Kudos to the Council's unanimous, firm stance on AB 744

We first brought you news of AB 744 back in April. The development industry's bill would make density bonuses worse and overrule local ordinances on parking requirements.

Today we have the good news that our Council has unanimously signed a firm letter opposing AB 744 unless critical changes are made. The letter can be read here.

According to observers at last Wednesday's Council meeting, the letter was drafted by Deputy Mayor Blakespear after letters written by staff and our paid lobbyist were rejected as too pro-developer.

And kudos also to the citizens who made the Council aware of the awful AB 744 bill, and kept up the pressure until the Council did the right thing. Here's one agitator's take:

I'd say the pressure started within a day or so of finding this little gem on the State website. After that others who can count themselves among Vina's "28 identified activists" dogpiled on and started digging into what city staff (McSeveney) and the lobbyist (Clay) were NOT doing to alert the council. Clay was actively on the developers' side with his personal opinion on base density rounding that ran contrary to the round down approved by council last summer.

Which council member is exceeding your expectations?

Encinitas Guerrilla asks which is the most disappointing current council member.

As we prefer to focus on the positive here at Encinitas Undercover, we'd like to turn that around and ask which council member has most positively surprised you.

DA Dumanis fails to report government worker felonies, allowing criminals to keep accruing pensions

San Diego Reader:

San Diego, known for its mayoral miscreants, also has a goodly number of felonious bad apples further down in the barrel of public servants.

And until a recent audit exposed the problem, repeated failures by San Diego district attorney Bonnie Dumanis have allowed the employee felons to qualify for retirement benefits barred by California law.

6/24/15 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.

Coast News: What's the beef between Encinitas and brewing industry?

Aaron Burgin reporting:

When a representative from the Encinitas 101 Main Street Association asked Tom Nickel to donate a few barrels of his popular beer for a local beer festival, Nickel said he was taken aback.

[...]

“While I appreciate the invite, I can’t in good faith do anything to support Encinitas when the city is so hostile to the brewing industry. Encinitas is the last major city in the county without a brewery — and that is because of the city government. It feels very disingenuous to not have any breweries and then reach out to the brewing community for donations. And I know that breweries have tried to open there and been turned down.”

The Coast News spoke to several major stakeholders in the region’s craft brewing industry, all who confirmed that Encinitas has an unfavorable reputation within its circles. Many point to at least one instance in which a high-profile brewer attempted to open a “brew pub” in town only to abandon the plans and instead wind up in Oceanside. They also point to the well-documented struggle between downtown’s alcohol serving establishments and residents as a potential reason for the perceived indifference toward breweries.

That brewery that tried to open in Encinitas and ended up in Oceanside is Bagby Beer, founded by award-winning brewer Jeff Bagby, who opened his beautiful new brewpub and restaurant last year on South Coast Highway in Oceanside.

“What I can say is that this is news that I have never heard that we are ‘anti-brewery,'” Encinitas Planning Director Jeff Murphy said. “I was surprised to hear the word ‘hostile’ to describe our stance against breweries. It is not that we prohibit them, we limit them to certain areas of town.”

Never heard? Maybe that's part of the problem.

Woman dies off coast of Encinitas after being thrown from immigrant panga

Times of San Diego:

A woman believed to have been an undocumented immigrant died Thursday following a collision between a crowded smuggling skiff and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vessel off the North County coastline, authorities reported.

The agents, members of the CBP Office of Air and Marine, spotted the panga early this morning near Encinitas, hailed the occupants and ordered its pilot to yield.

The motorboat continued on, prompting the government agents to fire warning shots, CBP spokeswoman Jackie Wasiluk said. The two vessels then collided, causing the skiff to capsize and sending its 20 occupants into the ocean.

6/17/15 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.