City finally releases Pacific View appraisals

These should never have been kept from the public in the first place. The only legitimate purpose of hiding documents like this from the public in real estate transactions is so you don't tip your hand in negotiations. But given that these documents were apparently openly shared with EUSD, the negotiation counterparty, there was absolutely no legitimate reason to keep hiding them from the public.

But you all know Glenn Sabine's position on government secrecy.

Nevertheless, thanks to some selective insider disclosure and some persistent pestering by watchful members of the public, here are the appraisals at last.

They come in at $3.3 million and $7.3 million, while EUSD's Tim Baird has almost doubled last year's asking price to $13.5 million.

Given that the land value depends largely on land use zoning, could it be that Proposition A has saved the community millions of dollars already?

Union-Trib: Encinitas bar problems greatly improved

Gee, that was easy!

U-T:

In a report to the City Council on Wednesday, the recently formed group, called the Encinitas Hospitality Association, said they’ve already implemented an action plan to ease complaints about rowdy bar patrons.

Board member Danielle Yee said the group has hired private security to patrol downtown streets, started overhauling training programs for both doormen and wait staff, held several meetings and are about to launch a hotline number that neighbors can call if they see a problem.

Conditions have improved enough that one of the neighbors even sent her organization an email thanking it for its work and saying she had a quiet night’s sleep recently, she added.

Encinitas Undercover commenters following the meeting had a different take.

Redevelopment districts are back from the dead -- and they're pissed!

Central planners to stamp out traditional Southern California lifestyle

Sacramento Bee:

From the broader perspective of public policy, however, the problem with redevelopment in California was that it had evolved from a program to reduce urban blight into a tool for local politicians to practice crony capitalism.

Quite a few proposals to resurrect redevelopment have been floated in the Capitol, and [Senate President Pro Tem Darrell] Steinberg's version, Senate Bill 1, is the most prominent.

It would rename redevelopment agencies as "Sustainable Communities Investment Authorities" and focus their activities on high-density, transit-oriented housing, low-income housing, and "clean manufacturing," such as solar panels and trolley cars, with "prevailing wage" workers.

The new agencies could issue bonds, levy sales taxes and seize land under eminent domain, but the old requirement to define blight in areas earmarked for redevelopment would be eliminated, thus vastly expanding their reach.

[...]

Steinberg holds visions of how Californians should be living their lives and wants state law and taxation to achieve those visions in ways that would discourage politically incorrect, albeit more traditional, lifestyles.

Well, seniors and young people should be happy.

Burning Man Kook

Decoration by "Creepy Camp," who are headed to Burning Man. "Come see us at 7:52 & H."

The kids are alright. It's the adults in this town you have to watch out for.

Back by popular demand

Due to complaints over uncomfortable questions asked about actions at city hall, this site now returns to its original programming: stupid Kook photos.



Sweet sentiment. Cardiff has that effect on people. And these folks sound like they'll be missed too.

Things that make you go hmmmm....

If the city council is so concerned about Global Warming that they send our tax dollars to the UN's high-density-advocating ICLEI....

... then why do they allow party buses to idle for hours outside Encinitas bars?


Photo taken in August 2013, after the city council decided to rely on self-policing by Encinitas bars

Chutzpah

People who bought high-density condos wedged between a full-horn-blast, dozens-of-times-a-day railroad crossing and the "vibrant" nightlife of downtown 101 suddenly don't like the fact that they live above a popular bar.

The new Bier Garden in front of Whole Foods has a pretty spectacular layout for an open-air beach bar. The windows open so that the bartenders and taps inside can serve patrons sitting along the exterior patio bar. The setup evokes your favorite tropical vacation memories, or maybe Pacific Beach.



Or so it was clearly designed all along, until the residents (er, wealthy second-homers and speculators) in Pacific Station pushed the city to order the windows closed. To be fair, the previous restaurant there, Barracuda Bar & Grill, was always dead as a door nail, so the Pac Stationers may have thought it would be like that forever. But vibrancy marches on.

Last night, the Planning Commission voted 3-1 to allow the windows to open.

A downtown restaurant known for its vast selection of beers can create glass-less “window” spaces linking its outdoor patio and its indoor dining areas, even though nearby homeowners hate the idea, the Encinitas Planning Commission decided Thursday night.

[...]

Holding up her iPhone, which contains a noise-level-sensing application, Pacific Station resident Susan Crane said that she’s measured sound levels at 75 to 78 decibels in her bedroom — and that’s with both her windows and the restaurant’s closed.

“Consequently, I have issues with the windows ever being opened,” she said.

While Pacific Station residents blamed their noise woes on the restaurant, which they said recently lost much of its interior soundproofing in a renovation project, Bier Garden representatives and Planning Commissioners said their noise problem probably came from the other side of Coast Highway 101.

The First Street Bar & Grill, which is across the street from the Bier Garden and Pacific Station, has live music, karaoke and dancing late at night, unlike the Bier Garden, attorney Marco Gonzalez said.

In a reasonable compromise, the windows will be closed at 10 pm nightly.

The city should never have allowed plans for an open-air bar to go all the way through the permitting and construction process, and then tried to take away the open air. And people who buy into developments that change community character shouldn't complain when they get what they asked for.