Local Sea Life

Our beaches are an important resource for our quality of life, especially if your family life revolves around the beach. (I recently had a sand lobbyist suggest I go to the beach more often so I could see the sand levels for myself <- Bwahahaha!). Leucadia isn't exactly known for its tide pools and what we have for finger reefs are frequently covered in sand these days.

In search of tide pools we head south to Swamis.
Until the recent storms, the Swami's reef was completely covered in sand. Much of the shallow reef is still covered.
The campground reefs are covered too. I might add that the excess sand is not helping my favorite campy reef breaks one bit.
Frankie Hejduk chose a pro soccer career over a pro surfing career after his favorite reef break filled in with sand (M#$*s hasn't really broken since Hejduk started playing in the pros).

I can't remember so much of Cardiff Reef being covered, even though Georges and Seaside had high sand berms for people to hang out on back in the day. Was there really a greater volume of sand back then? Was the characteristics of the sand different than today?

I think we are fortunate that there are still some reefs that haven't been covered in fine sand.

Great family fun.

Our reefs bring people to the coast year-round.

Below are pictures of my family's second favorite beach. We recently spent three days at this secret spot. The abundance of cobbles did not create despair and disappointment for my children.

The Phantom Menace

Meesa Jar Jar Binks! Meesa cutta down all yoosa trees! Yoosa alls have krappy medeeans! Egads!

Tree Mostly Dead

In one of the best movie scenes of all time Miracle Max says, "There is a big difference between mostly dead and all dead." When I saw one of the tagged trees I instantly thought of that scene.

This tree is only mostly dead.


Trees are modular organisms and they generally don't get old in the same sense that animals get old. This tree doesn't have a preprogrammed physiological decline that is a function of age. The shedding of canopy is very likely a response to reduced water availability. Maybe the tree it is just thirsty and anything you replace it with is going to be thirsty too.

A few weeks ago I reviewed the arborists' reports and I have been waiting for to see the third arborist's reports. I think the city is making a wise move by hiring someone who doesn't also get paid to cut down the trees (for some reason the city didn't tell me about this third arborist). I only hope that this new opinion is based on a written, evidence based analysis of our trees.

There have been too many trees cut down unnecessarily. I don't think we need a miracle to save this tree.

Many center median trees marked for removal

This center median is between Jupiter and Jason streets. Most of the small trees in this median are marked for removal. There are other very large old growth trees in the other medians that are marked for removal that I will post about soon. North Leucadia continues to lose tree after tree...

Leucadia's classic tree canopy sure ain't what it used to be.

How is the quality of our "urban tree forest" these days? What kind of tree will be planted? Will be it planted in the same spot or in say, Village Park?

Sure, this small eucalyptus tree leans a bit and needs a branch or two pruned but do we really need to chop it down?
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A bit sappy. What does it mean doctor?

Removing these small trees will make this sad center median even bleaker.

The Torrey Pine is healthy and good looking.

Free condoms!

If the Eucs are dead then why are they flowering?

I have never had a satisfactory answer from anyone in the city of Encinitas about why the coast highway center medians in downtown Leucadia look like this, while work crews busily maintain center medians all over the rest of the city. Shameful.

Needs a trim for sure, but should it be cut down?

Looking north.

Mayor Maggie tricked into supporting fake environmentalism

You know our mayor Maggie Houlihan right? She's the "wacky" environmentalist that the Encinitas Elite hates. Ever since the Encinitas Elite took over in the 1980's they've loathed the whole enviro-vibe that has been in Encinitas since the 1960's. They've tried hard to beat it down many times, but the environmental wackjobs just keep coming back. They've tried to unseat Maggie's spot on the council with some pretty extreme measures but she always records large totals of votes. The Encinitas Elite are smart and they now know that they can't get rid of Maggie so they have to try and play her game. I have to admire their latest twisted plan of selling fake environmentalism to Maggie and the local media.

As you know the press has been eating up the enviro angle of a major developer "gifting" his construction dirt to us and dumping on what was until recently, a pristine beach in north Leucadia.



Relabeled "sand", 37,000 cubic tons of construction dirt is being hauled by numerous large semi-trucks that roar up and down the beach at lowtide, completely mauling the habitat there. Mayor Maggie gushed in joy, "This is a perfect example of public and private partnership," said Houlihan. "John could have sold the sand to a concrete plant, but instead we are reusing and recycling it to benefit beachgoers."

Mayor Maggie even described developer DeWald as a "maverick". source: NCT.com

Maverick is an appropriate term because this project is the type of thing that passed for environmentalism during the Bush/Cheney regime.

There is also a super funny quote in the same article from County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price,

"It's amazing how complicated it can be to put nature back after man puts it asunder," Slater-Price said.

What the hell does that even mean?

Burning Questions:

*Developer DeWald is being reimbursed $135,000 from a SANDAG fund for the cost of trucking his "gift" to the beach. How much would have the cement plant have paid him for the dirt? Construction dirt is a real burden on developers, I think we just did this guy the biggest favor ever.

*We are treated to photo after photo of these trucks smashing through saltwater. Uh, does the owner of these trucks know that his trucks are being destroyed? And, how much grease and crap is getting cleaned off the trucks and going into the ocean? That's environmentalism we can believe in!

*If this construction dirt is such high quality beach sand then why is it getting hauled all the way to north Leucadia when Moonlight Beach is a mere 2 blocks away?

Eroding Sandstone bluffs contribute to sandy beaches but they are jut one small component of what makes high quality beach sand. Now, this once pristine beach in north Leucadia is being covered in a mix of sandstone and regular old dirt (and who knows what else) from a construction site in downtown Encinitas.

The local press bought professional sand tax lobbyist Steve Aceti's song and dance about this beach being completely overrun by cobblestone (example: KPBS Ed Joyce says "part of a plan to drop 37,000 cubic yards of sand on a stretch of shoreline where existing sand is giving way to cobblestones". but as we see from this photo there is only a small ribbon of cobbles. A closer look reveals that there are cobblestones in the actual strata of the sandstone bluffs. That is because cobblestones are part of the natural beach environment and not invaders from Mars.

Steve Aceti and his pet rock. This classic photo appeared in the LA Times.

SEE PREVIOUS POST ON THIS TOPIC: CLICK HERE

Meet Encinitas city council memberTeresa Barth Sat Jan 10

Encinitas seeks comments on goals



ENCINITAS — Encinitas City Councilwoman Teresa Barth is inviting the public to attend a Community Coffee on Saturday to discuss goals and priorities for the city.

It will be from noon to 2 p.m. in the community room of the Cardiff Library, 2081 Newcastle Ave.

“I want to hear your thoughts and ideas about city issues, including growth and development, the General Plan update, energy efficiency, economic challenges, future city goals or any other issues that are important to you,” Barth said.

Barth said she wants to hear ideas from the public before the City Council's goal-setting workshops scheduled for Jan. 20 and 27.

Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Cardiff Library.

AND, are you a civic nerd? Want to be on one of the various advisory boards and commissions? Then read this:

Encinitas' boards need residents

ENCINITAS — The city of Encinitas is seeking residents to fill vacancies on advisory boards and commissions.

Applications are due at 6 p.m. Jan. 26.

To be eligible, applicants must be registered voters in Encinitas.

Those who apply will be asked to meet with the City Council at a Feb. 11 meeting to discuss their qualifications before the council votes on appointments.

City Clerk Deborah Cervone is accepting applications for three slots on the Commission for the Arts, one slot on the Environmental Commission, three slots on the Parks and Recreation Commission, two slots on the Planning Commission, three slots on the Senior Citizen Commission and two slots on the Traffic Commission representing Cardiff or Olivenhain. Each position has a two-year term that will begin in March.

Application forms may be obtained at the city clerk's office in the Civic Center, 505 S. Vulcan Ave., or via e-mail at dcervone@ci.encinitas.ca.us

Sandy Beach "Replenished" with Developer's Construction Dirt

I'm pretty sure that saltwater is really good for semi-trucks.

SignOnSanDiego.com story: Encinitas begins beach replenishment with construction-site sand

by Tanya Mannes ENCINITAS January 8, 2009 — Trucks began carrying loads of high-quality sand Thursday from a construction project in downtown Encinitas to one of the city's narrow beaches in the first sand replenishment project of its kind in the county since 1995.

"High-quality sand"? It's construction dirt. Here is a photo of the "narrow" beach the day taken on Wednesday Jan 7 2009,


The sand was reclaimed from a construction site where bulldozers are digging an underground garage for Pacific Station, a $40 million residential and commercial project.

The development at 687 S. Coast Highway 101 will include 47 condominiums, a Whole Foods Market, restaurants, shops and offices.


The trucks are using Ponto Beach in south Carlsbad to access the northern beaches of Encinitas. The loads of sand are being dumped in the tide, in a process that will take four weeks to complete.

Four weeks?!? You mean we get to surf in silty crappy water for a month while this goes on and then who knows how long for the water to clear up?


Pacific Station developer John DeWald could have sold the sand to a cement plant. But at the suggestion of California Coastal Coalition executive director Steve Aceti, DeWald agreed to give the 37,000 cubic yards of sand to the city.

Gee, thanks Steve Aceti! Thanks for the 37,000 cubic yards of dirt. You are a real power broker. Dear Mr. DeWald, please take your gift back and sell it to the cement plant.

At a ceremony Thursday, Encinitas Mayor Maggie Houlihan thanked DeWald, saying the donation offsets nearly a year of beach erosion.

“It's a great example of a public-private partnership and it's benefiting one of the most seriously eroded beaches,” Houlihan said. “We had an opportunity and a lot of folks worked together to make this happen.”

Wait, was this ceremony held at the beach? Did Mayor Maggie see that the beach is sandy? Did you she just call this beach "seriously eroded"?



In many areas of developed coastline, beaches shrink over time because seawalls, jetties, railroads and other manmade devices prevent the onshore movement of sand. Some coastal cities, including Encinitas, must buy sand.

Encinitas buys sand for the small tourist section of Moonlight Beach only.

Using sand excavated from a construction site is rare, mostly because of the strict regulations over sand replenishment. It took nine months for the Encinitas coastal program manager, Katherine Weldon, to obtain permits for the project from eight regulatory agencies and the city of Carlsbad.

Yeah, it's rare because it's not beach sand, it's crappy ass construction dirt. Why do you think they are dumping it miles away in north Leucadia where nobody goes, instead of dumping it at Moonlight Beach which is only 3 blocks away from the construction site?

“I think it's a great statement about all these agencies that they were able to cooperate and make this happen,” DeWald said.

The project represents a way for cities to fast-track sand donations from construction sites.

To avoid costly delays that could discourage future developers from donating sand, Encinitas has applied to the California Coastal Commission for a speedy-approval process.

Oh god no. Just imagine if this fast tracking had happened during the housing boom, we would have had every nutjob developer in the county dumping all kinds of crazy varieties of dirt and material on our beaches. Does this mean that our pristine and valuable beaches are now nothing more than dumping grounds for construction sites?

Under the proposal, Encinitas would designate two sites as sand-receivers: Batiquitos and Moonlight beaches. There would be rules – preapproved by all the regulatory agencies – about the kind of sand that could be used and what time of year it could be placed on the beaches. That would make it easier and faster to determine if excavated sand was suitable.

Leucadia beaches are so severely eroded and covered with cobblestones that you would not even be able to drive your SUV onto them...whoops!

Carlsbad was the first city in the county to obtain fast-track approval in 2006, but the city hasn't yet found a sand-generating project that fits the bill. Solana Beach and Oceanside received approval for their fast-track programs in November, and Coronado and Imperial Beach are working on proposals.


Shelby Tucker, an environmental planner with the San Diego Association of Governments, has been assisting cities with their applications and working on a similar regional program.

“We're trying to expedite the process, to make it more simple so that when sand becomes available you can place it somewhere,” Tucker said. “You don't want good sand to get thrown away if it's possible to put it on the beach.”

Talk a walk down the sandy beach to see the beach replenishment in action.

The last construction project in the San Diego region that provided beach sand was in Solana Beach, said Lee McEachern, the Coastal Commission's regulatory supervisor for the San Diego region. The 1995 project produced 230,000 cubic yards of sand from a 1.4-mile-long trench that North County Transit District dug for its railroad tracks through the city.

DeWald is spending $133,000 to transport the sand. The Encinitas City Council approved his request to be reimbursed from a sand-replenishment fund that SANDAG manages from fees imposed on bluff-top homeowners building seawalls.

So, DeWald is getting reimbursed for his "gift" of dirt/sand that he needed to haul out of there anyway. How much would the cement plant have given him?

You can't make this stuff up folks. Dirt is now sand. Oh, and nice puff piece there San Diego Union Tribune. You couldn't have written a better press release if the city paid you.

Leucadia Artist featured at O'side Museum of Art

Leucadia artist Mary Fleener, Scott Saw and Scrojo will be featured at the Oceanside Museum of Art this month.

LOWBROWart: Nine San Diego Pop Surrealists January 25 – May 24, 2009

With origins in pop culture, comics and hot rod street culture, Lowbrow Art reaches beyond the conventional art world to include a visual feast of pop surrealism created by the finest alternative culture artists from the San Diego region.

Guest curators: Jerry Waddle and Michael C. Gross.

Admission to the opening reception is $10 bucks (cheap!)

February 26, 7-9pm: Gallery Walk and Talk with Jerry Waddle and Michael C. Gross

My Letter to the Coast News

Did you see my letter in the Coast News during Christmas week? If not, here it is:

Leucadia was founded in 1870 but it has been viewed as the red headed stepchild of Encinitas since incorporation in 1986. Leucadia has a neglected and unsustainable infrastructure. The highway is in horrible condition. The Leucadia Blvd/101 intersection is dangerous and dysfunctional. The once impressive tree canopy has been hacked by the careless and destroyed by the heartless. Our sidewalks are incomplete, we have no streetlamps and our center medians are weedy and void of the flowers that once bloomed. This is a fragile time in Leucadia's history, that is why we must come together as a community and support the Streetscape project.

Three years ago there was push to declare Leucadia "blighted" and form a Redevelopment Agency that would have drastically altered Leucadia and swept away private properties under eminent domain. Leucadians fought the RDA and won. The natural solution to our rough edges was not redevelopment, but a downtown main street program. A decade since the general specific plan was written, Leucadia is on the cusp of receiving the investment it needs to survive into the 21st Century.

There is opposition, Leucadians fear change and some of the Streetscape concepts are new and bold. Roundabouts and a reconfiguration of the northbound lanes seem wild and out of the box. But, roundabouts may be a clever solution a dangerous strip of highway that routinely takes lives, and a single northbound lane allows for the replanting of 1000 new canopy trees.

I predict the movement to halt the Streetscape will only lead to another, and this time unstoppable Redevelopment Agency. As a community we can hammer out the details, but to kill the Streetscape project entirely would be reckless.

J.P. St. Pierre
Age 38, born and raised in Leucadia.

Crossing the coast highway at Leucadia Blvd in 2007.

RIP Tommy Lewis

Cardiff-by-the-sea's Tommy Lewis surfing in Puerto Rico from SURFER magazine center spread mid 70s.

"Tommy was a salty dog. A true old school California surfer. He was a fisherman, a shaper, a crusty lovable old surf dog. His dad was the legendary Stan Lewis, who was cut from the cloth of Hemingway -- a real character.

Like many of us, Tommy was not without his issues, perhaps passed along from his father, who was often seen heading out to see with a bottle of Jack in one hand. In the past few years Tommy really got his act together -- and it showed in the water!

Tommy was a friggin' red hot surfer. Super smooth stylings and he drew a clean line, a prerequisite for So. Cal. surfers from the 60's and 70s. Tommy had a badass, without-a-hitch switchstance roundhouse cutback, and the timing and wave knowledge that only can come from decades of being on the water.

In the 70s, he won the legendary Stone Steps contest, and it took him days to get the heavy toilet bowl with Buddha statues trophy up the steps!

Four months ago I had the honor of judging the final heat at the MSA event in perfect 3-5' foot First Point. Against Malibu legends such as LJ Richards; Tommy took home the first place trophy.

Many will honor Tommy with a memorial paddle out and I'll try to keep everyone informed when I find out more."

--Scott Bass

Leucadia Shores

LeucadiaShores.com
Watch the video.

2009 Begins

Leucadia Dance Party

Happy New Year Leucadians!