Notes: Barbara Yost's interest in a council seat is public record. Emails with content like that below are circulating around Encinitas. This one was in the LB inbox. We apply the Welborn Protocol .
From: Studs
To: leucadiablog@gmail.com
Barb Yost asked me to give you advance notice of her candidacy for the city council before the public announcement is made. She expects to file and announce the beginning of next week. Barb is President of Encinitas Neighbors and is the driving force behind its rapid growth.
Barb's an east-sider - a resident of Village Park. As an avid dog lover, she and her companion, Emily, are well known and highly regarded among the "dog crowd" - those who regularly bring their canines to off-leash dog parks. ( fair disclosure: Emily and my dog, Jay, are in a relationship! ).
Barb will campaigning on a platform that advocates bringing integrity to city hall; fiscal responsibility; and neighborhood self-determination. Below are her positions on a number of critical issues:
1. Integrity, intelligence, accountability and transparency in city government.
2. Fiscal responsibility, including: a public accounting of future financial obligations; pension reform; independent review and audit of contracts in excess of $200,000 and adherence to competitive bidding guidelines; public accounting of funds received by the city from non-city sources; multi-purpose use of city buildings such as firehouses to maximize value of capital improvements. Eliminate city's $250,000 a year in contributions to merchants associations.
3. Neighborhood self-determination - intrusive city projects of a certain minimum size would require approval by a substantial majority of people in effected neighborhoods.
4. Encourage and support neighborhood and town identities, characteristics, cohesion and spirit.
5. High priority for reducing Leucadia flooding.
6. City council members required to vote the "will of the people" rather than their personal views. "Will of the people" to be determined, on substantial issues, through polling supervised, audited or conducted by an independent professional market research firm. Council Members are responsible for encouraging community controversies be resolved through conflict resolution. Place substantial controversial issues that cannot be resolved through mediation before the electorate for decision.
7. Require the General Plan and significant modifications be placed before the voters for a "yes/no" vote. Require the Strategic Plan be separately placed before the voters for a "yes/no" vote.
8. Increase staffing for citizen commissions; give them the authority to hold public hearings; appointments to be made on a merit basis (point system for skills, experience and other credentials relevant to the specific commission for which they apply); and establish a Human Relations Commission with, among others duties, the responsibility to introduce prejudice reduction, conflict resolution, collaboration and coalition building skills into the community.
9. Mandate a 5 minute emergency services response time for all areas of the city.
10. Survey Encinitas residents every three years as to their demographics and psychographics; and those needs, priorities, interests and preferences relevant to municipal government. Study to be conducted by an independent professional market research firm using methodologies that assure results are projectable to the entire city population. Require the results of the study be the foundation for the General and Strategic Plans; and the basis upon which all city elected officials, employees and departments are evaluated.
11. Give high priority to the preference of Encinitans to leave the city and its towns the way they are. Assess whether the Planning and Building Department headcount should be reduced based on community's preference for less intrusion.
12. Hire an Environmental Affairs specialist. Establish the principle Encinitas will be an environmentally-forward community.
13. Hire a Conflict Resolution specialist.
14. Make the process for community-based initiatives as simple as responsible within state regulations.
15. Evaluate the cost-efficiency and value of law enforcement through the county sheriff's dept. vs. contracting with the Carlsbad police or operating our own police force.
16. Develop a Strategic Plan. Strategic Plan to in corporate a Values Statement; Quality of Life Standards; People Usage Plan - standards relating to how people prefer to move around the city and use its facilities and infra-structure; and General Plan.
17. Provide easy and efficient means by which residents can communicate with city government via the internet. Provide for online webinars as alternatives to physical workshops to get public input.
18. Require all city communications be worded in such a way as to be understandable by the citizens.
19. Eliminate the position of Coast Highway 101 Coordinator.
20. Eliminate neighborhood traffic circles that are determined by qualified traffic engineers to be more dangerous than alternative methods of intersection traffic control.
21. Formally establish minimum qualifications for city employee positions based on peer city public administration employee policies. Reassign or relocate employees who do not meet minimum qualifications.
22. Place high priority on seeking the funding and approvals to underground or overground the railroad tracks at the Coast Hwy. 101/Leucadia Blvd. intersection.
23. All city projects to have a clear and publicly stated, measurable objective before planning is initiated. Objectives must support the strategies and objectives stated in the Strategic Plan and results of most recent community study.
24. Place high priority on limiting and reducing traffic congestion.
25. Encinitas Community Park: cease planning until a way to fund the project without adding to the city's debt is found. When park development begins, build a tall acrylic tower containing all the park's toxic waste. Drop public officials determined to be expendable into the tower so everyone can actually see the effects of toxic waste on humans.
26. Halt Streetscape pending development of a specific measurable objective; comprehensive review of alternatives that would meet the objective; and an opinion survey of the adjacent neighborhoods.
27. Establish an independent commission to investigate whether any city official or employee has engaged in any activity deemed to be illegal or in conflict of the community's interests. Report findings to the public.
28. Require dog off-leash park needs be met as part of the parks and recreation dept. needs assessment on which its plan is based.
29. Establish public memorials for Maggie Houlihan and Bob Naninga.
30. Provide non-monetary encouragement and support for creative arts and innovation.
31. Encourage civility and courtesy in public affairs and as community values.
Bob
Bob Aronin
Encinitas Neighbors
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ReplyDeleteYou lost my vote and interest on items 12,13,19 and 20. Sounds like your the ignorant roundabout haters like Bob and Lynn Yawn. Defying facts about safety record and performance of modern day roundabouts like we have on Leucadia Blvd and Santa Fe (not traffic circles- big difference).
ReplyDeleteRemember morons, we have three in town which safety process approximately 50,000 cars per day between the three of them- Very safely and very efficient. The only crashes are people who love to drive wasted. Lynn, Bob and Barbara, do you love to drive around wasted, or encourage others to?
Look at the statistics and we should be pulling out all the signals and installing roundabouts.
You guys are wacked and Barbara Yost's platform sucks which isn't surprising because it brought to us by JA Bob Aronin. Go figure! I predict 3 % of the vote max.
Agree with Jack. And what will the cost of all these polls and audits and removed roundabouts be? All these proposals sound like paralysis by analysis. Let's get real folks.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading paragraph 2, I don't give a damn what your positions are. What a dunce.
ReplyDeleteI just can't stop laughing. Pure fantasy. I can't belive I agree with Jack.
ReplyDeleteRob, what's the problem with #2? That seems to me to be the most sensible thing in the whole platform.
ReplyDeleteMost politicians just smile and say empty promises. This woman was pretty specific. I give her points for that.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't really agree with too many of her ideas. Doh...
For once I agree with you Hartford, and also agree she give specifically ignorant and just flat out stupid ideas.
ReplyDeleteEye yi yi yi yi
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think Barb's platform sounds good. If you don't like the length of this post comment, please skip it, don't whine and complain. No one is forcing you to read on, bullies! Or do you just like to try to manipulate and to push others around so much that you can't help yourselves?
ReplyDeleteI like Barb's specificity. Neighborhood self-determination sounds great, to me, and to a lot of others.
Why should the City be subsidizing merchant's associations? They should be self-supporting in my opinion.
Why do we need a 101 Czar, or coordinator, Peder Norby, who usually acts as a lobbyist for commercial and development interests?
In fact, it seems some of the money going to subsidize the Leucadia No. 101 Merchants Association may be going, at least in part, to a group of posters on this blog who target anyone they think has safety concerns about traffic circles, and try to drive her or him away.
This kind of "sock puppet" infiltration and dominance of neighborhood blogs, particularly this one, is a favorite tactic of those attempting to falsely sway public opinion, and to shut up their opposition through irrelevant and divisive personal attacks and outright bullying.
Elizabeth Taylor, formerly of the Environmental Commission, had recommended an environmental specialist. In the long run, this could help to save the City and taxpayers money, and to support preserving our quality of life.
With respect to #20, the Federal Dept. of Transportation classifies roundabouts as having at least two lanes. They are NOT recommended alongside railroad tracks, or at intersections where there is significantly less traffic at the cross-streets. Peltz & Associates came up with no instances in our County, State or the U.S., or abroad, where traffic circles are used for three way intersections.
Roundabouts, according to the Dept. of Transportation have more safety features and are demonstrated to cause less safety issues and accidents than small radius, one lane, traffic circles, which are primarily ornamental.
If you don't agree, fine, take it up with the Dept. of TRansportation. Many actually feel what's planned will destroy the funky character of Leucadia. It will make congestion worse. I don't see how it would deter cut through traffic from I-5, because people WILL get off the freeway when it's blocked. If Noth 101 is blocked, they'll simply divert to Neptune, if they're going north, or possibly Vulcan, racing through residential neighborhoods, including a school zone, in their frustration and too often, road rage.
I don't get why there's so much anger, here, towards residents and business owners, such as those at Sub Palace and Leucadia Glass, and more, who are concerned about cut through traffic and slower emergency response times, as well as the prospect of losing business during construction, and possibly losing a part of their properties, part of their setbacks, because the radius is so small due to the railway right of way.
The name calling gets so old. I'm glad Studs put out Barbara Yost's platform and wasn't intimidated by the bullies banding together here, to protect their self interests against Leucadian's concerns, which is to maintain our community character, to protect the canopy, and preserve our "funkiness." Those 101 trees are great, but they are saplings, and will take 20 years to grow to a decent height!