Municipal Bonds Refinancing Scheme

Update At End
The mere mention of municipal bonds triggers this recent news piece, which details Bank of America (and the other giants) corruption in a complex list of mortgages, credit cards, investment malfeasance and much more.

"The two that, to me, are the most incredible are municipal bid rigging—Bank of America a couple years ago paid a $137 million settlement, because they were caught rigging the bids for municipal bond issues in at least 88 different cases across—I think that was 25 different states.

What this means is whenever some municipality—it could be the Guam power authority or, you know, the city of Baltimore—when they want to raise money, they have to do it through an investment bank, and they’re supposed to do it through an auction process, where all the banks compete to see how much they’re going to pay to get that business.

Well, these banks have been systematically colluding and submitting artificially low bids, and there’s usually an insider on the municipal side who kind of games the whole process. They’ve been systematically doing this around the country for years and essentially cheating municipalities out of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues that they would have otherwise gotten. That’s a big one."

With the backdrop of a known nationally corrupt financial system, it is naive to take the city finance director's presentation at the last meeting at face value. Again, it has been said before on this blog; we have well earned our right to discern, to distrust, to question everything related to a completely monetized form of governance, utterly dependent on banks, lawyers and financial consultants.

Oh, and that big bite out of the money stack at the opening is the nearly half a million dollars the national, regional consultant team will be paid to do a stack of paperwork revisions based on the original bonds they all worked on in 2004. More than $450,000 (Jay's math is lower) to go to a hand full lof individuals with firms headquartered out of state? Just because it is a contingency fee doesn't mean it isn't going to be paid and included in the bond debt. Can't we do better than fairy dust, blinkers or worse approaching an economy in crisis?

The council all voted to go ahead and the public speakers are coming from different perspectives than are presented in this post.  There will be plenty of opportunity throughout May - a standard budget discussion month - to communicate all kinds of viewpoints. Encinitas government will not suffer from too much scrutiny.  What better time to put people's fears to rest or demonstrate a willingness to allow more transparency? 

 

 

Public Speakers with decades of experience in the financial dealings of the city.

 

Update: Budget talks are in June, rather than May as noted. So, maybe we can be a step ahead with homework.

Street Art

Vidar

Because of the traffic safety issue on the agenda this last week with a no action vote despite that staggering $146,000 spent to study a solution looking for a problem, the following guerilla street art came to mind. Thanks to Street Art Utopia for a soul satisfying glimpse of  imaginative solutions to real problems - communicated through art and acts of civil disobedience - volunteer activism.

 City Sanctioned Art

"The First Annual Encinitas Arts Festival will become reality on May 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Encinitas Community and Senior Center. Having coordinated Imagination Celebration of Orange County, a three-week-long arts festival held in 50 locations, Jim Gilliam feels Encinitas is ready for a similar, although smaller-scaled, event.

The Festival will include a huge outdoor drum circle, student art exhibit, music, theatre, dance workshops, as well as an impressive lineup of dance performances on two stages coordinated by professional dancer Georgia Schmid." Coast News

Go and get further inspiration to embrace braver visions, taking risks and stepping into an unknown future. 

 Just Imagine a true arts community, with unleashed creativity . . . where throwing money at things isn't the only method of confronting challenges.

Conversation in the Future
My son, do you want to hear something strange?

• Yes! What?

You know the new tree painting we did on the garage last week.. Up until around the year 2050 people generally did not have paintings on houses!

• What? Were they grey? 

Well, yes, many were. Often they would paint villas in One colour, like blue or yellow, but very rarely in more than one or two colours and almost never any pictures. Most apartment houses and government buildings and so on were grey. Artists sometimes went and painted on tunnels, grey municipal buildings and so on, but the pictures were washed away! By the government!

• …Was art forbidden? 

Well no, but it had to be in special buildings only. Some people felt that houses was not to be painted on, except in one pale colour all over.

• Wow.. How dull.

Yes, my son. Now lets get our jackets and go pick some fruit.

Thanks to Facebook Street Art Utopia for images and story.

Did Anyone Else Notice?

What a fine bunch of things happened at the last meeting?  It started with Vice President of the San Dieguito Water District Board, Teresa Barth conducting that first meeting. Wow, what a great change.

 

A wonderful young man was recognized for his saving a life.  His response was so genuine, so charming. 

A local activist gets a promise  (through Teresa Barth) from the city manager and council vote for an ecologically sound treatment for toxic soil, bio-remediation, onto the agenda.

 

And on this day, public sentiment won the day when nine people who live along Manchester Avenue spoke without a shadow of doubt that the proposed alignment and widening of their street, Manchester Avenue, should not be aligned and widened. 

Maybe it was due to the Deputy Mayor not being there? Kidding. I suspect the mayor bending over backwards to be charming (cloying) was due to the youth attending or the campaign advice from rational sources or maybe just to appeal to the wealth in the room last Wednesday. Whatever, it was a refreshing experience overall. And Nancy Nelson on behalf of her mother, Carol Nelson, a resident of Encinitas for almost fifty years, chewing out the whole council majority and demanding an apology from Kristin Gaspar was the biggest kick of all.

Quote of the Day

"We are writing you today as professionals, academics, and policy experts who have researched, analyzed, and defended against security threats to the Internet and its infrastructure. We have devoted our careers to building security technologies, and to protecting networks, computers, and critical infrastructure against attacks of many stripes. We take security very seriously, but we fervently believe that strong computer and network security does not require Internet users to sacrifice their privacy and civil liberties."—From a letter to members of the US Congress, from "a group of prominent academics, experienced engineers, and professionals [who oppose] CISPA and other overly broad cybersecurity bills."

It's a great letter, and you can read the whole thing here.

Though not specifically a local issue, the internet is vital to be informed citizens in this age of corporate infotainment that passes for news. CISPA is going to the floor of congress this week.  It is only one of many cybersecurity bills - written through well financed lobbying interests.  Please keep this on your radar as a public service dedicated to connectivity and security in a time of divisiveness and fear. 

Today is Dues-day: Tail Wags Dog Planning

Tuesday is Dues-day. The dues are 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’re a citizen, an advocate for democracy with this first step, paying attention.

Citizen Tip = Face value is rarely enough information to compare and contrast. 

Let's take roadwork as the subject.  There are all those who use the roadways including motor vehicles, bikes and pedestrians.  Some of these may be commercial, buses or visitor vehicles just passing through and using the roads.  By all measures the vehicular traffic is the most dangerous, the most polluting and the hardest on the roadway infrastructure. And car-centric changes to streets are far more expensive than those for biking or walking trails.

Everyone who uses, benefits from the roadways have a stake in these streets serving each driver's, biker's or walker's purposes.  Safe movement is the highest priority with convenience following.  (In practice accidents are often caused by an individual making that second priority overtake the first with high speed and carelessness for the sake of convenience).

The regulatory bodies are the city's traffic engineering staff and the traffic commission who report to the city council. Besides local ordinances, regulations include state and federal laws governing roadways. As witnessed by a recent state ruling to raise the speed limit on Quail Drive, logic and common sense fell victim to a ruling that basically rewards speeding.  Long story, see clip. In another instance, this time San Elijo Avenue stretch of roadway (part of Manchester) included this clip by residents who lived there virtually begging for street calming solutions for this treacherous curve. 

Seems safe for you to assume that residents pleading for safety are key.  You would be wrong. What we do not see on the surface are the dealings with large land owners, housing or commercial development projects that are officially and unofficially vetted by the city staff.  We have no way of knowing where and when such projects might be scheduled. 

Case in point this week is a street, traffic study contracted last summer for a portion of Manchester.  Despite this being a street where no residents had complained about problems, had relatively low accident counts a contract for almost $147,000 was awarded.  All the council agreed to the study despite nobody except Jerome Stocks whole-heartedly endorsing the study claiming the road was far more treacherous on his bike with his child than highway 101 or El Camino Real. *ahem*

Here are several more clips with the public speakers. All of these contribute to the deliberations.

 

One thing hasn't changed in years, these public speakers were never properly informed and they were not informed for this week's meeting either. 

 

For an edited clip of the presentation with some of Maggie's comments, click here.  For Teresa Barth's statements click here. 

These clips, the links to the the other road width, speed, curve issues here and in yesterday's post give a wealth of background to what actually hold most sway over the planning and engineering staff's priorities and council majority decisions.  It is not a one size fits all challenge or solution.  None of this happens in a vacuum and it is too simplistic to point out a few scapegoats, even the mayor or a state law.  There are solutions if our staff and council would be open to alternate solutions.  There is institutionalized preference given formula solutions and large land owners or large development projects are weighted far above and beyond reality or resident information, experiences and perceptions.

Redefining Normal

ENCINITAS: City policy threatens trees on picturesque street, residents say

The North County Times article speaks to our city's real problem (from residents point of view and from an sound ecosystem point of view) with the aggressive butchering of trees to achieve ill-defined, questionably justified planning goals and parks and recreation practices (separate but equally destructive for trees). 

This article contains a list of all of the 82 Special Status Streets that were given exemptions from mandatory widths dictated by codes.  Nothing has been allowed this exemption since 1993 or since the current city council majority has been in power.

It's time to redefine what these roadway codes are and why they take precedence over all of the people who live along these streets, like the Crest Drive neighbors and the Wotan Drive neighbors in the article who are petitioning the city.

More than a decade of relying on developer deals to run a city in a piecemeal fashion for a revenue stream or infrastructure improvements, insensitive to safe and sustainable living for the children, the  people, wildlife and the trees (always working 24/7 though far older than most residents) is blind to reality. 

This isn't a simplistic challenge.  This is a giant connect the dots with vision and intelligence.  It demands the kind of coordination between traffic, housing, public health, environmental limits, economic changes and other criteria within our General Plan.  The need for the status quo to be revisited is the very reason the update to our General Plan was needed and why discarding and / or disallowing diverse voices now is a big mistake.

This week one council agenda item will be  to discuss the study findings for widening a portion of Manchester Avenue.  Those neighbors spoke out with the same concerns of these people in the article above, so we are all connected.

image credit: 11:11

Earth Day

Spotted on Facebook, Lisa Shaffer's photo taken at yesterday's Garden Festival in Encinitas where she volunteered as a tour guide. Also, this entry:

"Congratulations to Encinitas resident, Prof. Kim Prather, along with colleagues Prof. Naomi Oreskes and Prof. Emeritus Charles Kennel, this year's recipients of the UCSD Muir Environmental Fellow award. I was one of the inaugural winners last year when the prize was established."

Looking at the UC San Diego John Muir College Website:

"In 2011 Muir College inaugurated a new tradition to honor the legacy of the college’s namesake, John Muir. Each year, the college names as Muir Environmental Fellows a selected group of individuals affiliated with UC San Diego (faculty, staff, or alumni) whose work has contributed significantly to the cause of sustainability and environmental preservation."

2011 Environmental Fellow Award Recipient

For many years, Lisa Shaffer has been a principal moving force in sustainability efforts at UC San Diego and in San Diego at large. Among a long list of awards and honors, she has been presented with the UCSD Sustainability Award; the City of San Diego Climate Champion Award; and NASA’s Exceptional Service and, Special Service medals. She has served as a board member of the Kids-vs.-Global-Warming and iMatter March; as a member of the Board of Directors for the California Center for Sustainable Energy; and for years, as the Executive Director of the Environment and Sustainability Initiative at UCSD, forerunner of the Sustainability Solutions Institute. At the Rady School of Management, Shafer teaches courses such as Corporate Ethics and Social Responsibility and serves as a resource for sustainability and green job-related outreach. She also teaches a graduate seminar at IRPS on Corporate Strategy and the Environment.

2012 Environmental Fellow Award Recipient

Kimberly Prather, Distinguished Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry at UC San Diego, is an internationally recognized scientist who takes her innovative research on aerosols and their impact on the environment outside the lab to school children in San Diego and to the community more broadly. Affiliated with both the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and SIO’s Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Prather is a founder and Director of the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and Environment (CAICE). Through standing partnerships that she has established with local schools such as Castle Park High School in Chula Vista and Paul Ecke Elementary School in Encinitas, she and her research group bring their instruments to K-12 classrooms to educate students about pollution and climate change and to encourage them to consider careers in science. No less committed to education at UCSD, Prather is an excellent teacher who was nominated by her students in 2009 for the UCSD Faculty Sustainability Award in recognition of her teaching which encourages students to apply the principles of air pollution, climate, and health to real world experience.

Kim spoke out at a city council meeting almost exactly one year ago about the hazard to our health with the widening of Interstate 5. Kim is the last to speak (7:10) on this clip. You are encouraged to watch the whole thing as the first 2 speakers, the Minsters, Bernard and C.J., as ever give highly cogent description of what is going on and one of Kim Prather's students precedes her speech.  It isn't hard to be very proud of the citizenry of Encinitas when people like this make such a commitment to their community.

Guess I'll be sure and check Lisa Shaffer's facebook page more regularly.

News Quiz

What 10 things are needed to look at Coast News online this week?

Corporate media is a big, dangerous thing and deserving of several posts. It's not exactly this story. There are smaller, but equally vital local questions we all should ask ourselves about where we get our news and why. Local paper with live (hopefully thinking) news staff engaged in our city - is the story.

Like so many 21 century changes, comparing new media to conventional media has many nuances not easily weighed. Conventional newspapers are going away. I like the ritual of reading from newsprint, the positioning, folding and turning of the pages and the feel of the sheets, the smell of the inks. Reading my paper seems ceremonial.

It took quite a while for me to adjust to online reading on my computer monitor, then my phone. I’ve lost a whole tactile, clipping, saving and sharing experience. What I’ve gained online is the ability to link instantly to different reference sources within an article as I’m reading and leaping right back to where I left off reading. I can comment to the reporter, the paper and other readers and even be a part of a whole forum following each post. It’s a kind of over the breakfast table conversation no longer a real life routine for me. So, I’m hooked.

Real journalism, especially investigative, political journalism is absent but for a tiny number of sources. Newspapers now rely heavily on fluff and filler from corporate news feeds because it’s cheaper than paying live (thinking) reporters. Finding a local newspaper that is responsive to citizen concerns is rare because genuinely local papers are nearly extinct. Our local Coast News is one rare find. This is a free paper that has relied on ads to survive. Now that more of us get our news online, the paper can’t sell ads, so they have had to impose a pay wall. Let’s support this valuable little gem of a paper.

Just 10 things: 1 quarter + 3 dimes + 6 nickels = 85¢ each week, or the one time yearly fee of $44.40.That’s all that’s needed for each week’s read. Mary Fleener’s political cartoon, community letters and Andrew Audet’s Liberty, Liberty and Leadership commentary alone are worth the fee.

Let publisher Jim Kydd and son Chris Kydd know how much this matters to have Coast News online each week. We can also ask them to post our letters, the commentary, etc. in a timely way because we virtual readers anxiously look forward to Thursday’s new edition like everyone does.

Don't Make It Hard, Don't Make it Mean

Something different is called for in this blog at this time.  An election is coming along with the nastiness that we all dread.  This is on top of the loss to cancer of Maggie Houlihan and a string of mean that followed.  Community members who are activists and advocates require care and support.  Something palliative is called for to balance what hurts. 

adj. 1. Tending or serving to palliate. 2. Relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease or disorder without effecting a cure.

Here's a teaser.

Anna Deavere Smith gives a gallery of portraits of real people across the US coping with health care and death. As an artist she tells our stories, a broad array of stories. All of us have to deal with the care system at some time or with someone we know in some way. She says that her characters all seem to say, "Don't make it hard, don't make it mean." "Let Me Down Easy" is an experience of caring. It addresses what kind of a country we want. EYNU has pointed out the most vulnerable being closer to harm and hurt.  

This production was broadcast in January of this year.  Watch the whole performance on PBS Masterpiece Theater here online for the first time or as a repeat.

We've had seven months of painful experiences with the death of Maggie Houlihan, the majority tantrums and hijacking of the GPU, the rejection of Lisa Shaffer or Tony Kranz to her council seat, the third time our Mayor in Exile Teresa Barth was passed over and insulted, the heartlessness of refusing permits for Maggie's memorial gathering, Art Banner honors or flag at half mass, Kristin Gaspar's verbal assaults on Teresa Barth at three different meetings, continued attempts to re-write mayoral selection ordinance, plus the constant negative treatment of the public by the majority council members Stocks, Gaspar, Muir and Bond.  Hurt, fear, rage and a host of other strong feelings wash over us and soothing with honesty is a good thing.

And, yes, it hasn't escaped observation, Jerome Stocks is a health insurance salesman.

Holy Blogosphere!

Sunlight Weekly Roundup: "The right of the people to know what their government is doing is fundamental to democracy”

"Bridget Todd
March 16, 2012

California Councilwoman Teresa Barth recently wrote an open letter publicizing her support for increased government transparency. In the letter, Barth maintains that Encinitas, California needs stronger transparency laws. She writes, “At the June 10, 2009 City Council meeting, I proposed a citizen’s task force to work with staff to craft a Sunshine Ordinance for Encinitas. My colleagues said the city was already in compliance with existing laws and a Sunshine Ordinance was not necessary. I believe we should set a higher goal. We should strive to do the 'Best Not the Least.'" She urges all citizens to tell the city council to support a Sunshine Ordinance. She argues, “The right of the people to know what their government is doing is fundamental to democracy.” For the whole story, check out her post on Coast News."

Holy Blogosphere! Our very own Mayor in Exile, Teresa Barth, was recognized by a state-wide blog for her fierce support for government transparency and it makes us proud. The pride is for a lot of things like advocacy for open government, like her constant reminders to her colleagues that 21st century tools, technology and challenges must be incorporated into the city’s rules and processes; like listening to all the voices around the state, the coastal cities next door and the city neighborhoods and for keeping up with bloggers, Facebook connections, local events and organizations.

Last week she featured the blogosphere in her weekly newsletter and it’s with real gratitude we honor her today as a champion of the young, of change and 21st century tools and above all for paying attention to what matters. By those newsletter links alone Teresa Barth may have opened a world of new communication avenues to people who may never have considered stopping by each day to check what is posted at Encinitas You Need Us blog, Our Mayor blog, Encinitas Undercover blog, Encinitas Taxpayers Association blog or the Leucadia Blog. Barth has inspired the link love here and connections to these blogs named along with Teresa Barth’s website and two great candidates will be located now in the sidebar.

This Sunlight Foundation statewide blog who honored Barth is another really good resource. It will be given some link love too, along with some others we think activists might discover as good sources of information.

Tuesday is Dues-day: Campaign Rules

Tuesday is Dues-day. The dues are 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’re a citizen, an advocate for democracy with this first step, paying attention.

Rules and processes are Kristin Gaspar's and Jerome Stocks governance priorities du jour, see recent video clip.  There is of course truth behind the rigid proclamations to justify lack of humanity.  The truth is, a fair election demands disclosure, accountability and oversight.

In fact, this is the number one threat in our own community elections.  We who were paying attention at the last election watched big money being spent illegally in the campaigns of Kristin Gaspar, It took months after the election, but at least one person with the Voter Education Group found guilty of crimes. Steep fines were also placed on the Voter Education Group.  Leucadia blog  covered this along with news publications.

"Yesterday the UT reported:

Kinde Durkee was arrested Friday at Durkee and Associates in Burbank and charged with one count of mail fraud, said Lauren Horwood. The arrest was first reported by The Orange County Register.

In 2010, Voter Education Group, a slate-mailer managed by Durkee and Associates, was fined more than $110,000 by the FPPC for various reporting violations. One of the mailers endorsed Encinitas council candidates Kristin Gaspar and Dan Dalager while taking aim at Teresa Barth."

Citizen tip = Start with this exposure of what went on in 2010. The few who protested were labeled whiners and dismissed by many. Gaspar is now the deputy mayor of our town with a plan to anoint herself mayor for two years with her hand selected deputy.  Big money and a disinterested public has paid off in Encinitas for more than a decade. Accountability has been left to a few taking on court cases or litigation threats. But a populace aware of the campaign rules is armed with a larger voice to cry foul from the rooftops at the first signs of ethical foul play and roust even the most self-involved.  Big money can't compete with a vigilant town population demanding rules be followed by all the candidates.

FPPC is the Fair Political Practices for California, the state authority on campaign rules and processes.  Campaign funding is a fact of life.  Step 2 is to donate as much as you can to your chosen candidates. The limit is $250 per person. Arm ethical candidates with enough funding to do what is needed to win an election.

1. City's election information  There is more to this one page entry, but sadly, though most fundamental, there are local news people who don't know the basics that follow. 

CITY OF ENCINITAS MUNICIPAL ELECTION

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Candidate Filing Period:

The candidate filing period begins on July 16th with a deadline of August 10th at 5:00 P.M.. This deadline may be extended to August 15th at 5:00 P.M. (for non-incumbents) if one of the incumbents decides to not run again. Papers are issued by the City Clerk during the filing period.

Campaign Forms Required:

If a candidate plans to receive campaign contributions, the State requires that campaign forms be filed prior to accepting contributions. In addition, if contributions (Encinitas limit is $250 maximum from a single entity) reaches $1,000, the State also requires that candidates form a campaign committee.

Offices to be Filled by Election:

Three City Council Member positions. (Stocks, Bond & Muir)

Terms of Office:

The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will serve four (4) year terms.

2. The city's campaign policy  A short .pdf file, quick read with one of the most frequently asked questions, what about campaign signs? 

An unlimited number of political signs is allowed per parcel with the property owners permssion. Signs may be displayed 30 days prior to the election and must be removed 72 hours after the election. The sign area shall not exceed 32 square feet for nonresidential zones or 32 square feet for nonresidential uses in residential zones; signs shall not exceed 8 feet in height. The sign area shall not exceed 3 square feet for residential uses in residential zones with a maximum height of 5 feet. (long history of sign violations with council majority campaigns)

3. FPPC Instructions  Form 460 or either a General Purpose Committee or a Primarily Formed Ballot Measure or Candidate Committee Forms & Instructions.
This is the heart and soul of disclosure, the paper trail to follow the money.  Everything must be documented and described within the 460 and other forms within this packet. Here are some of the contribution codes that must appear next to every donation / expense entry.

• IND – Individual 
• COM – Recipient Committee (other than PTY or SCC) 
• OTH – Other (e.g., business entity) 
• PTY – Political Party 
• SCC – Small Contributor Committee

4. Campaign Disclosure Manual   Bookmark this resource or print it out if you intend to form a committee. Or simply scan it for an overview of it all.

How to Use this Manual

California’s Political Reform Act (the “Act”)requires receipts and expenditures in election campaigns to be fully and truthfully disclosed. Since 1974, there have been over 200 amendments to the Act’s campaign disclosure provisions. This manual has been prepared to assist candidates and primarily formed committees to comply with the Act’s numerous and often-detailed rules. It is written in a user friendly” format so that candidates and committees, especially those with small budgets, have a resource guide. It is organized by subject matter and addresses the most common issues of campaign disclosure for local elections.

The arrogance of the Encinitas council majority and big money backers is counting on the voters being apathetic and being ignorant of the the rules and processes.  But money alone just doesn't work when people are engaged and aware they are being sold half-truths and political slogans on top of being asked to trust the untrustworthy.

SANDAG Housing Element Presentation 2012

In response to public requests, especially Tony Kranz of late and Councilwoman Barth on behalf of her own questions and the public outcry about housing forecast high numbers, the SANDAG panel presented an explanation of the 2050 Forecast numbers and methods, especially the 2009 numbers presented to Encinitas City Council.  So this was a welcome agenda item.

I didn't say it was a captivating, entertaining agenda item.  But, like so many other responsibilities in life, you've got to do what you've got to do. Know this information. It may come in handy for us all as we tackle the gigantic civic task of the General Plan Update.  There are clarifications about why some of the numbers being quotes are simply wrong.  And we can see how the information we sought about El Camino Real was hidden in plain sight. So, here it is in bite size chunks.

Note: Sound quality is poor in these clips.  Original source here.

Encinitas Specifics

 

 

Council Questions

Teresa Barth Questions

Booga, Booga – The Poor Are Going to Get Ya

This is about housing in Encinitas and some pretty hysterical accusations, reactions and forecasts of doom. Eavesdropping, talking, listening, fishin' and observing over the last several years of the General Plan Update (GPU) has been instructive.

To be fair, well off individuals are pretty low priorities on my anxiety index. All that comes along with institutionalized privilege is at the fingertips of these people to help them cope.  I don’t wish it on people, but I don’t worry either. I have compassion for the struggles that are life itself.  Losing some money becomes a relative measure.

Entitlement, in my observation, means all the businesses and commercial owners who believe profits need to be guaranteed. The “newest arm” of the GPU, ERAC (erase) was concocted by the council majority to give the El Camino corridor business, developer, construction, real estate group along with several residents and others input into the process. A recent meeting speaking about affordable house brought these “dog whistle’ phrases; "that kind of zoning," "those people," not "them" in areas that already have nice houses” and similar.

“The ONE representative of affordable housing at this housing element meeting tried to say that there are benefits to "that kind of zoning" and that diversity adds value, and the senior commission representative pointed out that we do have a lot of seniors and more expected, and they need to live somewhere.”

Bootstraps Boys, the Ownership crowd can stop this kind of input in a flash and they did. All the thinking is short-term, status quo without a whiff the next 20-40 years where reboot gets real. Everything becomes a goal of economic return and rewarding current property owners to enable them to maximize their return when they sell their holdings. Recall at the Sept. 19, 2011 orchestrated General Plan outrage parade when amongst so much hyperbole; Dan Ukkestad claimed the whole purpose of the General Plan was to drive profits. Really?

That’s completely backwards. If you have a city like Encinitas where nobody earned the year round moderate temperatures or the ocean or the sunshine or the beauty of nature the Bootstraps Boys can’t claim any of those things. A community that provides adequate housing and work opportunities and a safe healthy way to live and get around with ease to a wide swath of people with a wide swath of skills and interests is a bonanza for business and a council doesn’t have to bargain away tax money, land or zoning changes to woo them from the outside. And healthy towns encourage local over national businesses. Business will spring up because business goes where there is a healthy workforce AND market because owners want to live here too. Employees are customers and taxpayers, as these three aren’t mutually exclusive labels. With a livable wage, employees are the market and so much more.

But, to go further with what a General Plan entails, Melissa McEwen explains,

“My present concern is with the working poor, and the way they are regarded by the architects of the Ownership Society. Those men—and they are indeed almost all men, most of whose lives have been dictated by inherent privilege and family connections, which we're not meant to note while admiring their shiny bootstraps—believe quite firmly, and without seemingly a trace of irony or compunction, that one gets what one deserves in life.

[. . . ] If you want to live in a capitalist society that gives you the opportunity to get nasty rich, then we can't all be wealthy. And if you want to be the kind of person who doesn't pump your own gas, or make your own sandwiches, or clean your own house, or manicure your own fingernails, or drain your own dog's anal glands, or build your own car elevator, then there are going to have to be people who fill all those jobs.

[ . . . ] People who honorably dedicate their time, energy, and talents to jobs that might not pay well are indeed entitled to something—to not work their whole lives only to find themselves poverty-stricken, or hungry, or homeless after one small (or not small) medical crisis. And if we're not going to ensure that every job comes with a livable wage, access to affordable health care, and retirement benefits, then we've got to provide a robust and well-funded social safety net.

I don't think that's asking for much, in exchange for a lifetime of providing service to their chosen vocation.

Though I grant it's certainly easier to scream BOOTSTRAPS! and carelessly assert that people who don't have everything they need just aren't trying hard enough.

Funny how the Grand Advocates of Hard Work are always the ones making the easy arguments.

The poor are simply people without enough money. A great deal of energy in planning and working around the obstacle of limited funds means more money and time must be spent at tasks, travel and adaptation for survival. Unlike the people of privilege, every single day is fraught with potential disaster. One disease or medical emergency can plunge a person, a family into utter destitution – on top of the emotional devastation that comes with such an ordeal. Even so, the poor are blamed for their own condition, accused falsely and punished for a system they have not created. I know because I’m poor. I also know because I know privilege. This last is so much easier.

Images: Mobile homes were not a real thing in the real world. This was a set for a play in Europe some years ago, but a popular image on the Internet. McMansion from Canadian magazine Ad Busters.

4 pm Today - Go!

Seriously, today - Sat. 4/14 - at E Street Cafe, Lisa Shaffer will be available to visit with you about Encinitas and what concerns you most.

Meet this extremely smart, engaging woman running for the Encinitas City Council who has so much to share. 

You won't regret this trip to downtown Encinitas to have a cup of coffee and a chat.

I blame it on Robin Leach

When did US citizens become so enraptured with acquisition, celebrity idolatry and obsessive fascination with infotainment? My vote goes to “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” the show featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes and business moguls hosted by Robin Leach. With the unctuous British accent caricatured by mimics for years, Robin taught a whole generation to faun after the wealthy. Silly US!

What was an amusing distraction in the early 80’s is now the only game in town, if you judge by pop culture. For the record, Leach was an employee and sophisticated sycophant was a job description. Lifestyles was one of a group including; Entertainment Tonight, Star Search and Solid Gold to name the most famous by just one producer. There were many more like him. These programs were the models, now the norm. Bravo programs lead the pack. Plus Fox News and a million cop, FBI, military infotainment television programs continue now to relentlessly keep authority myths and threats alive 24 hours a day, every single day.

Stupid is surging everywhere and the real stories of collusion and corruption all around us are not being heard by the preoccupied populace. On top of that is the terror of financial ruin the vast majority of people feel each and every day at jobs rarely bringing enough fulfillment for the time suck, pay and dwindling health benefits. Full circle to distraction isn’t difficult to understand or how this world view like a hamster wheel became a kind of norm. How “I got mine, screw you” seems to prevail.

What stories can we tell each other to wake ourselves out of the stupor that stops us from paying attention or demanding better? How can we build resilience, flexibility into our lives and community to withstand yet more shocks to come? Robin Leach’s tag line, "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" gospel to the greed is good mantra from that era. It lives on.  Do you sometimes want to yell, "snap out of it!" at the screen or at people caught up in this kind of fantasy worldview? It's tax week and realities are all too real for the 99%.

One thing is clear, being lied to with feel-good scenarios and fudged financials isn't what our community needs.  Next week at the City Council Meeting, April 18, Jerome Stocks will be delivering the State of the City address.  Here's one suggestion.  Prior to that meeting we all might compile our questions and publish them in the blogs, the online media, letters to the editor and emails to the mayor. Then we can tally how well he addresses our questions and not just his campaign stump speech material.

 Jerome Stocks
760-633-2622
jstocks@encinitasca.gov

We start by expecting, by demanding accountability.

Refusal to be Silenced

Maggie Houlihan died and her husband, her friends and artists wanted to commemorate her.  A simple loving thing that Mayor Stocks and his cronies found reasons to disallow.  It took husband Ian Thompson, the Coastal Law Group and the ACLU to threaten a law suit for the majority to respond.  Teresa Barth pushed for an immediate special council meeting and Stocks did not comply by the deadline Thompson demanded, April 6.  Stocks was quoted as saying there wasn't a quorum so the meeting was postponed until last night.

Last night, at a 4:30 closed meeting with public speakers allowed before hand, Thompson and Livia Borak of Coastal Law Group spoke along with friends and community members.  Here are several clips from this meeting, where the council majority (except for Kristin Gaspar) ultimately backed down and voted to let the stickers covering Maggie's face come off - under the threat of litigation (and cancelled the closed meeting portion).

These are a few of the choicest contributions by Maggie's friends and fans. 

SANDAG - Water & Traffic & Numbers all Questioned

Prior to the meeting tonight, April 11, 2012, with a SANDAG Presentation on the agenda (swoon) it is good to be reminded of the questions from the council three years ago. The companion piece to this was the SANDAG Growth 2050 Forecast posted here in late February. 

What do you feel about the questions and the responses? The responses from the SANDAG demographer seemed like very weasel-like words. Planner Patrick Murphy was candid about the growth numbers coming from the city. It just seems like a real effort must be exerted to get the facts.

Tuesday is Dues-day: GPU Foundation

Tuesday is Dues-day. The dues are 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’re a citizen, an advocate for democracy with this first step, paying attention.

This is a pretty easy one.  Pour a cup of coffee or if it's late, pop some popcorn and watch old footage.  That's it.  The next few weeks are really important for citizen engagement in the biggest project in town, the General Plan Update (GPU) with informational open house sessions and workshops on Housing Needs and Growth scheduled from now until May 14th.

But first, become familiar with or, if you participated in the last two years, re-acquaint yourself with some of the key aspects of the GPU.  What did our council members say to the consultant, the staff, SANDAG demographer, each other and the public?

Yesterday's post is a starting place for an overview of the entire GPU as presented last year, months before releasing the first draft when Stocks and Gaspar acted out a whole series of  offensive moves.  Today, council comments from Councilwomen Barth and Gaspar from that meeting are included below.

 

For the entire meeting, go to the city video archves and select May 11, 2011.

One Year Ago - General Plan Update

The following three part series of clips captures the presentation to the City Council just under one year ago this week.  Despite the last several months of a great mixture of scapegoating, exaggerations, study sessions, propaganda, neighborhood organizing, straw man arguments, research and fear mongering; Encinitas is still filled with thousands upon thousands of people who have no idea of this momentous task.  Anyone who pretends it is a simple task is lying.  This is always a huge task, like when this city was incorporated over 25 years ago.  But, now the paradigms have shifted with radically different ecology and economy realities and projections for our futures.

These clips (edited to approximately 10 minutes each) are provided for an idea within easy reach of the Encinitas General Plan Elements as presented last year.

We are now going through what should have been review and revision process, but now is called starting over - with a volunteer facilitator and with a majority council picked group heavily invested in real estate, development and commercial special interests.

Peeps!

The best part of today is the countdown to markdowns! The violently neon colored chicks and bunnies of marshmallow and dubious sweeteners, colorants and preservatives will hit the POP (point of purchase) displays near checkout stands in every grocery and drugstore in town in the week to come. Eastern Orthodoxy celebrates the holiday next weekend, so the sales might be postponed.  Or not.

It's a very partisan candy treat. One either loves Peeps or hates Peeps.  One of the most charming things about Peeps is the imperfections like the occasional smushed beaks or wonky eyes.  Nearly formless, backboneless blobs all gathered together seem far more substantial than any isolated Peep.

To separate them means to tear away a part of each, like the yellow guys in the protest photo on the right.  Now there is some community solidarity. 

Sadly, just one doesn't sate the appetite. It takes many to achieve sweet bliss.  And then it starts all over again.











I'm mocked by family for my love of Peeps. Doesn't matter.  I look forward to this time with a smile on my face. Don't make me ashamed of my Peeps!

Bigger is Not Better

Has anyone else noticed when homeowners get together to talk about housing and development, many presume to speak of homes in a monolithic way?  But, if you listen to what a diverse group of people might describe as ideal shelter, an ideal place to call home; what constitutes the best might not be the size described by real estate professionals or homeowners.  In fact, home ownership might not even be what the young, the mobile or the retired even want.  Who can blame anyone for not wanting a vulnerability of any kind to a banker in these times?

Point is, the status quo is being challenged.  Let's not assume too much.

Here is one offering on bigger is not better regarding home size, a personal story offered to EYNU. This isn't to be confused with the urban planning book recently given to the city council members by New Encinitas resident Oliver Canler, "Better not Bigger" by Eben Fodor.

 I have this re-occurring thought about all the McMansions and what might be done with them post oil and post mortgage bust and post economic implosion? Maybe in 2035, when people start realizing the excessive acquisition of constructed square footage is not sustainable, how will these buildings be re-purposed? In the meantime, I found these graphics when I followed a link to a Margot Adler piece for NPR.

The average American house size has more than doubled since the 1950s; it now stands at 2,349 square feet. Whether it's a McMansion in a wealthy neighborhood, or a bigger, cheaper house in the exurbs, the move toward ever large homes has been accelerating for years.

Another critic is John Halsey, president of the Peconic Land Trust, an organization that tries to protect open spaces and agricultural land. For Halsey, the "Big House" is all about the American lifestyle: how we live, what we drive, and how we fail to appreciate the finite nature of land and energy resources. “Who needs 15,000-square-foot houses?" Halsey says. "I worry about the future of a culture and a society that has this extent of excess in it. I think there is a disconnect, and we are in a bubble. Somehow, we are just not experiencing the realities that the rest of the world is.

Ya think? I’ll own up to my snarkiness. I just find the justifications a real stretch. My first notions of home when I was a little kid were shaped by my Grandma’s home. I found out as an adult that the familial bungalow was bought by her husband from a Sears Catalog. At the time I thought it sounded like a joke. But it’s not according to Wikipedia.

Sears Catalog Homes (sold as Sears Modern Homes) were ready-to-assemble houses sold through mail order by Sears Roebuck and Company, an American retailer. Over 70,000 of these were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. Shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included all the materials needed to build an exceptionally sturdy and well designed house. Many were assembled by the new homeowner and friends, relatives, and neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families. [snip] Aladdin Homes (of Bay City) was the first to offer kit homes (in 1906), and Sears joined the fray in 1908. However, Sears mail-order catalogs were already in millions of homes, enabling large numbers of potential homeowners simply to open a catalog, select and visualize their new home, dream, save, and then purchase it. Sears offered financing, assembly instructions, and guarantees. Early mortgage loans were typically for 5–15 years at 6%- 7% interest. [snip] Sears expanded production, shipping and sales offices to regional sites all across the United States, hitting its all-time peak in 1929, just before the Great Depression. By then, the least expensive model was still under US$1,000; the highest priced was under US$4,400 ($10,300 and $45,300 in 2003 dollars respectively).

I am just tickled to death to place Grandma’s home beside the Sears plan from which it was built, sans fireplace and arched front door. The roof looks like it has a minor profile modification too. I am writing my 84 year old mom this week with these images and many more of her childhood and mine at this home. This collage really pleases me.

I close with a great example of my favorite theme of small homes. This video is a hoot. This woman lives in less than 90 square foot home, where she explains she has different choices for her money and time. That is 1/10 the size of even the standard from fifty years ago and 1/100 the size of the Sears Home Makeover buildings. The tiny house movement is a transition movement for a country undergoing changing expectations.  It is probaly not going to be the norm by any means.  A very real challenge for Encinitas is to get our Planning Department to recognize small and tiny homes, alternative building materials and other 21st century housing ideas into the city codes.  The city is the greatest obstacle to housing for all but the most wealthy and the most tied to conventional building, financing, real estate and insurance instittutions.

 

Encinitas . . . Housing .. . Where should it go? This is the heading for the city postcards now being received all over town. The informational open house sessions and workshops on housing needs and growth are all happening from Monday, April 16 to Monday, May 14. 

In less than 30 days the city, without any contracted expertise on board will be racing towards a General Plan Update resolution to the Housing Element.  Remember there are many definitions of what makes a great home.

Saturday Morning Update: From Councilwoman Barth's newsletter, "Thought You Might Like to Know", a wonderful article regarding changing housing types with  a pro-active thrust titled, "Missing Middle Housing" is well worth a read.