By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer
ENCINITAS ---- Enforcement of the two-hour parking limit in much of downtown Encinitas would increase this summer under a hiring proposal headed to the City Council tonight.
The proposal, to hire 1.5 "community service officers," also would relieve a traffic deputy from the job of reviewing images captured by the city's red-light cameras.
NCT link
That kitten may only be .5 cat but he's all cop.
J.P. Your photos make this blog even better. Where do you come up with these? They are great!
ReplyDeleteI have boxes and boxes of odds and ends and clip art and stuff "that will come in handy someday" that I rifle through and scan and upload. It takes hours and hours and sometimes the big piles of photos and magazines and newspapers fall over and trap me for days until help arrives.
ReplyDeleteOr sometimes I just use Google image search.
Sounds purrrrrfect.
ReplyDeleteSorry.
Does the cities hiring of a .5 parking enforcement officer mean that only 1/2 of H101 will be checked for traffic parking violators, assuming that the other full 1.0 P-E Officer is on a donut break?? How will the .5 PE Officer decide which side of 101 to patrol, East or West. Will it be in some sort of handbook or perhaps just 1/2 of a handbook!!
ReplyDeleteI thought the Red Light Cameras were going to solve our $$$ crunch!?!?!?! The city said last year that up to 1000 cars a month were running the red light at El Cam and Enc Blvd. The city gets $200 of the $275, so if you do the math, that's 200K per month in the city cofers. Where all the $$$$ going??? Haven't seen a blog on the Red Light Cameras, what's up with that J.P.???
Something stinks in city hall, and I guess it would be rotten sushi considering everyone went to Japan!!
Hey can I get on that gravy train??? Where does the RP Bum sign-up for a free trip to Japan?? After all I think I do just as good a job of representing the scum of the city as anyone down at city hall. Hell, I do all this work for the city as it's Official Roadside Park Bum and I don't get any of the perks!!
There have got to be bums in Japan and they have to live near some park or another, it's just how we are that makes us unique.
Maybe Hondo reps will come to Encintas next year?? I hope they bring a bum with them, I can share living tips, like how to recognize day old burritos from Juanitas from those of Karinas.Or how to hide your vodka bottles in the trash so that the sheriff don't find the hooch. Japanese bums might want only day old sushi, well we got that covered now don't we, good ol Leucadia Sushi Bar and Pachinco Palace. I don't mind day old sushi but that day old wasabi is a killer!!!
Staggering down the 101 , it's your Roadside Park Bum.
-LONG LIVE GODZILLA!!!
I have been watching last night's Council Meeting and now, the budget meeting since 6:00 p.m. It's now 10:30 P.M. Cox usually cuts it off at 11:00, whether the meeting is over or not.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate the Youth Commission speakers. However, there need to be more Council Meetings per month. Most people certainly cannot stay all the way through the budget session.
I never saw that many youth speakers before. If someone says something, we will be labeled grumpy old men and women. However, so much time is taken up with community service presentations and "warm fuzzies." Instead of so many closed sessions, Council could convene early for some of these "presentations." Yes, the Hondo deal, particularly the powerpoint presentation seems like blatant campaigning.
I was happy to see Bob Bonde, Matt Walker, Jerry Sodomka, and Donna Westbrook, in particular. They are not afraid to call a spade a spade. I have great admiration for Gil, but I am not going to operate out of fear of plague from squirrel fleas. I am much more concerned that the poison was put out near a large body of water, against the labeled requirements.
Why can't we cut down on the size of the library, and build the public works yard next to it, as it used to be? I think, again, our Council showed a huge lack of judgment when it had the public works yard demolished without a good plan where it could be relocated. Same thing with our old library. It worked! Now we can't afford the "designer" library in the works. We should always have a redesign clause in all contracts should the project come in significantly over budget.
I notice that staff is saying that we do have independent audits. These are not thorough from what I understand, and are not what the Encinitas Taxpayers Assoc. and many others are calling for. What we were just shown, for example, does not break down the amount paid for legal services, for example.
Now they are talking about lease revenue bonds, or C.O.P.s, certificates of participation. This is long term debt, with mounting service debt. Staff has been steadily increasing. This is justified because the population has been increasing. We need to remember that according to the General Plan we are almost built out. Redevelopment will not require as many planners, for example, as new development has in the Encinitas Ranch area, and elsewhere.
Council seems to schedule all these self-congratulatory presentations on the very night that they are looking at budget considerations. Poor planning and public interaction once again!
Yes, Richard Phillips, the staff person who made the presentation on the new community service operators did try to address the question of one person in the community. From what he indicated, the money we get from the Red Light Cameras go into the General Fund. It sounds as though we are going to end up paying more for someone to review the pictures than we will be making from our share of the tickets. This is particularly true as revenue goes down from this source. They might be more effective if they were just turned off, so that we didn't have to pay the company anything. Just the sight of them slows people way down, by now.
ReplyDeleteThe money from the cameras should be dedicated to traffic management, not go into the General Fund. The General Fund is a slush fund for everything, and there isn't enough there, now, for the plans on the books.
JP, you are doing a fantastic job. Thanks, always.
The reasoning was that red light cameras were installed to catch the driver running straight through the intersection. Oops! One little problem with the cameras at Olivenhain and El Camino Real. There's not enough room to mount a camera to catch straight through traffic. The only ones that get a ticket are those drivers who are making a left turn. Oops! One little problem with the cameras at Encinitas Blvd. and El Camino Real. A large number of tickets aren't for straight through but for left hand turns. Even with the sure money maker of left hand turns tickets the city isn't raking in the moola they predicted. The city gets about $140 out of the total fine. Encinitas pays about $225,000 a year to Redflex. The city didn't factor in the cost of staff and the Sheriff's department. The catch phrase is revenue neutral. What the city gets in fines pays for the program.
ReplyDeleteOne of our neighbor cities forecast a million dollars in fine money. Oops! That didn't pan out, so they took that forecasted money out of the yearly budget.
The only one making money is Redflex.
I can't ever remember having a tough time finding a parking spot along 101 in Leucadia. Maybe in the area in front of Juanitas during the summer. I'm really not sure how all of those funky shops in Leucadia survive. Must have low rents. As more development happens along 101 in Leucadia like the hotel at La Costa, mixed use at Phoebe, and mixed use at Encinitas Blvd there will be more activity and parking demands. With that will most likely come higher rents which will force out the funkiness and bring in only those who can afford the higher rents. Can you say Starbucks in Leucadia. Remember Leucadia now because in 5-10 years it will look like all of those beach cities in LA.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone ever had a hard time finding a parking space in downtown encinitas? I know I sure haven't. Why the big push on parking enforcement?
ReplyDeleteThe question is, is this a thank you for Aceti and DEMA's support during Prop C?? Everyone wondered why Aceti would get so involved when he lived in Carlsbad. I guess the answer might be that Bond, Bossypants Guerin, Lawnmowerman Dalager, Houlihan and Stocks are paying the fee for his advocacy of Prop C by awarding him a parking enforcement officer.
Oh, Oh, the tangled webs we weave.
bum said:
ReplyDelete"Does the cities hiring of a .5 parking enforcement officer mean that only 1/2 of H101 will be checked for traffic parking violators, assuming that the other full 1.0 P-E Officer is on a donut break?? "
No dude, you're confusing vertical presence with horizontal capabilities. We're giving the midget cop a little firetruck with horns on it and stuff. He'll be hauling balls around 101, writing tickets that squirt you in the eye.
Once the city gets more money, we're hiring 3 more midget cops, and charging admission to watch them hand out parking tickets. Revenue revenue revenue!
DEMA is going to pay for some of the cost. So we aren
ReplyDeletet paying for it completely. But, doesn't the City fund DEMA?
important correction.
ReplyDeleteDEMA did not endorse prop C. I was present at the meeting.
Steve Aceti campagned big time for prop C at the meeting but it was very clear that most of the board members were strongly oppossed.
As far as funding, Lets replace an organization that funds itself, promotes preservation, the arts and Hwy 101 and has a small contribution from the city which now it wants to give back most of to help pay for sherriff services.
Lets replace those guys with a redevelopment agency that will have a stafff of ten and cost the taxpayers a million a year. Then they can promote the tearing down of all the old buildings and make downtown into another boring place.
Not!
What proportion of DEMA's revenue is from the City?
ReplyDeleteI always find a parking spot downtown but I drive a small car.
ReplyDeleteI'm not concerned about plague on my part, I'm one of those lucky people fleas don't bite. I don't have kids, I treat my dog with frontline monthly. I gave the council members a report, have Maggie or your favorite council member burn you a copy, I couldn't afford to make extras. As to the safty of the ground squirrel control methods, you can contact David Pattison, a pesticide advisor, at Western Farm Service for additional insight on control procedures and product safety. I don't want pesticide residues in the water, nor brake fluid, nor cigarette butts, or soda can plastic bands, or gill nets, and on and on.
ReplyDeletesame old hype - It is not correct that the the COP's have a mounting debt service. The debt service that has been presented as a fixed 1.4 million yearly. Period. This gets projects that are bogged down moving. We own the park land and need to make it usable, the library is under construction and a done deal, We need some sort of Public Works facility in the future. The COP's would allow the projects to go forward and still leave enough in the General Fund to fund other necessary yearly city improvements. Taxes would not have to be increased. The information is available on the city website if you did not get the three part handout at the council meeting. Yes,the meeting did go on a low time(11:45PM). You have the luxury of TIVO-ing the meeting and reviewing it over a day or two.
ReplyDeleteHelp, Gil. Went to the city website to find the 3 part handout, but they're not on the city website. Where is the 3 part handout?
ReplyDeleteWell a lot of mistakes....
ReplyDeleteDEMA took a neutral position on Prop C but kept Aceti as the president of their organization and kept him as president while he continued his advocacy of Prop C. You can't seperate the two. If hiring this parking enforcement officer at $70,000 isn't political pay back I don't know what is.
The city funds about $20,000 a year to DEMA which is the same amount they are willing to pay to off set the cost of the parking enforcement officer. Ummm, I wonder how they got that amount? This is another back door deal with the city council and DEMA President Aceti. I guess it pays to be their mouthpiece. I am surprised they aren't taking him to Japan with them.
Like we need parking enforcement. Only Dalager needs it because he has no parking for his customers. Perhaps an ordinance requiring all businesses in downtown Encinitas provide parking, at their expense, would be the right thing to do.
I'll bet we don't see anything like that with Lawnmowerman on the council.
Gil, just wondering do live within the San Dieguito Water District boundries so that you can handle the debt service if the city defaults or needs more general fund revenue for something else? What's wrong with the City Council putting this bond to a vote of the people. If it is such a good deal they shouldn't have to worry about the outcome. I would like to see what water district the city councilpeople live in. I believe Bossypants, Stocks and Houlihan are the Olivenhain Dsitrict. I don't know where the others live.
The .5 Community Service guy is one person, split in half, supposedly, with Solana Beach.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that the City gives DEMA at least $50,000.00 per year. So, they have agreed to give $20,000.00 back for their own personal community service officer to enforce parking limitations. Aceti did speak. I got to see his face on TV last night. No signs of a forked tongue, but then he wasn't sticking it out like he does on this blog, hissing.
Yes, I didn't get why Gil supported the borrowing. Bond and Stocks said "inflation works for us." This was reported in the Coast News this morning, too. You know what, inflation doesn't work for me.
As far as the debt service being set at 1.4 million, that doesn't really make sense to me. Is it because they are not counting the debt service we already have as part of the Lease Revenue Bonds used to finance the purchase of the Hall Property? I don't get this. How can we borrow up to 23 million, now, with money "to spare," as Christy Guerin says, "so we have money for other projects," and not have increased debt service. Oh, Council says, that was already budgetted in.
Jerome Stocks brought up some poor schmuck friend of his who sold his home, got $70,000 and wanted to wait till the prices came back down to a reasonable level. "He's still renting," Stocks laughs. Well this is not funny. Inflation has not worked well for my grandkids, in my opinion, or for anyone on a fixed income. Thank God for prop 13, and that we did buy before it was too late for us!
Council is again using the philosophy, inflation works to our advantage, let's borrow now, and we can pay back with dollars that are worth less. Yes the dollars we have are becoming more and more worthless!
I really appreciated Matt Walker and Bob Bonde calling Council out on their "robbing Peter to pay Paul" mentality. I was kind of surprised Kevin Cummings was soooo diplomatic. I wish he would run, though, because he has a good head on his shoulders and a good heart.
Lease revenue bonds are a complete scam. Gerald Sodokma said it best when he called them "VOODOO FINANCING" at the workshop. They were born simply to get around prop. 13 and the vote of the people.
ReplyDeleteOf course our city would never put this to a vote because they know that we are too smart and too organized thanks to the ETA and the town councils.
Remember, It's YOUR CITY! Take it back in November!!!!
The council thinks the COPs are free money. They can tell the bondholders they're not going to pay back the money and still keep the improvements. Sweet deal. Why doesn't the council borrow a billion dollars. It's all free money. Free with no strings attached.
ReplyDeleteGil, help. Still can't find the 3 part handout on the city website.
ReplyDeleteThe city finance department is keeping taxpayers in the dark. Those handouts at the Council meeting formed the basis of the city's argument for going into debt. If you weren't at the council meeting, you're out of luck in viewing the handouts.
ReplyDeleteI apoligize on the availability of the three part handout being available at the time I wrote. I have just returned from the City Clerks office and the documents are being put on line as I write. They will be available in three locations: under City Council Agenda for May 24th, under Budget Workshop Agenda, and because those will disappear, for much longer under Finance. Blogit if they don't appear by this evening and I will go down to City Hall again. For those of you who can't get online regularly or want a city produce hard copy, they will be available at the reception desk.
ReplyDeleteAgain, sorry I thought things would move faster.
Somebody scan the documents and e-mail them to me and I will post them up.
ReplyDeletefunkyleucadian@gmail.com
Hey Gil,
ReplyDeleteYou don't want pesticides in the water nor cigs butts, nor brake fluid, but how do you feel about urine and feces??? Because that 's what going into the ocean off of Stonesteps and Beacons and Grandview without any bathrooms facilites. Where do you think all the people are going to the bathroom when they need to relieve themselves?? That right in the Pacific Ocean!!! Hey can you blame them, the city doesn't provide facilities for Leucadia, but they do for Swami's and Moonlight.
Leucadia isn't even good enough for a portable weekend crapper in the summer when all the evil inlanders come to use the "locals" beach. Perhaps the city could start to regulate beach use by charging fees, after all the excess urine and feces has to be coming from the inlanders!! Heavens knows that "locals" would never deface the sanctity of the ocean just because there's no toilet, hell no they'll hold it until they get home!!!
Well I can't hold it any more, whissing down the 101, it's your Roadside Park Bum.....got any TP you can loan me???
roadside bum u are 100% correct. I don't know if anyone will listen but I'll ask. Occasionally out of the mouths of bums comes something other than vomit. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGil,
ReplyDeleteNext time I see you I'm going to open mouth kiss you right on the lips!!!
God Bless You!!! Finally someone that understands the RPB!!!
Now how 'bout that TP??
I'm new and I'm sorry if I missed this but how do you hire half a person?
ReplyDeletewith one eye closed.
ReplyDeleteGood one just a nice plumber.
ReplyDeleteHey, all these acronyms make it hard to keep it all straight, sometimes. I mean with the Hondo deal, where Council is now, as we live and breathe, Just a Plumber could be JAP.
Just as the City was wrongly putting the so-called "clean water fee" on our trash bills, Council and staff are now insisting the City, through SDWD (San Diego Water District) can "enjoy" unlimited borrowing, through the smoke and mirrors of the consultants' proposed "COP's" "certificates of participation." Of course these COPs are really lease revenue bonds through the water district.
Water fees are exempt from the 1996 Prop 218 State Constitutional Amendment that all fees related to property should be voted on, not just general purpose bonds, which also are to be voted upon, and passed by a 2/3 majority.
The COPs, Certificates of Participation is causing the Water District to finance the debt service. Fixing the Hall property and City development of the library, public works yard, fixing the pump at Cottonwood Creek, and all the infrastructure capital improvements that are in the works absolutely should not be passed on to the San Diego Water District Ratepayers. The Water District is exempt from the regulation of its fees, as is the Sewer District.
Why don't we have the Water District pay for the cops, PEO's, parking enforcement officers, CEO's, code enforcement officers, Mayor ex cop Bossypants Guerin, trip to Hondo?
I know, the SDWD can do a big spread in the NCT saying how infrastructure needs improving, we can have a few more "special presentations," at City Hall, patting everyone in the water dept. on the back for doing their jobs, along with the sewer guys for sucking out so many miles o' pipes. ha ha. And then we'll raise everyone's water rates and fees, increasing the bill from 7-9%, yearly, start taking on the additional expense of sending out the water bills every month, instead of every month, because Council thinks we are all idiots, or intentional no-nothings, like Council appears to be? Are they negligent, in denial, corrupted, busy with their "other affairs?"
The shadow knows.
I just finished reading the Official Notice of Sale for the Lease Revenue Bonds for the purchase of the Hall Property. The date of sale is May 15, 2001. I quote: "The City currently anticipates initially expending approximately $5.6 million to develop the Site for recreational purposes. Approximately $2 million will come from Bond proceeds, and the remainder is expected to come from proceeds of the sale of surplus property to the County of San Diego, and the associated funds allocated to such property." On May 10, 2006 Jennifer Smith presented the figure of $35 million for development of the site and $19 million for a bare-bones basic structure development. How did the cost grow from $5.6 million to $35 million in five years? This in not inflation, this is hyperinflation reminiscent of a South American currencies. If the city council votes with a simple majority to issue more lease revenue bonds, what kind of financial shortfalls will we be surprised with in several years?
ReplyDeleteHelp! Could the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers' Association, the Encinitas Taxpayers' Association, Donna Westbrook, anyone who has connections, knowledge, help us out here! City Council seems to think it can predict that the current rate of inflation will keep up, that staff can keep increasing, as will our water bill rates and "fees," to pay for these bogus bonds. We don't want them! Council is all grins and smiles, laughing all the way to the next election with blatant commercials, campaigning at the few Council Meetings not canceled. Now they are on their paid junket to Hondo, or whatever that newly reformed city is now called, in Japan.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need new parking enforcement. DEMA should keep their private security guys. They can lobby to get the new parking lots done, or build a new one of their own. We are happy that these businesses are flourishing, but don't want to have any more police presence than necessary, including Code Enforcement, Parking Enforcement, patrol officers, etc. We have plenty. I believe we have more, per capita, here than many other cities, already. More and more people are lining up to jump on board the gravy wagon, at our expense.
All of the City's projections are a farce. We all know that they have fallen millions behind past projections. Also, the present rate of inflation of property taxes and construction costs will not necessarily keep up. Most of us do not want to "buy into" this complacent philosophy used to justify overspending, lack of accountability.
I hope that if this bond measure passes, our watchdogs will immediately challenge it. In JP's flimflam post, by Gerald Sodomka, Gil Foerster talks about paper shuffling, joining SDWD and the City through something comparable to a family trust. But to suddenly raise water rates and fees, start billing monthly, is very suspect. Just like our trash bills suddenly went up after EDCO stopped charging for the Clean Water Fee on the trash bill.
This is robbing Peter to pay Paul, in an obvious attempt to thwart the intent of the California Constitutional Amendment relevant to bonds. We do not need more PEO's (underling cops, in disguise) or any COPS (lease revenue bonds, which wrongly claim they do not have to have approval of the rate payers, when the monies are going into and out of the General Fund!
God save us from those who would twist and deceive, hide the truth, and betray the public trust.
I don't get what Gil says under the Financial Flimflam post by Gerald Sodomka. A family trust is a way to pass assets to children to avoid paying taxes. It has nothing to do with borrowing money. How is this related to lease revenue bonds? Money borrowed under lease revenue bonds has to be paid back. The city seems to think this is free money and puts no debt burden on the citizens of Encinitas. Baloney!! The money must come from somewhere. I get letters every week offering me easy credit, but I would be very foolish to accept these, despite my good credit rating, if I didn't have a damn good reason for borrowing.
ReplyDeleteCome on folks. Your property taxes can only go up @% a year. Why because Prop. 13 says so, it's the law, Thank Goodness. So if all you number crunchers will sit down with your martinis and crunch the numbers you will see that the revenue stream is going to increase. What is also going to increase is the cost to construct capital projects. Do you believe that the world wide demand for oil, cement, wood, steel is going to decrease over the next ten years as China, Pakistan, India and the emerging third world countries begin to find their place in the world economy? If you do then not building our capital projects now with 2007 costs is a mistake. I am bombarded by NPR in my household and what filters through to me is that prices for construction commodies are going to continue to rise. So short of world wide economic collapse, anything built now will look like a bargin in ten years. And like wise anything delayed is only going to cost more. It just seems pretty basic to me. If those of you who disagree are wise you will place all your savings into gold. This will allow you to smile and flip the roadsideparkbum and I the finger ten years from know when the full effects of the worldwide depression are in full force. I won't have much time to blog next week as it is the end of the month and I do run a business that has some extra end of month duties that will distract me. Soooo take you best shot today and tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteLove ya all, and especially this site JP!!
Back at 'ya.
ReplyDeleteWe are all taking about the debit issue but we are not talking about the need for the projects -- three new fire stations, a public works yard and Hall property projects...do we need or just want?
ReplyDeleteGil, God Bless You, thanks for your help and concern. But while property taxes can only go up 2% per year (compounded yearly, which is still a lot if one bought in the 90's, then you are basically paying at least $250 month "rent" on your land. Plus sewer and water fees are exempt from Prop 13, from 78, and Prop 218 from 96. That is why Cardiff residents have seen up to a 400% increase on their sewer taxes on their property taxes, right? Water fee and rate hikes can be put on our water bills, or on our property taxes, or both. And San Dieguito Water District bills will begin coming every month. Why is this extra mailing and billing expense justified? To hide the impact of the rate increases from the ratepayers?
ReplyDeleteYes, most folks don't believe we need three new fire stations or a library the size of the one in the "works," with its huge per sq. ft. cost. And we surely don't need to contract for 1.5 new parking enforcement officers because the downtown merchants don't have enough parking lots.
Could we possibly make a deal with the Encinitas Union School District to keep the Public Works Yard at Pacific View? It seems to be working fine, there. Could we pay for that property? Their plans to do a commercial development are on fizzle, as far as we can see. None of the neighbors want one there, and the school districts should not get into the landlord buisness, either, for commercial properties.
The public works yard and library were sweet where they were. City was soooo quick to demolish, before it had its plans in place, with redesign clause written in to the contract. City could have just added on another computer room to the old library, which would have been great. Bossypants Guerin and Lawnmowerman Dalager are so busy wanting to play big wheels that they are making us have to go into debt.
We don't want a 30 year plan that has only been projected out to 10 years, also assuming that the rate of inflation will keep up. Oh City wants it both ways. They say inflation works for us when it comes to borrowing and paying back with "worthless" dollars. But it works against us because of high construction costs. Whenever anyone tells you, act now, don't wait, don't stop and think, trust me, you've got to wonder.
Yes, we thought Bob Bonde made some excellent points in his oral communications about the high per sq. ft. cost of the library and unneeded new fire stations.
ReplyDeleteAfter Bob Bonde finally left, James Bond, I think, did ask about that per sq. ft. cost. Christy Guerin pooh-poohed Bob Bonde, again. Someone from staff said that the figure Bonde used, about $639 per sq. ft. didn't factor out the cost of the land. What? I thought we are leasing that land for some very low price from the County? What's up with this, now? City does twist numbers all over the place, leaving most of them out, entirely, from what we could see of the so-called budget workshop last Wed.
We are praying this new lease revenue bond doesn't get passed before the elections come November. If it does, it needs to be challenged in court. The people are entitled to weigh in on bond issues with a public vote. To set up a joint authority with the Water District to make the City Exempt from this voting requirement is not justified, ethical, or fair to the citizens. Don't put us in debt because you keep getting new offers for credit cards Mayor Guerin!
Yes, it would be like our saying, wow, inflation is bad, construction costs are at their highest, quick! We have a good credit rating. Quick! Let's borrow on our equity, get a 30 year loan, and add on a second story! We don't really need the extra space; but we've got to keep up with the Jonses!
ReplyDeleteGil, I think you are wrong. This doesn't have to be an either/or situation. It is not necessarily either we have a complete worldwide collapse, or rates will continue to skyrocket. There are other alternatives.
Costs, in part, are being driven by demand; that is understood. Many in this area [developers, and associates of developers, primarily, we think)are demanding bigger and bigger, more and more sq. footage, when no one did any studies to show that the sq. footage we had before was not serving community needs?
We do not want to be pressured into adding more long term debt. Gil, this is being financed out at 30 years. You, and we, might not be around in 30 years. We do not need the starbucks designer library and the designer fire stations. Bob Bonde is correct on this. The new library could be built for less. The firestations could be upgraded without being completely rebuilt.
Do not try to pull the wool over our eyes, City staff and council, by projecting this out for 10 years, instead of 30. We will end up paying about three times twenty-three million dollars, by the time we pay off the service debt every year, and the principal of $23 million, which is not what was originally requested, to begin with!
We, personally, could refinance and build on a second story to our home. But we cannot afford the higher monthly payments, and do not want to pass on debt to our grandkids.
Unfortunetly Gerald's clarifying statements under the Blog "Financial Flimflam" are just not factual. I have to assume the, "several of us," and "Us" he uses refers to are the mice he has in his pocket. If he is going to stand by everything he wrote he is on very unstable footing.
ReplyDeleteNo one is going to loan you money on open park land unless they are sure you are going to default and they can put something else in there with instant marketable value. The city therefore formed the Joint Powers Authority and EPFA so that something of value could be used to woe the mutual funds who buy the vast majority of COPs. The name says it all. Certificates of Participation, The bond holders (Mutual Funds) see value in your community and are willing to participate in it's construction, growth and development. They want to know the bonds are going to be repaid so there has to be an income stream to service the debt. The other alternative is a public vote and a general obligation bond, where you the property owners are on the hook if there is a question of repayment, in which case your taxes will be raised. We have only to look at school bonds to see just how difficult it is to pass a bond where property owners are on the hook. The consolidation of the SDWD and the City - Joint Powers Authority - created an entity that had a guarenteed income stream in addition to the regular stream that comes in to the General Fund from many different sources. This then allowed the formation of the EPFA and the sale of COPs. The bondholders(Mutual Funds) now have two sources of income stream upon which to depend for payment. One and primary is the city's General Fund, the other, should the City declare bankruptcy, is the income stream coming from the SDWD. Sooo, the asset is not the Hall property as Gerald incorrectly stated but the SDWD and everything that includes. Now you should only be very nervous if you think the city is going to position itself so that it has no choice but to decale bankruptcy. How likely is that? Really, not very. Cardiff sewer fees have risen because everyone is adding new additions and the distance to the treatment plant is far, the existing system is one of the oldest and most neglected in our combined communities.It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the bond issues.
The benefit is to the Joint Authority which is the SDWD and YOUR CITY. As for the language "being available for use", this is to protect the SDWD, and the city if the SDWD facilities become unusuable for some catastrophic reason, like a terrorist attack on the facilities. Under those conditions the bondholders would not be paid in the event of bankruptcy and would have no recourse. Soooo, you see, the fact that the Hall property is unusable at this point or any point in time means squat.
The city is not out of compliance with anything to do with the bonds.
Again, the lawsuit concerning the premature clean-up of the Hall property had little to do with an environmental impact report being done on the property, a full EIR was always in the works. It did have to do with starting the clean-up prior to completion of the EIR. Again, I was on the Darth Vader side of this issue. I felt that the greenhouse remains were a safety concern, from fires started by vagrants using the property, and from rodents breeding unfettered, with the abandonment of the property. I thought that the city was correct to move to immediately clean up the property but that they should have gotten an emergency exemption before proceeding.
Does Gil Foerster really believe the city would cut staff and services if necessary to service the bonds? YES HE DOES!!
The $24. dollars you pay for the meter whether you use any water or not is because the presence of the meter requires the district to be prepared if you do use water. It is $24. on my ag land in Fallbrook, it is $24. on the two parcels in Joshua Tree, one commercial and one residential. The commercial one has never supplied one drop of water but I put the meter in so that I am never in the position of some parcel owners in some areas of the state where you must buy an existing meter if you want service.
The city is spending the revenue as it becomes available, perhaps you would have then invest it in some instrument that pays 1-1/2% like the two CD's that I keep available for emergencies.
As for putting this to a vote of the city, no I don't think this is the best way. The vote tallies on both Prop. A & C certainly point this out. Sorry Jerry but your statements were not clarifying and not factual. You need to bring in new mice to help you do the research.
Folks, I am not going to coddle people who put incorrect or misleading information up on this blogsite. I have too much respect for this site and for the citizens of Encinitas.
If JP feels that I am too wordy or doing the site an injustice, he has my email address and only has to ask that I stop posting for me to stop!!
Read the May 22, 2002 agenda item on the bond for city and the SDWD. It can be found under document archives on the city website.
ReplyDeleteThe point of a COP is that there is no collateral needed. Unless the Hall property was specifically listed as collateral for the loan, how can it be taken by the bondholders?
The Hall property is NOT collateral for the loan. The ability of the City to pay from it's General Fund income stream with the SDWD income stream as a back-up is the collateral. In a similar vein, my line of credit with wells fargo is backed by my companies good credit. They are betting that I will be able to pay based upon thiry years in business, healthy accounts receivable, and my history of never stiffing anyone. Same with our city only on a much larger scale.
ReplyDeleteThe council is betting on the come.
ReplyDeleteEssentially, yes. Both the council and the bondholders. Each has faith in our community. Our bond rating is AA-. Our obligated debt service is currently 6.09% 0f operating revenue, with the new bond issue it would be 8.94% of operating revenue(2007), and ten years out it would drop to 5.48% of operating revenue.
ReplyDeleteIn a similar vein, if your home cost you between 6.09% and 8.94% of your income would you feel you were in over your head? I think not. I think most of those who bought after 1990 would think you had a pretty good deal. This bond debt is fully amortized, as compared to some homeowners who may have bought hoping for continuing inflation and used an interest only loan.
Gil,
ReplyDeleteYou are the one that seems to be misleading readers of this blog. I don't know where you have gotten your education on this subject but you are 100% wrong. The SDWD is obligated along with the city, by law, to pay for this bond. If the city council, who by the way is also the SDWD Board of directors, decides they don't want to use general fund monies any longer to pay the debt service the SDWD will have to pay. The SDWD only form of revenue is fees paid by customers. Those customers only make up 1/2 the city. That 1/2 of the city will pay for those bonds in higher sewer and water fees.
You know someone told me you don't even live in this city or pay any fees to the SDWD. I undersatnd you lease land that is now offered on the market for development. What is your purpose in the blogs I have read?
Why are you becoming the minister of misinformation to residents of a city you don't even live in?
I'm afraid Gil is sounding very much like an advocate for the city. He is the one being very careless with facts. He says that "no one is going to loan you money on open park land...." The loan (Lease Revenue Bonds) was to purchase the property. Banks do this everyday. The value of the property itself secures the loan. The city could have easily borrowed money through general obligation bonds. The city has the credit rating and revenue flow to do this, as Gil himself stated. The catch, of course, is that these bonds need voter approval. Gil should read more carefully through the Northcross/Hill/Ach handout, which clearly says the "asset" is the facility being financed, in this case, the purchase of the Hall property.
ReplyDeleteAnd Gil is simply wrong on the history of the cleanup of the Hall property and subsequent lawsuit. The city did a cursory site assessment and attempted to do a negative declaration. The lawsuit stopped this. CEQA is very clear. An EIR must be done for the complete project at the beginning, not piecemeal. The court agreed. The city did an appeal and then abandoned it. The matter is settled.
I have been a part of this City since 1976. I attended the CAB meetings before we became a City. I have appeared before the Coastal Commission for this City since 1984. The property that I am and have been associated with for 30 years is in the SDWD. The bill we pay varies between $2-3000. per month. No we don't get AG rates, we pay the same rate that you the home owner pays. We have six water meters and are waiting patiently along with everyone else for 6 times the illegal clean water fee refund and I sign my name to my blogs so everyone knows who is writing.
ReplyDeleteI think Christie Guerin and Jerome Stocks are posting under Gil's name. Or this is the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and somebody slipped a pod into Gil's greenhouse.
ReplyDeleteNope, no pod in the greenhouse. And my feelings on Jerome and Christy attempting to direct an election that they called, asking the citizens for guidance is a matter of record and can be found in back issues of the Coast News. But I want significant progress on the park sooner rather than later and that doesn't include a teen center, or aquatic center or any of the other big ticket fru-frus, and if aren't going to condemn the old school where the public works yard is now, we are going to have to find another location. You the citizens voted on the library and chose it's location. You the citizens, not me, provided the input on it's design, I didn't attend a single meeting. Now some of you that blog here want to cry foul and scrape the library that is already under construction. The council may want to site the public works yard on Saxony but as I blurted out at the last Council meeting, "I'm not dead yet." I intend to speak out in support of finding a way to finance the projects that need to be built to make Encinitas a better place to live. Sometimes, it may be at odds with a political agenda that you support but that won't change the points on the issues that I will be trying to make. This may bother some of you, but at worst, I just see my points of view as Inconvenient Truths.
ReplyDeleteGood-night until next month. Be safe.
City pension plan -
ReplyDeleteThe actuarial valuation-June 30, 2004 report - Under the miscellaneous plan, valuation date of June 30, 2004, the city is only 71.8% funded. The unfunded liabilities as a % of payroll is 75.7%.
Compare that with the city of San Diego.
When the SDWD goes to monthly billing, we will probably get the $24 meter charge every month. That's an extra $144 per year. And with about 10,000 meters in the district that's an extra $1,440.000 per year. A miracle! We have the money to make the lease payment on the new bonds the council is planning. There a bit of a problem: residents in the OWD will pay nothing. Those of us in the San Dieguito Water District will get screwed. Big time!
ReplyDeleteWow, I think that will be entirely wrong. I know that the meter is read every month, now. The billing should stay at every other month to save billing, mailing expenses.
ReplyDeleteI have relatives in Rancho Santa Fe. They are in the San Dieguito Water District, also, get astronomical bills, too, like you, Gil, but for less land. They don't get the ag discount for having groves. My point is, not everyone in the SDWD is in the incorporated City of Encinitas. That is why making these two "joint powers" is not really truthful, to us.
The City Council sits as the Board of Directors of the SDWD; the money from the Lease Revenue Bonds goes into and out of the City's General Funds. These are separate entities in name only, and even then, they are a "joint" authority.
The Water Dept. is starting a public relations campaign to justify a 6-9% a year increase. For how many years will this increase go on? Who decided that the bills have to start coming out every month? Is it the same old excuse, other water districts do this? Because that reason is not good enough.
Gil is honest enough to admit that the financing through Mutual Bond holders is because after Props A and C the Council knows that they could not get a bond to pass. So obviously, City Council is trying to get around the will and the expressed, informed desires of its constituents, of us, the citizens.
Gil, you have good intentions, but please don't promote debt in our city. Thank you for helping to pay for ads in the Coast News. We even sent money to you, at your P.O. Box, for doing so, though we can scarce afford it. On this blog, or on almost any blog, we have the right to be anonymous. We, personally, know full well what the City can and has done to single out individuals for vindictive retribution.
Sometimes people give anonymously to charities, or post anonymously because we want our words to be considered (or the money donated, in the case of contributions) on their own merit, without being associated with a particular person.
We are not playing the "cult of personality" game here, Gil. Are you? No one I know has any "mice in our pockets" as you put it. We are speaking for ourselves, our friends, families, neighbors, concerned citizens, who live here, surf here, and yes, who eat at Encinitas Cafe, too. We appreciate your efforts on the Coastal Commission. This bond stuff is a bad idea at a bad time, when property and building values should be leveling off or dropping. If that doesn't happen, then we can take the loss of pay as you go.
Cottonwood Creek Park took 12 years, I think, to finally complete. Most of the current Council members should be long gone by the time the Hall Property is developed. It is not fair for the SDWD to guarantee the entire bond offering. The just thing to do would be to allow a vote. Ultimately the taxpayers and ratepayers are responsible for the costs, period.
Gil, I'm glad you are at least paying some water fees, because if you are not in the City, you aren't paying the extra property taxes that we pay here. Has the City ever tried to sue you? I doubt it. Have you ever asked how much we pay out in legal costs and fees every year? That was on the budget, with no dollar amount.
The projection of the budget that you are working from, Gil, again, is for 10 years. This bond is for thirty years. It is assuming, incorrectly, that in those 10 years costs will continue to inflate at the current rate.
Anyone is free to post here, Gil. But many of us, citizens, neighbors, voters of Encinitas do not agree with you on advocating this lease revenue bond which is just the City finding a loophole where the people actually obligated to pay for the money borrowed do not get to vote on it. City Council is well known for making mistakes, for ignoring what many are saying. They just write off the protesters as "the usual suspects."
Get some rest and relaxation, Gil, and come back with a clear head.
Gil,
ReplyDeleteWhere do you live? I would like to know so I can evaluate your blogs based on your financial investment in the out come of tax increases.
Curious
Dear Curious - My taxes property taxes, which I pay in San Diego County and San Bernadino County and restricted by prop.13 and are being raised 2% ayear. I also pay property taxes in Apache County, Arizona. My business spends as much as it can in Encinitas. Not with the Big Box companies if at all possible but with the local Mom and Pop establishments that have been here forever. The issue at hand has nothing to do with tax increases, they can't be raised. It does have to do with the potential to cause water rates to be increased in a worst case scenero.
ReplyDeleteMy family has been in agriculture since '96. That's 1896, originally butter and eggs. I am a fourth generation Californian, third generation native Californian. I can remember when water in this area was just over $300. an acre foot, now it is 800. an acre foot. I can remember when Encinitas was truely an agricultural community now it is not. I am not bitter about that, my grandfather explained to me that it was the famers who bring water districts and water to an area and then the bedroom communities follow. It's been that way in California forever. Your property taxes cover the same thing that everyone in the states cover, the amounts of each may vary depending upon the fire, school, sewer and other items that are listed on your tax statement.
The reason we are a city is because the community, as it became more residential, say the taxes being sucked out of it by the county with a very small amount being reinvested. Ask Bob Bonde about cityhood and why we separated from the county. Across the county we are going to continue to pay an incresing amount for water. Why? Because it doesn't come from here. The "ditch from northern California requires maintainance at increasing expense and now we are going to pay for the tiling and water reclamation project in Imperial County. We don't have the springs or the watershed that used to provide water to this city. Development has destroyed that resource. We live in a desert, really. We do not have adequite water storage facilities in this county and that will become all too apparent if the ditch is damaged by a major quake or the snowpack in the Sierras changes dramatically due to global warming. The desalination plant they take of in Carlsbad may help if they get it in operation but at what cost to our ocean. I am very aware of the tenuous water situation in this county. I appreciate your donation during the period I was writing in the Coast News. I believe the articles helped the citizens understand the question being asked of them. If people hadn't helped with the cost I would have been disappointed. I take positions on issues because I think they make sense or are out to lunch. I don't care whether the City Council's like me or not. Other members of my family formed what is probably one of the most reputable law firms in the world. I make no apologies for my positions, not to whatever council you have elected, not to the Eckes, not to anyone. I say what I feel and I sign my name expecting to be attacked by someone on any issue I take a stand on. I think it is fine that everyone blogs as ANONYMOUS, even I use another name on this site on occasion but it is usually when I feel like being a bit irrelavent and am reaching for a laugh. I still feel that laughter is an important part of sanity.
Where do I live? What does that mean? Sleep? I sleep where ever I am when I run out of energy or daylight. I farm in two counties on five parcels. I can sleep on any one of them. Where do I vote? I used to vote in Encinitas.(1976-1994) Then a past president asked that I change so that I could vote on the 2020 plan when it hits the ballot. It is the only chance for small agricultural parcels to have a chance against big development and every vote counts. I have no idea how much we pay yearly in legal fees. Unfortunately we have become a very litigious society, it is the main reason that I decided not to make the law my life and choose agriculture instead. Again, no one can raise your property taxes for any bond payment. Water is a precious commodity and likely will continue to cost more, sewage has to be cleaned before it can be discharged, it isn't cheap to live in the US but it beats whatever is in second place.
Please do continue to blog at me but don't expect me to play nice. I call a spade a spade and I'm too old too change now.
I am going to get a meet with the city finance department because I have unanswered questions.
I am going to ask why if we spend over a million dollars per year to clean our run-off up, don't we have portable toilets at beacons, stonesteps, and grandview. It is inexcusable to allow or children and those who use our beaches on a regular basis to have to dodge a "floating log." There are lots of issues that I feel are important for the quality of life in this city, and I'm sorry I can't always be on the same page every blogger is on. Luv ya all.
Gil the MAN. Don't take your anger out on him. I used to get pissed off when people didn't agree with me but my chick taught me to keep a cool head and listen to opposing points of view.
ReplyDeleteGil,
ReplyDeleteWhen you ask the city why they spend over a Milliom $$$ on cleaning up the waste water run-off you might also want to ask where the lifeguards go to the bathroom?? The lifeguards at Beacon, Stonesteps and Grandview gotta relieve themselves at some point in time during their shifts. I assume that they use the ocean just everyone else, but would that be the official city policy?? Just wondering??
In all seriousness I'm going to tell you why there are no bathroom facilities at the beaches in Leucadia, because of people like me!!!! The lovely residents of Neptune are afraid that I'll bring down their property values by me being seen coming and going from that portable crapper! Also they don't want any teenagers pulling down the porta johns and spilling it's precious cargo all over the road.
The reality is quite different!! You see for years the city of Del Mar provided porta johns for the beach goers at all the lifeguards stations, a few years ago they understood that this was an unacceptable long terms solution and decided to install full service in the ground toilet facilities connected to the sewer. Quite Modern wouldn't you agree, but then, we as residents of Leucadia we wouldn't want to be like Del Mar!!!!! Heavens No!!!
The city of Encinitas plan to remodel the parking lot at Beacons and the access to the beach does not, NOT call for any bathrooms for the public. Furthermore such enviromentally aware organizations such at the hollowed Surfriders Organization and the Famous Swami's Surf group also have "signed off" on this lack of public toilets. Don't believe me?? Go and check the plans,not a public toilet to be found anywhere near those plans and the plans I saw were "signed off" by both the previous organizations mentions according to the architect designing the Beacons Beach rmodel.
Now I'm just a Roadside Park Bum, but in my opinion if full service toilet facilities are good enough for the multimillion dollars homes of Del Mar beach then the same facilities should be good enough for the million dollar homes of Neptune!!!
Staggering down the 101 looking for a good place to squat, it's your Roadside Park Bum!!!
Gil
ReplyDeleteSee if you can get full service bathrooms penciled in. I could use the extra work.