The latest housing proposal for the old Pacific View Elementary School site failed to gain favor Wednesday night with a majority of the Encinitas City Council.
The next battle over the prime coastal property's future is likely to occur in a courtroom, proponents and opponents said after the council's 2-2 vote on a rezoning request, which would have allowed the housing proposal to proceed. The council needed a super majority vote to approve the request.
Read more:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/encinitas/article_ecf74dca-5433-53e1-bb70-6b7f6b0df9b9.html#ixzz1VQAfuMC2
From reports sent to me last night:
The city attorney spent some effort explaining the law for Jerome Stocks. On issues where the law is important to the issue the City Attorney should submit a written analysis as part of the staff report, beforehand.
Sevearal times I've brought up open government law violation issues and the city attorney either remains silent or says he will secretly tell the council what the law says. The law shouldn't be a secret. If the city is in violation of the law, the response should not be to keep it a secret, it should be to correct the problem.
Recommendations: 1. More open legal analysis from the city attorney as part of the staff reports (that's what we pay him for). 2. End secrecy of what the law is.
Oh, and after a year at city hall how come Gaspar can't vote on an item? She wasn't on the council when the city first voted to keep the streets report secret, but she had no problem voting on that. Isn't that a little inconsistent? Some thing's up.
This is part of the coast news coverage:
Councilwoman Kristin Gaspar recused herself because she reasoned that she wasn’t a council member when the issue first began, much to the dismay of at least two council members and a public speaker.
Houlihan asked the city attorney for clarification about the circumstances for recusal and questioned whether Gaspar met the standard. City Attorney Glen Sabine said since no legal precedent existed for recusal barring a conflict of interest, it was up to the individual member to decide whether they were competent enough to participate in the matter.
Bond added that when he first decided to run for City Council he didn’t know where city hall was located, but that didn’t preclude him from voting on matters before the council.
Read more:
Coast News Group - Divided council rejects rezoning
Eek. Then there is this from the UT:
Gaspar, reached Thursday, declined to say how she would have voted on the Pacific View rezone, but said she stood by her decision to recuse herself.
“I was not going to simply step in to cast a vote. I have to make sure there really is an independent proposal coming forward,” said Gaspar, a former board member on the Encinitas Education Foundation, a private, nonprofit that supports Encinitas Union.
It is one thing to say that you should not be allowed to pull the level and have your vote counted. It is another thing to decline to state how you would have voted (and why). This should be no surprise. Gaspar has a history of declining to state her views. Kinda makes it hard for public policy driven democracy to work.
Recommendation: Voters should back policy oriented candidates with the conviction to at least DISCUSS their positions.
Pretty hard on Gaspar. At least she didn't throw in the towel and vote with Stocks.
ReplyDeleteI think she has a brighter future in politics. Pretty, awesome body with enhancements, active, and a quick mind.
She will jump over the old special interest Stock and become the young "Price" County Super. From there to state and probably Fed office. I would vote for her in a second over carpetbagger wantabe north county (ha) resident Bilbray.
I can see it now. Jerome with a high heel mark on his back as she trumps him. It helps that Jerome is known to be in bed with the employees unions. Jerome is a known RINO.
I like Gaspar. Lets see what see does for Encinitas.
Kristin votes with Jerome WAAAAAY too much. Including the Sabine road report appeal fiasco and the ERGA ripoff of Encinitas Ranch homeowners (of which Gaspar is one herself). And she won't lift a finger to address pensions.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any evidence that Gaspar can think for herself at all, much less that she has a quick mind.
TOT,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about the other points made or about the rezone?
In what way is it hard, unfair, or unequal response to probe the apparent inconsistency? Do you not think it is inconsistent?
Gaspar has been involved for about a year. Other than the water status vote, what do you like about what Gaspar has done at city hall?
What do I like about her. Nothing really. Just her nice plastic assets. It is shallow SO CA we live in, right?
ReplyDeletePoliticians do not need a mind or integrity to be in office. This is proven time and time again. Look at Arnie, Bono, Bush, Clinton, Carter, Boxer, Reagan…. The list goes on….. they all do the same thing, grow government and increase our debt which weakens our country. We are now in massive Debt to the Chinese who took over this country without even firing a signal shot…. Our City is in massive DEBT to the Unions, thanks to Jerome Stock sell out move to increase all pensions including his own in 2005. The unions own our City, not the residents.
Gaspar is more of the same, but at least she’s nice to look at, Right?
This really says some stuff about Kristin Gaspar and her motives. I remember I have had some of the best times of my life in my Encinitas House and I really hope my kids will be able to say the same.
ReplyDeleteTired of Taxes,
ReplyDeletePlease note that the Chinese government holds less than 10% of our debt. The vast majority is held by Americans.
Just a friendly reminder.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get that bogus number some Associated Press article.
Does the USA held debt include the Trillions of Dollars the US FED printed to purchase US Treasuries?
The amount the USA devalues the US dollar is the amount the USA steals from every American with a Savings.
Please list your reference for the 10% number. I don't believe it.
The FEDs and Congress should be thrown in Guantanamo Bay detention camp for Treason.
ReplyDeleteGaspar is spineless. By refusing to vote for no good reason, she has failed to uphold her oath of office and is getting paid for doing nothing. There was no LEGITIMATE reason for her to claim a conflict of interest. She should be impeached.
ReplyDeleteToT,
ReplyDeleteRyan is right. Here's a chart.
China holds a little less than 10%. The Dirty Fed is the biggest holder by far, and you are correct that they printed the money out of thin air to buy all that debt in a complete farce of a circle jerk.
You are also correct that Fed money-printing is theft from savers -- and Fed zero-interest rates are theft from old people trying to live on a fixed income.
Nope.
ReplyDeleteEven by this graph which I doubt. The domestic investors is 3.2 Trillion and the foreign investors is 4.5 trillion.
Of the 4.5 trillion, China is the largest holder at 1.1 trillion. China owns this country already and its getting worse by the day.
Whats the source. If its the FEDs, it a lie. We all know the saying, figures don't lie, but lairs figure.
The date is set China will officially own and control everything in this country by 2025. And the baby boomers gave it all to the Chinese for cheap products. What sell out that generation has been.
ReplyDeleteI don't see a problem with abstaining from a vote when you can't come to a conclusion about a matter, and the rest of the council is not willing wait for the analysis and fact finding to continue (or start).
ReplyDeleteThat's doesn't look like what happened here.
Back to my question, was the justification(s) inconsistent with her other votes?
Gaspar should have schooled herself before the council meeting and been prepared to vote. The city has archives which are accessible she should have accessed the information needed to make a decision.
ReplyDeleteThere have been only two recent councilees that consistently prove to have done their homework. They are Stocks and Barth. The amount of time it takes to do a diligent job is enormous, especially with a staff that has trimmed their staff reports and do not provide good analysis of multiple alternatives.
ReplyDeleteThat means that for GAspar to be up to speed she would have to do MORE than just read the staff reports in the archives. Good council members must do more research than that, especially with some of the highly spun staff reports we've seen (remember: Mossey Nissan was turnkey!!!! A multi-million dollar error, with a process failure that remains to be addressed).
Worse, the city did away with the summary minutes so that is also a barrier.