Weak oversight from area school boards

From the Inbox:

Take a look at this somewhat recent article on John Collins, the former fired Poway superintendent, being the subject of a criminal investigation: link.

Voice of San Diego has documented Collins' downfall well: link. This whole story is eerily similar to the path EUSD seems to be going down now:

A strong, charismatic superintendent who has a loyalist packed board that fawns all over him, pisses off enough parents over time resulting in non-loyalists getting elected to the board. Once enough dissident board members got elected in Poway, they hired a firm to conduct a forensic audit of the superintendent which revealed extensive financial improprieties (which may lead to a criminal prosecution). EUSD has had the same situation as Poway, with a charming superintendent and a board whose unquestioned devotion seemed to have no limits. However, like in Poway, a non-loyalist has been elected and question are now being asked that were not asked before. Wonder what an audit of EUSD's superintendent would find?

Of course, public school superintendent corruption and criminal prosecution seems to be a pattern in San Diego County (Sweetwater High super Jesus Gandara and Southwestern super Raj Chopra, for example).

Apparent suicide by train in Leucadia last night

Patch:

A woman was fatally struck by a freight train when she ran onto the tracks in Encinitas, authorities said Thursday.

The victim dashed into the path of a BNSF train headed south at about 50 miles per hour in the vicinity of North Coast Highway 101 and Diana Street for unknown reasons around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, sheriff's Deputy Jason Burk said.

Council gun-shy on open space acquisition after Pacific View fiasco

San Diego Reader:

A 33-acre Encinitas strawberry farm landed on mayor Catherine Blakespear's wish list this week when the real estate agent representing the family owners offered it to the City of Encinitas.

"It's just north of the San Elijo Conservancy," Blakespear said. "We don't have the money to buy it but I'd like to be able to."

[...]

The tumultuous multi-year effort for the city to acquire and repurpose the Pacific View property from the Encinitas School District left the city's leaders feeling a little timid about venturing into land acquisition again, Blakespear said. The city bought the 2.8-acre property for $10 million in 2015, issuing bonds to pay for the purchase.

Years after the council's $10 million Pacific View purchase, the buildings remain dilapidated and unoccupied and have yet to live up to the council's vision.


City Council rendering of Pacific View site

Council to consider commercial marijuana cultivation, retail pot shops

NBC7:

In a 4-1 vote, the Encinitas City Council has started the process to allow commercial marijuana growing in their city.

Encinitas, dubbed the flower capital of the world, sees an opportunity to keep their agricultural business alive.

[...]

City council member Tasha Boerner Horvath said she conducted a survey of her own and 67 percent of residents want a store front or delivery service of some kind for marijuana.

2/15/17 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Housing Task Force first meeting report

Del Mar Times:

The group — comprised of Mayor Catherine Blakespear, Deputy Mayor Tony Kranz, former Planning Commissioner Kurt Groseclose and No on T spokesperson Bruce Ehlers — ultimately decided at the meeting to interview for a housing element expert to answer technical questions regarding state requirements and survey similar cities to see how they met the state’s Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) numbers.

[...]

The task force, which was created at the Feb. 1 city council meeting, also agreed to pursue capping up-zoned properties at two stories, provided they meet RHNA requirements. It will also look to minimize the buffer zone, which is the number of units above the state-required 1,093 zoned high-density units.

The city would return to the general plan for definitions, specifically how height is measured.

Click on over and read the whole thing.

Wrong-way CalPERS whiffs again

CalPERS' timing is truly uncanny. From dumping tobacco stocks at all-time lows to buying leveraged L.A. scrub land and "toxic waste" CDOs at the peak of the housing bubble, CalPERS has a knack for doing it wrong.

And yet again:

A shift away from stocks and private equity just before the presidential election has caused CalPERS to miss out on about $900 million in revenue since September.

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ted Eliopoulos disclosed the number at a Board of Administration meeting on Monday in a presentation describing how a temporary shift in assets has played out.

The fund moved some of its investments away from stocks and private equity last fall, anticipating a period of market volatility. It has missed some of the broad market gains that have unfolded in recent months.

Thanks to CalPERS' bad performance and dishonest projections, Encinitas has an unfunded pension liability of $154 million by Stanford's analysis.

 The average Encinitas government worker retires much earlier than private sector employees and gets $98,000 per year for life.