Five Questions to the city council by Kevin C,
I know this is a set of 5 questions, but each one is worth at least a
hundred grand and up to a million bucks of my tax dollars. So bare
with me.
1. Why did the City pay more than your own appraisal's estimate of
"fair market value?" How many of you were aware of this (or is that a
rumor)?
2. Why didn't the Council adequately answer questions about the tax
benefits to the seller of choosing to sell under friendly
condemnation? Is your staff not knowledgeable or did they fail to
inform you of the important consequences? (for a timely article see,
www.signonsandiego.com/)
3. How many of you closely reviewed the appraisal and remain
comfortable with the 8.5 million dollar estimate of fair market
value? How much was Mossy trying to sell the property for before they
came to the City to sell?
4. Is it always necessary to buy property under the threat of
condemnation when a willing seller approaches the City with a
property that they have been trying to sell?
5. Can a City negotiate a price or do they have to purchase at what
ever the appraiser comes up with (as one Councilmember has indicated to me)? If you can't negotiate, then what was all the blabbing about how great you guys are at negotiation?
This purchase was a huge expenditure of the taxpayers' money. I think you should all be able to answer at least three of these questions and be curious about all of them. So, the first one to answer 4 or more wins several points in my book.
Kevin Cummins is a local yokel muckraker who married one of the most popular surfer girls around. A major coup for Kevin!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
B St to Become Amakusa Way
Some folks on B St received a letter from Debra Geishart, Engineering Technician at the city that clearly states “The City of Encinitas is requesting the following street name change in the Downtown area:
Present street name: B Street.
Proposed street name: Amakusa Way”
The letter goes on to say that “Encinitas has the privelage of sharing a Sister City relationship with Amakusa, Japan” and that “This symbolic gesture will help strengthen the bond between the two cities.”
Geishart futher states that “should you have any questions regarding the street name change, please contact me at (760) 633-2779.”
Jerome, Dan shoot Geishart a call.
Google satellite map view of B St click here
UPDATE-This story made the front page of the North County Times. Click here to read the story.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
D St Name Change Rumor Untrue
The rumor that the city was going to change the name of D St has been debunked by two city council members. After hearing the rumor from several independent persons and total strangers I decided to e-mail the council.
E-mail from Dan Dalagher:
JP, You hear the strangest things. Things that have absolutely no relationship in any reality with which I’m familiar. I’m trying to get done with these e-mails so I can get out of this dank office, get a bite to eat and get in the water. I suggest you do the same. It’s a beautiful day outside. Get out and enjoy it and stop trying to scare yourself to death.-Dan
E-mail from Jerome Stocks:
J.P.
I have heard no such rumor, no of no such effort, and would oppose any such idea. No wiggle words needed in the sentence.
You may want to re-consider how much credibility you grant your source...
Please feel free to continue to contact me with any issue of concern to you.
Jerome Stocks
*I am now hearing from several e-mails that it is B St that may be changed. B St has less of an emotional charge than D St considering that D St is a beloved surf spot.
E-mail from Dan Dalagher:
JP, You hear the strangest things. Things that have absolutely no relationship in any reality with which I’m familiar. I’m trying to get done with these e-mails so I can get out of this dank office, get a bite to eat and get in the water. I suggest you do the same. It’s a beautiful day outside. Get out and enjoy it and stop trying to scare yourself to death.-Dan
E-mail from Jerome Stocks:
J.P.
I have heard no such rumor, no of no such effort, and would oppose any such idea. No wiggle words needed in the sentence.
You may want to re-consider how much credibility you grant your source...
Please feel free to continue to contact me with any issue of concern to you.
Jerome Stocks
*I am now hearing from several e-mails that it is B St that may be changed. B St has less of an emotional charge than D St considering that D St is a beloved surf spot.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Analysis of Fugly Rite-Aid
So we already know that the proposed Olivenhain Rite Aid is FUGLY, but why?
The Encinitas planning commission rejected the plans for being too "boxlike", but is that really the problem here?
1. Like most strip malls this Rite-Aid has non structural stud framed arches. No masonry here, they are just for looks...and they look lame.
2. The Mansard roof, a favorite of McDonald's. Lame. With spanish tile which is sooooo played out it's not even funny.
3. This curved papapet is purely decorative. The origin of the parapet is self defense. I guess if this Rite Aid ever comes under siege the pharmacist and clerks can go on the roof and defend themselves.
4. Quatrefoil window. Qautrefoils are often found on mission revival buildings, you see them on every strip mall in California. It has Christian origins, a symbol of good luck and yes, most of the time they are actual functional windows unlike here which is a stucco wall. Lame.
5. Molded foam cornice, pointless.
6. Brick veneer. Since this is earthquake land we don't use real bricks so slap on some veneer that will trick people into thinking brick was used in this building. Huh?
This Rite Aid is a generic version of Mission Revival, influenced by California's rich history. In my opinion mission revival strip malls openly mocks California history. It is used as a weak attempt to "theme" the entire southwest. Remember, Rite Aid is based out of Pennsylvania. They are not exactly Padres fans.
The funny thing about all these mission revival gimmicks is that they just drive up the building cost. Streamline it my man.
What are they trying to hide?
We expect our City’s department heads to have some relevant expertise. We should ensure that they have the capacity to provide adequate oversight and direction. This is why an earlier Council set a policy regarding minimum qualifications for department heads. Apparently, they are supposed to have at least a master degree in the field and 7 years relevant public experience.
Many of the watchdogs have wondered about the sudden rise of Jennifer Smith to Director of Finance. She appears to have no direct qualifications. Why was she placed at the head of finance? Was there ever a public search for candidates?
The City is about to embark on a funky financing journey. I would feel more comfortable knowing that someone worthy is advising the Council. We all know that Council needs a lot of help.
When Dalager gave Smith a proclamation stating she had served with great distinction (or something like that) a searing image of the President came to mind. “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” Since then I have been determined to find out if Smith is at least minimally qualified. And it looks like I won't have to wait much longer
There are also questions about other department heads:
1) We have a Fire Chief who was on campaign teams for a majority of the council before getting appointed,
2) a parks and rec director who is supposedly qualified to also be a public works director,
3) a planning director who supposedly worked for Ecke before becoming director, and
4) after you read the following email the City Attorney’s service is also in question.
I did a records request for Smith’s application 5 months ago. The request was rejected. Others have made the same request over the last few months. The City cannot legally keep us from this information.
Why should I be surprised that the City isn’t following the law!
I recently called in some reinforcements. On my behalf, the General Council for Calaware sent the City Attorney and Clerk a sharp email. I thought you might like to be in the loop. I paste that email below. If you read the whole thing through you might think that the City Clerk should be added to the list too, but I suspect she was just following directions.
Kevin
From: Terry Francke
Date: August 10, 2006
Subject: Access to Employment Applications
Dear City Clerk Cervone and City Attorney Sabine,
I'm informed by the attached message that for a little over five months, several area residents have been attempting unsuccessfully to get from the City of Encinitas copies of records that are, pursuant to the only case law on point, unquestionably public and not exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act.
As you well know and could have easily discovered within the first hour of the 10-day post-request period that the Act permits for such research, the California Court of Appeal for the Third District, dealing with requests for information about a public hospital employee, had this to say:
The trial court ordered defendant to disclose: "Such portions of [the employee's] personnel file as are necessary to disclose his professional qualifications ... or at [defendant's] option, she may, by way of compliance with this injunction, create and provide to [plaintiffs] a resume of [the auditor's] professional qualifications."
Defendant claims the order results in disclosure of the auditor's personnel file and is an unwarranted invasion of his privacy. We disagree. As we understand the order, plaintiffs would obtain information as to the education, training, experience, awards, previous positions and publications of the auditor. Such information is routinely presented in both professional and social settings, is relatively innocuous and implicates no applicable privacy or public policy exemption. (§ 6254, subd. (c), 6255.)
Eskaton Monterey Hospital v. Myers (1982) 134 Cal.App.3d 788, 794. There is no other case law contradicting or limiting this conclusion, nor in fact addressing the issue at all.
The force of this settled precedent is only amplified by the 2004 passage of Proposition 59, amending the California Constitution to provide, among other things, that laws providing access to state and local government records must be interpreted broadly, and limiting laws interpreted narrowly.
Quite apart from these legal points, to assert the "privacy" of public employment fitness information strips the notion of privacy of its meaning, announcing the principle that the public is not entitled to know whether appointed public executives have any job-related qualifications, and if so, what they are. One would have thought that with so much discussion in the past year of the dubiously relevant credentials of some high federal appointees, you would have found it awkward, to say the least, to maintain that such matters are not appropriate for public scrutiny. Taking this position, of course, tends only to cast doubt on the qualifications of the employees in question, and thereby does them no justice, one assumes.
I do not know whether the e-mailed response by you, Ms. Cervone, to Mr. Cummins on March 14—"Once I looked at the California Public Records Act, it clearly states that personnel records are confidential"—derives its blissfully amateurish error from your own lack of training, from your office's policy of reading exemptions overbroadly (to say nothing of superficially) in contravention of the California Constitution, or from the failure to consult you, Mr. Sabine. I suspect all three to be the case, because nothing else explains the lack of a prompt correction of the error, unless perhaps a contemptuous confidence that the requesters would simply go away. It has now been three weeks, according to the chronology below, since the Eskaton case was expressly brought to your attention, Mr. Sabine, by someone who had to do the city's homework for it.
If you both wish to defend your position in court and take the professional responsibility, at least, for the attorney fees the city would be ordered to pay upon an order to disclose, you can easily so signal by either a reply to that effect or by silence—by any response, that is, other than a notification to the requesters identified below that the requested records are immediately available for inspection and copying.
Terry Francke
General Counsel
Californians Aware
Many of the watchdogs have wondered about the sudden rise of Jennifer Smith to Director of Finance. She appears to have no direct qualifications. Why was she placed at the head of finance? Was there ever a public search for candidates?
The City is about to embark on a funky financing journey. I would feel more comfortable knowing that someone worthy is advising the Council. We all know that Council needs a lot of help.
When Dalager gave Smith a proclamation stating she had served with great distinction (or something like that) a searing image of the President came to mind. “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” Since then I have been determined to find out if Smith is at least minimally qualified. And it looks like I won't have to wait much longer
There are also questions about other department heads:
1) We have a Fire Chief who was on campaign teams for a majority of the council before getting appointed,
2) a parks and rec director who is supposedly qualified to also be a public works director,
3) a planning director who supposedly worked for Ecke before becoming director, and
4) after you read the following email the City Attorney’s service is also in question.
I did a records request for Smith’s application 5 months ago. The request was rejected. Others have made the same request over the last few months. The City cannot legally keep us from this information.
Why should I be surprised that the City isn’t following the law!
I recently called in some reinforcements. On my behalf, the General Council for Calaware sent the City Attorney and Clerk a sharp email. I thought you might like to be in the loop. I paste that email below. If you read the whole thing through you might think that the City Clerk should be added to the list too, but I suspect she was just following directions.
Kevin
From: Terry Francke
Date: August 10, 2006
Subject: Access to Employment Applications
Dear City Clerk Cervone and City Attorney Sabine,
I'm informed by the attached message that for a little over five months, several area residents have been attempting unsuccessfully to get from the City of Encinitas copies of records that are, pursuant to the only case law on point, unquestionably public and not exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act.
As you well know and could have easily discovered within the first hour of the 10-day post-request period that the Act permits for such research, the California Court of Appeal for the Third District, dealing with requests for information about a public hospital employee, had this to say:
The trial court ordered defendant to disclose: "Such portions of [the employee's] personnel file as are necessary to disclose his professional qualifications ... or at [defendant's] option, she may, by way of compliance with this injunction, create and provide to [plaintiffs] a resume of [the auditor's] professional qualifications."
Defendant claims the order results in disclosure of the auditor's personnel file and is an unwarranted invasion of his privacy. We disagree. As we understand the order, plaintiffs would obtain information as to the education, training, experience, awards, previous positions and publications of the auditor. Such information is routinely presented in both professional and social settings, is relatively innocuous and implicates no applicable privacy or public policy exemption. (§ 6254, subd. (c), 6255.)
Eskaton Monterey Hospital v. Myers (1982) 134 Cal.App.3d 788, 794. There is no other case law contradicting or limiting this conclusion, nor in fact addressing the issue at all.
The force of this settled precedent is only amplified by the 2004 passage of Proposition 59, amending the California Constitution to provide, among other things, that laws providing access to state and local government records must be interpreted broadly, and limiting laws interpreted narrowly.
Quite apart from these legal points, to assert the "privacy" of public employment fitness information strips the notion of privacy of its meaning, announcing the principle that the public is not entitled to know whether appointed public executives have any job-related qualifications, and if so, what they are. One would have thought that with so much discussion in the past year of the dubiously relevant credentials of some high federal appointees, you would have found it awkward, to say the least, to maintain that such matters are not appropriate for public scrutiny. Taking this position, of course, tends only to cast doubt on the qualifications of the employees in question, and thereby does them no justice, one assumes.
I do not know whether the e-mailed response by you, Ms. Cervone, to Mr. Cummins on March 14—"Once I looked at the California Public Records Act, it clearly states that personnel records are confidential"—derives its blissfully amateurish error from your own lack of training, from your office's policy of reading exemptions overbroadly (to say nothing of superficially) in contravention of the California Constitution, or from the failure to consult you, Mr. Sabine. I suspect all three to be the case, because nothing else explains the lack of a prompt correction of the error, unless perhaps a contemptuous confidence that the requesters would simply go away. It has now been three weeks, according to the chronology below, since the Eskaton case was expressly brought to your attention, Mr. Sabine, by someone who had to do the city's homework for it.
If you both wish to defend your position in court and take the professional responsibility, at least, for the attorney fees the city would be ordered to pay upon an order to disclose, you can easily so signal by either a reply to that effect or by silence—by any response, that is, other than a notification to the requesters identified below that the requested records are immediately available for inspection and copying.
Terry Francke
General Counsel
Californians Aware
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Fugly Rite-Aid Rejected
Click photo to enlarge and see the full fuglyness.
From NCT.com:
Redesigned Rite Aid not passing planners' muster
By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer
ENCINITAS -- Revised plans for a Rite Aid store on Manchester Avenue still are not capturing the country feel of the Olivenhain community, planners said Wednesday.
Members of the Encinitas Planning Commission told developer Jim Halferty in April that designs for the 9,800-square-foot building were too boxlike.
A new set of plans doesn't do enough to correct that problem, city officials said.
Planner Kelly Arndt said she would recommend that the Planning Commission reject the proposal when it meets Aug. 24.
Commissioner Tom McCabe said Wednesday that, in meetings with the developer, he suggested a sloped roof and an improved corner entryway.
"All the sudden they come back with another design that is a typical strip-center box," McCabe said.
read the rest of the story here.
Well, maybe there is hope for Encinitas after all. I applaud the planning department for not cruising on auto pilot and signing off on this crappy "Anywhere USA" generic strip mall garbage that these cheeseball corporations have been ramming down our throat. It would be shameful if the hub of Encinitas, Olivenhain and Rancho Santa Fe was landmarked by fugly architecture.
Nothing against Rite-Aid in particular, they provide services we all need, like Q-Tips and OxyContin, but enough is enough. I'm sure the Rite-Aid suits in Pennsylvania were shocked at the news that some little town in north San Diego county rejected them. Viva dissent!
These crappy strip malls have been blighting up the American landscape for quite some time now. I swear the entire continent will be indistinguishable in another 100 years if we don't stop the bleeding. It is widely believed that the strip mall began in car culture California. The strip mall is a quick stop for goods with no nice landscaping features or gathering places. If strip mall design would embrace it's minimalist function then strip malls wouldn't be as ugly as the proposed Rite-Aid.
Since strip malls began in California I say we either kill the strip mall or force a higher standard on them.
In fact, I think Encinitas has the potential to become famous as a mecca for good architecture and design if we did things right. Imagine, if Encinitas started attracting great architects from around America we could be featured in all the international design magazines and we could have architecture tours as part of our tourism. It might be nice to be known for something besides poinsettias and surfing.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Pros and Cons of Running for City Council
Pro-If you win you can play footsies with Jerome Stocks behind the podium.
Con-City council meetings are held on Wednesdays, the same night ABC's hit show Lost is on.
Pro-If you say you are a Encinitas city council member you get a free small soda at the La Paloma theater.
Con-Smart alecky punk ass kids will start blogs about you.
Pro-City council members get a special button in their cars that turn all the traffic lights green.
Con-You have to be Barratt American's CEO Michael D. Pattinson's bitch.
Pro-Michael D. Pattinson has nice soft hands.
Con-You are now a politician, icky.
Pro-Dude, free trip to Japan!
Pro-Jim Bond will tell you his monkey joke.
Con-You are damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Con-City council meetings are held on Wednesdays, the same night ABC's hit show Lost is on.
Pro-If you say you are a Encinitas city council member you get a free small soda at the La Paloma theater.
Con-Smart alecky punk ass kids will start blogs about you.
Pro-City council members get a special button in their cars that turn all the traffic lights green.
Con-You have to be Barratt American's CEO Michael D. Pattinson's bitch.
Pro-Michael D. Pattinson has nice soft hands.
Con-You are now a politician, icky.
Pro-Dude, free trip to Japan!
Pro-Jim Bond will tell you his monkey joke.
Con-You are damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Burning Questions
1. Why is good 'ol boy Leucadia old school local councilman Dan Dalager still interested in forming an RDA in Leucadia? Doesn't he know that this will result in his friends and neighbors losing their private property? Owning property in America is a sacred thing. Has he become so sycophant in his desire "I want to walk from my house to the beach without tripping and breaking my neck." that he would really be willing to sell out Leucadia into a 50 year RDA process?
2. Is it moral for a dozen or so players to make big money while normal citizens are forced to sell their property?
3. Why did the Leucadia flooding get worse after it was "fixed"?
*answer click here
4. If the only reason Leucadia can be declared blighted is the flooding (or extreme puddling as my friend calls it) is that why the city avoids a quality solution? Are "they" trying to make Leucadia blighted on purpose?
5. Will the new dirt being dumped along the tracks at Phoebe St make the puddling of water worse there when it rains?
6. Why is there an ugly chainlink fence along the tracks in Leucadia all of sudden?
7. Where will the city find the 7 million dollars needed to finish the $20 million UBER-BLING library?
8. Why didn't the city choose an simpler more cost effective library design? It's all about the archive of information, not curvy windows and zig zag decking.
9. Will the city overspend on UBER-BLING Fire Mansions or can they chill out and find a simple clean and efficient design that is part equipment garage and part dormitory?
10. What is the city's pension situation? The crisis in San Diego has a lot of people wondering about their own local governments.
11. Why does the city keep trying to raise taxes and fees? Why are they trying to nickel and dime you?
12. Will the city destroy the ambiance and mood of downtown Encinitas by installing parking meters?
13. Why does the city of San Diego spend a million dollars a mile on storm drains while the city of Encinitas estimates $20 million dollars a mile. Fred Caldwell raised this question at an RDA workshop, did he ever get an answer to this?
14. Should the city of Encinitas have an elected city attorney instead of an appointed one?
15. Should the city go ahead with huge bond debt? Will they get sued by Howard Jarvis again if they do?
16. Does the Hall park really have to cost $19 million? Could we go with a nice simple open park for the kids to run around on? Could baseball diamonds be built with charity fundraisers?
17. Could the big developers be encouraged to ease their way into the old neighborhoods instead of ramming their way in and then building anti-social walls around their subdivisions?
18. Is city manager Kerry Miller's only purpose in life to form RDA's?
19. Will the city actually collect TOT funds from the new condo/hotel? Has Christy Guerin opened a Pandora's Box of condo/hotels? Is this good or bad for Encinitas?
20. Did all those people on Leucadia Blvd really have to lose their homes so we could get to the Ecke golf course and Target shopping center in style?
21. What can we do to encourage the development of classy mixed use buildings in the vacant lots of coastal Leucadia?
Bonus question: Who is in charge of this crazy train?
Add your burning questions in the comments section.
2. Is it moral for a dozen or so players to make big money while normal citizens are forced to sell their property?
3. Why did the Leucadia flooding get worse after it was "fixed"?
*answer click here
4. If the only reason Leucadia can be declared blighted is the flooding (or extreme puddling as my friend calls it) is that why the city avoids a quality solution? Are "they" trying to make Leucadia blighted on purpose?
5. Will the new dirt being dumped along the tracks at Phoebe St make the puddling of water worse there when it rains?
6. Why is there an ugly chainlink fence along the tracks in Leucadia all of sudden?
7. Where will the city find the 7 million dollars needed to finish the $20 million UBER-BLING library?
8. Why didn't the city choose an simpler more cost effective library design? It's all about the archive of information, not curvy windows and zig zag decking.
9. Will the city overspend on UBER-BLING Fire Mansions or can they chill out and find a simple clean and efficient design that is part equipment garage and part dormitory?
10. What is the city's pension situation? The crisis in San Diego has a lot of people wondering about their own local governments.
11. Why does the city keep trying to raise taxes and fees? Why are they trying to nickel and dime you?
12. Will the city destroy the ambiance and mood of downtown Encinitas by installing parking meters?
13. Why does the city of San Diego spend a million dollars a mile on storm drains while the city of Encinitas estimates $20 million dollars a mile. Fred Caldwell raised this question at an RDA workshop, did he ever get an answer to this?
14. Should the city of Encinitas have an elected city attorney instead of an appointed one?
15. Should the city go ahead with huge bond debt? Will they get sued by Howard Jarvis again if they do?
16. Does the Hall park really have to cost $19 million? Could we go with a nice simple open park for the kids to run around on? Could baseball diamonds be built with charity fundraisers?
17. Could the big developers be encouraged to ease their way into the old neighborhoods instead of ramming their way in and then building anti-social walls around their subdivisions?
18. Is city manager Kerry Miller's only purpose in life to form RDA's?
19. Will the city actually collect TOT funds from the new condo/hotel? Has Christy Guerin opened a Pandora's Box of condo/hotels? Is this good or bad for Encinitas?
20. Did all those people on Leucadia Blvd really have to lose their homes so we could get to the Ecke golf course and Target shopping center in style?
21. What can we do to encourage the development of classy mixed use buildings in the vacant lots of coastal Leucadia?
Bonus question: Who is in charge of this crazy train?
Add your burning questions in the comments section.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Work at Burger King or Run for City Council?
From Sunday's North Count Times front page story: To conduct the city's business, each council member earns a monthly paycheck of $898. That pencils out to $10,776 a year, a sum that falls well below poverty levels. If City Council service were a full-time job, as some council members say it is, the hourly pay would amount to $5.18.
read the full NCT.com story here.
So, what's a better deal? Working at Burger King or running for Encinitas city council?
read the full NCT.com story here.
So, what's a better deal? Working at Burger King or running for Encinitas city council?
Friday, August 04, 2006
Little Known Facts about Christy Guerin
1. Christy Guerin has no human parents. She was born as a full adult after the grand opening of the Ecke Ranch Shopping Center. Her birth was the result of a three way between Target, Linens and Things and Ross Dress for Less.
2. When she was a cop she was fond of yelling "FREEZE MUTHAFUCKA!" even when writing traffic tickets.
3. Her new duties working for Brian Bilbray include helping him peel off his latex human face mask and feeding him live kittens.
4. Even Chuck Norris fears Christy Guerin's roundhouse kick. She did all of Uma Thurman's stunt work for Kill Bill 1&2.
5. Under that cute Anne Taylor outfit is a .38 special with shoulder holster so don't mess with her.
6. When Christy Guerin cried at her press conference announcing she wouldn't seek another term, flowers and baby ducks appeared from the ground where her tears fell.
7. Christy Guerin makes a mean Paella, the best!
8. Christy Guerin won 1st prize at the San Diego Comic Con costume contest for her version of slave Leia.
9. Christy Guerin can reach speeds on foot up to 9 miles an hour.
10. Christy Guerin can hear underwater sounds from as far as 15 miles away.
11. Christy Guerin is the person who forwards all those heartwarming spam e-mails to you.
12. Christy Guerin's husband is a sheriff with a terrific sense of humor (I hope).
13. Christy Guerin's favorite dish at Denny's is Moons Over My Hammy.
14. Christy Guerin once appeared on the television show Judge Judy where she grabbed the gavel and cried out, NO MA'AM, YOU'RE THE ONE OUT OF ORDER!
15. Christy Guerin is lovely woman trying her best to make it in a man's world.
2. When she was a cop she was fond of yelling "FREEZE MUTHAFUCKA!" even when writing traffic tickets.
3. Her new duties working for Brian Bilbray include helping him peel off his latex human face mask and feeding him live kittens.
4. Even Chuck Norris fears Christy Guerin's roundhouse kick. She did all of Uma Thurman's stunt work for Kill Bill 1&2.
5. Under that cute Anne Taylor outfit is a .38 special with shoulder holster so don't mess with her.
6. When Christy Guerin cried at her press conference announcing she wouldn't seek another term, flowers and baby ducks appeared from the ground where her tears fell.
7. Christy Guerin makes a mean Paella, the best!
8. Christy Guerin won 1st prize at the San Diego Comic Con costume contest for her version of slave Leia.
9. Christy Guerin can reach speeds on foot up to 9 miles an hour.
10. Christy Guerin can hear underwater sounds from as far as 15 miles away.
11. Christy Guerin is the person who forwards all those heartwarming spam e-mails to you.
12. Christy Guerin's husband is a sheriff with a terrific sense of humor (I hope).
13. Christy Guerin's favorite dish at Denny's is Moons Over My Hammy.
14. Christy Guerin once appeared on the television show Judge Judy where she grabbed the gavel and cried out, NO MA'AM, YOU'RE THE ONE OUT OF ORDER!
15. Christy Guerin is lovely woman trying her best to make it in a man's world.
CAT FIGHT!
Guerin defends appointment to waste water board
By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer
ENCINITAS ---- Mayor Christy Guerin on Thursday defended her recent appointment of a staffer as an alternate to a regional waste water board and lashed out at a colleague for criticizing the action.
The spat over Guerin naming Public Works Department Director Phil Cotton as a nonvoting alternate to Encina Wastewater Authority's board of directors comes as Guerin juggles her city duties with those of her new employer, Republican Rep. Brian Bilbray.
It also underscores animosity between Guerin and Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan, as Guerin approaches her final four months in office. Guerin announced recently she will not seek a third term.
Houlihan said Thursday that Guerin should have brought a proposal to appoint Cotton to the Encina board to the City Council for consideration.
read the rest at NCT.com
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Barratt Settles Lawsuit, Reports Record Revenue
Encinitas, developer settle lawsuits
By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer
ENCINITAS ---- Encinitas and Barratt American Inc. have settled two lawsuits brought by the Carlsbad-based home builder, officials for both sides said Wednesday.
The developer sued Encinitas in 2000 and again this year, claiming that the fees Encinitas charges for issuing building permits and reviewing plans exceed what the city pays to provide those services.
As part of the settlement, both sides agreed to cover their own legal fees and to confer before the next fee increase.
"This is a validation that the city's fee structure is reasonable and that, as a result, Barratt dropped their lawsuits," said City Councilman Jerome Stocks.
The City Council approved increases to building-permit and plan-check fees last December. The adjustment was Encinitas' first in 11 years and brought increases ranging from 13 percent to 52 percent.
In June, Barratt filed the second of its two lawsuits in Superior Court. The lawsuit alleged that Encinitas' approval of a revised fee schedule would result "in a massive and unjustified increase in the fees for building permits and plan reviews."
The lawsuit asked the court to overturn the City Council's approval of the revised fee schedule.
Encinitas' fees are at about the midpoint of those charged by other cities in the region, city officials say.
read the rest of the NCT.com story here
Barratt Finishes Record Year
Barratt American, a Carlsbad-based residential builder, on Aug. 1 reported record high revenue of more than $378.6 million for the fiscal year ended June 30.
The figure includes $361.1 million on sales of 598 homes, up from 431 homes sold in fiscal 2005, and land sales valued at $17.5 million, according to Michael D. Pattinson, the firmÂ’s president and chief executive officer.
The average home-sale price was $603,965, ranging from products in the high $200,000s to luxury residences priced around $2 million.
San Diego Business Journal online story.
Barratt American CEO Michael D. Pattinson writes an entertaining twice monthly column for the North County Times. His controversial columns include strange bi-polar mood swings from hubristic bully to whiny little girl, often in the same paragraph.
By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer
ENCINITAS ---- Encinitas and Barratt American Inc. have settled two lawsuits brought by the Carlsbad-based home builder, officials for both sides said Wednesday.
The developer sued Encinitas in 2000 and again this year, claiming that the fees Encinitas charges for issuing building permits and reviewing plans exceed what the city pays to provide those services.
As part of the settlement, both sides agreed to cover their own legal fees and to confer before the next fee increase.
"This is a validation that the city's fee structure is reasonable and that, as a result, Barratt dropped their lawsuits," said City Councilman Jerome Stocks.
The City Council approved increases to building-permit and plan-check fees last December. The adjustment was Encinitas' first in 11 years and brought increases ranging from 13 percent to 52 percent.
In June, Barratt filed the second of its two lawsuits in Superior Court. The lawsuit alleged that Encinitas' approval of a revised fee schedule would result "in a massive and unjustified increase in the fees for building permits and plan reviews."
The lawsuit asked the court to overturn the City Council's approval of the revised fee schedule.
Encinitas' fees are at about the midpoint of those charged by other cities in the region, city officials say.
read the rest of the NCT.com story here
Barratt Finishes Record Year
Barratt American, a Carlsbad-based residential builder, on Aug. 1 reported record high revenue of more than $378.6 million for the fiscal year ended June 30.
The figure includes $361.1 million on sales of 598 homes, up from 431 homes sold in fiscal 2005, and land sales valued at $17.5 million, according to Michael D. Pattinson, the firmÂ’s president and chief executive officer.
The average home-sale price was $603,965, ranging from products in the high $200,000s to luxury residences priced around $2 million.
San Diego Business Journal online story.
Barratt American CEO Michael D. Pattinson writes an entertaining twice monthly column for the North County Times. His controversial columns include strange bi-polar mood swings from hubristic bully to whiny little girl, often in the same paragraph.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
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