Nice Guy Goes to Jail: Investors Broke

Bernie Madoff's $50 billion fraud conned well-known investors, nonprofits, and the little ol' lady next door.

Why did people give Bernie their life savings? Because Bernie was such a "nice guy" and he said he would give them what they wanted.

Americans probably put more critical thought and investigation into where they put their life savings than who they elect to city council.

Busby Fundraiser/Cop Pepperspray Incident

Would you like some fresh pepper with that biocth?

HA HA HA, WHEEEEEE!
This is in the top 10 stupidest things that has ever happened in Encinitas. Francine Busby who was too lame to defeat our beady eyed congressman Brian Bilbray the last time around, probably thinks she can win the next election because of Obama (she won't) so Busby has some lame boring fundraiser party in Encinitas where they probably drank bad white wine and gossiped about how Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both died. The party attracted some retard right wing stalker who actually hid in the bushes and heckled the party (dude, you need friends). Then some crybaby neighbor complained to the cops that the most boring party in the history of Encinitas was too loud so the sheriffs show up. And why not? It's not like there aren't any fricken crackheads down at Moonlight Beach harassing teenage girls on Saturday nights. So the meathead cop actually freaking peppersprays the hostess of the party!!!
Now that I think of it, I wish went. I would love to see something like that.
ENCINITAS: Hostess of Busby fundraiser pepper-sprayed, arrested
ENCINITAS ---- The 60-year-old hostess of a fundraising shindig for U.S. Congressional candidate Francine Busby was pepper-sprayed and arrested Friday night after she allegedly became combative with a deputy who was there to investigate a noise complaint, sheriff's officials said.

Busby said Saturday the gathering was not loud and described the deputy's use of pepper spray on the hostess and guests as "shocking."

The hostess, Shari Barman, reached through her gate intercom Saturday, declined to talk about the incident.

She said she would release a statement Sunday.

Busby, a Cardiff resident, is a democrat who plans to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray for his 50th District congressional seat in 2010. She lost to Bilbray in 2006, when the two were vying for the open seat.

About 9 p.m. Friday, a neighbor complained about noise coming from the party attended by about 50 people at a home in the 1200 block of Rubenstein Avenue, Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.

The oceanview estate is in Cardiff, a few blocks south of Santa Fe Drive.

Busby said the sedate gathering had no music and generated little noise. She guessed the complaint came from an unseen man who spent the evening shouting obscene remarks about democrats and herself from behind a tree in a neighboring lot.

When the deputy arrived around 9 p.m., several dozen guests were still in the house and the front door was open, Busby said.

The deputy came in and was directed to Barman, she said.

The deputy told her about the neighbor's complaint and asked for her name and date of birth, standard information deputies seek when they serve a noise complaint, Caldwell said.

Barman allegedly refused to give her date of birth, argued with the deputy and walked away, Caldwell said.

Caldwell said Barman rushed the deputy after he reached out to grab her. Others in attendance were also becoming argumentative, Caldwell said.

Caldwell said the deputy was worried the guests were becoming unruly and someone might get hurt. He warned Barman twice he would use his pepper spray if she didn't calm down and stop charging him, she said.

The hostess allegedly kept arguing, and the deputy sprayed her, Caldwell said.
READ OF THE REST OF THE SORDID TALE HERE.

Funky Fashion in Leucadia

Fashion photographer and Leucadian Mike Vos and his use of the big Eucalyptus trees on Leucadia's Hwy101.
www.mikevosphotography.com

Switchfoot Bro-Am!

www.switchfoot.com/bro-am

Adopt a Doggie and get Pizza

via Lillian Cox of thebiggestlosercanine.blogspot.com
Hi, I am an Encinitas resident who is writing a blog about shelter animals, particularly one that I am fostering.
I thought your followers might be interested to know that Jason Bennett, owner, Flippin' Pizza in Encinitas is offering 3 FREE cheese or 1-topping pizzas to Encinitas residents adopting pets from San Diego County Animal Shelters at Carlsbad, San Diego and Bonita. Offer good at Encinitas store only with proof of adoption.
more info click here

Weekend stuff for y'all to do

Saturday, June 27, 7am - 3:30p - Switchfoot Bro-Am Surf Contest - Moonlight Beach

Saturday, June 27, noon-4pm - San Dieguito Heritage Museum - New exhibit of scenes of early California by artist Richard Chase.

Wednesday, July 1, 6:30-7:30pm -1st Wednesday at the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Library - Rhythm Method - Classic Rock and Rhythm & Blues is the musical signature of this local Encinitas Band.

Sunday, July 5, 3-5pm - Summer Sunday Concerts at Moonlight Beach The Credentialed - Cover Rock

Sunday, July 5, 2pm - Blues artist Nathan James, Encinitas Library Community Room

Tuesday, July 7th, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. - Solana Center garden needs your help! Join the planting party to help get the garden off the ground.

Surfer Girl Liz Cockrum at Eric Phleger Gallery Sat. June 27

The Eric Phleger Gallery is proud to announce a new show of photographs opening Saturday June 27 and continuing through Saturday July 25, 2009. Jacques Garnier will be showing a body of work entitled “Passages” and Liz Cockrum will be showing her new work entitled “Sirens”. The artists’ reception is Saturday June 27, 2009 from 6 until 8pm.

Painterly, sparse and often formal, Jacques Garnier’s transcendent photography documents the passage of time. With intuitive framing, the images from “Passages” convey a sense of history and space left to its own demise. Fragile yet bold, these intimate details of interior landscapes reflect an era where the past is pushed into the background, where shadows and memory replace a presence that is no longer here. What is left is a world of “becoming” that has not yet found its way into the future.

Over the past decade, Garnier has concentrated on imagery of urban redistribution in the American landscape, vestiges of populations gone and all to quickly forgotten. Garnier’s work is part documentation, part voyeurism and as it develops a reconstructive history begins to unfold. Garnier credits the influential psychiatrist R. D. Laing who said “ we live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing”.

“Sirens”, Liz Cockrum’s new series of photographs celebrate women in modern society who surf. Through portraits, landscapes and details she explores a little-seen side of surfing and focuses the viewer’s attention on the individuals and subtle details that are an integral part of this unique culture. Born and raised in Chicago, IL Cockrum earned her BFA in photography from Columbia College in 2006. She recently moved to San Diego bringing with her a sound technical expertise as well a fresh perspective on surfing. More information on her project can be found at www.lizcockrum.com

The Eric Phleger Gallery is located in downtown Leucadia at 828 North Coast Hwy 101. The gallery is open Saturday’s from 12 until 5 pm and by appointment. To schedule an appointment or to contact the gallery please call 760-436-1440.

Encinitas School Board to discuss Pacific View tonight

ENCINITAS: School district to consider options for Pacific View site

ENCINITAS ---- School officials in Encinitas are recommending the school district sit tight with its plan to ask the city to rezone a plot of land that once housed Pacific View Elementary School so it can be traded for a revenue-producing property somewhere else.

The district wants the school property to be zoned for residential classification, which could allow as many as 15 homes to be built on the 2.8-acre site.

Residents who live near the property in downtown Encinitas have asked instead that the land be converted into a park. The City Council split earlier this month on a vote to purchase the land for that purpose.

The Encinitas Union School District board of trustees is set to vote on the issue at a meeting scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the district office, 101 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road.

ENCINITAS: Council divided over Pacific View School proposal

Encinitas, city of distinction

From CalAware Today:

Encinitas Rejects Proposed Sunshine Ordinance

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The City of Encinitas has the distinction of being the first municipality to reject flatly a proposed sunshine ordinance, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune.
At a meeting last week, the council voted 4-1, with Councilwoman Teresa Barth opposed, not to pursue what is called a “sunshine ordinance.” Several members said the city has exceeded the requirements of the state's open-government laws by putting records online, including campaign finance records.

Barth said she was disappointed in the result, saying an ordinance would have fostered “a culture of open and transparent governance.”

Councilman Jerome Stocks said, “Nobody saw a reason to actually create an ordinance to describe what we're already doing anyway.”

The city's website shows a staff report on the proposed ordinance (offered by Barth) but not the text of the ordinance itself. It is not clear whether the council ever saw it; Barth has said that parts of the staff analysis were withheld. The newspaper, sold recently as the last remnant of the Copley chain, made no attempt to inform the public of what was proposed either.

CalAware Today

Do you know what this is?

If you do, tell your friends about it.

Design Blemish

There were two design enhancements I thought would be useful for the Leucadia Boulevard improvement project (click here for the earlier post). One was a right turn lane on northbound Vulcan, and the other was dealing with the fire hydrants.

At extra cost to the taxpayer, the right turn lane was added. The hydrants remained unprotected. If they have to be exposed on the corners of the roundabout without protection, I'd put them on the southwest or northeast side of the roundabout, where they are not in the line of sight of the dominant traffic flow. Is there a reason they are where they are?

This just in:
From the comments section: Another wasted driver crashed going through a roundabout. A wasted old dude took out a fire hydrant and streetlight at Hermes. He could barely walk. More from the comments section: the guy who lost control of the car was neither drunk nor diabetic, however he was on some medication



See Also: The Coast News Coverage with Picts

Grandview Update

Following a series of south swells, the summer sand berm has built up at Grandview. The color of the sand is notably different than in recent years. I'd guess that reflects a change in the sand mixture due to the Pacific Station project.
At high tide, the waves run up against the bluff.

So far, the summer sand bars haven't been as good as they were in 2006 and 2007, in terms of wave quality. These Avo Street infiltrators gave up on their fishes and quads and have been body surfing, because of poor wave quality.
After the recent south swells, the berms are building everywhere. Moonlight Beach is pictured above and below.
Seaside is pictured below. The sand level at Seaside is threatening to cover the cobbles, which hasn't happened in a long time.
See Also:
Sand Lobbyist Awards Own Project
Sandy Beach Replenished
Grandview Calm, 2007
Sand Series

The Leucadia Blog Dot Com

Howdy neighbors,
You might have noticed that your bookmark for leucadia.blogspot.com no longer works. That is because I finally clunked down the $10 bucks to purchase a real domain name. You are now reading www.theleucadiablog.com
Tell all your friends!
And now, the most insane downhill skateboarding footage ever recorded:

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

"Funky" Station Opens

Mayor Houlihan called the new station a win-win for the community and said it would help fire responsiveness. She made an effort to point out that the station fit in with the community.

According to the fire department, not building the other two fire stations in the next few years will not affect the city's responsiveness.

Here are the city's justifications for building the new stations (and borrowing millions): inadequate access for disabled persons, age of the facilities, lack of sufficient indoor parking for fire equipment, lack of adequate cleaning and decontamination facilities, poor energy efficiency, concern for the buildings' ability to withstand a significant earthquake, and lack of facilities for mixed gender employees.


It was clear to me that the new fire station provided a high level of functionality.

Luxurious is not how I would describe the station, at least the lower level. It was utilitarian.


There was a lot of consternation over the fire stations. Some people might not understand some of the reasons for that. Years ago, both Christy Guiren and Maggie made statements that excited some members of the community. Christy was saying things like, we have all this money and we should do something with it. Some local fellows thought she sounded like she was about to go on a municipal sized spending spree. Maggie said several times that she wanted the community to have cool looking fire stations, and it sounded like that was her main motivator.

After the city decided they had to rush these stations so much that we had to borrow millions, it seems funny to me that the city doesn't appear to be moving very fast on the other stations.

Next time it would be great for the city to better develop and explain the financial justification (for rushed timing), financing scheme, and construction costs. They should also welcome questions and skepticism, instead of dismissing or targeted concerned citizens. Keeping these facts in mind, I can understand why people have been skeptical: The city was planning on spending $13.5 million to rebuild stations 1, 2, and 3. Station 5 was built for $1.5 million, in 2001.

Pacific View: Another little piece of my heart....gone?

The following is an email sent to the Encinitas city council regarding the Pacific View property:

I am deeply saddened by the course of events that took place during the discussion of the Pacific View property at Wednesday night’s Encinitas City Council meeting. For the Council not to direct the staff to seek a qualified appraisal of the property and explore possible funding and/or exchange options with the Encinitas Union School District using one or more of the 126 properties currently in the City’s real estate portfolio is, I believe, contrary to the wishes of the majority of the people in Encinitas. Thank you Maggie Houlihan and Teresa Barth for trying to represent your constituents; shame on you Jerome Stocks and James Bond for you appear to care more about the developers who support you than the citizens who elected you.

The land between E and F Streets and Third and Fourth Streets was deeded to the Encinitas School District in 1883 by the town’s founder, John Pitcher, for the children of Encinitas. Now, due to declining enrollments and budgetary needs, the school district is giving the City of Encinitas the opportunity to purchase the site. Since the EUSD received this parcel of land without cost and given the historical significance of it, they should be flexible, accommodating, and negotiate in the best interests of everyone.

The City’s own Planning & Building Department in 2008 proposed a Historic Overlay Zone within the Downtown Encinitas Specific Plan area (which includes the Pacific View site) to “help preserve historic and cultural resources in the downtown area”. The City talks the talk, now it needs to walk the walk.

The 1883 schoolhouse has been saved and restored, and in the words of Ida Lou Coley in 2004, “we must also value the site’s land and join together to preserve that site, not just for today, but for future generations of children”. It is the most significant historical site within the City of Encinitas and represents over 125 years of history. The land the Pacific View Elementary and the 1883 schoolhouse sit upon should be saved from annihilation by developers and preserved to honor the City’s history. It should become a resource for the entire community, for today’s children and future generations, and for visitors as well, to see and learn about Encinitas and its origins. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If the City of Encinitas passes on this, it will never have the chance again and everyone loses.

Respectfully,

Lois Aufmann

Click here to email your opinion to the Encinitas city council.

Beacon's EIR

The Beacon's EIR is open for public comment. Download it here.

Fred Town, USA

If you visit the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park you will see what the world would look like if Leucadia's Fred Caldwell was God.

Renegade tree growing out of Leucadia sidewalk

In front of the Leucadia post office on Phoebe St.

Encinitas Ranked Third Best Surf Town in USA

The new issue of Surfer magazine has a feature listing the Top 10 America Surf Towns (magazines love to make list),




An uncrowded winter day at Swami's in Encinitas, CA. Come join the fun! Photo by kbaird.

After Steve Aceti ruins all our surf spots in 2012 with his giant sand dump, Encinitas will probably drop off the list.

Surfermag.com: TEN BEST SURF TOWNS IN AMERICA

CALLING ALL ARTIST

Fifth Annual LeucadiART Walk

We're looking for artists for our upcoming LeucadiART Walk, Aug.30, 2009. The deadline for the regular participation fee has been extended to June 15th, and after that a late fee will apply.

There is plenty of space available, and we welcome all artists to submit an application for this ultimately cool art and music scene. For more information, call the Leucadia 101 office 760-436-2320 or visit our website www.leucadia101.com to download an application.

It's ALL good!

Deadline approaches on Pacific View proposal

Okay, not Leucadia but a worthy item of interest:

Pacific View School land is on this Wednesday's city council agenda.

ENCINITAS: Deadline approaches on Pacific View proposal

District revisits idea of selling shuttered campus

Enviro Art Winners

Many Fleener and Neil Mclean of Leucadia were recent winners of an environmental art exhibition at the city library. The winning art will be on display there until July 16 so go have a look see.

Sand lobbyist awards his own project

It's really fascinating watching people's propaganda machines at work.

Local sand lobbyist Steve Aceti as he appeared in the LA Times.

*LOL is an internet abbreviation for "laugh out loud".

Note who is on the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association Board of Directors

From the San Diego Union Tribune,

Group praises Encinitas for using reclaimed sand

ENCINITAS: A national advocacy group has honored the city of Encinitas for using reclaimed sand from a construction project to replenish an eroded beach.

The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association announced Monday that Encinitas is the recipient of its 2009 Best Restored Beach Award.

The sand was reclaimed from the construction site of Pacific Station, a $40 million residential and commercial project being built in downtown Encinitas by John Dewald & Associates.

In January, 37,000 cubic yards of high-quality sand were taken from the site and trucked to the northernmost beach of Encinitas, sometimes referred to as South Ponto. The loads of sand were dumped in the tide to help offset erosion.

Because of the southerly coastal flow, the sand will migrate to other Encinitas beaches over time, officials said.

Harry Simmons, president of the preservation association, said it created the award in 2001 to recognize such restoration efforts. The group's mission is to foster “sound, farsighted and economical development and preservation of our beaches.” –T.M.

See also, Leucadia Blog: Steve Aceti: Double Agent
See also, Leucadia Blog: Sandy Beach "Replenished" with Developer's Construction Dirt




This sandy beach needed "replenishment".

Coastal Cruiser Schedule

#1 NCTD Bus Station on S.Vulcan
#2 "A" Street
#3 Avocado St
#4 Phoebe St.
#5 Basil St.
#6 Moonlight Beach
#7 "K" Street
#8 Chesterfield Campgrounds
#9 Yogi's Bar & Grill
#10 New Balance Store on Newcastle
#11 The Lumberyard

(look for the red surfboard stop signs. Free maps are available as well).

It's $1 One Way or $5 for All Weekend. (The weekend passes are also cool copies of Arts Alive banners.) The bus runs every hour from 11am till 9pm from June 6 till Sept 7. Tickets are available on the bus or at DEMA, L-101 office, Cardiff- 101 office. But exact change should be used if you buy them on the bus as the driver cannot make change.