Keep Leucadia Trashy

The following was sent to JP a couple days ago.

At the Encinitas City Council meeting on 6/27/07 the Parks & Rec staff acknowledged that on busy weekends, holiday weekends and summer days the trash cans at our beaches are overflowing. Go to Moonlight Beach on a Sunday morning and the trash is oozing all over and the seagulls are picking through it, spreading it even further afield. It has been like this for years. Here is a photo from 2002. Not July 4th weekend, but June 16th 2002.
Here are recommendations in the 2002 Blue Ribbon Environment Committee report: “Increase the number of trashcans and/or frequency of collection at Moonlight Beach. During peak use periods the trashcans are filled to overflowing. Currently these overflowing trashcans are left overnight, resulting in the scattering of litter by seagulls and other wildlife before the trash is collected in the morning. A final, late day trash collection should be instituted, rather than, or in addition to, the current early morning trash collection… In addition, the number of trash cans could be increased during peak use periods and reduced during low use periods.” And there is an entire recommendation on Public Recycling that includes suggestions for the beaches. Okay, so they did start recycling at Moonlight Beach and other parks – it is those blue metal trash cans with a dinky recycling section on top.

They look like this:
I wonder if people are even aware that is for recycling –the signage is awful. People are generally lazy about recycling, so we need to encourage people and have good signage and a lot of obvious bins. And the capacity is very small - any volume of people and those things are overflowing.

So here we are in 2007 (that is FIVE years later) and the Parks and Rec folks propose to try and reduce the trash from 4th of July holiday beachgoers. They have some signs and two kinds of plastic bags – one for trash and one for recycling. The idea as far as I understand it is that people take bags when they arrive, fill them up while they are there, and when they leave deposit them into trash cans or recycling receptacles (are there any besides those little top sections on the blue metal cans?...because a bag certainly won’t fit in there). If cans are full, which of course they will be, people should deposit their bags on the ground next to the cans. Well, yes that is better than just trash and recycling items placed directly on the ground, but how about this for an idea? INCREASE the NUMBER of trash cans and put out some DECENT SIZED recycling receptacles, and INCREASE THE FREQUENCY of pickups during busy periods.

A visit to Moonlight Beach this morning shows that there are FOUR blue metal trash cans with recycling on top for the whole beach area (2 of these are against the food kiosk and one is at the volleyball courts, that leaves ONE for the entire sandy beach area!). There are quite a few other just trash cans at the beach. There are also 3 of these trash/recycling cans around the playground and two in the lawn area going east from the playground).

Yes, I know it would cost more to provide more trash and recycling receptacles and to increase the frequency of pick-ups – but don’t you think keeping our beaches clean and keeping trash out of the ocean is worth it? Encinitas is all about the beaches and the ocean - it is our jewel. When pressed at the City Council meeting by Houlihan and Barth about expanding the proposed July 4th plastic bag recycling program to other beaches (like Beacons, which often has overflowing trash cans) and to other times of year, Parks and Rec said that, well, “We’ll play it by ear and see how it goes.” What is there to figure out? Isn’t keeping trash off the beach and out of the ocean a no brainer? Isn’t increasing recycling and reducing our waste a no brainer? I just don’t get it.


Some recycling receptacles are not that expensive.
How about this? The City could even sell advertising on them and MAKE money.

Jesse Giessow

Art Training Ground

Third grader Jake McConlogue understands Leucadia. That is his work above. Check out the kid in the illustration. He has a huge smile and is knee deep in the Pacific. He knows where to be. Jake, who is a generation away from driving, already understands the central impacting geographic features of Leucadia are the transportation corridors. The 101, the railroad and Interstate 5, parallel the Pacific.

Here is one from Jim McConlogue. He gets it too.

Western Encinitas, and especially Leucadia, is flooded with artists. Why is that?

Killing 2 birds with 3 stones

Encinitas approves $10,425 for survey; Questionnaire will not include question about beach smoking ban

By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer

ENCINITAS -- The City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday to spend $10,425 for a community opinion survey amid calls from speakers that the survey include a query about a beach smoking ban.

Councilwomen Teresa Barth and Maggie Houlihan sided with representatives from the American Lung Association, Surfrider Foundation, and anti-drug groups in asking that the survey quiz respondents on whether smoking should be banned at Encinitas beaches.

Mayor James Bond and Councilmen Dan Dalager and Jerome Stocks voted to leave the 31-question survey as an Oregon-based firm, Moore Information Inc., had prepared it ---- without the question on a beach smoking ban.

The same council bloc in 2004 voted down a smoking ban proposal. Stocks is pushing to put a beach smoking ban measure on the 2008 ballot.

"The topic on hand is not smoking on the beach," Stocks said. "The topic before us is are we going to do a citizen satisfaction survey which measures how people like or dislike the services or amenities the city provides. I will never vote to have a survey that takes a pulse of the public on pet political projects and issues."


The yuppie orphans who hang out at Moonlight Beach and enjoy smoking will not be happy with a smoking ban.

In 2003, neighboring Solana Beach enacted a beach smoking ban, and since then, all cities on the north coast, with the exception of Encinitas, have adopted similar bans. Smokers also can legally light up at state-controlled beaches in Carlsbad. The county of San Diego prohibits smoking in its parks.

Barth, who served on a subcommittee with Stocks to develop the survey, said that posing the smoking question would be well worth adding an additional $225 to its cost.

"I see it not as a political issue but rather as a quality-of-life issue," she said. "Our primary, top recreational activity in our community is our beaches and I want to know how our citizens feel about that."

Debra Kelley of the local chapter of the American Lung Association told the council that her organization would pay the $225 to add the question.

She noted that Oceanside, one of 13 jurisdictions in the county to enact smoking bans, consulted with constituents by placing a survey question on their water bills.

Dalager told his colleagues he did not want the survey to become an opinion poll.

Bond said that most of the state's shoreline -- including many Encinitas beaches -- is under state control and that the Legislature should be responsible for enacting a smoking ban.

A healthy lifestyle means smoking and diet Pepsi.

In 2005, an Encinitas survey by the same company revealed overall satisfaction with city services but room for improvement with road conditions and information delivery to the public.

Moore Information randomly polled 300 residents who said they were 18 or older. The survey's sampling error was plus or minus 6 percent.

A majority of respondents said the beaches and the weather were what they liked best about living in the city.

-- Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 901-4074 or akaye@nctimes.com.

Leucadia Blog: Burning Questions about the Beach Smoking Ban

Leucadia Blog: The Surveys Usefulness is Dubious

*note-The subjects in the photos all pitched their cigarette butts on the pavement and not the proper receptacles.

New Farmer's Market Signage

Morgan Mallory did not give up his cause and now we have several signs around town telling people about our growing Farmer's Market.

Every Sunday
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Paul Ecke Central School
(Corner of Vulcan and Union Streets)

I believe that our Farmer's Market is certified organic.

Encinitas, Too Cool for the Cool?

Voice of San Diego story about Encinitas artist making our town groovy for yuppies and then getting driven out by high rents. There is no mention of the 80k a year Arts Director.

Encinitas, Too Cool for the Cool
By SUSAN GRANT Voice Staff Writer

Monday, June 25, 2007 | Downtown Encinitas can’t be accused of lacking creative flavor. From the mosaic tile trash cans lining the streets to the gold-and-blue domed Self-Realization Fellowship Temple that twinkles with thousands of lights during the winter holidays, the town is filled with color and flair.

"There’s an artist of some kind behind every other door around here," said Barbara Milé, an Encinitas native and former city art commissioner.

The revitalization of the downtown area over the last decade has brought business and tourism to the area. Boutique clothing shops, gardening supply stores and hair salons now fill the city’s downtown area.

However, that boom has also raised rent to the point that the community artists are having a hard time affording gallery space in the very area they helped define. "It works against us in a way because when the town is revitalized, the rent goes up," said local artist Donna Butnik.

Aesthetic and structural improvements made to the downtown area of old Encinitas are part of a revitalization program run by the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association. More than $23 million went toward the development of new shopping centers, streetscape renovations and art-specific programs such as the Arts Alive street banners. In 2004, DEMA received a Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The association was praised for having "successfully harnessed the community’s artistic spirit to develop an arts niche."

Since 1997, the rate for a commercial space in the popular shopping center The Lumberyard has doubled from $1.50 a square foot to about $3.

Read the whole article here.


Encinitas Commission for the Arts


Encinitas artist are being outsourced to slave children in China who can produce art much cheaper and faster.

Partly Cloudy Traffic Forecast

The traffic report presented to the city council this week gave a partly cloudy forecast for Encinitas traffic. The forecast was based on very optimistic projections for I5 traffic flow in 2030. The city's consultant, who worked very closely with city staff, said that a lot of the city's traffic problems would be alleviated once "freeway avoidance" traffic (a.k.a cut-through) got back on the freeway and off our streets. They said that was going to happen by 2030 because the I5 expansion will be complete by then.

Turns out that there might not be any sun in our forecast. Two days after the city's administration tried to slide the traffic report past the public the North County Times reported on a study that SANDAG just released. From that article,

"On the coast, solo commute times would improve [in 2030]. The trip from Oceanside to downtown San Diego would shrink slightly, from 76 minutes to 70.

As for car-pool trips down I-5, those would improve significantly, from the current average of 69 minutes to 48 minutes, the plan states. The typical transit trip would go from 93 minutes to 77."

SANDAG'S 2030 Level of Service Projection

Folks, if San Diego's population continues to boom cut-through traffic is not going to vanish in our lifetime. Jerome Stocks must have know that there was an inconsistency between the city's traffic report and SANDAG's study. Stocks is on the council traffic study subcommittee and he sits on SANDAG.

Leucadia Blog: Traffic Discussions

Rezones and Traffic Discussions this week at City Hall

The Planning Commission is meeting Thursday evening, June 21 to discuss several rezones that may interest you. Read the NCT.com story for full details:
Encinitas plan amendments would change law of land

And, tonight at the city council meeting there will be a discussion about our new, frustrating gridlock we are experiencing. We've had hints of this gridlock coming for the last five years but it is now finally becoming an all day/everyday event. Many of you readers warned about this gridlock for years and years but were brushed off as paranoid chicken littles by the powers that be.

The Leucadia 101 Mainstreet Association will be making a plea to the city council tonight to please do something about the increasingly dangerous and dysfunctional Leucadia coast highway corridor, aka The Gauntlet.

NBCsandiego.com story (with video) about traffic and the city council meeting story video


2005 photo of southbound morning traffic gridlocked all the way past Grandview St on the Leucadia coast highway.

Leucadia Blog: Six roundabouts are proposed on Rancho Santa Fe Road

Six roundabouts are proposed on Rancho Santa Fe Road

ENCINITAS -- A traffic plan headed to the City Council on Wednesday proposes stoplights, signals and roundabouts to relieve the congestion that clogs Rancho Santa Fe Road every work day.

"I've been a longtime proponent of getting Rancho Santa Fe Road fixed," Mayor James Bond said Monday. "It's broken right now."

The traffic study examines Rancho Santa Fe Road in the Olivenhain community and several other thoroughfares.

The study concludes that most roads can meet the demands future development will place upon them through 2030.

In addition to fixes for Rancho Santa Fe Road, the traffic plan calls for widening segments of Encinitas Boulevard. Freeway ramps also would require upgrades.

No action is scheduled for the meeting that will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at 505 S. Vulcan Ave.

Read the rest of Adam Kaye's NCT.com story:

Traffic plan heads to Encinitas council

In addition to Rancho Santa Fe Road, the city is considering roundabout controls at freeway interchanges, the report states.

Some of the city's busiest roads should be widened, the report states. The roads include:

# El Camino Real, six lanes from Encinitas Boulevard to Manchester Avenue.

# Manchester Avenue, six lanes from El Camino Real to Interstate 5.

# Encinitas Boulevard, eight lanes from Interstate 5 to Saxony Road.

# Encinitas Boulevard, six lanes from Saxony Road to Balour Drive.

# Encinitas Boulevard, six lanes from Via Cantebria to El Camino Real.

# Encinitas Boulevard, six lanes from El Camino Real to Village Square.

# Olivenhain Road, six lanes from El Camino Real to Amargosa Street.

# Olivenhain Road, six lanes from Amargosa to Rancho Santa Fe Road.

# La Costa Avenue, four lanes from Interstate 5 to North Coast Highway 101.

The city in 2003 commissioned Santa Ana-based Austin-Fourst Associates Inc. to prepare the study. Many of the traffic counts it contains were taken that year. To date, the city has paid $132,154 for the document.

Does this city have roundabout fever or what?

Rods & Woodies begins this week

click poster for large view

Psycho Dolphin Killers on the Loose

SDUT story

Clues sought to shooting deaths of four dolphins

By Terry Rodgers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

10:47 a.m. June 15, 2007

OCEANSIDE – Someone shot and killed four dolphins off the North County coast, and federal authorities are offering a $2,500 reward for any information about who did it.

The bodies of four long-beaked common dolphins were discovered between May 29 and June 5 at various locations between Carlsbad state Beach and Oceanside Harbor.

The dolphins appeared to have been dead for no more than a week. A fifth dolphin carcass was also found but authorities don't know how it died.

Their carcasses were taken to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration facility in La Jolla for analysis.

Intentional killings of dolphins are rare along U.S. coastlines, said Mark Oswell, an enforcement agent for the National Marine Fisheries Service

“We get about one report per year of this type of incident for the entire country,” he said. “To have five dolphins turn up dead like this in a short time span is pretty unusual.”

Fisheries investigators ask anyone with information about the shootings to call (619) 557-5494 or (800) 853-1964.

Intentionally killing a dolphin can result in a fine of as much as $20,000 and possible jail time.

This is an extremely disturbing story. My guess is redneck fisherman who didn't like competing with dolphins for yellowtail tuna.

Waste Land

A certain segment of visitors to this blog are under the mistaken belief that the motto Keep Leucadia Funky means Keep Leucadia Junky. This is so off the mark that it is laughable. What the anti-Leucadia crowd doesn't understand is that you could sink $100 million dollars into Leucadia and it won't matter as long as the NCTD continues it's scorched earth policy.

NCTD's contribution to Leucadia is dust, weeds, noise and ugly orange sandbags.

Leucadia Blog: Orange Sandbags? Gee, thanks.

Leucadia Blog: Coastal Leucadia, their Highway or our Mainstreet?

Leucadia Blog: what folly!!

Fuel spill clean-up costly

Fuel soaks the sand at Beacon's Beach, Leucadia

Fuel spill clean-up costlier than original estimates

By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer

ENCINITAS -- The fuel spill that fouled the ocean near Encinitas in late May cost about $80,000 to clean up, $20,000 more than originally estimated, a U.S. Coast Guard official said Monday.

Lt. j.g. Lis Bosma said the cause of the 500- to 1,000-gallon spill -- the worst off the city's shoreline in 30 years -- remains under investigation.

The Coast Guard's laboratory in Groton, Conn., is continuing to analyze fuel samples taken from the water and from four vessels that were in the area between midnight May 29 and 11 a.m. May 31, when the spill occurred.

Bosma said she expects to see lab results by the end of the week.

On Wednesday, Encinitas Fire Department Chief Mark Muir is scheduled to report on emergency crews' response to the incident, which closed two miles of coastal waters from Grandview to D streets for nearly three days.

Local, state and federal authorities and a private contractor took part in the clean-up and investigation.

Bosma said the quantity of discharged fuel suggests that it came from a large vessel.

Environmental damage from the discharge, however, appears to be minimal, authorities said.

"I was expecting to find bird carcasses washing ashore several days later and nothing unusual washed up," said Robin Lewis, senior environmental specialist for the state Department of Fish and Game.

The fuel left an iridescent sheen on the ocean's surface before crews used absorbent pads to mop it up.

The fuel could have caused chemical burning of surface-level kelp, but Lewis said he could not confirm whether that had happened.

"The good thing is it wouldn't have killed the plant, which under ideal conditions will grow up to a meter a day," he said.

read the rest of the NCT.com story: Fuel spill clean-up costlier than original estimates

Questions:

Are the Grunion eggs in the sand still alive?


The spill occurred a week after we had a major Grunion run in Leucadia.

Are the sandcrabs still alive?

Has anyone seen the Osprey that normally hunts for Corbina in Leucadia lately?

The surface of the kelp is home to small fish and other creatures, were they affected by the spill?



The spill was corralled into the kelp beds. My gut instinct was too keep the spill away from the kelp beds.

San Diego Reader features this funky Leucadia blog this week

Check it out friends and amigos, the San Diego Reader has featured this blog in their Blog Diego section. Stoked! For those of you too lazy to pick up the free weekly Reader check out the link to their website and the Blog Diego column.

Just more proof that this blog is the best blog about Leucadia on the internets.

Check out the other blogs previously featured in the Blog Diego archives.

The Reader is worth reading for Dan Bauder alone. I do miss Duncan Shepard's movie reviews but I've been a fan of the replacement, the Onion A.V. Club reviews for a longtime.

Thanks San Diego Reader!

400,000, or 31 percent, of local jobs have the potential to be moved overseas

Sunday's San Diego Union Tribune had a front page story that reports nearly 400,000, or 31 percent, of local jobs have the potential to be moved overseas during the next two decades.

Nationally it is estimated that 37.7 million jobs, or 29 percent of the current U.S. work force, could be outsourced to other countries within the next 10 to 20 years.

read the story online

and

Offshoreability of San Diego jobs

It will be interesting to see what happens to the San Diego middle class (and home prices) over the next 20 years.

Local Flower Farms Wilting

Subdivision proposed on family farm

By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer

ENCINITAS ---- A proposal to build 69 homes on Saxony Road could close another chapter of the agricultural storybook in a city once known as the "Flower Capital of the World."

And if the Bahlmann family and their developer get their way, the subdivision would take advantage of state-sanctioned incentives to build more homes than local laws allow.

The late Gaylord Bahlmann, a San Dieguito High School graduate and World War II veteran, opened greenhouses on Saxony Road in 1958. His family's home continues to occupy high ground on the 21.7-acre farm.

Bahlmann left behind four children when he died on Thanksgiving Day 2003.

His only son, Bryan Bahlmann, said last week that estate taxes, labor, pesticide laws and overseas competition have made it "just too difficult" for him and his three sisters to keep the farm.

"It's a matter of what a lot of farms go through when the main person passes away," the Valley Center graphic designer and entrepreneur said last week. "It gets to the point where farming is really difficult."

The Bahlmanns will retain ownership and control of the land, but they've hired David C. Meyer to be a consultant during the subdivision and construction process.

read the rest of the article: Subdivision proposed on family farm

Encinitas considering increasing trash collection rates

Encinitas considering increasing trash collection rates

By: North County Times

ENCINITAS ---- The Encinitas City Council will consider increasing trash collection rates at its Wednesday meeting.

If approved, monthly trash bills for most residential customers would increase by 72 cents, from $17.12 to $17.84, a 4.2 percent increase.

EDCO Waste and Recycling Services provides trash collection services to Encinitas. A city report published this week cites increased landfill disposal fees and cost of living increases for the proposed rate hikes.

To comply with state laws, the city in April mailed notices to 22,017 property owners informing them of the pending increase and their right to protest it.

A majority of property owners could halt the increase by writing letters of protest, but as of June 4, only five had been submitted, a staffer from the city clerk's office said Friday.

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday at 505 S. Vulcan Ave.

Destruct-o

The 101 Artist Colony compound was torn by bulldozers yesterday.

Leucadia Blog: Changes

Dalager Closing Family Tool Shop to Hunt Squirrels (?)

I was sad to learn that former mayor and current city councilman Dan Dalager was closing his longstanding family tool sharpening business on 2nd St in downtown Encinitas.

After 47 years, Dalagers closing June 15; City councilman's store a hub of chit-chat

I've taken some shots at Dalager on this blog in the last year. I started out as a Dan Dalager fan but grew frustrated with him over the last couple of years. I thought one of his redeeming values was his local roots as a small business owner.

Although I found it odd that Dalager never figured out how to sharpen surfboard planer blades despite the numerous surfboard shapers who live in Encinitas I've always liked the business and the little square green building and the faded lawnmower man mural.

This line in the above linked NCT.com story stood out, Dalager said he had not decided what he will do for work, but planned to take a few weeks off to hunt squirrels.

Who hunts squirrels? Squirrels will come up to you if you have food in your hand.



Leucadia Blog: Hobbyist, Democracy and Integrity Frustrate Local Tool Sharpener

Leucadia Blog: Dan Dalager Constructs New Hall Park Statue

Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively?

This was posted in the comments section. It's classic:

As a native Californian and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue Service, I am blogging to ask for your assistance. I have contacted the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to your blog.

My primary reason for wishing to change my status from U.S. Citizen to illegal alien stems from the bill which was recently passed from committee to the full Senate and for which your readers are supporting. If my understanding of this bill's provisions is accurate, as an illegal alien who has been in the United States for five years, all I need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes for three of the last five years.

I know a good deal when I see one and I am anxious to get the process started before everyone figures it out. Simply put, those of us who have been here legally have had to pay taxes every year so I'm excited about the prospect of avoiding two years of taxes in return for paying a $2,000 fine. Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively? This would yield an excellent result for me and my family because we paid heavy taxes in 2004 and 2005.

Additionally, as an illegal alien I could begin using the Scripps emergency room as my primary health care provider. Once I have stopped paying premiums for medical insurance, my accountant figures I could save almost $10,000 a year.

Another benefit in gaining illegal status would be that my daughter would receive preferential treatment relative to her law school applications, as well as "in-state" tuition rates for many colleges throughout the United States for my son.

Lastly, I understand that illegal status would relieve me of the burden of renewing my driver's license and making those burdensome car insurance premiums. This is very important to me given that I still have college age children driving my car.

If you would provide me with an outline of the process to become illegal (retroactively if possible) and copies of the necessary forms, I would be most appreciative. Thank you all for your assistance.

LA Times: Immigration bill's key compromise under siege

Contact Senator Feinstein and staff via John&Ken show



Overpopulation

Coast Hwy Billboard Hack

This billboard vandalism makes me wonder if we really need billboards on the coast highway, especially over small mom&pop business.

See also: Leucadia Blog: Invasion of the canopy snatchers....

and,
Leucadia Blog: Welcome to Leucadia

Beach Fuel Spill Part III

This photo is from today's SDUT website. I wish the photo was bigger but it is a good view of the Beacon's kelp beds. You can see the Coast Guard corralling the fuel in kelp bed on the left and if you look closely you can see the slick covering the kelp bed on the right.

The media and the powers that be are claiming this spill did not harm the kelp or the beach but I find that highly doubtful.


Burning question: Did the recently laid Grunion eggs survive the diesel fuel soaking? What effect will the fuel soaked sand have on shore birds that feed on invertebrates in the tide line?


Leucadia Blog: Beach Fuel Spill Part II

Leucadia Blog: Breaking News: Mysterious Fuel Spill at Beacon's Beach

Beach Fuel Spill Part II

Not sewage, petroleum.


Friday morning: Lifeguard trucks patrol the beach. If you look carefully you can see clumps of fuel in the surf zone. It's hard to tell in the photos but obvious in person.


Friday evening: clumps of dead kelp are starting to show up on the beach. The smell of diesel isn't as bad as it was 24 hrs ago, but it's still strong enough to make me wonder how that group of people in the chairs can stand it.


Encinitas fire department, a photo journalist and Kahuna Bob suss it out.

Here is a list of news stories about the spill click here.

For some strange reason some of the local television news stations are reporting that the fuel has not reached the beach, but as you can see from the photos I took last night it clearly has.

This story should not be downplayed, the Beacon's Beach kelp beds which have made a huge comeback from ZERO kelp in 2006 to several large kelp patties and now sitting in the muck. I can only imagine what effect this spill is having on the young fish that live in the kelp. The kelp beds are a nursery for all kinds of sea life. I wonder how the kelp itself is being affected.

I assume that all the Grunion eggs layed on the beach during the last couple of weeks are dead.

The Switchfoot Bro-Am surf contest has been canceled but the concert will go on. The Switchfoot guys are big time musicians these days. They all surf and are from Encinitas.