Surfrider-Washed

Jim Moriarty the CEO of Surfrider made a cameo appearance at Swamis today.

Jim looked super stoked. The weather was perfect, the waves head high with clean lines. I was wondering if Jim was thinking, "This is why we love North County, but I sure wish there was a contest today." Surfrider folks have said some zany things over the years.

So, I did an impromptu interview with Jim. I appears that the promoters of the surf contest are leading sponsors to believe that Surfrider is on board with the contest. Jim said that Surfrider has not taken a position to back the surf contest at Swamis. That squares with Surfrider's #2 mission.

2. SURFRIDER promotes the right of low-impact, free and open access to the world's waves and beaches for all people. SURFRIDER acts to preserve this right of access.

Jim said that when the community sees the restricted access that contests require as a negative, Surfrider supports the community. I was surprised to hear this.

There are people who support "the" contest. I've not heard anyone say that, in principle, that the lack of Swamis contests is bad. They like the promoter and in the case of one council member, the promoter has been here longer than any of you, so we should give her the contest.

The City should decide if, and how many contests we should have each year, and under what conditions. Then slots for the contests should be competitively granted and the contest operators on the hook for living up their promises. Why is that a bad idea?

The contest promoter has claimed that the contest is not even the main part of the event (that's weird). We should decide how many street fairs we are going to have each year. If the contest has a big street fair, should there be another street fair several weeks later? Recall: this will be the biggest thing ever to happen to Encinitas.

Boycott the LA Fire Dept

Traffic plans will interfere with fire safety, by David Smith

The city of Encinitas must be held responsible and accountable for its plans to “improve,” or change, Coast Highway.

Our community has been unsuccessful in getting the city to agree to make the changes in a such a way that they will not negatively affect Fire Department access to our homes west of the highway.

This is a time-critical issue as the Encinitas City Council will be voting on the plan at its regular meeting Wednesday.

The plan, called “North Coast Highway 101 Streetscape Project,” is an outline that will likely change Coast Highway in a way that not only will fail to meet, but will fall significantly below, Encinitas Fire Code specifications, Encinitas General Plan specifications and Encinitas Road Standards specifications.

These changes will certainly impede and delay the potential emergency response times to the community of about 1,000 homes west of Coast Highway between Encinitas Boulevard and La Costa Avenue and the three dedicated beach accesses in the area.

There are two options in consideration and up for City Council review on Wednesday.

One is “option 4A” and the other “option 5.” They both implement “traffic calming measures” that will significantly delay Fire Department response abilities.

The most drastic is option 4A. This option will incorporate multiple one-lane roundabouts that are below U.S. Department of Transportation size specifications for a four-lane major arterial right-of-way such as Coast Highway, and a complete elimination of a northbound lane for approximately two miles. The new planned northbound lane will have an overall improved width of 20 feet, curb to curb, with roundabout entrances at 16 feet.

Currently, the Encinitas Fire Department does not meet its response time goal of five minutes or less 80 percent of the time to the 1,000 homes in the area of the mentioned above.

According to records provided to me by Encinitas Fire Department, in the last three years it has met the response goal of five minutes or less only 45 percent of the time. Also, it cannot provide any precedent for a major arterial right-of-way like Coast Highway being changed as proposed in the leading options.

I have been employed by the Los Angeles Fire Department for the past 23 years as a firefighter/paramedic and a firefighter/engineer, and I have been driving fire engines and ambulances for the city of Los Angeles for the past 20 years. I have a firsthand working knowledge of how road design and traffic conditions can potentially delay response times, and how these potential delays can negatively affect the overall outcomes for people and property that need the service of a fire department.

Since April, we have made multiple attempts to contact and inform our City Council and city management of our concerns via letters, phone calls, community petitions, e-mails and attendance at council meetings and project workshops. We have received minimal to no response from the city.

What we would like see from the city is a serious response to our concerns and some investigation into what other municipalities have done to accommodate both walking paths and bike paths near railroad tracks, as has been done in San Clemente, instead of compromising a major arterial right-of-way like Coast Highway as the current plans will do.

Smith is an Encinitas resident.

Are these Walkable?

No auto traffic. Next to bus routes.

Good Lighting

Plaza like

Art by Encinitas Resident

Hush Puppy "Mall Walkers"

Definitions of Walkable

Fred's: Leucadia's business district means just about any flat surface that doesn't trip you, or make you wade through quagmire.

Anon's: True walkable communities you step out your door in the nice open air and walk or ride your bike to your destination while enjoying the outdoors, sun, moon, breeze, other animals, neighbors, and all local the community.

Anon 1139: Walkable is a touchy, feel good marketing term to get people to take mass (or group) transit.

Leucadia 101 and the long dark winter

Now that the holidays are over and the festive lights are coming down we are entering several months of the long dark. Driving down the 101 and entering Leucadia in the winter is dismal and depressing. The street lighting is terrible to non-existent and most of the businesses close early and do not have any ambient lighting to make the coast highway a cool place to cruise or walk at night.

Once the town settles on a streetscape design I would really like to see some lighting elements installed, especially in the center median. I want old timey streetlamps to line the coast highway like in downtown Encinitas (not the tall imposing streetlights that actually create a creepy vibe).

At the very least our Leucadia sign should be lighted. Sheesh.

However, the streetscape is still a long way off. Are there any temporary lighting measures we can do so that our winters are a little more cheery? What is the most energy efficient and environmental way to achieve this?

Streetscape on City Council Agenda, Wed Jan 13 !!!

A City Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, the 13th of January 2010 at 6:00 p.m., to review and discuss the plan alternatives, 4a and 5, of the North Coast Highway 101 Streetscape Project. The City Council meeting will be held in the Council Chambers; Encinitas Civic Center; 505 S. Vulcan Avenue; Encinitas, CA 92024.

In early 2008, the City initiated a streetscape project to enhance the North Coast Highway 101 corridor. Community input has been heavily utilized to create design concepts for beautification, landscape, pedestrian, circulation, and parking improvements for an approximate two mile stretch from A Street to La Costa Avenue. To date, four community workshops and additional public meetings and presentations have been held to receive citizen input in developing the project design. To allow for additional public input related to project alternatives, the City conducted a fourth Community Workshop at which time two plan alternatives, 4a & 5 were presented along with the results of additional traffic analysis. Following the workshop, the plan alternatives were on display at City Hall and available for review to allow for additional public input.

The January 13th meeting is being held to receive public comment and to allow City Council to review and discuss the plan alternatives. An overview of the design & community participation process, the project plan alternatives, workshop results, design and traffic calming concepts and traffic analysis will be presented by the project consultants. Additionally, staff will be seeking Council direction on which plan alternative, Plan 4a or 5, the City should pursue.

more info on the City of Encinitas website

Medicine Man

Lane Ends

Guest Editorial

As a longtime Leucadia resident, I am profoundly concerned about the prospect of losing one lane of northbound traffic on Highway 101. Sometimes experts and citizens alike can’t predict the consequences of changing traffic patterns. In the mid-90s the city of Solana Beach, urged on by nearby residents and consultants, erected a stop sign at Ocean St. and Highway 101. The result was nothing less than disastrous. Southbound traffic backed up in the morning past Chesterfield Ave. Residents soon discovered the noise, exhaust and traffic levels increased to the point that the stop sign was thankfully removed. Fortunately, for Solana Beach the fix was quick, cheap and easy.

My concern is the possible traffic nightmare resulting from shutting down one lane of traffic will be too costly to reverse. Coming home from the south in the late afternoon could be the most unpleasant part of the day. That, however, is not my biggest concern. Has anyone considered the prospect of an emergency evacuation from the south? We saw this scenario unfold in Texas with residents attempting to evacuate urban areas. Restricting traffic flow without the ability to temporarily restore the disabled traffic lane in the event of an emergency seems shortsighted and possibly dangerous.

R. Young

Visitor Center Update

Creatia

Leucadia is the Art and Soul of Encinitas. Leucadians are deeply innovative and creative. This image is a scan of an oversize postcard that came in the mail a while back. It was from Leucadia artist George Bredehoft.

Click to Enlarge

Funky Leucadia Garage

Moonlight Lofts Update: Work/Live

The Artists Colony was replaced by the Artists Lofts, which was eventually marketed as the Lofts at Moonlight. JP had described the Artists Colony as, "The cool swanky Artist Colony and all it's fun nooks and crannies..." The owners of the property decided to execute their property rights as they are spelled out in the Encinitas Municipal Code and state law, there by replacing a gathering space and a walkable destination/local attraction with 20 condos and commercial units on the ground floor.

Each of the units are two+ bedroom and come with two parking spaces. Originally, the units were marketed as condos. According to one of the residents, they were all converted to rentals because they were not selling.
When these Lofts were being developed, there was talk that the new residents were going to walk to work. You know, the live upstairs and work downstairs concept. I thought it was funny to act as if that were a new option. There are already mixed use buildings on the 101 and there is a ton of residential right behind the 101 shops in Leucadia.

In Moonlight Lofts, there is a small customer parking lot under the ground floor. Inclusion of such underground lots can add substantial project costs, but it is worth it because there will be a lot of auto activity associated with Moonlight Lofts. Right now there is plenty of parking. If the shops ever get fired up it is going to be tough for visitors to avoid overflowing into the neighborhood.

The Den was the first shop to open. Cool shop.

The proprietor also owns a shop in Carlsbad and if I recall correctly, she said she lives in Temecula. She definitely said she lived outside Encinitas, so that means she did not live upstairs.

Some of the other commercial space has been leased since I spoke with the owner of the Den. A local guy openned a hot dog shop and a couple law firms moved in. Other storefronts are still empty.

In 2008 the council banned certain uses (ex: Law Firms) of ground floor space in Downtown Encinitas.

NCT: Regarding the limit on downtown ground-level space, incumbents James Bond and Houlihan as well as challengers Collier and Doug Long said they support the ordinance as necessary to promote a "walkable" downtown business district.

Does this mean the occurence of law firms at the Moonlight Lofts indcates this project has not successfully created a walkable environment? Will the city also exclude law firms (and other uses) from other "walkability" target areas?

I spoke to one of the residential tenants last week. The interior of the units is high-end. I was told that most of the tenants are young professionals. No families. There is no place adjacent to the apartments for the kids to routinely play (i.e. semi-supervised).

Although, being able to walk to the bars and restaurants was considered a great asset of the apartment for the tenant I spoke with, she drives an auto to work. After talking to tenant and shop keeper it appears that most of the tenants drive to work (each unit does come with two parking spots).

Some of the units have cool city light views. Some also have motel views. Urban living comes with some down sides and living next to the motel can mean being impacted by disturbances emanating from the motel. This was an issue for the tenant.

Motel View

Surf Writer Touches Swamis Contest

Chris Ahrens is one of our communities' assets. He keeps the surf community reflective and grounded and gives glimpses of the surf to the wider population. He writes stuff for Risen, a column for The Coast News, and books about surfers.

This week Chris wrote about contests at Swamis. Ahrens echos the Leucadia blog (because the Leucadia Blog is awesome):

...To me this is more about the rights of local citizens than Swami’s itself. While I believe that nobody has the right to rope off a public area to accommodate a few, many friends strongly disagree...

Chris addresses the propaganda about localism:

...Swami’s is now home to a variety of surfers from young up-and-comers to soulful rock dwelling guardians, to those who appear in response to the omnipresent surf cams that plaster its pretty face worldwide. Still, the place remains a fun, gentle break populated by a generally friendly group of wave riders, who look to escape the loud world that press us ever deeper into smaller corners.

...Since then a daily contest is held between those who ride big boards and small boards and those who sit in the outside pack waiting for set waves, which lately includes beginners brazenly snaking waves from the more skilled...

Friends from L.A. had a good laugh learning about the Swamis localism propaganda this weekend. In LA there are spots were the local crew gets high on Meth before paddling out. They aren't very friendly.
I'm pretty sure no one has had a knife pulled on them at Swamis. That happened in the LA line up. There are breaks near Santa Barbara where the local crew post "guards" along the paths to the breaks. The "guards" use physical intimidation to keep the waves uncrowed.

Then there is The Ranch. The last undeveloped stretch of private land in Southern California. According to surfline:

Couple these militant day-trippers with the numerous landowners who surf, and you've got a healthy crew of fiercely protective locals to contend with whenever a quality swell -- the area picks up both summer souths and winter norths -- hits. First timers boating or, arms willing, kayaking in, will almost certainly be met with scowls and frowns of disapproval, if not outright shouting and physical hostility.

If a contest is to be held as a symbolic act against localism the promoters have picked the wrong break. It would be much more interesting if they took the contest north. They would also get better waves, but this contest is not about surfing.

See Also: The localism card is propaganda to trick the public.

Moonlight Beach Cleanup Sunday 2:30 pm

Want to help clean up the filthy and disgusting Moonlight Beach? Be there for the afternoon cleanup Sunday 2:30-4:30 pm

Meet at the restrooms.

Compostable trash bags and gloves will be provided.

Organized by Surya Scott Doc Wohl

After Christmas-recycling packaging and the tree

North County Times: MAKE CHRISTMAS A LITTLE LESS WASTEFUL BY RECYCLING

Holiday trees, wreaths, garlands and cut flowers can also be recycled. While some botanical decorations can simply be placed in your designated green waste cans, trees need a little extra attention.
First, remember to remove all lights, ornaments, tinsel and, yes, the tree stand.
Then cut the trees in half and trim off the branches. The tree sections can then be placed in your green waste recycling cans or left curbside on the next collection day, depending on your city's specific rules. Generally, flocked trees cannot be recycled, so they will have to go into the trash or be dropped off at a tree recycling center.