Budget woes crashing down on city projects
Encinitas may delay fire stations, park
By Angela Lau
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 12, 2006 SignOnSanDiego.com story
ENCINITAS--Bad news continued to roll in this week as the City Council wrestled with a budget squeezed by rising construction costs.
At a workshop Wednesday night on the 2006-07 budget, council members were told that three major projects might have to be phased in or delayed because their current construction costs have far exceeded original estimates.
Council members and city officials didn't comment on the budget during the workshop, although City Manager Kerry Miller previously had said that the city was facing an astronomical increase in the cost of building materials.
We can only partially fund our capital program, he said.
According to North County Times bi-weekly columnist Michael D. Pattinson construction cost are high because of city fees and protesters. How does this apply to the current situation?
The cost of building materials can be blamed on the Gulf Coast reconstruction and China's appetite for raw materials (a country Pattinson recently praised for new California style sprawling home projects).
Priority projects that lack funding were:
Three replacement fire stations estimated at $12 million. The city appropriated $1.5 million, but that money has been used to buy a bigger piece of land in Cardiff to build one of the fire stations.
Could we just remodel the fire stations in phases? Do the fire stations really need to be razed and re-built? Could we just call a plumber, go to Home Depot and give these stations a fresh coat of paint? How bad are they? Leaky and moldy or just sort of worn around the edges? Is all this just envy over of the new fire station on San Marcos Blvd?
The first phase of a 43-acre park west of Interstate 5 and south of Santa Fe Drive. Initial work would include laying turf and drainage and sewer systems and fencing off an area for a dog park at a total cost of $19 million. The city has appropriated $9 million. An environmental study is scheduled to be released July 21.
$19 million? Holy freaking...are you kidding me? Who is in charge of building parks these days, the freaking mafia?
I don't want to pull out the "when I was kid" card but when I was a kid we just played in natural open fields. We built our own tracks and jumps for our bikes and we layed out our own baseball diamonds. Do kids these days really need $19 million of Martha Stewart style landscaping?
A central public works yard at an undetermined location to replace current facilities at a cost of $9.3 million, which does not include buying any land. The San Dieguito Water District, of which the city is a partner, has appropriated $2.5 million toward its construction. Public Works Director Phil Cotton warned that construction costs are estimated to increase 1.5 percent every month.
This tiny little paragraph is such a huge can of worms it makes my head hurt. Pass.
The only fully funded capital project is the new $20 million library under construction at Cornish Drive behind City Hall. Funding was made possible by taking money from the public works yard and street beautification projects.
I've been defending the need for libraries a lot lately. People say we don't need libraries because we have the internet. I disagree and I support an Encinitas library but...$20 FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS FOR THIS OVERDESIGNED YUPPIEFIED GOOFBALL WHITE ELEPHANT LIBRARY I CAN'T BELIEVE I SUPPORTED LEUCADIA GIVING UP LANDSCAPING FUNDS TO HELP BUILD THIS THING WHY DID YOU TEAR DOWN THE OLD LIBRARY WHAT ABOUT THE LIBRARY IN CARDIFF??? AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGH!!!
The council didn't make any decision at the Wednesday night workshop, but will hold another meeting May 24 to discuss the pros and cons of not building or delaying some facilities.
Another option would be to issue bonds, but it was criticized by some residents and the Encinitas Taxpayers Association as a poor choice.
I can't be broke, I just got another credit card offer in the mail!
Resident Teresa Barth suggested looking for new sources of revenue and Bill Rodewald, president of the taxpayers association, said the city would have to pay back double the amount if it borrows money.
But remember folks, the city can't afford to pay for the library, mega-park, 3 fire stations, Leucadia blight fighting landscaping and a public works yard because YOU voted against the clean water fee!
: )
ReplyDeleteJP - re: the $19m park project. Organize a coaltion of people with shovels, rakes, and implements of destruction. Surely someone who frequents this site has access bobcat or two. Start an LLC to counter-bid the park project at 1/3 the cost, and pay everyone involved with the relandscaping project $300.00 an hour so they can afford to buy some property in Leucadia. The city saves $12m, people get to live in the town they grew up in, and we get a park that we can point to and say "we built that shit right there, buddy." Plus, we can call it "Aceti Park"
ReplyDeleteI want to work on the new project! I used to work for Distinctive Builders out of Encinitas, mostly SRF referrals and stuff.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea anonymous. Great post JP!
Teresa Barth is good. She was one of the speakers, too, re spokeshole that went down in flames.
We drove by new San Marcos firestation and thought the same thing. That city is much bigger than ours, and much older. We are not San Marcos, Carlsbad, or Carmel.
We are Leucadia, Old Encinitas, Olivenhein and Cardiff by the Sea. All new build, now, too, like Encinitas Ranch. We celebrate diversity. But we don't support "shooting for the moon" as endorsed by pie in the sky Bossypants Guerin, supported by the Dalager.
gimmee gimmee gimmee!!!
ReplyDeleteSo the city (as is normal for most people living in the real world) can't afford to build all that it wants by just ordering a check be written. Big frickin deal.
What's this crap about "budget woe's crashing down"? I just don't see it...
What loser wrote that crap for the U-T?
Good grief, we need to get a grip. The Council should earn their pay for a change by making some tough decisions... Any moron can say "build it all", We elect these jerks to decide what to spend money on and what to shine on!
The city council is convinced that lease revenue bonds require no colateral and do not exactly "have to be" paid back.
ReplyDeleteIf thats the case, why stop at $17 million. Shoot for the moon and borrow $100 million. Use the extra dough to pay us our refunds. Maybe even sprinkle around some warm and fuzzy's.
Dan Dalager told a friend who told me that there is so much contamination on the Hall property that it will cost too much to clean it up. And someone is proposing to send in volunteers with shovels and rakes? I won't be volunteering myself unless the city provides me full protection, including mask and full body suit. I would like to be alive afterwards to enjoy the park. This is not quite what I had in mind for the warm fuzzies.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like it wasn't that long ago that Kerry Miller told the UT that the City of Encinitas was in GREAT financial shape, as oposed to some other cities in the county. What happened? Surely not Prop. C. Does anyone else remember that comment and when he said it? I would still like to see an independent accounting of what is really being spent at City Hall. We might all be surprised, except the powers that be. How many junkets have Council members taken? How many lawsuits have had to be paid out by the City? Even Jim Bond wants an independent audit.
ReplyDeleteWe should all give Jim Bond a push of support and get that audit done. Inquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDeleteYes, inquiring minds do want to know. We do want an independent audit. Good Community Forum on Editorial Page in today's NCT about City's "cultural imperialism," taking over our community culture by ignoring Encinitas Municipal Code zoning definitions, also referring to the "bully developers" who get their way by hook or by crook, at the citizens' expense.
ReplyDeleteYes, Bossypants Guerin and crew take too many junkents on the taxpayers dime. When are they going to Hondo Japan this year? We would like that agendized so we can say, don't go. If we had a sister city, it could be somewhere in Mexico, where we could actually help someone, not just go to parade around, run in races on knees, Christy Guerin, that earned you a big fat Workers Comp award, which still wasn't good enough for you. You appealed your Workman's Comp Board award to the 4th District Court of Appeal, and lost.
You said something, Bossypants Guerin, at the last Council meeting about your only getting so much per month, that you weren't on overtime. However, those staff members who stay late for the budget meetings are, aren't they? Or are they all on salary?
Yes, inquiring minds want to know. And we would like city hall to be open five days a week every week. Shuffle the hours around, but, as it stands, many people are feeling discouraged and losing trust.
Bossypants can and should be voted out in November. Lawnmower man can and should be voted out (he is a nice enough guy but so was Barney Fife).
ReplyDeleteProblem is ..... who will step up to run. It will be a little easier to unseat the incumbents if there is an alternative.
Anybody out there????
Do we need any of that new stuff? The beach is still the best thing about Encinitas.
ReplyDeleteTeresa here....yes I said the city should look for other sources of revenue – besides taxes and bonds.
ReplyDeleteI suggested that the fire stations be designed in an energy efficient manner including solar panels – I mentioned SDG&E’s “efficient by design” program that provides technical assistance (free) and assistance securing state and federal funding.
I also suggested that the city should consider dedicating TOT funds to Hwy101 corridor improvements – currently the city receives around $900,000 in TOT funds with 20% dedicated to sand replenishment – the rest goes into the black hole known as the general fund. With the new hotel in Leucadia the TOT funds will increase and the city could consider requiring vacation rentals to also pay TOT. --- I know the Coastal Commission turned down the ordinance to ban new vacation rentals but if I recall the ruling correctly they did say it would be OK to require a permit and charge TOT.
Finally, I also asked if people caught illegally dumping in the storm drains were fined and if so how much --- and suggested that the money should be dedicated to the Clean Water fund --- not the general fund.
As I said -- I thought they should look at other options first and bonds last instead of the other way around.
Not only did Leucadia lose $70,000 in landscaping funds we Leucadians had to buy our own flowers via the booth at the farmer's market.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'll be curious to see what the Environmental Impact Report says about contaminants on the Hall property.
ReplyDeleteOh, oh, spam is starting to show up!
Thanks, Teresa, for weighing in. I don't think charging John and Jane Doe for a temporary vacation rental will help cut down on the problem of underfunding and overspending. Lots of older folks get a bit of income, provide affordable rentals, perhaps, for folks who cannot afford to rent an expensive room at the new hotel that will go in, or at the time shares that will be going in there either.
I don't think we should have to get additional permits for something that is pre-existing, and should be considered legal non-conforming, at the very least. Next we will be required to pay for a permit, be under the City's thumb, if we want to take a walk, water our yard!
This escalating government control, along with increasing fees is highlighted in the news today. People are tired of having the government spend our money, and tell us how we can pursue our own happiness.
The Golden Rule is cool. Cause no harm. That means, too, don't tread on me. When it comes to City of Encinitas spending, less is more. Please, let's not encourage our crafty politicians to find new ways of getting taxes and fees out of those who can least afford it. All of the building permit fees were just raised, some in contradiction to state laws. The so called "inspection fees," are primarily paid to contractors, not to our City for staff's operating expenses. These fees are out of line for the small time homeowner, wanting to remodel.
I too think it's insane for the Hall property turf and dog fencing to cost $19 million.
Until someone comes forward with an EIR we have no clue what and where the pesticide residues are on the hall property. With only a few exceptions, most residues will break down when exposed to sunlight. Most of Encinitas was in commercial agricultural production at one time, if the pesticide problem is such a worry perhaps we should declare the entire community contaminated, kick everyone out and put the new airport here. We can do enough of the park to make it useful for the community for less than 19 million unless it's being done by Halliburton under a no bid contract.
ReplyDeleteThe 19 million is estimated to use the sweetheart deals the city council has going with developers like the Ecke family and Bossypants Guerin had in Prop A. Or, Bossypants and the hotel developers in Leucadia. I wonder how long before we find out what the Lawnmower man has going with developers? How about just opening the property so that dogs, kids, etc. can use the property now. I will chance the contamination with my dog. I didn't see any employees of the growers falling over dead.
ReplyDeleteLeave vacation rentals alone. The only people in the city complaining was a condo complex in Leucadia that has lots of renters. For most of the city vacation rentals are not a problem. The city council should not pander to a small group of people. Unlike prop A and C that had 66% of the voters opposed to the council's positions. They should be able to tell the difference but I suspect they just cater to the people that give them something.
ReplyDeleteFor the record the Hall property is the first property where the city has ever done a comprehensive EIR. And they had to be sued by Citizens for Quality of Life to force them to conform to California enivironmental law. All other agricultural properties slipped through with a cursory "site assessment" (merely a check list) and a negative declaration, including Encinitas Ranch. Even after losing the lawsuit with CQL, the city is accepting a "mitigated negative declaration" from developers which is frequently inadequate. This is an issue with the Barratt project on Sheridan and Andrew.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that most of the housing stock in Encinitas was built after 1975. I live in a house built before this date, so I'm not so worried about myself. But what about the rest that weren't built on raw land that was only coastal sage brush?
We simply do not know what kind of contamination is in the soils. What's wrong with checking? Many older pesticides in use until the early 1980s have a half-life of between fifty and one hundred years. That's a long time. Don't forget that many properties in Encinitas were in agriculture from the 1920s (the Eckes and the Thorntons, for example) and most from the 1950s. The larger, older ranches all had their own dump sites on their properties. There are houses sitting on top of some of these old sites, and we don't know what is underneath and what is leaking into Cottonwood Creek and flowing down to Moonlight Beach. The city doesn't sample creek flow for this possible contamination.
I like that a North County Times writer was mentioned in a San Diego UT article.
ReplyDeleteRight on!! There is nothing wrong with checking, and it's not that expensive. It's the results of the checking that the city and the developers are worried about.
ReplyDeleteIdeas for a better City of Encinitas:
ReplyDelete1. Get rid of Kerry Miller, Glenn Sabine and Jennifer Smith. They are costing us too much money and litigation fees.
2. Independent audit of the City's books by a reputable company. It would be worth the money.
3. Fire city employees who consistently and deliberately violate or break City ordinances and laws. They should know them.
4. Downsize the new library.
5. Continue to keep tabs on the City Council by way of going to meetings, writing letters to the editor of either the NCTimes or Coast News.
6. Make sure our own facts are correct.
7. If possible, impeach City Council members who contine to vote on ordinances and laws of the City, State and Country ie: the Brown Act.
the are in violation of these laws and ordinances.
8. Provide story poles as a requirement for developers, not just when a citizen asks for them.
9. Consistent enforcement of height limitations. No exceptions!
Lawnmover man has mentioned to some that he would like to bring redevelopment back to the table. He has to be called on that.
ReplyDeleteVacations rental profiteers suck and should focus on party towns like PB. Leave Encinitas a family community. The group who profits from this trade does so at the expense of the rest of us residents. Thanks for selling out the neighborhood- Jackasses. Short term rentals are a nuisance for the neighborhood. The tenants are not accountable. I own rentals and you can make plenty of income without pimping out the property as a vacation rental at the expense of the neighborhood. Month to month leases work just fine.
ReplyDeleteI love everything that Teresa Barth wrote and I think she should run for council.
Sounds like the previous post by anonymous is by a bitter resident of the Condos on North Coast Hwy 101, the same group of angry residents that twisted Council's ears.
ReplyDeleteCharging extra taxes and requiring extra permits will not resolve your problems, anonymous. Neither will calling people names. Taxes are to be paid on the rental income, as it is.
Yes, we like Teresa Barth, too. You are not going to be able to get rid of what you consider to be the "problem" short term rentals by imposing permitting fees and TOT taxes. The taxes from the hotels and motels along North Coast Hwy 101 could and should be dedicated to improvements in this sector.
If you have problems with renters, then you can make noise complaints to the Sheriff. As you undoubtedly are. The City staff is not in the office; code enforcement is not available during the hours that most of the alleged "violations" occur. If you can show a certain number of infractions or violations, you could go to small claims court, or regular court to seek civil relief of the landlords.
To instigate another series of laws that would affect everyone, citywide is not prudent or necessary. This is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
These additional permit requirements and taxes will never be enough for the "shooting for the moon" attitude, nor enough money to pay for our Council's belief that we have to keep up with the Jones'(San Marcos, Carlsbad, Carmel) when it comes to our demolishing and rebuilding our library, our fire stations, or hiring a pricey, unneeded "Art Director."
By focusing on your anger and bitterness, calling concerned bloggers "jackasses," anonymous, you are failing to suggest solutions to the problems of the budget crunch.
Teresa does have some good ideas. That was the one area where we disagreed with her. I don't think City Council wants to bring this ordinance back up after the whole thing was thrown out by the Coastal Commission.
Council had said the entire ordinance was subject to approval by the Coastal Commission. It would have to be reagendized and brought to another vote by Council, and then go before the Coastal Commisssion again, if it was to be partially reinstated.
We are grateful for the Coastal Commission. We think they made a wrong decision re the time shares. This passed by only one vote, as it would have been a tie at 5-5. The Coastal Commission went against it's own staff's recommeendations on that one. This will not enhance affordable housing or affordable rentals along the coast. That is obvious. The parking lot and stairway already exist. The developer is not "providing" these as part of its construction of the $400.00+ per night rooms and time share rentals.
Moreover, Christy Guerin and Community Development Director Patrick Murphy should not have flown to Monterey on a junket to lobby for the time share developers. They finally succeeded in getting what they wanted, despite the best efforts of environmental groups, and our own Gil Foerster, who drove up, himself.
Another nail in the electoral "coffin" of Bossypants Guerin!
At the last RDA meeting Dalagher said, "I want to be able to walk from my house to the beach without breaking my neck."
ReplyDeleteTo achieve this we don't need to declare Leucadia blighted, we need to work with the NCTD (Jerome Stocks, we need ya on this buddy) to landscape the train tracks and provide pedestrian crossings (reasonable crossings, not the insane multi-million dollar tunnels).
We can't declare Leucadia blighted and have people lose private property and go into 200 million in debt so Dalagher can walk to Juanita's.
The city can't afford to float a bond. Too much is owed in unfunded pension liabilities.
ReplyDeleteYes, and some staff are just now approaching their retirement time. I say we should not replace those workers that retire, if we can possibly afford to cut back on staff. We have hired so many new people in the last twenty years. Yet building should be slowing down. We are almost built out as far as our General Plan. I wish our own staff could begin to do the inspections so we did not have to hire this out to Esgil.
ReplyDeleteNo, Leucadia is not blighted! Some track crossings would be nice, but yes, in the least expensive manner, possible. We can't afford tunnels!
Glenn Sabine does not need to get paid $155 per hour for his first 50 hours per month billed to the City, and $145 per hour after that! That's not in allignment with other attorneys on retainer, as far as I know. Also, he doesn't need such a big car allowance, etc. Let's get real!
For what they are paying him in car allowance, the City could have him drive a City Car, a hybrid. However, this wouldn't work because Glenn Sabine works for several cities in SD County. Most or all of the others are far south of here.
I agree with the other poster. One thing we could do to cut down on debt is to get a dedicated city attorney who is paid a salary, not by the hour. If no one is willing to do it, I would be very surprised. Just as there would be many qualified candidates for City Manager at $100,000 per year, instead of the obscene $178,000 that Kerry Miller is making now, plus beaucoup benefits.
Kerry Miller is making more being Manager, getting every other Friday off, than many full time managers in other cities, and more than what was being paid to Bonnie Dumanis, as well as what was being paid, on the books, to Randy Duke Cunningham, our Congressman, before he had to quit, in disgrace.
We deserve fiscal accountability. We don't want to have to raise everyone's fees and taxes so that we can pay these contracted attorneys, and our overspending City Manager big bucks, so that they can continue to live on high, in the self-serving manner to which they have become oh so accustomed.
These attorneys are paid by the hour. Settlement is not in their best interests. They are racking up huge fees, and the public does not get to see how much they receive, total for all legal expenses for the year. An independent audit could provide these figures!
Some one out of touch. A City Manager for $100,000. Haa. You try and live in north county and raise a family for $100,000 without a trust fund and no mortgage. You obviously do not need to work to live here. If we offer our City Manager candidate $100k, we would quickly become as screwed up as Oceanside. Please! Gas is no longer $.24/gallon. Catch a clue or shut up. A good City Manager is well worth $180k/year and Attorney fees of $150/hr. are low.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Dalager should consider delaying his 60 million dollar regional park and focus more on HW101 improvements. Give me break,when is the last time Danny walked to the beach. Dalager doesn't care about walking or the beach, he just want his pet project and want it called "Dalagher Park"
ReplyDeleteIf you can't make it here on $100,000 a year you either have bad habits or are stupid or both. Tell your trophy wife to pay for her own boob job. Maybe Barratt American will build you an affordable house LOL.
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. We would not be "screwed up" like Oceanside. That, again, is an older and bigger city. They have problems unrelated to the City Manger, as far as we can tell.
ReplyDeleteAnd $155 per hour retroactive to last October is not cheap. Attorneys on retainer do not get paid the same hourly rate as outside attorneys. Check with Daley and Heft and see how much they get paid for insurance company work. A few years ago (4) the going rate was $125.00 per hr. They did not get the car allowance and software allowance, either.
Some people, those who support the status quo, or spending more, will always use this ploy to justify paying too much. "Everybody does it!" That is why corporate officers (Encinitas is a municipal corporation)get paid so much more than the "rank and file" in this country. Oh, me oh my, you can't afford to live in Encinitas for less than $100,000 per year? Well I guess the wife would have to work? Or go live somewhere else. We are still working, but we don't want to have to move out of town because of not being able to afford all the new taxes and fees required to pay for our overpriced contracted attorney and City Manager.
Why do the few remaining middle and lower income people have to move so that the developers can knock down our homes, and charge millions for the new ones?
Kerry Miller is among the top paid city managers in the county. The city can't afford to continue to pay the high salaries.
ReplyDeleteI'll do Kerry Miller's job for $60,000 a year. I'll start Monday.
ReplyDelete" A good City Manager is well worth $180k"
ReplyDeleteIs a bad City Manger work 180K?
I don’t at all understand ‘the cost of living’ argument for paying the City Manager too much (is that you Kerry?).
ReplyDeleteEven the basis of that idea is wrong. You can afford to live here nicely on half of the City Manager’s salary. You might not purchase a house in Ecke Ranch, but good for him/her because the cost to own is way beyond the value of owning.
-- People are coming to their senses. Unfortunately, the speculators/crazy lenders have put the economy in danger.
http://piggington.com/risks --
The good/bad news is that social conscious homeowner warriors like Michael Pattinson and the BIA are looking out for us. They are trying to lower the sticker price of houses (that is a good thing, right?). At least that is what they say in their infomercials, but I don’t think anyone believes them. If they did, real estate investors, especial the ones on interest only loans, would be nervous because what Pattinson and his cohorts are saying is that they are out to devalue your home price. Is it true? Do the developers actually want to market value of your/their properties to sink?
Good question.
ReplyDeleteWhatever it takes to move the "merchandise." The inventory of unsold million dollar plus homes in increasing, by the month.
Good link.
I hope the prices do fall. I am sorry for all the speculators, and all the people who fell into the real estate chum feeding frenzy. But we are at a ridiculous point.
Perhaps the market has reached a kind of "glass ceiling," where Cinderella cannot even begin to think about affording, or being allowed to try on her glass slipper.
J.P.
ReplyDelete"At the last RDA meeting....." - what does RDA stand for.
Redevelopment Agency. These are govenment entities that are established (in our case, proposed, but not established) in areas that are declared blighted, by the City, as they were before trying to do in Leucadia.
ReplyDeleteThe City Council usually sits as the board of directors of the RDA. This is one more level of red tape and nightmare that we are sooooo glad is not being instituted. Dan Dalager was all for it, as far as we can tell.
Someone help me! I'm still looking for the one area of Leucadia that is not blighted. The only reason some people call Leucadia funky is because it is next to the beach and where there is a beach there is funky. Move Leucadia as it is about 15 miles inland and it would be called a lower class neighborhood of Escondido.
ReplyDeleteI'd say you are helpless. Why don't stay in "New" Encinitas with all those safe shiny corporate franchises and shallow people. Better yet, move to Temecula.
ReplyDeletelove,
your friends in blighty town.
If Leucadia was in Escondildo none of you jerks would care either way. Leucadia is a beach town which makes it cool which is why the jerks want it. I bet you don't even go to the beach.
ReplyDeleteYeah, those who want to declare us "blighted" sit in judgment, pointing their greedy fingers, calling us "lower class."
ReplyDeleteYou, anonymous, need some class. You are caught up in ostentatious consumerism. Having a McMansion does not make you high class. Just someone who thinks money buys class.
You Leucadians should succeed from the City. Your continued blighted presence just drags the rest of the City down.
ReplyDeletePerhaps all the sales tax developed in your ecclectic commercial center will be enough to relieve the flooding every winter.
Redevelop and make the 101 corrider something the city can be proud of.
Your city council....
The city made the flooding worse, the so called Pasco Fiasco. Thanks guys!
ReplyDeleteLeucadia can and will improve, an RDA is not the answer. Anyone with a shread of common sense or decency knows this.
Please go to www.redevelopment.com and read - Redevelopment: The Unknown Government. After reading please blog about all the wonderful benefits of redevelopment. Better yet, send for a copy and pass it around to friends so they can better understand all the wonderful benefits of redevelopment and the regulating RDA.
ReplyDeleteAnyone see the irony in the fact that the reason Leucadia is in need of some TLC is because the planning process failed.
ReplyDeleteI sucks to say, but if there were good municipal codes and they were enforced and not cheated then Leucadia would not need the TLC or the emergency $50 million storm drain or the multimillion dollar Leucadia/101 intersection upgrade.
Instead we are in a place where even Dalager is willing let government micromanage your property through an RDA.
I wish we could secede.
ReplyDeleteBut more realistically, I dream of term limits, Council Members elected by districts, elected City Attorneys, a strong mayor, where we only vote for one!
The answer is not more government, more rules, regulations, restrictions, prejudice, but more understanding, less greed, corruption, more openness, as in waaaaaaay less closed sessions, secret alliances, spin master lobbying for development, big government, raising taxes, fees, debt.
You may say I'm a dreamer;
but I'm not the only one.
compliments to John Lennon
The problem with term limits is they can work against you when you get someone good in there.
ReplyDeleteI'm a patriot at heart and believe in a unified Encinitas. We just need someone on the council that sees Leucadia's potential and respects the American way.