Go Hogs! Kook

No, not Encinitas pension hogs. Arkansas Razorback hogs.

RIP Herb Patterson

Your July Hoodlink brings sad news. Herb Patterson, an early and tireless advocate for community character and government accountability in Encinitas, has died.

Hoodlink here.

Herb will be missed.

We're #8!

Eighth snobbiest city in the country, that is.

Between the Self Realization Fellowship Hermitage & Meditation Gardens for people wishing to enjoy only the best scenery, and the Encinitas Spa (for those who can afford it) this place is just better than other locations in so many ways. Many locals will be the first to tell you just that, too.

Encinitas is pretty snob-friendly, just by the numbers as well. This place had the sixth best performing arts, featuring attractions as the Encinitas Ballet, and a wide number of art galleries to get your creative culture from.

Of course, every snob knows that these attractions don’t come cheap, and thus the median home price here is the 11th most expensive on our list.

The methodology on these click-baiting internet lists is always suspect, and that's certainly the case here. First, Movoto only considered cities with populations between 45,000 and 65,000, a bizarrely narrow range. Second, they had a small, highly debatable list of factors that define snobbery.

There aren't that many art galleries. And the few there are tend more toward the funky of Art n Soul on 101 than the legitimate snob galleries of Prospect Avenue in La Jolla.

And no, there is no attraction such as the Encinitas Ballet. It's a dance studio where you can take classes, not a major ballet production company.

Welcome Home Liv Kook

Did you miss us?

Blakespear on business

Letter in the Advocate:

Bureaucratic strangulation is the biggest threat facing small businesses in Encinitas today.

The Planning Department recently decided that a 2-acre, heritage avocado orchard, Coral Tree Farm, can grow crops but can’t offer low-impact community farm visits, vegetable boxes or small classes without a costly, time-consuming minor use permit. This decision is unreasonable, arbitrary, ill-defined and offers no guidelines for application to future activities.

As the pro bono attorney for Coral Tree Farm and a candidate for Encinitas City Council this fall, I am appealing this decision to the City Council.

We need city guidelines, and interpretations of those guidelines by city staff, that help small businesses to thrive and adapt instead of regulating them out of existence.

Encinitas’ over-arching legal document, the General Plan, clearly supports the business of farming. It states in section 11.10 that the city should “provide an economic advantage, where possible, to agriculture in competing with the forces of urbanization to minimize pressures to redevelop to urban land uses.”

Does requiring costly permits, prohibiting outright small Farm-to-Fork dinners and “suggesting” that Coral Tree Farm may have to construct a permanent ADA accessible bathroom, when an existing ADA accessible port-a-potty is already on site, further this goal? We should support building a community around our locally-grown food sources. It’s the natural evolution of our city’s agricultural heritage.

There is a lesson to be learned from the sad experience of “Food Truck Fridays,” where gourmet food trucks would come together downtown, on private property, to offer a wide sampling of inventive, locally produced food. After a complaint, the city staff directed the food trucks into the exact same permitting process now being asked of Coral Tree Farm. The result: No more food trucks, no more “Foodie Friday” and the loss of that creative element of our business community. They were vibrant tax-paying businesses creating a cultural event at no cost to the city who disappeared from our community.

Other types of home occupations, piano teachers for instance, can fill out a one-page form and pay $36. In contrast, the minor use permit process is so onerous and expensive (at least $1,600) it requires hiring professionals to complete it.

The City Planning staff is doing their job very effectively. And their job is to regulate. Whether businesses come or go is not their concern. But it is the concern of the City Council. Without clear direction from them, small businesses trying to farm will suffer the same suffocation by bureaucracy as the food trucks. This is not an acceptable outcome in a city with such a deep and strong agricultural history.

Interesting, and quite different than the approach taken by her backers on the council.

Sounds like she might not have voted to Keep Santa Fe Plaza Crappy.

Conversations with Gus

Wherein Traffic and Public Safety Commissioner Al Rodbell is ordered not to use his title when expressing his opinion.

We're pretty sure nobody confused Al Rodbell's opinion on Peak Democracy for an official Traffic and Safety Commission statement.

Achtung!

We wonder if Vina has similarly ordered Teresa Barth and Lisa Shaffer not to use their Council Member titles in their newsletters, which are -- shockingly -- not official statements of city policy.

Peruvian Independence Kook

About.com:

Peru’s Independence Day celebrations, known as the Fiestas Patrias, take place over two days, both of which are national holidays in Peru. Throughout July, the Peruvian flag is flown outside both public and private buildings.

July 28 is the actual day of independence. The day begins with a 21 cannon salute in Lima, followed by a Te Deum mass by the Archbishop of Lima. The President of Peru attends the mass, after which he gives his official address to the nation.

The sense of national pride is certainly not limited to the Peruvian capital. Across the country, from the smallest villages to the nation’s major cities, the streets and main squares come alive with parades, fairs and a general spirit of celebration. The party atmosphere really takes hold as night falls, with no shortage of fireworks and beer.

July 29, meanwhile, is set aside in honor of the Armed Forces and National Police of Peru. The Gran Parada Militar del Perú (the Great Military Parade) takes place in Lima, attended by the President. Further military parades occur throughout the rest of the country.