This was pulled forward from the comments section:
Don't the patrons using the park have a right to an ocean view? Plant the new trees on the perimeter of the park so the gorgeous view is not blocked again. Here in Encinitas as most everywhere else there are literally tens of thousands of new trees with more being planted everyday than just ten or twenty years ago. Almost every tree you see in town is planted by us and not native so why do so many of you treat this as if Jesus has been crucified again. Is nature your new God? Maybe its time to wake up and see the real crisis that is happening in the USA. Instead of having a cow regarding the axing of a few trees maybe you could feed and clothe a homeless or hungry person or demand that our elected representatives follow the will of the people or become a patriot and demand the constitution and laws of the country be enforced.
But above all save the eucs on 1o1. Don't cut down even one more. Also, I don't remember one death from the trains here in town that was an accident, but after the tunnels are installed they are going to install six foot tall chain link fences with three strands of barbed wire atop on both sides of the tracks from Cardiff Slough to Batiquitos Lagoon. That's going to make the ten trees axed seem pretty pale in comparison.
Lets see how long those fences last. I bet they will have continual holes from all us locals.
ReplyDeleteThe issue with the Orpheus trees was the total disregard of public input and staff not having any accountability for the asinine things they do like cutting down the trees instead of an easy trim. Why didn’t this go to the parks and recreation commission? They barely do anything anyway
Secondly, planting trees that will grow with 40 foot canopy like 10 feet on center in a ridiculus linear alignment is just patheticly stupid. How stupid is the person who planned the replacement tree planting?
Council better get a handle on the City. Retards are running amuck.
We can vote out Council if they suck that bad to the majority of citizens. Too bad we don't do it more often. But once on staff at any city in California there is about a one in a million chance of getting fired for any reason. We are stuck with those Human Resources selects, which is usually slackers like themselves. Check and see when the last City employee has been let go for any reason. More than likely never at City of Encinitas.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfair and inaccurate to generalize the entire city staff as slackers. There are staffers who give us honest and solid work. Given that they are in an environment where others around them are not doing the same they deserve extra recognition.
ReplyDeleteAhhh Haaaa Haaaa Haaa
ReplyDeleteI might agree Kevin. Maybe like one in ten probably earn their pay. I am not sure any really earn their 100% pensions. That’s just public robbery like Halliburton.
ReplyDeleteKevin- What percentage do you think earns their compensation including the huge pensions?
Got an ocean view that has been blocked by trees! Jess call 1-800-SHREDIT and the City of Encinitas will be on site like yesterday and whack down all offending green life forms, and no charge to you personally as it was an "oral agreement." Yeah, one pocket talking to another.
ReplyDeleteYeah, big, bad Haliburton... If it's such a terrible company, how come Nancy Pelosi is a shareholder? Could it be because it is well run and profitable and provides services that only two other companies on Earth do?
ReplyDeleteWe citizens here in Encicitas need to prioritize what we want accomplished by out City and its leaders. I thought that is what they are here for, but it seems that most who blog here are not happy with their services.
ReplyDeleteMaybe time to list what we want.
I would like:
1. Save all remaining eucalyptus trees on 1o1 in Leucadia. Trim but don't remove.
2. A park at the Hall property. Not the whole thing, maybe just some fields to play ball on or let the dogs play. Just anything but letting it sit vacant until its fully built.
3. Building new restrooms and a lifeguard tower at Moonlight. What we have now is disgusting. The Lifeguards now use a small dingy tower with metal containers around it. I think with the amount of people using the beach and the calls they get everyday all year its urgently needed. As for the restrooms, they are pretty third world. This is one item I wish more people would tell council and staff about.
4. Be frugel with our tax dollars. More that you do now. This should go without saying.
anon 908,
ReplyDeleteI only addressed the quality of the service provided by staff. The compensation is a related, but different issue. Stay tuned for analysis of that.
At every job I've ever had I had to produce or they would have given me the ax. When work slowed down they would have layoffs and the cycle started again. For more than thirty years my wife and I have worked straight through in the private sector. We will have to work at least another ten years and hope that our retirements will still be there. That is a huge difference than what city employees accumulate; easy work, (I have difficulty calling it work, its basically a position that pays) great pay, fantastic medical benefits, 14 paid holidays, two weeks a year sick pay, five to six weeks vacation a year, and how about retirement at thirty years with 90% of your last years salary.
ReplyDeleteAnybody who thinks they aren't overpaid is out of touch with reality.
Kevin-
ReplyDeleteGood point. On quality, I would guess anywhere between 30 to 40% of the staff seem to fulfill the job requirements. I also think you would have better quality if staff was held accountable for their actions. The union protection gives them the impression that they will never get fired and then when their bosses don't put any pressure on performance, there is no motivation to perform. It’s basically the same reason why the Border Patrol or any State Employee is so pathetic.
How many people have been fired from Encinitas for poor work performance in the last 10 years?
Kevin- what percentage of employees do you feel are valuable to the City?
The City needs to bust the union.
ReplyDeleteIf they don't renogiate lower pensions, tell them no contract. Let those that want to walk out, leave. There are plenty of people out there to fill their simple job.
The county is addressing the issue.
Read today's San Diego Tribune. "Reduction in retirees' benefits proposed"
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/15/1m15pension22541-reduction-retirees-benefits-propo/?zIndex=67293
Just last year, the City of Encinitas gave all its employees a huge pension increase and 15% salary increase over 4 years as the rest of the working force takes major pay cuts.
When will the City Council wake up and address this highest priority for the future financial health of our City?
Why should city council wake up and do the people's business? Bond, Stocks, and Dalager are funded by the unions, and therefore do the unions' bidding. They did EXACTLY what the people who put them in office wanted.
ReplyDeleteIt takes money to run for elected office, lots of it. Until the people wise up and donate real money, we will be saddled with pensions.
Think of it this way. You can pay $250 to a campaign to fight the unions, or you can pay your share of city workers salaries and pensions. Either way, you pay. However, if you help fund a campaign, you may pay only once.
Good point. WHEN WILL THE PUBLIC WAKE UP IN ENCINITAS?
ReplyDelete"Is nature your new God?"
ReplyDeleteIf God planted a garden for us to keep as his #1 accomplishment, no, there's nothing new about nurturing and loving trees. That certainly doesn't make nature our new God, but rather respectful and thankful to the same old God for those majestic plants.
So the city employee's have a good job with good benefits good for them. It appears the employees made wise choices good for them we all could positioned ourselves for those jobs. As for Stocks, Bond and Dalager I doubt there for unions their Republicans.Lets face it most of the employees work hard just like most of us. My suggestion would be to chill out and look at the bright side of the road we live in a place few are lucky enough to reside in.
ReplyDeleteThey are republican thus against unions? Did you just crawl out from under a cobblestone?
ReplyDeleteA lot of government employees perform the duties of their respectable positions. But it used to be that they were fairly compensated for their work. Over the last twenty years or so they have leapfroged over the public workforce pay causing our taxes to rise much more than they should, which in turn causes all other public projects to suffer with insufficent funding.
ReplyDeleteThose elected by us should choose city managers that use our tax dollars wisely so we don't get into messes like the City of San Diego. If you can't do the job you are hired for you should quit and do something you are fit to do. Or be fired.
This is exactly why the state of California is in the mess its in.
And yes we do live in a great city and for that I'm very grateful.
anon 1233,
ReplyDeletePlease pay my taxes for me, that way I can enjoy this wonderful town even more. Please pay for fixing the 101, flooding, trains, new parks, and the pension liability. Take care of my share. You seem to think it is of no consequence.
Would it surprise you to find out that a receptionist who answers phones and files papers at the city will end at $80,000 a year and then get a check for $72,000 a year for the rest of her life plus health benefits, after "retirement". Would it surprise you to find out that people in the private sector would never make that much for that same job?
Government jobs that don't even require that you perform well should not pay more than private sector jobs. Something is wrong when the government pays more than the private sector.
Using your logic, it wouldn't even matter if all the employees make over $200,000/year. Heck, they positioned themselves for the government job, so its OK.
SCREW THE TAXPAYER!
I am happy to live in this city and that I why I care that our money is well spent. anon 1233 seems to not care.
ReplyDeleteAs all Leucadians know it takes money to build infrastructure and there isn't any leftover when the staff sucks up all the city's revenues.
I think unions began as a good thing and got abusive. I think that's also the reason places like Flynt Michigan collapsed when the big 3 outsourced the auto industry through NAFTA. But what do I know? I'm operating at poverty level.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone analyzed the proposed urban forest management program up for adoption on next week's Council agenda? Another city department waiting for its creation. For example:
ReplyDeleteUnder III - Goals of Urban Forest Management Program - Fourth bullet:
Insure that urban forest maintenance funds are spent in a cost-effective manner.
Now it appears that down the budget road, the urban forest maintenance will take on a life of its own. What is cost effective, and who will be the foxes watching the hen house? Last week's city warrants (checks) list showed a check written for $13,353.75 for the replacement tree in the Santa Fe roundabout. Who is checking the expenditures on city landscaping? Certainly not the City Council.
Taxing and budget issues with this program- will those be discussed on Wednesday? Or will everyone be hypnotized by the urban forest title and forget costs?
Anon 12:33 - FOLLOW THE MONEY. All it takes is going to the city's website and reviewing who funded whom. There is an unholy alliance between the unions and developers - the unions want more money, perks, etc., and the developers want to make more money. So, both fund certain candidates (the boys).
ReplyDeleteAfter the election, you see city staff having lunch with the developers.
Many of us on this blog do just fine, and have paid our dues. Staff staff is getting undue compensation due to their hold over council.
"Looking on the bright side" and not questioning led to Nazi Germany. Surely, you want us question and improve things when things go bad.
Anon 12:33 sounds like a government blood sucking tick. Just pay your taxes and don’t worry about how little I work and how much I get paid and my huge retirement. Please. There are countries where most of the people are employed by the government, its called communism.
ReplyDeleteHey 12:33- You may have been lucky enough to land hear, but for most of us it was not luck.
ReplyDeleteI worked my ass of saving ton of money for a 20% down payment on a pricey house in Encinitas because it is a nice town and I chose to raise my family here. I appreciate everything I have in my life, but that’s a big difference than luck.
Luck is when your a government employee with a pension based on 40% of your last year's pay, and over the coarse of 5 years the elected officials raise the pension from 40% to 90% of your highest paying years.
Lucky to be a Government Employee, Unlucky if you’re a taxpayer. All our taxes are now going to pensions instead of improvements to our parks and community.
I am appreciative of what I have in my life. I feel unlucky that the public is so stupid to re-elect people like Dan Dalager and Jerome Stocks that are clearly under the thumb of the Employee Union.
When will the Public wake up?
Yes, the issue with the trees was also that the HOA signed off in 1990 that there would be trees around the tot lot and in the "view corridor."
ReplyDeleteThe trees were to be maintained. Mayor Houlihan met with the HOA last November, and they wanted to know why the trees HAD NOT BEEN MAINTAINED for three years.
The issue is that Mark W, a certified and well loved arborist assured us that trees can be maintained through crown reduction and did not have to be "topped" or cut down.
The issue is that the "replacement" trees were planted too close together. Although the healthy, homegrown trees cut down were not natives, the replacements could and should have been. They should have been drought tolerant. It will take 15-18 years for the trees to provide the shade, beauty, oxygen and ability to absorb oxygen that the trees removed provided. The replacement trees were purchased "on special," and are small.
The issue is that Chris Hazeltine did NOT incorporate the hundreds of e-mails and and phone calls, asking for a public hearing before the last tree was cut down, into his report in any way. He did mention that 22 people called the number protesting the imminent "axing" of the first ten trees when signs were posted in Orpheus Park.
The issue is that Dan Dalager and Jerome Stocks both blatantly lied. Dalager said he had no involvement and had no e-mails. That is a lie. He received and wrote e-mails, and simply deleted them, when they should have been kept for two years as they were related to policy and an agenda item.
Jerome Stocks lied when he said, "we didn't know." He did know, as Teresa Barth assured us, at least by January 26, four days before any trees were cut.
The issue is that Phil Cotton and Chris Hazeltine would not wait for council discussion, AT A PUBLIC HEARING, but relied upon what amounted to "closed session" meetings through Council's and staffs sequential e-mails, copied to all of Council, Phil Cotton, Chris Hazeltine, and other members of staff.
The issue is that Jerome Stocks and Dan Dalager think because they have gotten away with being lying bullies in the past, they can continue to do so.