Buy Local L

Support your local small business in Leucadia!
www.buylocale.org

See our very own Leucadia local, Rheanna, playing at When in Rome tomorrow night from 7-10pm.

Pile 'o Gravel

Location: Just north of Leucadia Blvd on Hwy101.
First item: Some resourceful commuter used a bike chain to lock a plastic chair to the bus stop sign.
Second item: Remember when everyone in Cardiff was pissed that giant mulch piles were showing up on San Elijo Ave? Well, you guys were lucky because in Leucadia we get big piles of gravel. ooooooOOOOOh! Pretty!

New Leucadia Art Gallery Opens May 2nd!

ERIC PHLEGER GALLERY
828 North Coast Hwy 101 (in the building with the Coast News)
Eric Phleger Gallery is proud to announce “In a Different Light,” an exhibition of paintings on view at the gallery from May 2 through June 6, 2009. An artists’ reception will be held Saturday, May 2, 2009 from 6-8 pm.

Leucadia Gets Budgeted

The budget is where you find out what the city is really thinking. Here are some of the Leucadia projects in this year's draft budget.

La Costa Ave widening gets money, but only $375,000 three years from now and then no construction money in the following 3 years. That's interesting that they plan on designing and not building.

(click to blow up)
The streetscape funding gets to $2.3million for construction next year and then a half million gets added each year thereafter for a long time.

Can you build much for $2 million or even $3 million? The council is always talking about economies of scale and how it is a good idea to do one big project instead of piece meal, so if we could do something for $2 million would it be a good idea? Shouldn't there be more money?

How much is it going to cost to do the southern leg of the project?

Okay, the city budget has money trickling into the L101 project for over 6 years. Is this a sign that the city's budget doesn't have the steam to make the 101 "tree-ready"? Why the slow trickle?

Remember this quote from city council member and former Encinitas mayor, Dan Dalager describing the current state of the city budget, "We have a glass that is full and overflowing." If it is overflowing howcome the Downtown Encinitas streetscape is in deep freeze and the L101 streetscape won't be done for who knows how many years?

Anybody know about this one? The way I read this, it looks like the city is going to close off the Leucadia Blvd rail crossing. That is interesting.

I have to admit I was surprised to see funding for the Hygia roundabout. They have funding for that project 4 years out and they are budgeting $2 million dollars. That is a lot of money especially when you consider how much is budgeted for the L101 streetscape.

If they close the RR crossing does that sink the justification for another roundabout?


The draft budget document doesn't have a few things:
1) It doesn't include unfunded projects. We can't see what the alternatives are and what they might cost.
2) I didn't see funding for Leucadia drainage issues. There are a lot of drainage issues across Leucadia.

You can follow these links to the budget documents.

Rural Leucadia, does it still exist?

Horsies at Ecke Ranch.

When I was a little kid growing up in Leucadia in the 1970's it was a common sight to see people riding horses around town. I wish we still had pretty girls with long blond hair riding horses down Leucadia Blvd to the beach. Where did they go? Is it even legal to ride a horse down the coast highway anymore?

Travel Review of Leucadia

Carlos Hennfeld wrote a review of Leucadia titled, "Leucadia - The Beach Community That California Forgot."

Leucadia is an artsy beachside community within the picturesque South California beach community of Encinitas. At one time it was a mecca for surfers and hippies alike; remnants of the 1960’s era are still very much in evidence. Where else can you see tie-dye T-shirts, eclectic lawn art, cigar store Indians, hippie love beads and surfboard mailboxes?

You won’t find a Home Depot, McDonald’s or shopping mall in Leucadia, but you will still find some of the flower farms that made it the Poinsettia capitol of the world.

Leucadia is home to phenomenal restaurants, goofy shops, palm readers, coffee shops and hip galleries. Popular hangouts include Pannikin Coffee, housed in a former train station (very artsy); the iconic Lou’s Records (national recording artists have played in Lou’s parking lot) with an enormous collection of CDs and records; and Juanita’s Taco Shop, home of the best Breakfast Burritos on earth.

Leucadia’s residents say that the best thing that ever happened to Leucadia was that nothing ever happened to it. Leucadia’s beaches are lost in the 1960s and are old neighborhood surf breaks where hundreds of Leucadian’s have been surfing for thirty or more years.

You can find the complete article on yourtravelguide.com.

We should definitely fix up Leucadia and we should be thoughtful in our efforts to maintain the essence of Leucadia. When making zoning, infrastructure changes, or spending taxpayer dollars we should always think of the long-term consequences.

What do we want Leucadia to be like in 15 years?

Coast News Breaks Jru Update

From The Coast News:
Andrew Watkins, a man who earned a reputation for his tree protest at Orpheus Park in Leucadia, was recently...

clickly clicky to find out.

It is good to support our local news outlets by visiting their websites and checking out what their advertisers have to offer.

Encinitas Street Fair this Weekend

The iconic Encinitas Streetfair is this weekend. A stunning 100,000 visitors are expected. I've loved the Streetfair ever since I was a kid even though it's not as rootsy as it used to be. Ignore the traveling corpo vendors and seek out the local artisans this weekend like my photographer friend Maggie Marsek who will be selling fine prints at her booth.

North Coast Current.com has a write on the musical lineup, Diversity marks Street Fair music scene

*I wish the city of Encinitas would let Leucadia use the coast highway for it's Art Walk event. Isn't closing down the entire downtown Encinitas 101 highway the ultimate "choke point"? Yet we always seem to be able to survive the weekend. *sigh*

**note-Dody Tucker from DEMA is looking for volunteers to help with the Big Grill 1pm – 5pm on Saturday. So if you have mad bar-b-que skills contact her at 760-943-1950

Leucadia: Still Funky

Being funky isn't just about our physical infrastructure. It is also about our variety of coexisting subcultures.

"I can make it."

Coast Dispatch Returns in Online Form

The fabled Coast Dispatch newspaper has been reborn as North Coast Current.
www.nccurrent.com
Here is a nccurrent.com story about Leucadian Scott Chatfield who fought and won the battle to keep our 760 area code, clicky click.

Mid-Morning Leucadia 101 Tree Canopy

I took this photo this morning around 8:45 am while taking my 19 month old son for a stroll. The temp was already into the 70's and the tree shade was pleasant and refreshing, demonstrating the importance of a healthy tree canopy for Leucadia's 101 merchant corridor. My iPhone camera didn't quite capture it, but the blooming wild flowers in the center median looked really pretty. This location is in front of Le Papagayo restaurant.

Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation is a clever new tv show about small town government. The above Pilot episode is promising and there is sure to be plenty of comic fodder ahead that observers of the city of Encinitas can relate too.