The Coast News, Feb. 22, 2013

OPINION&EDITORIAL
Views expressed in Opinion & Editorial do not
THE COAST NEWS
A4 necessarily reflect the views of The Coast News
FEB. 22, 2013
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The folly and fallacy of Streetscape
By Doug Fiske
Leucadia Streetscape started out on
the wrong foot and hasn’ t been in step
since.
The City proceeded without the public’s
input or permission and r etained outside
consultants who de veloped a plan
that’s in k eeping with the city’ s and the
Leucadia 101 Main Str eet Association’s
goals. Only when the plan w as already
shaped did the city seek input fr om a
small minority of comm unity members.
We’re going to do this, the city said, how
would you few people like to tweak it?
The claim that the majority of
Leucadians favor Streetscape is f alse. A
private, professionally conducted poll
showed that 71 per cent of residents west
of 101 knew nothing about the plan. When
informed of its principal goals and features,
81 percent said they opposed it.
As a commercial corridor, North Coast
Highway 101 has thr ee constraints that
Streetscape fails to ad dress or ad dresses
inadequately. Comparisons with Solana
Beach are apt:
Railroad Right-of-Way. The distance
from the tr acks to the 101 pa vement
through the Streetscape corridor is a bout
50 feet. That space is portrayed as sacred.
South of E Str eet in Encinitas, the distance
from the tr acks to the r ear of the
nearest building w est is a bout 20 feet.
Where the tr acks double, the distance
from the eastern tr ack to the par king lot
retaining wall east is a bout 15 feet. So it
appears that 30 to 35 feet of the right-ofway
between the 101 pa vement and the
tracks in Streetscape’s corridor should be
available for bike and walking paths and
landscaping. That would leave two northbound
vehicle lanes on 101, making northbound
turns from T intersections safer.
Solana Beach trenched the tr acks,
opening a broad space on the west side for
a path, benches and landscaping.Their 1.4mile
corridor has fi ve pedestrian and/or
vehicle crossings. By that standar d,
Streetscape’s 2.5-mile corridor should
have nine crossings. It will still have three.
Streetscape adds none.
Narrow Commercial Zone. Save for a
few scattered deep lots, the commercial
zone in the Streetscape corridor is narrow.
Long stretches are only 80 or 90 feet wide.
The zone broadens with some consistenc y
from near Athena Street to A Street, but is
still very narrow compared to almost all of
Solana Beach’s commercial zone. Unless
the city plans to gobble up residences west
of 101, Streetscape’s corridor is constrained
commercially by its width.There’s
not much horizontal space for the “bigger,
grander buildings” that consultant Dan
Burden predicted Streetscape will bring.
Limited Parking. Although
Streetscape’s corridor is 78 percent longer
than Solana Beac h’s, it has 34 per cent
fewer public parking spaces. Few businesses
without off-101 par king prosper in the
Streetscape corridor. The project adds
only 29 to 38 parking spaces over 2.5 miles,
and none for more than four blocks north
and south of Leucadia Boule vard. One of
Streetscape’s goals is to incr ease retail
trade — unlikely without placing par king
lots along the corridor.
Other points on increased retail trade:
With no new rail crossings, customers east
of the tr acks have no mor e access to
Streetscape corridor r etailers than no w.
The project’s traffic consultant pr ojected
that up to 7,000 car trips per da y will be
diverted off 101. Four of the fi ve roundabouts
— three of those to be one lane —
will be cr ammed into 8/10 mile at the
TURN TO STREETSCAPE ON A20
Alternatives to prison realignment
could be worse
By Thomas D. Elias
As crime statistics for 2012 gradually
filter in from around the state, gripes
about the 15-month-old prison r ealignment
program have begun rising in newspaper
headlines and talk show airwaves.
There are two major complaints:
One is that crime rose as realignment cut
the inmate populace b y more than
24,000.
The other is that some criminals are
being released earlier than bef ore the
program began in October 2011, in part
because local jails in a fe w counties are
overcrowded.
A typical g ripe comes fr om Tyler
Izen, president of the Los Angeles Police
Protective League, the state’s largest
police union. “Our members are terribly
concerned that w e are allowing people
out of prisons who are likely to recommit
crimes and victimiz e the people of our
city,” he said in a telephone interview.
He claimed pr obation departments
have lost track of some former prisoners,
but could offer no specific e xamples.
“All I have is anecdotal information,” he
conceded.
It turns out that onl y one of those
big gripes has any proven merit: In a few
counties, Fresno being a prime example,
prisoners are often r eleased after ser ving
minimal jail time.
But sheriffs and the state
Department of Corr ections insist the
releases never involve violent or se xual
criminals and that e x-convicts get the
same level of par ole and pr obation
supervision they did before.
As for the other complaint, it turns
out the crime n umbers reported so f ar
are pretty mixed. Violent crimes in Los
Angeles, for example, were down last
year for the 10th year in a row, dropping
8.2 percent to a total of 18,293, with significant
decreases in robbery and aggravated
assault and 152 gang-related homicides,
the fewest in more than 10 years.
But property crime w as up slightl y
in L.A., by 0.2 percent, with Police Chief
Charles Beck attributing the uptick to a
30 percent increase in cellphone thefts.
Beck said some of the small increase
in property crime might be due to
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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To Coast News
Just want to thank you for your publication.
It is outstanding and very much appreciated.
Moved here from L.A. 20 years ago
and still get the LA Times and NY Times on
Sunday. Used to get San Diego
Union/Tribune but found it changed so far
to the right with its ne w owner and wasn't
balanced. Tried the North County Times
but also felt it was far to the right and more
suited to a small to wn in the mid dle of the
country. So, the only newspaper we have
any respect left f or is y our paper and ar e
indeed grateful for it and would be happy to
pay for it. It has a heart and soul all of its
own. Again, thanks.
Rick Rosenberg,
Carlsbad
Bicycle improvements in
Encinitas and Carlsbad
As a daily bicycle commuter (La Costa
to Encinitas Do wntown) I just w anted
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TURN TO REALIGNMENT ON A20
praise the management of both cities for the
improvements to the Coast Highway and La
Costa Avenue.
My commute is safer because of these
changes, and the dri vers also appear to
appreciate the predictability of where I am
riding.
William D. Volk,
Carlsbad
Change the U.S.?
Just prior to his election, Barack
Obama, clearly stated he wanted to “fundamentally
change the United States of
America.”
If I’m not mistak en, at that time, the
United States of America was the greatest
nation ever on this earth!
So what could he have possibly meant?
Obviously, since his election, his actions
have been to destroy the greatest nation on
the face of the Earth!
Why isn’t that an impeachable offense?
Ralph Peck,
Del Mar
Contributing writers:
CHRISTINA MACONE-GREENE
cmaconegrenne@coastnewsgroup.com
BIANCA KAPLANEK
bkaplanek@coastnewsgroup.com
PROMISE YEE
pyee@coastnewsgroup.com
PATTY MCCORMAC
pmccormac@coastnewsgroup.com
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DANIEL KNIGHTON
dan@pixelperfectimages.net
PHOTOGRAPHER
BILL REILLY
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Contact the Editor
TONY CAGALA
tcagala@coastnewsgroup.com