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.”