The Coast News, June 14, 2013

OPINION&EDITORIAL
Who will be the
shepherd of our city?
By Ian Thompson
At this point all the arguments
surrounding prop A have
been laid bare with the real,
unreal and just plain fantastic
rationale laid out for you to
believe or not. Just in case you
need a refresh let’s divide up
the soup and take a look at
some of this information and
the dynamics that are at work.
On the pro “YES on A”
side we have a group of educated,
informed and concerned
residents who are looking out
Take responsibility
In The Coast News article,
“Contributions rolling in for
Prop A,” (June 7), Christie
Guerin says Prop A has “drawbacks.”
I beg to differ.
Prop A allows citizens to
vote yes or no on high density
projects, maintaining a greater
measure of control over excessive
changes to their own
neighborhoods. Why not?
As a member of the board
of North County Advocates (I
live in Leucadia), I voted to
spend some of NCA’s money on
Prop A and have contributed
some to its passage myself.
The people supporting
Prop A have a proud record.
In Encinitas, we brought
you Cottonwood Creek Park,
Moonlight Creek Park,
Indianhead Canyon, and the
Hall property park. One of our
special friends followed the
landscaping on Leucadia
Boulevard to Highway 101,
pressuring for its beauty. Like
it?
In Carlsbad, the City
Council had to form their
Facilities Management Plan
(FMP) and put it on the ballot
in order to defeat the citizen’s
initiative (much like Prop A)
controlling growth. The FMP
requires developers to pay for
the city services their developments
require — like new
roads, park space, more police
and firemen, and expanded
library space. Otherwise, all
residents would pay to accommodate
the developer’s development
bringing more traffic
and more neighbors.
Our people also kept the
developer from blowing up the
waterfall in the canyon off
Cadensia.
City Planners are paid out
for their own interests,interests
that typically align with those
of the majority of people who
live here, in this case preserving
the city’s character and
quality of life.
On the “No on A” side we
have the city council and the
development community. In
the case of the developers, they
are also looking out for their
own interests, interests that are
typically financially based, in
TURN TO SHEPHERD ON A26
Prop A — A heavy
price to pay!
By Doug Long
Many of us voting No on
Proposition A believe parts of
the initiative were written with
good intentions. However, the
flaws contained within the
proposition would invite many
negative consequences for
Encinitas.
Proposition A was poorly
constructed—it was written
behind closed doors, without
public input, hearings, or environmental
and legal review. A
process any other new law
would have to undergo.
An independent, third
party report, prepared for the
city by one of the top law firms
in the state, pointed out many
flaws and potential issues that
a public process would likely
have revealed and corrected.
Among the most notable
risks to Encinitas taxpayers is
that Proposition A would put
TURN TO HEAVY PRICE ON A26
of developer fees. The more
they build and the denser it is,
the higher their six figure
wages and pension plans.
Wake up. Learn to love democracy
and take responsibility for
your city.
Very truly yours,
Dolores Welty,
Leucadia
A repetitive barrage of
lies Opponents of Prop A are
losing ground and are running
scared. They are resorting to
established tactics of clinically
certified Sociopath liars by
misrepresenting the truth and
scaring you into believing
these lies. Sociopath liars are
doing exactly what they accuse
others of doing. They project
the consequences of their
actions onto others.
This is evident in the
opponents’ latest mailers.They
claim terrible things “could”
happen if the citizens of
Encinitas approve Prop A and
gain control over inappropriate
development. The exact
opposite is true under Prop A.
But those terrible things would
actually result if the building
industry continues its firm grip
on our city officials.
Contrary to former
Planning Commissioner
Jacobson, Prop A will give residents
a stronger voice over
their community.
Contrary to Plumber
Doug Long, Prop A will protect
height limits as they are now.
Contrary to Councilman
Mark Muir, Prop A will not cost
taxpayers millions of dollars.
Costs of elections are paid by
the developer, not the taxpayer.
Contrary to former Mayor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Rick Shea, Prop A will not
decrease residents’ property
values.
Contrary to Deputy
Mayor Shaffer, Prop A will not
cause more high-density development.
Contrary to
Councilmember Gaspar, Prop
A will preserve homeowners’
rights to improve or restore
their homes.
Contrary to Opponents,
Encinitas residents do not
presently have the right to vote
on height increases.
Contrary to Mayor Barth,
“There is no basis for the claim
that the Coastal Commission
will need to certify or delay the
effective date of Proposition
A... I cannot recall a single case
where a Proposition was ever
brought to the Commission for
review.” — Sara Wan, former
Chair, California Coastal
Commission.
Statements used by Prop
A opponents in their deceptive
fliers, mailers, and phone-calls
are out of-context quotes from
a biased pro-development
study. This Rutan and Tucker
analysis was ordered by prodevelopment
City Manager
Vina without prior Council
approval and is full of deceptions,
misrepresentations and
outright lies.
The profiteering land
barons and developers, who do
not care about your community
character, have thus far contributed
over $60,000 to perpetuate
these lies about Prop
A, even after they have been
proven wrong.
Take Control Over Your
Neighborhoods.
VOTE YES on A
Dietmar Rothe,
Cardiff
Views expressed in Opinion & Editorial do not
necessarily reflect the views of The Coast News
Prop. A will create confusion, not help city
By Mark Muir
The “Right to Vote”
title alone sounds very
compelling. Those who
have heard the enticing
pitch from supporters of
Proposition A might be led
to believe that the initiative
was providing
Encinitas voters with a
new right — the opportunity
to vote on changes to the
General Plan, the document
that controls the
growth of our city.
In reality, Encinitas
voters already have this
right. However, due to the
complex nature of our
General Plan, confusion is
understandable.
Under current law,
voter approval is required
for any increase in residential
density or nonresidential
intensity, or any
change in land use designation
between residential
and nonresidential uses.
The City Council has
the ability with at least
four of its five members
agreeing to approve a
change in density, intensi-
Need a daily paper with
real news coverage
I am aware of the wholesale,
Happy Memorial Day firings
of North County reporters
including Oceanside’s beat
reporter Ray Huard. I am very
sad to see him go as he always
treated me fairly and seems
just to be a decent human
being.
Once Manchester took
over the U-T and eviscerated
the North County Times, we all
knew reporting would be slim
to none.
We did get some good
reporting from Ray and others
including those who covered
MiraCosta,Tri City, NCTD, and
school sports, however the coverage
was thin and spotty and
obviously over-edited. Now
with all those reporters gone
who knew the subject matter
and the players in each area,
why should anyone in North
County subscribe to the U-T
anymore?
North County businesses
should not advertise in the U-T
either because we simply are
not reading it! Some of us may
subscribe online, if we can
choke down our own ethical
stances on the U-T, but that
media does not give display
advertisers any meaningful
coverage. You are paying a lot
for nothing!
As they say,good riddance
to bad garbage. We are so
thankful for The Coast News,
The Patch and KPBS! Is anyone
out there interested in
doing a North County daily
anymore or a daily online
newspaper? I think you could
easily swoop in and grab all the
North County advertisers and
you know you would have readers,
too.This area is ripe for the
ty or zoning designation of
land — but only if the proposed
change provides a
“significant public benefit”
to the city. In the 26year
history of Encinitas,
no council has ever used
this provision to approve a
major project without first
a vote of the people. Two
earlier examples are when
voters approved the Home
Depot and rejected houses
on the Ecke Ranch.
Again, even though
this provision has never
been used, in response to
It’s a matter of trust — Vote yes on A
By Andrew Audet
For me Prop A is simple.
Voting yes gives
Encinitas citizens the right
to vote on land use
changes and holds the city
council accountable.
These are good things.
By opposing Prop A,
the Encinitas City Council
has shown it doesn’t trust
citizens with the right to
vote. Today council members
are on mailers that
appear to me funded by
parties standing to profit
by controlling land use.
The facts are, the
council sided with the
building industry to keep
power out of the hands of
the people and in the
hands of special interests.
Their vision is to up-zone
commercial properties for
residential use, give away
local control and allow
four to five stories
throughout the city. If the
council doesn’t trust you,
should you trust them?
History says no.
Consider having to
trust in the incestuous
relationships between
elected officials and developers
in our small town. In
2010 a mayor failed to disclose
discounts and a
$100,000 loan from people
with land use issues and
pled guilty to the district
attorney. In 2012, a mayor
that received 60 percent of
his campaign contributions
from developers was
caught on video violating
city election ordinances. If
we couldn’t trust yesterday’s
mayor how can we
trust tomorrow’s?
In March the Council
overturned the rulings of
the Planning Commission
and sided with the developer
to increase densities
in Olivenhain that residents
say threaten safety.
Ask these residents if they
trust City Council — they
picking.
Nadine Scott,
Oceanside
We can’t have enough
trails in Carlsbad
Let’s think big in planning
the next phase of trails in
Carlsbad. Not just a few feet of
trails like were proposed with
the Quarry Creek project.
Instead let’s look at things like
the Waterfall to the Waves
Trail, connecting the sacred El
Salto waterfall to the coast.
Even bigger — connect all the
way to Palomar Mountain
along the route taken by early
Luiseno people hundreds of
years ago. Even better, link
homes and jobs so people don’t
need to get in their cars. Let’s
make these off the beaten
track trails the focus of transportation
plans — and not just
an afterthought.
Mike Stivers,
Carlsbad
RE: Letters published
June 7
To Mr. Leighton: Total support
for your letter regarding
Doug Manchester, and his grab
of almost all balanced news in
San Diego and the North
County.That and the firing of a
great editor, Kent Davy. That
and the fact that the former
NCT is another newspaper he
made into a screed for his politically
extremist views. Those
and the fact that he’s fired several
good, hard working
employees.
To Mr. Donovan: You call
Joe Moris a “rarity among
present-day journalists’? Sadly,
he really isn’t all that rare, he’s
the same as those published in
the extremist rants in the op/ed
pages of the Manchester rag
A5
Proposition A proponents’
concerns, the City Council
voted unanimously to
remove this provision. In
addition, the council unanimously
agreed to begin
the process of ratifying
this change in the 2014
election.
Voter ratification
would eliminate a future
council from reinstating
the four-fifths provision
without voter approval.
This decision by the coun-
TURN TO PROP A ON A22
filed a suit to protect themselves.
Should we ignore the
relationship between
Councilmember Kristin
Gaspar’s husband and
developer David Meyer?
The two were involved
with a group that sent
mailers out during the last
election period that favorably
profiled pro-development
candidates. Should
insiders have power at City
Hall when you don’t?
Then there is the issue
of pensions and the question:
If the city is sacrific-
TURN TO TRUST ON A22
daily. Mr. Moris extols the wonders
of Mexican medicine, and
of his adopted land of retirement,
but ignores the fact that
millions of Mexicans have
immigrated to the United
States. Why Mr. Moris? And if
our medical industry is costly
I’ll support those who try to
make it affordable, not those
who walk away.
On his web site Mr. Moris
opines that, “I am bullish on
helping those who have lost so
much in this recession and
have resigned themselves to
working until the day they die
to have hope again of retiring
comfortably.” That sentiment
— about having to work until
the day they die — applies also
to those that built his oceanfront
condo in Puerto Vallarta
for $135,000. The people of
Mexico need help in establishing
a better quality of life, a
better government, a better
public health care system, and
a better police force, not carpetbaggers.
John Lynn,
Carlsbad
Take back control
We live in an age where
half-truths, outright lies, and
the use of smoke and mirrors
reign.
In order to broadside the
Prop A safeguards which will
preserve our small beach town
character by a vote of our citizens,
our Council adopted a
craftily written change to one
portion of our governing documents
eliminating the 4/5
override in our General Plan.
What we are not told is
that another Policy (3.12: 4)
still retains their 4/5th majori-
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