Encinitas' "Footloose" anti-dancing policy gains national attention

Reason.com:

City officials in Encinitas, California, have fined Peabody's Bar and Grill $3,000 after catching people dancing to live music performed there. Owner Brie Cardosa says she was surprised. She says she doesn't run a dance club but sometimes the natural reaction to music is to move around.

Encinitas Boulevard

That middle turn lane is tough.

"Oldest living native of Leucadia" dies

Union-Trib:

Clark Kenneth Baumgardner, the oldest living native of Leucadia, passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday, March 25th, 2018. He was the youngest child of Everette Lee and Mabel Florence Baumgardner. He was born in the "Homestead" our grandfather had built for our grandmother in the 1920s. A Spanish revival-style home, it still sits at the top of Hillcrest Drive in Leucadia; and is as pretty today as it was when it was first built.

Hipsters of Encinitas

San Diego Reader's Ask a Hipster column:

The next hipster haven will be somewhere nobody expects. Maybe Encinitas. Can you not imagine all the hipsters caring deeply whether they live east or west of the five? Imagine the hipsters on the right (left?) side of the freeway not-so-silently judging the hipsters on the wrong (right?) side of the freeway; sort of how real life Encinitas people do, but with detached irony. It would start ironically, but the next thing you know all the hipsters are sporting yoga pants and board shorts, and complaining about “non-locals” taking up all the brunch parking. The future is now!

$3.9 million lifeguard tower late and over budget; city touts award from mutual admiration society

Coast News:

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.

Coastal Commissioners appeal Leucadia Streetscape approval

From the Inbox:

Two Commissioners appealed Streetscape: Steve Padilla and Effie Turnbull Sanders.

Quail Gardens site dropped from housing plan

Del Mar Times:

Deputy Mayor Joe Mosca — who motioned to remove the “L-7 property” near the conclusion of the April 18 meeting after the council voted April 4 to include the land in the city's draft housing element, which was sent to HCD on April 13 — said he met with a number of residents who were concerned the parcel wasn't ideal for access to mass transit and wasn't near retail space, which would cause more traffic congestion.

[...]

But Mayor Catherine Blakspear and Council member Tasha Boerner Horvath argued L-7 was the only piece of city-owned, residential land available and therefore the city's "only real shot" at getting deed-restricted affordable units.

Blakespear added she was concerned the vote would add credibility to existing litigation against the city. Encinitas is the subject of three lawsuits regarding the lack of its housing element. A hearing for the lawsuits is scheduled for April 30.

Because the housing document had already been submitted to HCD, Boerner Horvath said she was concerned Encinitas would look like "fools" and the removal might negatively affect the city's 45-day window for review and comments from HCD. Currently, the city is scheduled to hear back from HCD by May 28, after the state agency approved a 45-day period rather than the typical 60-day.

Watch the tempers flare here, beginning at hour 5.