iPad burglars caught

After another late-night iPad burglary at another local school, the thieves got caught at the I-15 checkpoint on their way home to Hemet and Moreno Valley.

Fox 5 has the story.

Thomas Earl Burleson, 20, Trevor J. Williams, 21, and Eyon Zimmerman, 19, pulled into the inspection station on northbound Interstate 5 just south of Temecula in a Lexus shortly after 2:30 a.m., according to police.

Mr. Zimmerman describes himself as a "full time hussler" and "thug" on his Facebook page, and promises lucky ladies, "if u my bitch u get the chain n the ring to match." Seemingly having found some economic success in his career, Mr. Zimmerman recently posted, "this my year i be dreamin of pots of gold at night realshit."

Comments

We had to remove a few comments.  We are free-speech absolutists, but some of the comments were personal attacks that bordered on libel.  The Internet is a permanent kinda thing, and it can be damaging to someone's reputation and career to have personal attacks out there.

Please keep the comments to issues, not personal attacks, especially if you are using someone's real name and especially if the target is a private citizen, not a public official.

If you are the target of a comment you believe should be removed, please e-mail encinitasundercover at gmail.

Word on the street

The word on the street is that city staff knew, or at a minimum should have known, that they needed Coastal Commission approval for the "road diet" (removing a northbound 101 traffic lane to create a bike lane), but tried to sneak it through by attaching it to the southbound "sharrows" proposal. Video of the July 18, 2012 council meeting where the council unanimously followed the staff's recommendation is here. Streetscape opponents then did Public Records Act requests to find out if the city had obtained the necessary approvals, and got the attention of the Coastal Commission when they got the runaround on those information requests.

Bike lanes? Good.

Multiple layers of government bureaucracy? Bad.

Cutting corners and keeping the public in the dark because the ends justify the means? Really bad.

101 bike lane killed by state bureaucrats?

It looks like it. Coastal Commission letter to city:

As stated above, it is Commission staff's position that the proposed lane elimination on highway 101 requires both an LCP amendment and a Coastal Development Permit. Commission staff recommends that the City first process an LCP amendment for the comprehensive project, which may include roimd-a-bouts, reverse angle and parallel parking, and reduction of portions of northbound Highway 101 from two lanes to one lane, and then process a coastal development permit, which wil be appealable to the Coastal Commission, both due to partial location in the appeals area and as a major public works project.

At least we'll be generating lots of busywork for state and city government workers. Bureaucracy is stimulus!

Save Desert Rose or Pave Desert Rose?

The council is right now considering the Desert Rose developer appeal. The Planning Commission rejected the development, but the developer is coming back claiming the rejection was illegal.

The development is clearly unwelcome and completely out of character with the surrounding neighborhood. The neighborhood is zoned Rural Residential - 2, meaning a maximum of 2 lots per acre, or a minimum of 1/2 acre per lot. Most properties in the neighborhood, however, are an acre or more. The developer is using the density bonus law to try to force 17 lots (one street lot, 16 dwelling lots) into a 7+ acre area that would normally be zoned for 15 lots. Even at 15 lots, this would be much denser than the surrounding neighborhood, and a burden on traffic and street parking in the narrow, rural street.

The question is whether the state density bonus law, written by developers for developers, mandates the city approve this development regardless of the impact on the community. There seem (to this lay reader) to be enough outs in the law to allow the city council to reject the appeal on a number of community impact grounds if they so choose.

That's just this week's hot council action. Next week: will the new green city council overturn the 101 bike lane approved by the old gray city council?

UPDATE: No decision on Desert Rose. Can kicked until March.

UPDATE: Correction from a Desert Rose neighbor:

One correction that I would request is that this property is zoned for either 7 units (identified in the GPU Update on pg. B-97, line 1. Project planner Roy Sapau also figured it in an email to Maggie Houlihan in January 2011. That that time, he figured that the actual zoning for this property was 8 houses without the application of any up zoning.

The misinformation that they are only asking for 4 more units than they are entitled came from the appeal that Marco Gonzalez placed. As you see, 16 units with 1 low income house and 1 fee paid to the City for the 17th is much more than 7 or 8 houses. In fact, there is currently a low income family who have tended the horses for over 20 years who are living there who will lose their home, so it is hard to understand what benefit to the community this project will provide.

Not sure why this differs from the RR-2 max zoning, but we'll take your word for it.

Encinitas Right to Vote qualifies for ballot

A very impressive effort by a dedicated group of Encinitans. The initiative would require a public vote before neighborhood zoning could be changed (e.g. to put an apartment building in a single-family neighborhood).


Press release

Former Encinitas resident Wanda Lee Ann Podgurski on the run after fraud conviction

Encinitas has a rich history of fraudsters: Scott Bottolfson, John Clement, Steven Hamilton, Michael T. Pines, (not to mention our former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who represented us but lived in RSF with his ill-gotten gains) ...

We can now add to that list fugitive felon Wanda Lee Ann Podgurski.  Podgurski skipped court and missed her conviction on 29 counts including insurance fraud, tax evasion, perjury, and grand theft.  She had bought disability and long-term care policies from a number of insurance companies, then collected by faking disability while she went on a number of fabulous vacations.

Podgurski is presumed on the run.  Facing an effective life sentence at her age, we're thinking Zihuatanejo.