Better Not Bigger

Keeping priorities straight, Gerald Sodomka reminds the council majority what constitutes good government. We can't hear this kind of clear statement of what matters enough.  It is not unreasonable to expect this from our elected leaders.  We shouldn't be be scolded, mocked, belittled or blamed for wanting the best government possible. And, we should never have to be forced through the courts, bullying or public humiliation to be silent or go along to get along. 

Standing Up for the Right to Honor Maggie

Having just written about getting up, standing up; Ian Thompson was a stirring example of this in his speech to the city council last night.  It was an ultimatum as the council was being put on notice by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Coastal Law Group that the arbitrary ruling to mask Maggie's face was in violation of first amendment rights.



Coastal Law Group attorney, Livia Borak, had to wait four hours until the end of the meeting to speak because "that's how Mayor Stocks rolls".  He is vindictive and will make any personal annoyance quite public, like well, banning Maggie Houlihan's image on the banners in the first place.  How else does he roll?  He also rolls with a scripted dance partner. Last night Gaspar unsurprisingly was the first to name Vina as scapegoat, because blaming others is how they roll.  Didn't really work, as Liv Borak pointed out, they area all managers and Gus Vina answers to them all.


Coast News article
North County Times article

Tuesday is Dues-day: Get Up, Stand Up

Tuesday is Dues-day.  The dues?  Paying attention . . . Yes, by simply schooling yourself on how our local governance is organized, who are the players, what are the screw-ups, where is the money and what things get reported you can legitimately call yourself a citizen, an advocate for democracy.

Citizen Tip = Action

And then there are the dues demanded of us above and beyond simply paying attention.  Sometimes we need to get up, to make a stand. One advocate, Councilwoman Barth is only one vote.  She has been rendered ineffectual by every device this non-cooperative majority can use to silence her and obstruct her agenda requests or motions. That means our voices are silenced too. Dozens of clips illustrate these facts.

This week is hot! It's one of those weeks of mobilization for anyone involved in seeing Encinitas prosper for all of us (not just the few) and revert to a democratically governed community. The ordinance that is being forced out of the administrative to-do list and into the public sphere is a cobbled together bit of mayoral office takeover by the majority dance team of Gaspar and Stocks.  That reference is for the Mayoral Mambo from the Our Mayor blog last month describing how coordinated Stocks and Gaspar's re-write via an unagendized mayor selection ordinance.  Both that video clip and a more professional description are in the previous post from Patch by Lisa Shaffer. It is really important to grasp what fancy footwork is going on to control the mayor and deputy mayor seat for several years.

For New Encinitas residents to become incorporated into the body politic and not just labeled Nimbys (as Mayor Stocks called Cardiff and Old Encinitas and Leucadia groups throughout the years), they can gain the insight into both majority manipulation attempts and pushback from the public.  The public is kept as docile and marginalized as possible in the arcane formality that is a council meeting.  Even so, opportunities can be seized - sometimes unexpectedly - to make a forceful difference. Showing up in numbers is a start.

It's citizen show time.  Get up, stand up. One doesn't have to shout, rant, preach, condescend or bully; though, sadly some do. I personally believe all should get up out of the chairs and stand while the public speakers challenge this ridiculous takeover attempt. We should feel the embarrassment, the exposure, the fear of being counted if this means anything at all. We'll survive to feel good about ourselves for doing this.

Those of us who watch council meetings live streaming or on television need to peel our eyeballs from the screens and our butts from our chairs and head to Encinitas Civic Center, 505 S. Vulcan Avenue by 6 pm. on Wednesday night.  Without trying, 80-100 people should be there if all the regulars show up with a friend. New Encinitas leading a crowd to city hall could light a real fire under this fair city and help stop a really bad thing from happening on Wednesday night.

P.S. Forgot to thank Bob Marley for the title.

Encinitas Deserves a Real Discussion about Mayoral Selection

Copied from Encinitas Patch, March 26, 2012. by Lisa Shaffer

 

Who should run Encinitas – the voters, or the cronies on the Council?  On Wednesday, March 28, the Council could vote for a change that would anoint Kristin Gaspar as mayor for the next two years, regardless of who the voters elect in November. Fearful of the growing anti-incumbent movement in our city, Stocks and Gaspar contrived a proposal that would make Ms. Gaspar the mayor for the next two years, based on the 2010 election.

Under the current system, the mayor is elected by a majority vote of the Council. Without the proposed new change, when the voters elect new Council members in November, that new majority could elect someone else, such as Teresa Barth, who has never had the opportunity to serve. Under the proposed new ordinance, Ms. Gaspar would be anointed Mayor and could choose her own Deputy Mayor. In 2014, whoever got the most votes in 2012 would take over for two years.

The idea of a 2-year mayoral term is worth consideration. The idea of an elected mayor is worth consideration. Unfortunately, the Mayor has never put either topic on the agenda nor asked for a substantive staff report. No jurisdictions have been identified that use the proposed two-year, retroactive system. Our neighbors in Solana Beach and Del Mar rotate the mayoral position in a clearly defined process that could easily be implemented in Encinitas with an amendment to the municipal code. Instead, with no discussion, the current majority is trying to lock in their control before the next election, fearing, apparently, that they won’t have such tight control after November.

This Council can make changes if it decides to. Unfortunately, the public can’t stop them, at least until the November election. However, it seems only fair that any change voted now should only take effect after the next election, so the people know what their votes mean. Nobody knew in 2010 that their vote then would determine the mayor for the 2012-2014 period. Generally when incumbents change the rules, the change goes into effect after the next election, not retroactively.

The whole idea makes no sense. The person elected two years earlier might have shown him/herself to be undesirable as mayor. Why lock in the choice two years ahead of time?  It makes no sense unless your sole objective is to lock in one current council member and lock out another.

Council leadership seems so indifferent to public input that they put the item on the “consent agenda” which means it would not get any discussion in the Council meeting, no staff report and no recorded Council vote.  This is wrong! It is a very significant change to the way Encinitas operates and who holds power. It needs to be publicly debated.

Consent Agenda Item 9 deserves everyone’s attention. Contact the Council members and let them know what you think. Come to the meeting on Wednesday and speak to the item.
The proposed ordinance change is unfair, undemocratic, and poorly written. What do you think?

Transformational Tree Power

Something to help envision other ways of thinking.  Trees healing the ravages of climate upheavals.  The following has been a real thing in the real world for well over a decade.  Yet one seldom hears an ideas like this in our media, our council chambers.  Changing weather and weathering change are intrinsically tied.

Let's start allowing known facts and experiences in the natural world inform our conversations, our decisions about the present and the future.  All problems of the world solved in the garden, the man says. Beats starting another war for no apparent reason or drilling for oil in the tar sands, national park or the Arctic.

World Water Day was yesterday, making this clip and the updates that followed relevant for now.

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Encinitas is a community that loves its trees.  It has taken some real dedication on the part of citizens to keep after the public works department, park and recreation, the newer environmental commission to implement a comprehensive Urban Forest Management Plan. It was initiated some time in 2008.

If you watched some of the clips with this week's marathon of past protests at Orpheus Park and realize that only recently word came of the Tree City USA designation, you'll see that the Urban Forest plan has moved very, very slowly through the departmental channels, through staff writing and research and the public attempt to get it on the city council agenda. Tony Kranz, an abiding advocate for an urban forest ordinance, leads off in the 2010 clip below.



To go back to the timeline of the video clips that follow, six months following the Orpheus tree cutting debacle, city staff presented what they called an Urban Forest Management Plan.



The public, the council questions followed. Again, some facts about Encinitas urban forest are very often more informative than staff presentations. Here's a taste.

Wednesday Marathon - for Arbor Week

It really was something to behold. Three years ago a neighborhood mobilized around an outrage a violation and this anger and hurt grew organically, it escalated. To be fair, like our experience with the Surfing Madonna, Encinitas was put on the map through the press carrying the story of 11 trees being cut down in Leucadia's Orpheus Park.

A host of these community members follow in these clips and each brings information worth hearing. A lawyer, a teacher, an arborist, a scientist, a chief treehugger, former mayors and more to be featured another day. If you see them on the street, please tell them you watched the clips. Let's acknowledge each other when we act with engagement. It's encouraging. Courage isn't a trait of many, but millions of us are able to encourage. It's easy but surprisingly all too rare.

If you want to take this (approximately 38 minutes) in smaller doses, simply come back another time and type "trees" in the "search this blog" box in the right hand column or click on "trees" in the list of labels. All posts related to this week of trees (and this will be true for future tree stories) will be brought to the front of the line.

Tuesday is Dues-day: Trees

Tuesday is Dues-day. The dues are schooling yourself on how our local governance is organized, who are the players, what are the screw-ups, where is the money and what things get reported?

You’re a citizen, an advocate for democracy with this first step, paying attention. Today is the first day of Spring, last week was Arbor week and Encinitas has recently been officially designated a Tree City, USA. All of this warrants today's Citizen Tip = Trees.

“To use something as elegant as a tree. . . Imagine this design assignment: design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates microclimates, changes colors with the seasons, and self-replicates. Then say, why don’t we knock that down and write on it.” - William McDonough

McDonough, author of Cradle to Cradle, has stated the wealth that a tree represents in the above quote. In city within a culture within a country that disallows many conversations about anything that isn’t a commodity or in some way monetized according to economics from the past, trees can be a marginal subject at best or a smug hippy reference at worst. But anticipating our 21st century needs and stressors requires deeping conversations and alternative ways of framing our problems here in Encinitas. Trees having worth beyond their value as merely commodities, view or root obstructions or lawn ornaments begs public exposure, community knowledge.

Oh, and the 2009 cutting down 12 trees (one with a tree sitter) in Leucadia's Orpheus Park that overlooks Paul Ecke Central Elementary School represents one of the biggest screw-ups ever by the council majority of Dan Dalager, Jerome Stocks and Jim Bond. Last week's Sunshine Ordinance posts touched on their public relations nightmare here, here and here. Sunshine and trees and the misuse of email are all intertwined in this political stew. It's a good story to know and filled with facts unknown to many outside of Leucadia.

Both Dadla Ponizil and Elizabeth Taylor were Environment Commission members at the time of this Orpheus Park incident. Chris Hazeltine, mentioned in this clip, was the Parks and Recreation head.  He has since moved on to Carlsbad where he's still cutting down trees.

 Encinitas favorite tree expert, Mark Wisniewski, ran out of time and had to return the next week to complete his talk. The videographer did a very poor job of capturing the video monitor where Mark's slides illustrated what he was saying.

    

In honor of all the people who went to city hall to stand up at city council for the sake of the trees, this theme will be central to a dozen clips this week.

Sunshine Ordinance Supporters

Candidates for Encinitas City Council, Lisa Shaffer and Tony Kranz have actively supported the adoption of a Sunshine Ordinance for our community.

In January and February, both Lisa and Tony spoke at city council regarding one of open government primary themes, records retention. Encinitas You Need Us included clips here.

Visit Lisa Shaffer's website where, among many campaign features, the following excerpt on relevance for a Sunshine Ordinance, in council news this past year.

"The City Council wisely agreed not to protest a court order to pay legal fees resulting from failure to release a report that was requested by a member of the public.  Even the UT sees how wrong the Council majority was to try to withhold the report."

"On January 18, there is an item on the agenda to approve destruction of public records that are two years old.  Given that it sometimes takes more than two years to figure out that something wrong has happened, it's a dangerous practice to destroy public records.  In fact, in the case referred to above, when the City was ordered to release emails and other documents relevant to the case, the response was that the records no longer exist.  This is wrong.  We need a Sunshine Ordinance that would, among other things, protect correspondence and other public documents for at least 7 years."

Tony Kranz has repeatedly appeared before the city council to request that a Sunshine Ordinance be placed on the agenda. Tony's website has recently been updated and an excerpt related to a Sunshine Ordinance follows: 

"It took a judge’s order for the city to release the draft document from a $100,000 consultant’s report. Thousands of dollars were spent by the city on their own legal defense, and having lost in court, the city had to pay for the other guy’s attorney. Citizens shouldn’t have to file a lawsuit to get government documents (not subject to privacy laws) released. I will make sure that the city adopts and implements policies that will make it unlikely these matters will have to be fought in court."

 A vote for Lisa Shaffer and a vote for Tony Kranz in November would give this community a strong group with Teresa already seated on the council.  It could be the ending of a particularly secretive approach to governance in favor of transparency and sunshine.

This Is What Sunshine Looks Like

Leucadia residents in particular will remember three years ago when 11 trees were cut down by the city at Orpheus Park and the mean spirited emails about Teresa Barth, Paul Ecke Central Elementary School teachers by Dalager, Stocks and Bond to staff and the outside world from their city computer accounts. These councilmen chose to take little to no responsibility.

Conversely, Councilor Barth remained consistent in attempting to serve the residents' best interests. She was treated very badly, yet chose to take responsibility as a public official for the despicable failure the city demonstrated.

Tuesday is Dues-day: Sunshine Ordinance

Tuesday is Dues-day. The dues are schooling yourself on how our local governance is organized, who are the players, what are the screw-ups, where is the money and what things get reported?

You’re a citizen, an advocate for democracy with this first step, paying attention.

Introducing Oliver and Duff yesterday as the new guys, was intended as a welcome by proxy of a large community of people who may, like both Olivier and Duff, have just begun learning the ropes at Encinitas City Hall. Begging indulgence, I’d like to use their recent experiences specifically with this GPU snapshot in time to frame the idea of enforceable proscriptions through a Sunshine Ordinance’s in Encinitas.

The new guys give us the fresh eyes of what the city appears to be saying and doing. We’ll use these new guys’ experience of last fall’s melodramatic council majority and crony outrage tour de force. Veterans have watched this particular road show over the years to create political fanfare in an election season. So the tendency could be, “nothing to see here folks, move along, it’ politics as usual for this crew.”

But the new guys are mobilized to protect their own, and speak out. Moreover, though it initially sounded like they took the city's mayor, staff and seemingly reliable business people at their word that their best interests are at last going to be recognized and appreciated; now it grow more apparent that there is an unfolding understanding of more. 

Today's Sunshine Ordinance tip isn't a lesson in how the law reads as the newspapers (in print and online) will be filled with these facts all week. This citizen tip is for all newly activated people in New Encinitas and the other four communities regarding much needed sunshine on the General Plan Update, the ERAC and other council majority-inspired antics. Be aware of these dubious points and the potential violation each represents under current state laws:

• Pre-arranged or serial meetings amongst three or more council members. 
• Misrepresenting city contracts and procedures for political positioning. 
• Acting on non-agendized actions within meetings. 
• Misstating staff involvement in agenda
• Forming an advisory group without public disclosure; including applicant information or criteria for selection. 
• Changing meeting times without adequate notification and lawful time requirements. 
• Unstated goals and mission for citizen advisory group. 
• Unrecorded (that is, no city video) meetings for advisory group. 
• No accountability for . . . whatever lies ahead sans consultant contract or staff mandate. 
• No timeline or budget targets and no measure of success outside mayor and deputy mayor’s private targets. 

This list is speculative as the budget at Encintias You Need Us for investigative time (zero) and resources (zero) disallow pursuing the full truth of each. Please consider the following as homework; pick 1 or all:

1        email the mayor and deputy mayor to say you are watching and you want sunshine / full transparency:

·  Mayor Jerome Stocks jstocks@encinitasca.gov

·  Deputy Mayor Kristin Gaspar kgaspar@encinitasca.gov

2        email Teresa Barth to thank her for initiating Sunshine Ordinance goals for Encinitas for years now.

·  Teresa Barth tbarth@encinitasca.gov

3        watch for Patch and Coast News articles this week and please leave comments on articles related to Sunshine and Transparency in City Government.  

These are the dues for now, go and demand some sunshine. That is all.

The New Guys . . .

This is the way I've recently been thinking of the two speakers from New Encinitas at the recent city council meeting.  Duff Pickering and Olivier Canler in the clips below are part of the awakening passion in New Encinitas.  Right now they only see the issue of El Camino Real as the Smart Growth locus in the General Plan Update draft. 

What is important is these men, their families and many others are mobilizing to protest their own perspective isn't being honored or protected.  They have a website, a petition and are dedicated to seeing this GPU process through.



Olivier Canler handed out books for each of the council members when he was finished speaking.



You can hear Mayor Stocks say, "Smart Growth is pretty much dumb." as Olivier is handing the books to the clerk. This from the chair of SANDAG, the group that is the genesis of Smart Growth everything in San Diego County. Maybe that body will chose to rotate his happy a## out of the chair.

We look forward to watching these new guys as they become more and more informed on exactly how things play out in Encinitas in the council chambers, in community groups and as they work hard (as they have done) in meeting with as many people as they can.  Diversity and an enlarged active citizenry is invigorating.  It is exactly what those who benefit from an uninformed and an indifferent electorate fear most.

Leading Sunshine Ordinance Advocate for Encinitas

Councilor Teresa Barth shared personal background regarding the theme of transparency in government during this June 10, 2009 city council meeting. Just good enough was not then or now a goal she supports.  Keeping expectations tiny is not what Encinitas citizens should aim for in their community's governance.

Three years later, after a successful 2010 campaign and despite being the only minority voice on the city council, Teresa Barth is still advocating for open government.



More video clips from this June 10, 2009 meeting where the Sunshine Ordinance policy for the city of Encintas was agendized and discussed (in itself a major victory), will be shared this Sunshine Week.

Sunshine Week, March 11-17

This week will be devoted to sunshine, letting the sun shine on all that goes on in our local governance. Encinitas You Need Us was created for the express purpose of making video clips available to the public at large.

A planned document dump will be going on behind the scenes throughout the week of more than a hundred clips from the last 5 years. This represents hundreds of hours of meetings capturing highlights, citizen concerns and minority voices not recorded in public records. Many of these clips focus on the public speaking out against the majority in council violating open government ordinances and laws.

Look for these throughout this week and in the weeks to come.  

 A message from Encinitas leading advocate for Sunshine in government, Councilwoman Teresa Barth, reads.

"Patch is participating in National Sunshine Week to encourage more transparency in government and to protect the public's right to know.

Here is a great opportunity to speak up about what is going on in Encinitas."

Councilwoman Barth at Special Meeting

What was billed as a special council meeting was actually Mayor Stocks fooling around for some weeks with the agenda and council schedule, which postponed the appointments to city commissions and kept the community almost completely in the dark about the General Plan update.  In what has become a council offensive move #6 or so is the rhetoric of throwing out the general plan update and blaming all on the consultant, MIG, or the State legislature.

It was reassuring to hear councilwoman Barth to speak rationally about a complex process  in terms of leadership rather than the simplistic clean slate, all or nothing extremes that came out in the evening's speeches.

Lisa Shaffer at the Lotus Cafe

Lisa Shaffer is inviting you all to come by and meet with her to talk on Saturday, March 10.

Any time from 4 pm until 7 pm

Seriously, a chance to get a face-to-face look, much, much more than a facebook chat.

Her newsletter out today says,

"If you want to introduce yourself, tell me what's on your mind, chat about what you love in Encinitas, I'll be there. 

Bring your friends and neighbors."

Tuesday is Dues-day: General Plan Outreach

Tuesday is Dues-day. The dues are schooling yourself on how our local governance is organized, who are the players, what are the screw-ups, where is the money and what things get reported?

You’re a citizen, an advocate for democracy with this first step, paying attention.

Going back to October 28, 2009, this citizen tip covers the very first step in community outreach for the last two years of the General Plan Update (defined below). Since the theatrics of the ugly baby speech by Jerome Stocks, there have been accusations hurled at a whole range of individuals and groups that a grave injustice has been foisted on New Encinitas and the business world.

Before apportioning blame, the following video spells out the overarching strategy to involve the whole community in the General Plan Process as written into the contracts. Watch and learn because these facts have been erased from theGeneral Plan Update; Tuesday is Dues-day council talks in the past six months.

An Acronym and a Definition:

GPAC – General Plan Advisory Committee, 24 member committee to work with consultant and to work with their respective groups.

General Plan Update (definition source)

"General plans are often called a city’s constitution…a statement of who we are and what we value as a community.

The State of California requires all cities to adopt a general plan that includes required elements – Land Use, Housing, Circulation, Resource Management, Noise and Public Safety. The city also included an optional element – Recreation and Public Health is also proposed. The plan also states community goals for how the city should grow (or not grow) in the future.

There’s not been a comprehensive review and update of the General Plan since it was written over 25 years ago. A variety of state laws, court rulings and new issues such as sustainability and climate change have made it difficult to simply “tweak” sections and maintain internally consistent policies throughout the plan."

General Plan Outreach, highlights from the video clip above:

The Responsibilities:
GPAC members were chosen to represent a group or organization. These were people whose primary task was to inform their respective groups; 

• Virginia Felker for New Encinitas community (realtor and Planning Commissioner)
• Keith Bathay for the El Camino Real Commercial Interests. .

The Reality:
Has anyone asked them where they believe they fell short? Do we know if Felker and Bathay take any ownership in what has been broadcast far and wide as abject failure?

The Rules:
Community will steer policy, GPAC is there to advise and they can’t override the public workshops direction or findings. Because voting was considered divisive, GPAC operated by consensus. No chair, no voting and no hierarchical organization was deliberate.

The Reality:
You know, democracy is based on this messy, diverse coming together of ranging interests and perspectives Training was demanded in the GPU outline for the early days. First hand accounts say that the process was fun and there was great enthusiasm and respect for the huge task at hand. The community had plans for the GPU to help us fight density bonus, keep sidewalks out of rural neighborhoods and basically make the plan help the city keep its current feel.

SANDAG 2050 Forecast figures are now being protested by community groups, as they should be.  Dissent is built into this review process for GPU and for SANDAG. In the Land Use portion, the city misrepresented or confused the public at the workshops about where the direction for growth and growth numbers came from and they need to take the heat. 

Fortunately this backlash against the General Plan Update has penetrated into neighborhoods, homes and businesses previously outside the world of Encinitas city government involvement. The large task has always been, waking the populace.  Learning the ropes, for anyone who discovers local politics, seems bigger.  Hope this helps to break it into bites.

That initial gathering of information is complete. Now the scrutinizing of every one of the draft GPU elements is the task at hand.  

The darker, non-democratic aspects of the GPU backlash are spelled out at Our Mayor Stocks blog, “Erase (ERAC) - What is cost? What is lost?”

Speaking Out - How to

From the city website, there is currently a front page link to the procedures for speaking at a public meeting. Step by step with pictures too. Yea. More please . . .

Speaking Out: Agricultural Land, Upzoning and Developers

 Update at end of post.

As promised a couple of days ago, the following video clips present some well-articulated commentary on the subject of the 2007 Developer Agreement in the works with City Planners and the Brown Property at Santa Fe and Lake.

The November 7, 2007 Council Meeting shown here was only a snapshot in time for the entire controversy regarding this proposed land use, requiring a General Plan Amendment. There were many neighborhood meetings Scott Brown hosted to discuss this proposed land sale, zoning change. Many people came forward and participated and it was difficult to confront the issues of property rights, community character, developer / owner profits, the common good, traffic, property values and a host of other vital questions. The clips offer a glimpse of this controversy. They speak for themselves and cover a range of issues.  One in particular, voiced by a speaker in part 3, Leslie Anderson, stated a sentiment rarely covered in the press or council meetings,

"[I have children], twenty-something young adults.  I'm a bit concerned about living in a community of strictly millionaires.  And I would like to see our town be able to accommodate people of all economic levels."

Speakers in part 1: Bill Welch, Aggie Carter, Patricia Burnand, Mary Eblen and Kathryn Baily.



Speakers in part 2: Bob Bonde, Victoria Bearden and Tricia Smith.


Speakers in part 3: Leslie Anderson, Gilbert Foerster, Nancy Meiserhelder and Gerald
Sodomka.

 

These speakers covered a very specific project.  Can you spot the sameness of this plot over time of developer-driven culture kept out of the public's view?  What has changed in the last 5 years of council majority control? The issue is front and center for us again today as Paul Ecke III presses for his own private accommodation, despite General Plan, issues of secrecy and the Brown Act, past rulings, past voter rejection of his development schemes.

Update:  See Coast News Article too.