Poinsett Heirs Sue Ecke Successor

Just in time for the Christmas season, the Poinsett estate has sued Ecke successor Agribio Group, which bought the Ecke Ranch flower-growing business in 2012.

A generational succession of Eckes used breeding and culturing techniques to develop a host of colorful potted plant varieties they called poinsettias.

Joel Poinsett, US minister to Mexico in the 1820s, brought the red and green shrub Euphorbia pulcherrima home. It had been attractive in Mexico and remained so in the US because its upper leaves turn red during the Christmas season. The combination of red and green leaves that appear in December make the plant a natural fit.

Court records show that the first Paul Ecke said, “Well, we couldn’t expect to sell plants called Euphorbia pulcherrima, so as we developed them we called them poinsettias, which others were already doing at the time.

The Poinsett heirs’ suit claims “wanton theft and misuse of our family name for commercial gain without permission, attribution or compensation.” Casual use of poinsettia to name the plant is fine with the heirs; it’s widespread commercial use that’s the problem.

Since Agribio Group bought the business outright, the Ecke family bears no liability. Any settlement or judgment would be borne by Agribio Group.

Skinny stringer, you old age stinger

You stung your arm last night

It sent your mind a-wand’rin’

You’re such a sleaze, please do leave

Don’t stay in the flop house by the ocean

Slow-talkin’ guys with strange red eyes

Have put things in your head

And sent your mind a-wand’rin’

They failed you so, please do go

Please get out now of the Portofino

Portofino, Portofino

Where life’s never smooth

You’ll lose your mind in the mornin’

You can amble through needle park

Throw up all day in the Portofino

Like life told you, can you dig it?

If you wanna leave

We’ll be glad to help you

Ah, ’cause we loathe you so, please do go

Please get out now of the Portofino

Portofino, Portofino

Where life’s never smooth

You’ll lose your mind in the mornin’

You can amble through needle park

Throw up all day in the Portofino

Portofino

Portofino

Portafino

Mali Woods-Drake wears a red mask and black T-shirt as she addresses the BLM crowd.

Who Is Mali Woods-Drake and Why Are Locals Talking About Her?

As far as Google knows, Mali Woods-Drake first came to prominence in Encinitas as an organizer of Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd in late May 2020.

In late April 2021, the City Council chose Woods-Drake as one of eight members of the Encinitas Equity Committee, created by the council the previous February. The city’s statement:

“The purpose of the Encinitas Equity Committee is to help the City of Encinitas and Encinitas community create safe, healthy, accessible, and inclusive opportunities for everyone who lives, works and visits Encinitas. The committee will provide the forum for a diverse mix of voices to provide suggestions to the City of Encinitas to help plan, prioritize, manage and build projects and programs; frame how we work with our communities and public safety personnel; define how we recruit and develop our employees; guide our efforts to compile and interpret data and set up expectations for stakeholders and sub-contractors that work with us.”

How the committee, which includes Mayor Catherine Blakespear and Councilwoman Kellie Hinze, will accomplish the purpose is not clear.

Note that the Encinitas Equity Committee and Encinitas4Equality (E4E) are separate entities. E4E is a private organization of which Woods-Drake is a director. It maintains a studio and retail location at 414 N. Coast Highway 101 in Leucadia.

At an indeterminate point in the timeline, Woods-Drake was appointed board vice president of the Pacific View Academy of Arts, also known as EACEA, although nobody can remember what that abbreviation stands for.

Woods-Drake is a senior coordinator at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). It’s been alleged that SEIU owns Mayor Blakespear.

Woods-Drake is a graduate of Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, New Jersey. The college’s statement:

“Bloomfield College is committed to enabling students, particularly those who have been historically excluded from higher education, to realize their intellectual and personal goals. The College’s mission is to prepare students to attain academic, personal, and professional excellence in a multicultural and global society. Bloomfield College is the only 4-year predominately Black and Hispanic serving institution in NJ.”

Although Woods-Drake does not herself appear to be an African-American, she has embraced Black movements and causes. One interpretation is that, like Rev. Al Sharpton, she is a sort of all-purpose Black protester.

Woods-Drake appeared at a Carlsbad press conference to protest a police tasing. She wore a black T-shirt that read “The future is black and female.” According to the Coast News, she “spoke about the historical context of police, noting police forces were originally slave patrols. She said the entire police system in the U.S. was founded and built on oppression.”

Woods-Drake said she has “10+ years experience in labor and community organizing, with a passion for social and racial justice.”

According to the Encinitas Advocate, Woods-Drake said her parents were labor organizers.

“I always joke that I was raised on a picket line, so it’s kind of been in my blood since before I was born,” she said.

“I believe the vast majority of Encinitas residents believe in equality and equity,” Woods-Drake said. “Because this isn’t something that we deal with on a day-to-day basis — we don’t experience a lot of racism when there’s not a lot of race diversity here — [E4E] created an avenue for people to get involved who have been looking for a way to do something in their own backyard.”

It appears the Equity Committee and E4E are a solution to a problem that barely exists in Encinitas.

Blakespear Celebrates Corpse (Plant) in Encinitas

Having invited hordes of homeless people to town, having greenlighted unbridled development in the city and having had her bike lanes responsible for dozens of injuries and at least one death, Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear was hungry for a positive PR moment. Her opportunity came with the bloom of a corpse plant at San Diego Botanic Garden, formerly known as Quail Botanical Gardens.

The corpse plant’s scientific name, Amorphophallus titanum, translates to giant, misshapen, erect penis, a fact Blakespear did not mention.

Thousands of visitors flocked to the garden to see, smell and photograph the corpse plant, which blooms gloriously for only 48 hours.

As it blooms, the flower releases a putrid odor likened to rotting flesh. The odor has evolved to ensure the perpetuation of the species. The stench attracts carrion beetles and flesh flies that help the plant pollinate. 

“Something’s rotten in the city of Encinitas,” said a visitor to the garden as she held her nose and giggled at her Shakespeare reference.

The corpse plant grows in the wild in the equatorial rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, where it blooms infrequently. Although the latitude of Encinitas is much farther north, the plant is not regarded as an invasive species because it’s confined to the botanic garden. 

“Perhaps the botanists at the gardens can get the corpse plant to bloom more often,” said Blakespear. “Events like this bring more people to Encinitas. They enjoy themselves and patronize local businesses, so everybody wins.”

Encinitas Activists Want Cardiff Underrepresented in Redistricting

Under federal law, cities must redraw electoral districts after each federal census. The city’s districts must be redrawn by April 22, 2022. To help accomplish this, the city is conducting public hearings and workshops.

Encinitas activists were immediately struck by the lack of resident participation at the first public hearing.

“I think the public has lost faith in city government generally,” said activist Larry Gomorka, “and the fiasco of creating voting districts is an example of why. When the districts were first drawn, it was later revealed that then-Councilwoman Tasha Boerner Horvath had anonymously submitted the map the council adopted. Still later, it was revealed that the whole council had devised the map and had Tasha submit it.

“The map was designed to retain the five then-sitting council members — no one would be pushed out or have to compete with another member for reelection,” said Gomorka. “That’s why the districts are so oddly shaped. For example, to benefit Mark Muir, a weird appendage had to be added to Cardiff to include Muir’s residence in New Encinitas.

“Given these blatant districting manipulations,” said Gomorka, “and the many other damaging decisions by the City Council, who can blame residents for losing faith in city government? Residents’ interests are ignored. Residents can’t win. We are steamrollered by a council and a staff that don’t care about us. They’re all in it for themselves.

“Yet some of us are diehards,” said Gomorka. “We decided to fight fire with fire. We have devised a way to ensure that Cardiff in underrepresented. The mayor and another council member live in Cardiff. Cardiff got a quiet zone. Cardiff got the rail trail. Cardiff got the Chesterfield crossing improved. Cardiff has the Verdi crossing designed. Cardiff has its own library.

“Cardiff is favored,” said Gomorka. “The only way to stop the abuse is to shrink Cardiff’s electoral district. We’ll draw the district to exclude Blakespear or Lyndes. Better yet, we’ll exclude both.”

In the interest of balanced reporting, the views of city staffer Xavier Onassis are included.

“The redistricting process has unimpeachable integrity,” said Onassis. “We have engaged legal assistance from Nielsen Merksamer, Christopher Skinnell and demographers Douglas Johnson and Shannon Kelly from National Demographics Corporation to assist with the redistricting process. We assure the voting public that the process and result will conform to the state’s Fair Maps Act of 2020.”