Originally, the tower’s opening was slated for Memorial Day weekend in 2017, but staff announced in April 2017 it would not be ready for several months due to weather delays, the discovery of lead, asbestos and an underground seawall that wasn’t anticipated. Summer came and went, and officials again delayed the opening until the fall.
The final price tag for the tower: $3.896 million, significantly higher than the $3.728 million price tag the council originally approved.
City officials defended the overruns and delays by pointing to the fact that the lifeguard tower won the 2018 American Public Works Association project of the year award.
“Please respond to this reporter. This might be a good opportunity to highlight the ‘Best Project Award!” Assistant City Manager Mark Delin wrote in an email to city staffers Brenda Wisneski and Stephanie Kellar asking them to respond to questions submitted by The Coast News.
Friday, April 20, 2018
$3.9 million lifeguard tower late and over budget; city touts award from mutual admiration society
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Shame, shame, shame on Brenda Wisneski and Stephanie Kellar for the overruns. Did Brenda Wisneski and Stephanie Kellar discuss the additional money the Council approved for interior design stuff? Wasn't the approval given at a 3:30 pm special meeting of the council.
ReplyDeleteCity Hall sure is scrambling to find some good news to share. It's pretty pathetic when a cost overrun approved in the dark is all they got.
ReplyDeleteThe original estimate to build the lifeguard tower was $3 million. The lease revenue bonds floated to pay for the new tower allotted a little over $3 million for the tower.
ReplyDeleteThe cost crept up to $3.3 million. And it's been going up ever since. Now it's almost $1 million over what was sold to the public. The final insult was not budgeting for furnishings, which is the cause for the latest increase in cost.
Is Scott Pruit in charge?
DeleteTHE "Marine Safety Center"(who thought of that horse$shit name??)is really $3.89MILLION dollars over budget. The city allotted $3M for the project but decided to spend that money elsewhere and borrow more money for this Taj Mahal glorified life guard tower. They can lie and steal but they can't tell the truth.
ReplyDeleteSince the Streetscape will never be built, they'll put that money to a new city hall....on quail gardens road.
It's a horseshit name like "Streetscape" and "At Home in Encinitas" and "visioning exercise."
DeleteAll created as smoke and mirrors while staff and developers wreck Encinitas under the not-watchful eye of the council. Lots of dough to be made over at city hall. Staff working hard for the money.
Leave the horses out of it - they're not allowed on the beach and they can't vote anyway.....
Delete- The Sculpin
Huge waste of money and beach space. Lets start a petition for the City to remove that piece of huge overbuilt concrete from our pristine beach.
ReplyDeleteCoastal commission failed us big time for allowing this piece of crap in the surf zone of our most popular beach. Barth and other morons like krantz are to blame for this one. The lifeguard was jeolous of the bitch $5 mil a pop fire stations, the taxpayers built for the fire princesses, so he wanted his huge waste of money too.
ReplyDeleteRaise it and better our beaches. Thanks!!!
$3.9 million of concrete and steel in the surf zone and presents a hazard.
ReplyDeleteIn addition the lifeguards are so comfortable and chatting it up in the new forte they are not watching the surf as much as they would be in a typical fiberglass tower.
#hugewasteoftaxmoney #badencroachmentonthebeach #CCCfailedus.
The RAPE of the taxpayer knows NO limit.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't get how the CCC is ok with a permanent tower structure on the sand, but blows chunks at new homes on bluffs. Not consistent. That's why no one takes them seriously.
ReplyDeleteGood point!
DeleteHow would this poster know what City staff is doing and the content of their emails. Are we living in a reverse-big brother society, was a PRA made, or is city staff perpetuating public discourse on this matter?
ReplyDeleteFixing things that aren't broken and making unnecessary upgrades just creates new problems on top of what was already a massive waste of time and resources. And these blunders are so huge and permanent there is no reversing them. This has to be intentional malice because I would really like to believe the planners of these projects are not that stupid, but you never know. Maybe they are just toxic. The new mantra is "change is growth" when that growth can actually be a cancer. We can apologize to the rest of the world for our "white privilege" but suffering through multi-million dollar mistakes is not doing anything to help the underprivileged. It's just abusive to everyone and some sadist is obviously getting off on it. This is not isolated, the same scenarios are playing out in cities all over the country with the same demographics as ours.
ReplyDeleteMoney, money, money.
DeleteMountain bike gifted, free trip to Israel, parties with Papa Doug Manchester. The list goes on.
Would still like to know why this new lifeguard tower includes quarters dedicated to the Sheriff dept. when there are towers in much higher crime areas of the county that don't even include this. I have never seen a tower anywhere that includes this. 9:03pm above hit it on the nose. We can have a beach patrol assigned but none assigned to controlling blatant noise violations around the city?
ReplyDeleteThe accommodation for the Sheriff is a waste of space. Patrol the downtown or areas with higher crime demographics. Beach patrol will probably be the most sought after assignment, as they get to wear their camies and use the 4 wheel off roader. Cops on the beach are a waste of resources.
ReplyDeleteA fair amount of crime occurs at the beach. It's not uncommon to have someone sitting on the cliff watching for unattended car keys on the beach, or left on top of tires or in bumpers only to have their cohort steal or ransack the car while the beach goer is in the water.
Delete- The Sculpin
Can you see car tires from there?
DeleteVantage of the beach makes sense. But that would be a cool job to sit and perve out on some beach goers instead of doing some active police work.
Sculpin - you are stretching it for a justification. With your rationale, the cops should be on a portable tower in the parking lot, not on the beach.
Delete3:52 I wanted to make the point that the downtown area does not stop at the bluffs. We can argue all day long about the space needs of the sheriff at the guard tower, but on any given summer day there may be more people at the beach than downtown, so why shouldn't it be patrolled? Crime doesn't stop when you take your flip flops off.......maybe I just bristle at binary reasoning......
Delete- The Sculpin
Maybe I just bristle every time at Sculpin's posts.
Delete5:05 PM Your tunnel vision that the beach requires dual, redundant enforcement because crime spills onto the beach is plain stupid. But that remains a constant with a majority of your posts.
Delete7:17 - I would hope we all have tunnel vision at the beach - isn't that the point? To get barreled on every wave? (wow....talk about stupid..........)
Delete- The Sculpin
Sounds like you get barreled on methane. Your "cutesy" quips are inane, but that's your middle name.
DeleteThe space for deputies is very small, just enough to allow them to write up a report. You're grasping at straws trying make this an issue.
Delete1:10 PM - It is an issue. Where will they park their patrol car? Think families want to be next to the Moonlight Beach sheriff's annex. Must be crime and more crime at Moonlight.
Delete3:02 PM
DeleteI would imagine they will park where they currently park.
How many fire princess can we fire with one of these? http://www.roboticfirefighters.com/ These will actually go into burning buildings and don’t need huge salaries to stay in shape, while other do that on their own time.
ReplyDeleteBottom feeder, give us a break and yourself too.
ReplyDeleteThe sheriffs have a small substation just off the 101 on D street, a block away. Making room for them amounts to a bikini patrol and nothing else.
The lifeguard service we pay so handsomely for is the enforcement arm on the beach. That is their job. That is not the deputies job. Or wasn't until now.
No beachgoer wants the sheriffs there when the lifeguards do the very same job. Complete crap for them to have an office ? on the beach. They are redundant on the beach and a waste of our limited tax dollars to have them there.
The deputies are needed and appreciated downtown. If they are ever needed on the beach, they are a block away.
The lifeguards are needed and appreciated on the beach.
The D St. substation is gone - the premises are being remodeled for a restaurant.
Delete6:01 - So the closing of D street substation catch you by surprise? When was the last time you walked that area? But like I said, we can argue the merits of the beach tower all day long, and I agree that a police presence on the beach is a bummer, but I assure you the lifeguards do not do the same job.
Delete- The Sculpin
With your line of thinking, criminals will be pushed out of the Moonlight Beach area and into other beaches, neighborhoods, downtown, or other areas where there is no police presence.
DeleteDeterrence is only as good as line of site. They are going to have to still walk around and patrol the areas if they want to be effective.
Scul-pinhead thinks the Cliffside Creepers are the new crime scourge of Moonlight. Call 911 - the cliffs have eyes!
DeleteNumber of anonymous EU posters who go to Moonlight Beach: 0
ReplyDeleteSculpin was the self-styled real estate genius that extolled the vacancy where Whole Foods once was as the hottest deal in town. After a year and a half, it is still empty. A jack of all opinions, but accurate on none.
ReplyDeleteAh yes - 7:25 the leasing expert. Have you spoken to Moser about his ideas and the leads he's getting?
Delete- The Sculpin
Who is Moser??
Deletehttp://encinitasundercover.blogspot.com/2014/01/fppc-suit-against-coast-news-publisher.html
DeleteLol, Moser the loser? Stocks' junk yard dog?
DeleteHe lives in a hovel in Mira Mesa and makes a sad living off folks like what the district elections dude does.
I think you mean a different Moser: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cpexecutive.com/post/amp/raf-pacifica-nabs-24m-retail-asset/
9:48 AM According to your projections, clients would be lining up to get into this white elephant location. Your glowing accolades of its desirability are as flat as your head.
ReplyDelete