WaveBlog

We had lunch with The Great Dane on Monday and discussed the upcoming General Plan Update Committee Meeting that will reconvene after a cool summer of oil spills and awe at just how badly the federal government is broken; but HEY, the glass is still half-full!

A decade ago, a frustrated fellow from Olivenhain tried to turn the entire City of Encinitas into a homeowner’s Association. Luckily, the ‘Plant Palette Plan of Olive Crest’, as we refer to it around our house was found to be too………too, and a reasonable accommodation was made between the public and private spheres here in the surfin’ flowerin’ capitol of the world.

As we residents and business owner’s hierarchy of needs evolve in 21st Century Encinitas, The Great Dane suggested a slight change in the usage of the larger tracts of open space that are still deemed for Agricultural uses over the next two decades.

A ‘Second Crop’ Scenario was sketched out for us while we sweat through the white puffs of midday fog drifting along Hwy 101.

“The growers would be required to use 70% of their property for their traditional crops; but the change would be that the grower/farmer could grow a ‘second crop’, maybe grapes, and build a winery, perhaps a tasting-room and maybe even a 10 person bed-and-breakfast, on occasion?”

Our mouth full of asparagus stuffed chicken breast from I Trulli, I sipped a very spicy diet coke and said, ”Would the growers be able to keep their residential zoning values on their properties that they borrow against?”

The Great Dane spooned sauce on a slice of fresh bread and nodded, ”That’s the beauty of this. Outsiders don’t want residential homes built on the Ag properties that are still open, so this would allow growers an additional way to make money on their property that would also be in concert with the tourist destination we are nurturing as an exotic beach town destination.”

We took a bite of the roasted potato and cleansed our palette with some sparkling water.

“This is a MUCH better suggestion for keeping Open Space than recalculating moving “density” from middle-Encinitas to the coast line,” I said.

The Great Dane laughed and took another bite of barbequed rigatoni.

“I thought so,” he said and smacked his lips.

We toasted the idea with water glasses.

In December of 2008, the city sent out a letter noticing folks of a public-input-meeting about bisecting the Bank of America footprint on the corner of El Camino Real and Encinitas Boulevard; and then building a drive-thru Walgreen’s Pharmacy on the western half.

Because the meeting of the Planning Commission was the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, not a lot of people showed up.

Six month’s later, the business owner’s in the Henry’s Shopping Center suddenly were informed that even though it was not mentioned at all in the original letter from the City, the Walgreen’s building was going to necessitate a Median that would run up the middle of Encinitas Boulevard from the crosswalk at El Camino Real west all the way to the far end of the parking lot entrance to McDonald’s.

WHY?

Why was the staff adding a Median that would by most estimates restrict the access to Henry’s by 30%, (which roughly translates into 30% fewer receipts for business owners in the Henry’s Mall, and drives traffic through the residential neighborhood of Beechtree, Hickory Lane, south Crest etc…?)

Because the Staff now had a financial nexus to get Walgreen’s to pay for widening Encinitas Boulevard.

WHY widen it? To make room for the twenty thousand extra folks the State wants Encinitas to make room for over the next 20 years.

Now, through a fluke, pro-business elements of the old Chamber became aware of the sleight-of-hand in noticing the public about the Median and I quickly organized the presentation that went first went before the Traffic Commission and then the Encinitas City Council opposing the Median.

The Staff told the Council that the City needed to take advantage of the $45,000 dollars that Walgreen’s could be held up for; and build this Median.

Unconvinced, the Council kicked it down to the Traffic Commission, that was told by the Staff that the Median was “conditional”, meaning that the Walgreen’s building could not go in without the Median.

Whether this was purposefully misleading isn’t constructive for further address here; as we can all attest, Walgreen’s went in without the Median, and life has gone on.

Except, now, this Monday evening at 5:30 pm City Hall, the Staff has brought the Median back before the Traffic Commission claiming that it is for public safety reasons.

WHY?

Because the City Council cares more about widening Encinitas Boulevard to make it easier for more traffic.

Because the $45,000 is literally burning a hole in Staff’s pocket.

INCONSISTENT
Let’s be consistent. Fewer driving lanes and slower traffic on highway 101 in Leucadia; but more and wider lanes and a business-killing Median to allow more traffic on Encinitas Boulevard in NEW ENCINITAS?

This sound familiar? Business people ask for notification about something that may cost them 30% of their business and they get theoretically 10 days notice; but when you account for the U.S. Post Office, its really six days, and then the city’s website only has the new Staff Report for a Median up on Thursday, August 5th and by the time you are made aware of the impending Median meeting, find the time to read the lengthy report, the City is now closed on Friday, and of course, Saturday and Sunday (the three days prior to the hearing) and all you have is ten hours prior to the hearing to address years of Staff’s work if you are in opposition.

Not whining; just reporting.

Here is the link to the City Report:

http://archive.ci.encinitas.ca.us/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=663666&&&dbid=0

NOTE: The Number One Reason that I left my old friends at the Old Chamber is that the local bankers and insurance brokers on the Executive Board felt that actually representing Chamber Members in the Henry’s Market Mall against the Median was biting the hands of their masters; the City Council.

That’s ‘Why’ the New Encinitas Business Network was formed. No financial ties to the City; true representation of local business when they are in conflict for the City.

Which is ‘Why’ we will it be representing our Henry’s Mall Members before the Traffic Commission Monday evening; even with almost impossibly short notice.

Because, we are delivering on a promise.

The City Traffic Engineering Report is recorded on the website with Creation Date: 8-4-2010.

We will report on the results of the Median Meeting Traffic Commission hearing on Thursday.

THE COVE is an interactive creativity lab for kids.

Jennifer Trevino (right) and Erin Paris (left), two locals with incredible resumes in teaching, are creating a lab for developing childhood creativity with the latest in technology combined with the care and nurturing that tomorrow’s artists and leaders require.

What if every time you needed to run errands you could drop the kids off somewhere that made them not only better citizens, but better artists?

What if the next time you and your spouse enjoy ‘date night’, that as you are enjoying an appetizer or a glass of Pinot, you knew that the kids were video-taping episodes self-written adventures of derring-do in costumes, before a green-screen and came home with a digital photo or disc with exactly what fun they had for the three hour escape you enjoyed over dinner and a movie?

Or, what if the kids not only learned how to knit, but also ‘how-to’ program the Bee-Bot to knit?

There is much more to learn about THE COVE; to learn more you can contact Jennifer at 858 880-5909 or visit Jennifer Pigott Trevino on Facebook, or call Erin at 858 945 7591.

For the better part of a decade, the Encinitas Union School District has tried to up
zone the land usage designation of the downtown Encinitas located Pacific View Elementary School in order to increase its property value to sell.

Offices for medical or dental professionals are approved for the school site with the current zoning; or EUSD could sell it at its current value, between 1 and 2 million dollars; but the district is determined to have it’s usage reclassified up to DR-15, so whoever purchases it to develop it can build 15 homes per acre.

Thursday evening, August 5th, EUSD is being heard by the Encinitas Planning Commission, again in an attempt to have the downtown school site designated as DR-15. but this time they are claiming that the Ed Code that restricts down-zoning school property can be interpreted in a way that triggers automatic up-zoning to DR-15, regardless of the local zoning authority.

The district is quoting a State of California Education Code 65852.9, which restricts zoning authorities from down-zoning school district properties with an eye toward reducing the dollar value of a school site and thus allowing a municipality to purchase it at a highly reduced rate.

Because the Ed Code states that such surplus properties “ can be developed to the same extent as is permitted on ‘adjacent’ property.” the school district is claiming that the City must re-designate the school site use to R-15 because there is a residence that is contiguous to the school site. This is a narrow reading; because this same Ed Code also states, ”…the city or county having zoning jurisdiction over the property shall, upon request of the school district, zone the school site as defined in Section 39392 of the Education Code, consistent with the provisions of the applicable general and specific plans and compatible with the uses of property surrounding the school site. “

Meaning that the General Plan and the Downtown Specific Plan and local coastal plan do have zoning authority over the school site and are not required to up-zone to DR-15.

The danger here is that the Encinitas City Attorney might, in light of the ‘conflict fatigue’ over this property might inform the members of the Planning Commission that the Ed Code 65852.9 is ‘new’ law and that they have no choice but to recommend reclassification to DR-15 just to be done with it.

That would make a mockery of the local zoning authorities and allow a developer to build 15 homes per acre in an area not planned for them.

The Winner?

5 year old Alisha Radick, whose dad, Joe and brother, Trevor also attended to bring Dad’s classic green Ford to celebrate Headlines For Hair’s 23rd year of success at SURF’S UP!

Alisha Radick’s dad, Joe, who owns Leucadia Towing and whose office is on El Camino Real in the heart of NEW ENCINITAS said,” I think its great that Alisha’s winning raffle ticket was pulled and now she will begin to learn how to surf on her own board, a family tradition. Also, thanks so much to Gayle Fulbright for choosing hometown Hansen’s Sporting Goods for the Grand Prize surf board, Don and Josh Hansen, La Tessieri their General Manager, Patty and Shirley and Jen and all of the great folks at Hansens, and all of the fantastic people at Headlines For Hair. Headlines and Hansens make a great partnership! Thanks to everyone involved; Alisha and her brother, Trevor will enjoy this prize for years to come.”

The New Encinitas Business Network would also like to thank Andy Lee, Publisher of the NORTH COUNTY SUN, a newspaper delivered as an entertainment guide to all of north county event for providing tickets to the Del Mar Race Track; to Lynn and Gary Borg for providing a “life pack” for cancer victims, Erin Fader of Trashy Chic, who along with Lisa Landers at Swirl Boutique, provided raffle prize beautiful jewelry; Dr. Chad Patrick of Discovery Chiropractic for massage certificates; and of course, Gayle and Letty of Headlines For Hair for sponsoring the biggest and best Sundowner so far this year of 2010; over 117 guests enjoyed Surf’s Up, and a special thanks to old friend, Doug Jones, who along with Gary Young and Joe Radick provided all the woodies!

Thanks Dudes!

Also, thanks to Haley Fulbright, newly 21 years old, and her pal, Bree Stanton who provided all the young blond surfers; thanks, Dudettes!

And finally, thanks to Dave Linde, of Salon Radius, who helped with the marketing and assisted Headlines and event planner numero uno Vembra Holnagel.

Question: What do you do when you walk outside and see that your neighbor’s house is on fire?

Answer: You let everyone know.

Watching the Encinitas Union School District’s latest attempt to cash in on the near white-water-property of Pacific View Elementary brings the question-and-answer above to mind.

On August 5th, the Planning Commission of Encinitas will hear a request from EUSD to allow it to up zone to Residential 15; that would change the property land-use designation from Public/Semi Public to 15 homes per acre.

The district is claiming that when the California State Law says,” It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to ensure that unused school sites not leased or purchased for park or recreational purposes pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 39390) of Chapter 3 of Part 20 of the Education Code can be developed to the same extent as is permitted on adjacent property… “ it means that if there is a residential piece of property contiguous to the school site, then the entire parcel has to be up-zoned to R15.

What’s the difference? Millions and millions of dollars in increased financial value.

Will the Planning Commission agree on August 5th that the school district can up-zone its property (third try) by interpreting a state law very narrowly; and in some opinions, allow EUSD to make a mockery of the Downtown Encinitas Specific Plan and local coastal plan?

The school district continues to tell the public that it will never need this downtown property in the future for a school; then turns right around and states that it won’t sell the Quail Gardens Drive 10 acre site it cannot afford to keep because it might need to build a school there in “30 to 40 years”.

Let’s be charitable and say that this position appears inconsistent.

The Quail Gardens Drive problem for EUSD is that the district has to pay $55,000 a year in assessment to the State, and EUSD has announced that they will solve this $55,000 annual deficit by passing a bond issue this November for $44 million dollars and using $6 million dollars of it to solve an annual problem for taxpayers by loading them down with an extension of annual assessments that projects out for decades for Encinitas property-owners.

The second incarnation of the “Battle Star Gallactica” approach to developing this Pacific View property in downtown Encinitas (in 2008) found the district claiming that they had
“legal“ advice stating that the Naylor Act was not being triggered in the potential sale of this large downtown property to a developer because of an agreement with the City.

And, in fact, EUSD claimed quite proudly that the Naylor Act had been neutralized by the City of Encinitas having contracted with the school district to park their city vehicles on the once green playing fields at the school.

While a contract between the City of Encinitas and EUSD for temporary parking was documented by the City this month; a request to see copies of the invoices from EUSD to the City, and the cancelled checks for the contractually obligated $1 per year paid to EUSD by the City could not be fulfilled by the City because they did not exist, therefore they could not fulfill the records request to see them.

Hey, don’t blame the City!

Never been billed? Is this the usual way EUSD does business? Or was the ‘contract’ between the City and EUSD something other than a contract?

Sure, it might be just six or seven dollars, but if the contract was really about nullification of The Naylor Act, then, the lack of invoicing and payment between the two entities may become troublesome for many?

So, when we received an ‘alert’ from the City about the August 5th, Planning Commission hearing on up zoning Pacific View that would allow the district to up zone its property subjectively, instead of objectively (EUSD ‘chooses’ what is adjacent, rather than the local coastal plan), it was the same to us in New Encinitas as looking over the hill into the heart of our neighboring coastal village, as seeing smoke stream out of a neighbor’s house.

Hopefully, the ‘alert’ put out by the City will create a spontaneous ‘bucket brigade’ to address this ‘fire’.

—-
Questions? Call 760 633-2681, Associate Planner J. Dichoso

Case Number: 10-006 GPA/LCPA/SPA/EIA
Applicant: Encinitas Union School District
Hearing by the Planning Commission is Thursday, August 5th, 2010, 6:00 pm, Council Chambers, 505 S. Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas.

65852.9. (a) The Legislature recognizes that unused school sites
represent a potentially major source of revenue for school districts
and that current law reserves a percentage of unused school sites for
park and recreational purposes. It is therefore the intent of the
Legislature to ensure that unused school sites not leased or
purchased for park or recreational purposes pursuant to Article 5
(commencing with Section 39390) of Chapter 3 of Part 20 of the
Education Code can be developed to the same extent as is permitted on
adjacent property.

Sure, you’ve heard about the ‘Horse Whisperer’ and the ‘Dog Whisperer’, but what about the Vet here in NEW ENCINITAS that could be easily be called the ‘Bunny Whisperer’? The Cockatiel Whisperer’?

Or perhaps the ‘All Pets Whisperer’?

When Brian Loudis, DVM originally named his 9 year old New Encinitas Veterinary Practice ‘ALL Pets Animal Hospital’, he meant ‘ALL’.

‘All Pets Animal Hospital’, located next to one of the premiere inland destinations in NEW ENCINITAS, Borrelli’s Italian Restaurant; is a harbor of healing for pets that number thousands from not only both the local dog and cat families, but also include the gentle healing of serpents, birds and everything in between.

After receiving his DVM from Colorado State University in 1990, Dr. Brian Loudis moved to San Diego to work at a small busy animal clinic. A three-year residency followed at a hospital specializing in Avian and Exotic Medicine which resulted in Dr. Loudis becoming board certified in Avian (bird) medicine ABVP, of which there are fewer than 150 vets in the entire country to hold this certification.

In 2000, Dr. Loudis accepted a one-year position as an Associate Veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo. This opportunity enabled him to work with many unusual and exotic animal species. His tenure at ‘the World Famous Zoo’ also allowed him to learn ‘state of the art’ diagnostic, dental, and orthopedic procedures for ‘All’ shapes and kinds.

Upon completion of his sabbatical healing the animals at ‘the world-famous zoo’, Dr. Loudis chose to fulfill his dream of opening his own unique veterinary practice, choosing NEW ENCINITAS to locate his animal hospital in.

In this ever-changing world, it is good to know that in our City of 65,000 human residents and a 100,000 plus pet census, that there is a compassionate smiling, healing presence that can interpret pet complaints, no matter which species our loved ones hail from.

Please Meet Brian Loudis, DVM ABVP at ALL PETS ANIMAL HOSPITAL.

After many years of planning, All Pets Animal Hospital was opened in 2001.
You might even see him and his associate, Dr. Evans, surfing Boneyards on their lunch breaks!

All Pets Animal Hospital
www.allpetsanimal.com
285 North El Camino Real
Encinitas, CA 92024-5384
(760) 634-2022

The Signpost Up Ahead – Your Next Stop, the Twilight General Plan Update 2035

Workshop One for the Encinitas City Council, Dead Ahead on 7-14-10

Every time I am in my car, waiting for a green light, KFC to my left, Noodles to my right, Mountain Vista Drive dead-ahead, I am reminded of ‘why’ the good folks of NEW ENCINITAS voted for incorporation in 1986.

When the northbound El Camino Real drivers get their left-turn-green-arrow and flow into the Von’s parking lot driveway, it becomes one of the worst fluster-clucks in Encinitas.

I silently curse the engineering designer (back in 1984) that was approved by the County, every time the self-entitled drivers behind me come to a halt in the left-turn-lane leading into the worst parking area (this side of Chick’s) in Encinitas and leave those attempting to get to Starbucks in a hurry with their rear-bumpers hanging out in the middle of El Camino Real, obstructing southbound traffic.

We incorporated and took control of our destiny; or did we?

THIS EVENING
As I finished reading the recommendations in the Encinitas City Council Agenda online, I found the presentation of the material that was gathered by area; NEW ENCINITAS, downtown Encinitas, Leucadia, Olivenhain and Cardiff By The Sea, is now presented online by traffic corridors, extending from one borough through several others, on occasion.

For someone who has attended and participated in all of the GP Update 2035 meetings it was confusing to read, and I wonder at what non-committee Members or attendees might think as they read the Agenda Report.

EVERYBODY”S A CRITIC
The GPU experience so far, six months plus, has been disconcerting at times and hilarious at others; I witnessed the local downtown business group’s representative recommend that no more national ‘Big Box’ stores be allowed on El Camino Real; a business group’s rep recommending against business in full-fledged Nimby glory?

BIGGEST SURPRISE
But that wasn’t the most surprising; when the GP Update Committee was discussing increasing density in the downtown 101 corridor, the representative for the Realtors Association and the BIA, (Building Industry Association) quashed discussion by stating that people were happy with things as they are and there is no need to increase density downtown. I’m not saying I disagree. I was just surprised at both supposedly business group representatives appearing to be against business AND that this one person closed any further discussion on it. (The rep lives in Olivenhain)

The fact that the one downtown group is now defunded by the City and barely a shadow of it’s former self; and that the other is poised to vote itself out of existence for economic reasons; (North County Realtors) and leave real-estate leadership only to our friends south of the merge might explain both these disturbing actions.

LEUCADIA’S INFLUENCE
As we have reported here in the Wave Blog and since have had our recognition of the overwhelming participation in the process of the General Plan Update 2035 process by Leucadia residents recognized in the North County Times; (Leucadians are to be commended) can in no way alter the fact that one out of five communities is having a major influence on the proceedings, no matter what the reasons for the process being over-weighted by one out of the five communities that comprise Encinitas.

NEW CENSUS and NEW COMMONS VISION
Two mitigating circumstances are quietly making waves in the City’s process for ‘updating’ the General Plan.

1) The 2010 Census will have many a revelation as far as the local population, immigration, emigration and the local economy is viewed by the State, the County and the City itself…and

2) The sub-rosa Vision for a New Encinitas Commons first draft proposal is being floated by a couple of local non-profit foundations that would have a significant influence on our City for 2035.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A BOWLING ALLEY
The most alarming recognition I came away with from the process so far, is that there seems to be a distance, a coming apart, an inability to take in the complexity of how our society, and Encinitas specifically, operates.

Watching grown-ups asking public entities for items that are the province of the private market is disconcerting. At times, when asking for things from the City I began to believe the only thing some of the folks knew about business they learned from Blake Carrington on the ‘Dynasty’ television series from the 80’s.

Not being knowledgeable enough to determine that ‘Ice Rinks, movie theaters and bowling alleys’ aren’t provided by municipalities, but by profit-driven business-people that are risking their own capital (and perhaps bankruptcy if they invest poorly), seemed to be a reality that many in the committee were very vague on.

The low point for me, as a responsible supporter of small and local business; came when the leader of one town councils said that she’d like it if she could force the builders of second floor apartments in Cardiff (not her community) to be forced to keep the rents low enough to house low-income guest workers.

NOTE: The Cardiff Specific Plan outlawed any further mixed-use development in Cardiff’s Commercial District, so the point is moot; but my point is that everybody is a critic, and much of the recommendations were about telling other communities how to live, while fending off your neighbor’s attempts to force you to live according to their rules. But, you should read them for yourselves.

If you read the Agenda Report; and you should, you’ll see several recommendations for a shuttle and a trolley.

THE $80 DOLLAR RIDE FROM LEUCADIA TO CARDIFF
Last year, at the insistence of one of the City Council people, a vegetable-oil shuttle was funded by the City of Encinitas. Aware that the City has trouble keeping even a coastal taxi company in business, I was dubious; the new shuttle line ended up serving 300 riders in total over the summer, and at $25,000 investment by the City; it penciled out to about $80.00 per rider.

WHEN PUBLIC SERVANTS TAKE ON PRIVATE SECTOR PROCESSES
These kinds of actions often come from people who are working in the public sector and who attempt to use public money to try and compete in the private sector even though they have no experience or worse, no success in the private realm.

DEFINITION OF SURPLUS PROPERTY?
While the currently least cost-effective idea along these public sector mistakes come from our local elementary school district where the new superintendent’s solution to freeing up an annual $55,000 assessment from the State of California for not using a 10 acre plot of land on Quail Garden’s Drive is to pass a $44 million dollar bond to invest in a community garden with $6 million of the bond money.

Why not sell what you cannot afford? Because the district might need to build a school in 40 years, he stated. Why doesn’t that logic apply to Pacific View then? Surplus is surplus.

He’ll be here (on State average) two years and we will be paying for his solution for 30 years?

Solving a $55K annual problem by sticking the taxpayers with a $6 million dollar bill over several decades (plus interest on borrowed money) is not the kind of leadership and problem-solving that is going to get us comfortably into the Year 2035. Unless we all prefer homelessness?

So; the Realtors say no new homes or increased density downtown or in the 101 Corridor; the Chamber says restrict the Big Box commercial centers in New Encinitas; and the town councilors say make the developers build apartments in Cardiff, but ONLY if it isn’t profitable.

WHO’S DRIVING THIS SHUTTLE ANYWAY?
Everyone in Encinitas should be interested in our future; but just where is the money to upgrade our infrastructure going to come from? There are really only two income streams; sales tax and property assessment.

No one on the GP Update 2035 Committee or in the audience is suggesting unbridled growth or anything that doesn’t require CEQA or EIRs; but so far, there has been a lot more discussion on mulching our green-waste than programs that waste a lot of green…money.

The City Staff has worked admirably hard, as have the Members of the GP Update 2035 Committee; but when it is all said and done; it will still be five separate communities
fighting amongst themselves for the future of their disparate borough, at the expense of the other four.

I’m not condoning it, nor condemning it, just recognizing it.

I hope to see you ALL Wednesday evening in the Encinitas Council Chambers.

To read the Agenda Report; go to http://archive.ci.encinitas.ca.us/weblink8/0/doc/661420/Page1.aspx

Once upon a time in the 90’s the latest wave of technology was a single premium brand of beeper; I was working out of my office across the street from my daughter’s elementary school, Park Dale Lane.

I was still in my infancy as a parent at PDL and things that seemed so simple at Amanda and Molly’s alma mater, Susan Ryan’s The Gifted Preschool, became almost incomprehensible in the public school arena of EUSD.

One evening at a PTA meeting I attended; the Principal and Assistant Superintendent of EUSD, addressed the PDL PTA about participating financially in purchasing a program of teaching software for the campus.

“How much is it?” I asked.

“$30,000.” The Principal answered happily, like this was some kind of steal.

I looked to our PTA Treasurer and she appeared to have swallowed breath mint down the wrong way.

Sensing we were uncomfortable with the stiff price for new cutting-edge software and only one printed guide per classroom, the Assistant Superintendent chimed in, ”We’re only asking the PTA for $5,000, the other $25,000 will come out of the Site Council budget.”

“Site Council? What’s a Site Council?”

A ‘Site Council’ I was informed was a group separate from the PTA that was given a budget commensurate with the amount of students on a campus; say $10 per head, and the principal and an equal group of teachers and parents, usually 3 and 3 were overseen by the campus Principal and charged with spending this money wisely and specific to that campus.

What does this have to do with a Phone Tree for the PTA?

I’ll tell you.

I decided the next day to do some research on this software package. The Internet wasn’t so easy to find in those days, so my research tool of choice was the telephone plus bribing the PDL Principal’s staff with hot lunch from Mexico Viejo for inside information.

Soon I determined something that made my stomach ache; the ‘new’ cutting-edge computer teaching program was incredibly new, in fact, SO new it had never been sold or used anywhere before because it had been put together over summer vacation by the PDL Principal and his drinking buddy, the Assistant Superintendent and their plan was to visit all nine of the campuses in the district and gather together all the Site Council funds throughout the school district to add up to a collective pay day of around $250,000, and then, these two fellows were going to change the attendance calendar to accommodate themselves a 2 week window in the Spring of 1991, to allow them to visit a school technology convention.

Amazing what a hot Machaca burrito can buy you.

Literally raised by Gypsies and long on experience as a inquisitive journalist, the story the Principal’s secretary told me seemed to be too greedy to be true. This was worse than stealing candy out of the mouths of babes.

After discussing it over dinner, I called several other elementary schools in the district and like pulling teeth, I got not only the phone number for one parent on the PDL Site Council, but 7 out of 9 of PTA President’s phone numbers in the district.

After a day or two educating myself about Who-was-Who at each campus and determining the meeting schedules of the PTAs and Site Councils, I received a phone call from our PDL Principal.

He wanted to see me pronto!

I had about half-an-hour before the girls got out of school, so I combed my hair and walked over.

Once I was seated in the Principal’s office, the back door to his office opened and the Assistant Superintendent walked in and took a seat next to me.

“What exactly is it you think you are doing Mr. Andreen?” Asked the Principal, after getting the nod for a go-ahead by his superior.

“I’m not sure I understand your question?”

“I’m talking about calling other campuses and causing unnecessary anxiety among the parents on those campuses.”

“Oh, you mean, by warning the other campus PTAs that I believe you and the Assistant Superintendent are foisting off an unproven product to the parents and children of this school district so you guys can pocket a quarter of a million dollars off unsuspecting and trusting people?”

“What? Where did you hear that number and what do you mean by ‘foisting off an unproven product’?”

“You gentlemen neglected to tell the PDL parents the other evening that you two wrote and packaged this program and that it hasn’t been tested and that no other school district has even tried it out, much less given you a testimonial of its success.”

The two middle-aged white men became even whiter.

“Who have you told this story to Mr. Andreen.”

“At least three parents on every campus in the district.”

“We’ll sue for slander!” said the Principal.

“You can’t prove anything!” said the Assistant Superintendent.

“I also heard you two are taking a couple of teachers to Vegas as soon as you get the first check from one of the campuses?”

The Assistant Superintendent quickly excused himself. The Principal kept blinking at me in his superior’s wake and then he quietly said.

“What’s your next move?”

“I couldn’t believe it, but I discovered something over the past two days while I was tracking down Site Council parents and introducing myself to PTA Parents. No one had taken the time to create a phone tree throughout the district to connect all the nine campuses. So when the district comes to one campus trying to flim-flam the parents out of their hard-earned money, one campus can warn all the others.”

“You are acting like we are some kind of criminals…”

“Your name isn’t on the product. It hasn’t been tested. And I’m not sure, but I’m pretty confident that neither you nor the Assistant Superintendent have degrees in either computer science or teaching computer science, am I right?”

“Yes.”

The computer teacher program that these two gentlemen attempted to foist upon unsuspecting parents was never heard of again.

But when I read today the EUSD is going to spend good money after bad; $70,000 for a ‘new’ attendance program the Board of Education has sent out warnings about, I bitterly laughed.

“Haven’t even paid off all the money they committed for another ‘new’ product two years ago.” I said to myself.

See, it’s not the trustee’s money and it’s not the Superintendent’s money.

It’s our money.

You CAN fool all the people ALL of the time.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

NOTE: While these two gentlemen are no longer in the district; the overwhelming air of secrecy that EUSD ascribes to, that allows injustices to appear are now worse than ever in our opinion.

Cool is… an elusive essence.

According to this theory, cool is real, but also unknowable; like the Tao, or The Way.

Encinitas is suffused in things ‘too cool’ to have names.

Even, official city business electronic letterhead is cool, here…within our state of being.

I learned this after receiving an e-mail answer from Nicholas Buck, ‘Nick’, a Daimyo at the City of Encinitas’ Parks-and-Recreation Department on electronic letterhead; I saw a ‘cool’ Department Logo or ‘branding’ while I contemplated the ‘meaning’ of Mr. Buck’s response.

The Parks-and-Rec logo, a brush-stroke brand of sorts, with a built-in story or narrative iconography; sort of looks like a silhouette of Clint Eastwood at the Beach, bluff-top, facing West and searching the waves at Sundown, City ‘branding’ that was just sooooo cool; but at the same time…subtle, so months later, again; when I was visited by the visual coolness of the department logo/brand, I wrote Mr. Buck and asked the history of the Parks and Rec logo.

While I waited for his reply, listening to homeboy, Ravi Shankar’s ‘Passages’, composed with Phillip Glass, I remembered a ‘cool’ day at the beach, nearby.

COOL AS AN ELUSIVE ESSENSE
In 1986, when I returned to my bride’s hometown, I was wandering the beach below the bluffs at the near-shore junction where Seaside/Palisades meets the Solana Beach bluffs and caves, lost in my thoughts about ‘how’ I had suddenly come to be carried-away to my dream-town, Encinitas; and while tossing little black stones into the incoming tide became a kind of physical manifestation for the arc of flight of each stone thrown, matching my own flight down the coastline from Pasadena to Encinitas, with only a fortnight’s notice, to become…

Turbulence protecting peace in a circle of wonder…the magnetic waves, wind and water always worked as a tonic to refresh my mind during times of unexpected change, so I meandered south from Seaside parking lot towards Del Mar, whistling into the echo of sea caves under the roar of the Pacific…cosmic questions roiling my mind…

“Hey!”

I didn’t know the man who hailed me from his back patio on the bluff top above me, but he seemed to earnestly want to speak to me and at once he stepped over a low wall and began descending the staircase at Tidal Basin…halfway to the Solana Beach parking lot Ole Ed Fletcher had whittled out of flagstone with a fire hose one morning to create access just north of the Del Mar and the secure bluff-top compound of J. Edgar Hoover.

“Hey, are you lookin’ for something?” The man asked.

“Yeah,’ I answered,

“Is it a surf board? Cuz’ we found a surf board left here over night.”

We both wordlessly looked to the waves and shared an unspoken concern that a night surfer might have drowned last evening after dark and that his riderless board, washed ashore, the last proof of his existence on Mother Earth.

“No, I didn’t lose a surf board,” I answered.

“Then, what are you looking for?”

“God. I was looking for God, or at least a ‘sign’ from him.”

We both burst into laughter.

“Well, he’s down here somewhere. Yer’ lookin’ in the right place.”

“I thought so.”

The Gentleman began to climb back up the bluff stairs to his back patio.

“What’s the lost board look like?” I called up to him.

“Its a Caster.”

“Caster?” I laughed, recognizing the Shaper’s name. “We just moved in next door to his widow, Laura in Village Park.”

“Its a beauty. Sure would be a tragedy if no one came along to claim it.”

Armed now with the knowledge that I had been brought down to Encinitas from Pasadena to somehow help the Casters…somehow…. people I didn’t really know, this ‘sign’ would have to satisfy me for the time being.

The Gentleman reached his patio, up top and as I watched, he held the top of the Caster board by his pointing finger and slowly spun it back to front, so it reflected the sunset color for a moment.

I admired it then waved farewell and began to move quickly back north, up the beach. I had to move on to Glen Park quickly and pick up my daughters at the City’s Daycare.

So many ‘cool’, elusive moments remembered but uncaptured at the beach; sublime, shibumi, silken…shadowed…

BANSAI FROM MR. BUCK
Just as I was looking for God, so too is the seeker on the bluff counting the waves and sets, solo, fleshed out in the Parks-and-Rec’s department logo, even the smallest details about Encinitas can be so…elusively inchoate…

So cool.

Nick Buck answered that when he and Mike Pacheco had been working in concert to raise the identity of all the fantastic Parks-and-Rec Programs that you can read about in the New Recreation and Summer Camp Fun Catalogues right here:

http://www.cityofencinitas.org/Government/CityD/ParksAndRecreation/Recreation+Programs/Recreation+Guide.htm

And that, being from a generation after the Boom, he and Pacheco tried to design something more….’cool’ than the 1986 City of Encinitas logo with the headless horse, so the department took a bunch of photos around the city and then set down with a freelance designer and the photos of the seeker on the bluffs and after some concentrated time and effort; epiphany…and what is more elusive than…

A Brand was born…and it is hard to argue…the Parks-and-Rec logo IS so ‘cool’ and semi-conscious in its approach and meaning.

Eight brush strokes; wave, wave, bluff, bluff, man, board, trunk, foliage…part art, part poetry.

COMING SOON,
Bewitched by the Kitchen Witch, nightly theater on the half-shell in New Encinitas, freshly, baked, buttered, blended, Bordeauxed…night class with night caps!

Kohl’s for New Castle?

Is Kohl’s Moving into the boarded up Albertson’s?

Surf’s-Up!!! July 22nd at Headlines for Hair!!!

The Kids Are ‘Still’ Alright!, or, With $44 million you ‘Should” get egg roll…Green Eggs and Porkbellies…When going ‘Green’ isn’t really ‘Green’, or good for your green.

General Plan Update Workshop 2035 with Council; north county elections round up, first annual BENTLEY”S anniversary party with 2010 nominees for New Encinitas Businesses of the Year, a Steinway for Cornish Avenue, ’35-25’ thirty-five months and twenty-five days, the ‘short’ Life and ‘much-longer’ Death of the Encinitas Visitor Center; Encinitas North Coast Chamber of Commerce’s new home in NEW ENCINITAS; freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose; except financial ties to the city.