Politics is a universal sport

Often when reading national political stories, we're struck by parallels to happenings in our little town. And such was the case when we read this:

A telling anecdote involves a dinner that [Elizabeth] Warren had with Lawrence H. Summers, then the director of the National Economic Council and a top economic adviser to President Obama. The dinner took place in the spring of 2009, after the oversight panel had produced its third report, concluding that American taxpayers were at far greater risk to losses in TARP than the Treasury had let on.

After dinner, “Larry leaned back in his chair and offered me some advice,” Ms. Warren writes. “I had a choice. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don’t listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas. People — powerful people — listen to what they have to say. But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders.

Thomas Arnold in Seaside Courier calls for Jerome Stocks to run for mayor

Seriously.

Frankly, we don't think this is a very productive idea for the Stocks camp. If we were Stocks (and we assure you, we're not), we'd settle into a mentor / godfather role, run Gaspar for mayor, and then use the Republican Party establishment to run somebody like Forrester for the open council seat, thus having a serious shot at recapturing the council majority. The Stocks name is too tarnished to win election in Encinitas again... unless no other serious candidates run, which is always a distinct possibility.

Other than the "Run, Jerome, Run" idea, the column has some legitimate points about the current leaderless council running around like five chickens with their heads cut off. We hope Arnold is right that an elected mayor will change all that, but we're not holding our breath.

Round and round

From the Inbox, city of Cotati uses ballot initiative to ban roundabouts.

The Prop A folks showed that a citizen initiative can be done in Encinitas, so let's get to it, roundabout haters!

And over at the Coast News, two roundabouts proposed for Birmingham.



The usual policy of no roundabout comments obviously won't apply to this post.

Breaking: Desert Rose saved!!!

In the U-T: Judge finalizes ruling that City Council was wrong to ignore environmental impacts when forcing high-density development on Olivenhain neighborhood:

The developers of a controversial housing project planned for a horse property in Olivenhain must conduct an extensive environmental study before the development can move forward, a Superior Court judge ruled on Friday.

Woodridge Farms Estates LLC wants to build 16 homes on what is now a horse boarding facility on Desert Rose Way on the eastern edge of Encinitas. But neighbors sued the city and Woodridge, saying the project should have been subjected to a full environmental review before it was approved by the City Council last year.

Friday’s ruling by Superior Court Judge Judith F. Hayes reinforced a tentative ruling she made last week that found there was substantial evidence “to make a fair argument that the project may cause a significant adverse effect on the environment.”

The Planning Commission had correctly rejected the development, but the City Council, bowing to pressure from city staff, had ignored the environmental impacts and attempted to force the unwelcome development on the rural community.

As the article notes, high-density developer attorney Marco Gonzalez will be back trying to force the development on the neighborhood, but he'll have a lot more work to do with an environmental impact report required.

UPDATE: Final ruling here.

Encinitas City Council Defines Community Character for Staff

All this is based only on what is in my inbox:

Good news this week! Gaspar, Barth, Muir, Schaffer, and Kranz voted to change the way the city deals with street improvements.

For over a decade people have noticed inconsistencies between various projects, neighborhoods, and what is in city code. This week the council gravitated toward the option of customizing the city’s infrastructure requirements to fit in with the character of individual neighborhoods.  So, for a new development or a remodel, the things residents and developers are required to do should be changing.

More important, the requirements will be clear and well defined for all to see. This should reduce concerns about abuses of power by city staff.

Even better, someone on the council was smart enough (experienced perhaps) to recognize that a gap plan has to be developed, between now and when a long-term neighborhood-by-neighborhood plan is put into place.

Stuff like this (clicky clicky) reduces the appeal and property values in Encinitas. The council voted to take a step toward cleaning that up!

Here's a statement not publicly disputed by the city, written by Kevin Farrel:

“ The City Engineering Department stated, “ Our goal is to have curb, gutter and sidewalk on every home in Encinitas.”

And, apparently staff wants big wide streets, too. In many cases the city requires homeowners to give up significant portions of their property to widen the current right of way beyond what seems justifiable or consistent with the developer just down the road.

The council majority ran campaigns on community character. This is the first real action they have taken that clearly polishes their community character credentials. This week's action is why people voted for them.

They appear to have been way way too humble about this important action. Neither Lisa or Teresa seemed to try to draw attention to this important vote. Maybe they were comfortable in the belief it would work out.




Thanks to those who wrote the council and especially to those who stayed late at night to speak to the council in person before the vote. 


(Pre-snark response: the city engineer’s plans seem to put more water into the storm drains rather than less. )

Jim the Realtor proposes a solution on Pacific View

... over at bubbleinfo.com.

The idea would require a Prop A vote and would violate the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding, but we haven't heard any better ideas from the council on where the money is supposed to come from.

And you'll get a chuckle out of Jim's blunt talk about our city council.

4/23/14 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.

Item of interest on the agenda tonight:

- 10D.  Imposing suburban conformity on Encinitas' historic neighborhoods.