City of Encinitas Wants to Revive Pacific View

The city of Encinitas wants to pour about $1 million into the former Pacific View Elementary School site so it can become a community center. The city bought the 2.8-acre site from the Encinitas Union School District in 2014 for $10 million and has been servicing the debt since. Private organizations have been unable to raise enough money to get an arts and ecology center established on the site.

“I was against putting more taxpayer money into Pacific View but now I’m for it,” said District 4 Councilman Joe Mosca. “However, in terms of issues going forward, I have an issue with the name of the site. The only Pacific view from Pacific View is from the north side of the building, and then it’s just a narrow strip of ocean below the horizon.

“So in terms of remedies going forward, I propose this one,” said Mosca. “If the city were to condemn and remove the row of houses along the alley behind the site, that would add a Pacific view from the entire west side of the Pacific View site.

“In terms of going further with authenticating the name,” said Mosca, “I propose adding a second story to the former school buildings, excluding the original historic schoolhouse itself. That would provide a true Pacific view from nearly every Pacific View vantage point. In terms of the city putting more public money into the site, we should do it right if we’re going to do it at all.”

“Now just a minute, Joe,” said District 1 Councilman Tony Kranz. “Pacific View is my personal boondoggle, and I won’t have you horning in on it. Sure, Gus Vina, Teresa Barth and Lisa Shaffer share some of the credit, but the fiasco has been more mine than anybody else’s. I claim management rights, and $1 million sounds like a good start.”

 

Encinitas Mayor Comes Clean About Her Agenda

“Since Encinitas voters elected me to the City Council, and more so since they elected me as mayor,” said Catherine Blakespear, “I’ve been pursuing my agenda in sneaky, underhanded ways. In the interest of transparency, I wanted to find a way to blatantly bring my agenda out into the open.

“I recently recruited my protégé, Councilmember Kellie Shay Hinze, to join me in forming the Encinitas for Iniquity committee. We cleverly abbreviated its name E4I.

“Hinze and I will recruit like-minded voters as members of the E4I committee. Under our leadership, the committee will forcefully sell my agenda to Encinitas residents.

“First among our priorities will be to declare outright war on Proposition A. It has hindered residential and commercial development since voters passed it in 2013. It has prevented Encinitas from quickly becoming the shining city on a bluff that most residents want it to be.

“Making Encinitas a haven for the homeless will hold a high position among E4I’s goals. We can’t have homeless people randomly wandering about. We will invite them to Encinitas and accommodate them in every way possible.

“Banning gas- and diesel-powered vehicles and minimizing use of electric vehicles will be near the top of E4I’s list. The committee will force everybody who can ride a bike or walk to do so.

“For further information about the Encinitas for Iniquity committee, please see my periodic newsletter. Readers should find a committee membership application there.”

Sing an Unhappy Song

In our Encinitas, with all its incompleteness

We’ll be the biggest city on the North County coast

I’ll throw down the onus and curse density bonus

I’ll be the maddest person on Encinitas Votes

On our avenues . . . our boulevards . . . the developers will smack us

And we’ll find that we’re in the urbanosphere

Oh, I could write a treatise about our Encinitas

And of the town that’s growing too much outta control

 

Secession Talk Amps Up in Cardiff

“Who needs the city of Encinitas?” said Ed Smilin. “We have everything we need here in Cardiff to be our own city. We have the lagoon, restaurant row, the Reef, the rail trail, the campground, the better crossing at Chesterfield, Glen Park, two grade schools, the planned crossing at Verdi, Seaside Market, our own library, a quiet zone, Vons and Rite Aid, Lux, Community Park, VG Donuts, Maggie’s Dog Park, Patagonia, Mira Costa College, I could go on and on.”

“If it were up to me,” said Joy Stik, “I’d bring back Value Fair and Miracles Cafe. I really miss those places.”

“Well, Joy, if we were to secede and form our own city,” said Smilin, “maybe we could bring those places and your other favorites back. As the city of Cardiff, or Cardiff-by-the-Sea if you prefer, there would be a revived community spirit. Entrepreneurs would be inspired to launch businesses that would restore our heritage.”

“As it is now,” said Stik, “the mayor of Encinitas puts a damper on our Cardiff community. Blakespear lives here, but she’s a burden rather than a boost. Thunder is for keeping Cardiff as Cardiff rather than turning it into a density hellscape.”

“You didn’t mention the obstacle course between Chesterfield and Solana Beach,” said Smilin. “A couple dozen injuries and just a matter of time before a fatality. That’s the mayor’s doing. It needs undoing. The city of Cardiff could undo it. We could make it safer. And we could change Encinitas Votes to Cardiff Votes.”

“We should look to the future,” said Stik. “Where do you want to put Cardiff City Hall?”