1/28/15 City Council meeting open thread

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Items of interest:

- Pacific View subcommittee report

Subcommittee needs more time for Pacific View plan

Like the proverbial dog that catches the car, the council faction that purchased Pacific View faces the question, "Now what?"

Residents were expecting an answer January 28, but it turns out that rehabilitating dilapidated buildings with limited resources is a bit more complicated than the Pacific View subcommittee expected.

The subcommittee said it favored rehabbing the site’s dilapidated buildings, a former elementary school, over tearing them down and starting anew, at least for the interim museum. Glenn Pruim, director of public works, said so far due diligence hasn’t found “significant flaws” in the buildings that would rule out restoration.

But bringing the buildings up to code will likely require new plumbing, electrical work, ridding the structures of asbestos and other improvements, city staff noted.

From Council Member Lisa Shaffer's most recent newsletter:

Council member Kranz and I have postponed the report on Pacific View site activation until Feb. 11. After our last subcommittee meeting and subsequent discussions with staff, we realized that we needed a bit more time to put together a clear proposal that we could all get behind. We're still moving forward, but want to make sure we understand the options and tradeoffs.

We hope the subcommittee's next report will be as entertaining as its last report.

Al Rodbell in Coast News on Peak Democracy

As amazed as we are at the silliness and technological amateurishness of the city's Peak Democracy web forum, we often lose sight of how nefarious the idea behind the software is.  Peak Democracy is designed to create the appearance of public participation while allowing insiders to control the debate.

Thanks to Al Rodbell for reminding us in the Coast News.

Barth starts nonprofit group to educate Encinitas residents

Encinitas Advocate:

Barth recently announced the launch of Engage Encinitas, a nonprofit that aims to nurture civic engagement and a sense of community. This includes hosting community potlucks, forums on local issues and volunteer opportunities.

“People are focused on slices, but not necessarily the whole of the community,” said Barth, who is the president of Engage Encinitas. “This is the 21st century approach to a service organization, where we’re engaging people across a spectrum of topics.”

[...]

Another group goal: inform the community. Engage Encinitas will organize forums so that residents can listen to experts speak on relevant topics like protecting coastal infrastructure in the face of rising sea levels.

“We’re not here telling people how to think,” Barth said. “We’re going to give them the tools to have an understanding of relevant issues.”

1/21/15 City Council meeting open thread.

The current city council has continued prior councils' practice of not providing written summary minutes of council discussion, but only "action minutes" which state the outcomes. Encinitas Undercover will provide a forum for observers to record what occurs at each council meeting.

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Items of interest tonight:

1) Review of the city's Housing Element "outreach" program which includes staff having created the target property map before "public outreach" began, and said map having been circulated by insiders at an invite-only meeting for likely upzone windfall millionaires.

And don't forget the other part of the "outreach:" the city's laughably amateur Peak Democracy online forum software.

2) The Kranz-Blakespear proposal to require appellants to go to mediation before having appeals heard by the council.


9 PM: Sounds from the comments as if the Blakespear proposal is turning into quite a fiasco.  Here is former council candidate Julie Graboi's submission on the issue.

Bryan Ziegler sues county for hostile work environment and discrimination

Two-time former city council candidate and county deputy counsel Bryan Ziegler is suing the county for a hostile work environment and discrimination.

Read all about it at the Seaside Courier.

Ziegler apparently angered some Code Enforcement managers by defending some home prayer meetings from code enforcement actions. We don't know whether inter-departmental squabbles rise to a "hostile work environment" and discrimination, but we'll see how it plays out.

Pacific View subcommittee recommendation

Subcommittee will recommend spending $500,000 of borrowed money from delayed debt service to build a temporary museum before figuring out what to do with the site in the long term.