feet lower than the proposed Hall Property’s lights.

These lights will be a nuisance to citizens living around the area. Property values will plummet and the lights will pollute the air. Would you like it if your house, that you paid $1 million for, decreased in value?

Readers can help by writing to all five Encinitas City Council members today, and urging them not to install these lights. If enough people protest, we may be able to scale back the lights in time and save our community.

Jake Smith

student, Pacific Ridge School Cardiff

Oceanside man crashes in Fallbrook, wakes up dead in Encinitas

Oceanside - Camp Pendleton Patch:

A man killed Sunday in a two-vehicle crash on state Route 76 near Pala Mesa was identified as 49-year-old Benjamin Taylor of Oceanside.

The Medical Examiner said Taylor was found unresponsive by a passerby in his Ford F150 pickup truck, in a ditch, against a tree, near Manchester Avenue in Encinitas after he crashed about 3:25 p.m. Sunday on Route 76 east of Monserate Hill Road.

The truck's flight of almost 30 miles is believed to be a new record for the F-150.

Merry Christmas

Coming soon to a gutter near you

In what is apparently the first expenditure by Encinitas charity "We Love Encinitas" since the campaign season, the group has inserted flyers among the mattress ads and other detritus wrapped in plastic and thrown unsolicited on Encinitas lawns, gardens, and driveways.



Though the expenditure seems odd, we suspect that WLE's lawyers told them they had better start spending some money outside of election season to try to create the appearance that the charity is something other than a campaign ploy.

In other WLE news, a commenter points out at North Coast Current that WLE's claim of 501(c)(3) status was likely fraudulent, as the brand new group wouldn't have had time to get IRS approval.