This email came from the County Dept of Parks and Recreation. I thought some may find it useful information:

The San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) Annual Report Workshop will be held on Wednesday, June 29th from 9:00am-noon at the Balboa Park Club Ballroom.  The workshop is a collaborative effort between local jurisdictions, state and federal agencies to highlight habitat conservation accomplishments under the MSCP completed over the last year.  The workshop provides an opportunity for the public and interested parties to learn more about unique habitats in the San Diego region and role of the MSCP in preserving open space.  Members of the public and other interested parties are invited to attend.  The workshop details are as follows:

I got this email earlier today, just after I drove my all electric Nissan Leaf past a bunch of gas stations advertising $4.00+ prices for a gallon of gasoline. As a side note, based on miles per Kwh and the price of electricity, I’m paying the energy equivalent of about 20 cents per gallon driving the Leaf… But back to the email below… I clicked on the various USGS links, and if this isn’t true, it’s a fantastically well done bit of fraud: Please read on…

http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/article_527d8e25-90d1-5a75-8ce1-d66cdf358668.html

It seems that back in 2004, many North County Mayors including Democrats Maggie Houlihan of Encinitas and Crystal Crawford of Del Mar  were very much in favor of getting the voters to adopt “Prop A,” the extension of the TransNet sales tax measure. In fact, they were so in favor of it they were among others who penned a North County Times editorial which said in part:

“…It’s important to note that the billions of TransNet dollars identified for highway and transit construction will be matched dollar for dollar with federal and state funding. Above the merge, Interstate 5 will be widened to 14 lanes…”

Crews have been working around the clock to repair and restore the Coastal Rail line to service. This post is not political, but it is informative, and you read it here first!

NCTD is pleased announce the completion of repairs along a section of railroad track damaged by considerable storm erosion. Crews from NCTD, Transit America, and Herzog worked around the clock to restore passenger and freight traffic through a damaged section of track in Sorrento Valley.  

Crews also cleared a mudslide covering a section of track in Encinitas yesterday, allowing Amtrak passenger service to resume between Solana Beach and all points north.  

Per the North County Transit District:

COASTER and Amtrak train service between Oceanside and San Diego is cancelled until further notice due to severe weather conditions. Severe weather is also impacting the SPRINTER light rail line between the Oceanside Transit Center and the El Camino Real Station.  A bus bridge is in place to bypass the Coast Highway and Crouch Street Stations – all other SPRINTER stations between El Camino Real and Escondido are open at this time. BREEZE bus passengers should also be prepared for delays caused by local road closures. BREEZE routes 306, 331 and 101 have been suspended until conditions improve.

OK, So every City and community in the County is involved in the upcoming “mid-term”elections in one way or another.

Encinitas’ race is interesting because there are two incumbents being challenged by two outsiders. The incumbents are on opposite sides of the issues, and each of the challengers line up with one incumbent but not the other. What makes the following mail piece unusual is that it only lists 3 candidates instead of the 4 on the ballot. What does that mean?

What are your two picks?

In addition to the fantastic endorsement she received from the Deputy Sheriff’s Association, Kristin Gaspar now has the UT, along with a lot of other support.  From the UT:

Gaspar for Encinitas City Council

Tiny Encinitas, with an intractable 3-2 City Council split, sometimes comes across as some dysfunctional Mayberry. Yet, it has a low crime rate, no employee layoffs and the best credit rating a city can get.

The four candidates seeking two council seats are incumbents Teresa Barth and Dan Dalager, on opposite sides of the council split, and Kristin Gaspar and Tony Kranz.

The final accounting for the Sprinter rail project is in. The final federally approved budget was $484.1 million dollars, and the project is now closed out. The final tab was $477.628 million.

The Sprinter opened for service to the public in March of 2008,  was the lowest cost per mile rail project in the U.S.A., moves a lot more people than the bus routes it replaced using fewer employees, and has an excellent on-time performance record.    

On another, somewhat unrelated note, the Board of the North County Transit District voted on September 16th to reduce fares to the riding public on a promotional basis for the year 2011. It’s nice to have a public agency reduce fares instead of increasing them!

Teresa Barth’s letter to the editor in the North County Times on August 05 states that “…there has been a lot of misinformation regarding this issue [drought level 2 vs. level 1] …” And while I agree that there has been misinformation spread, I contend her letter has been one of the sources of misinformation.

The “Deepwater Horizon”, a semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit, was operating under lease to BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, and tasked with drilling an exploratory deep-water oil well in American waters located in the Gulf of Mexico in water 5,000 feet deep. The rig was certified to operate in waters as deep as 8,000 ft deep so this was well within their operating tolerances. And In fact, it should be noted that many counties have similar oil production units in the Gulf of Mexico, and worldwide deep water drilling is considered a safe technology. Please remember that during Hurricane Katrina, not one of the oil rigs in the gulf, many of which were badly damaged or destroyed, created any oil spills.

Ever wonder how the water gets to your tap, graffiti gets cleaned, or a pot hole gets filled?

Join us as the Encinitas Public Works Department Invites the Public to Tour the Public Works Yard

 The City of Encinitas Public Works Department invites the public to take an educational tour of the public works facility, located at 160 Calle Magdalena in Encinitas, on May 21 from 12:00pm until 2:00pm.  Representatives from the City of Encinitas Public Works Department and San Dieguito Water District will explain how they maintain the City’s infrastructure, including streets, storm drains, sewers, buildings and the water system.  This event is being held during National Public Works Week. 

The following is a reprint of an email I received from the law firm Best Best and Krieger. The court ruling addressed makes it clear that authority for local land use has been usurped by the State of California. Even local voters don’t have the ability to trump the state. Isn’t that a comforting thought?

…In a recent ruling with potentially wide-ranging and immediate impacts on local land use authorities, the Alameda County Superior Court has ordered the City of Pleasanton to rescind its voter-approved housing cap on grounds that the cap violates state law and prevents the City from meeting state-mandated housing requirements.

From www.dictionary.com

Niggardly
–adjective
1. reluctant to give or spend; stingy; miserly.

I received an email from Mr. Kent Davy, editor of the North County Times asking about a proposal to give the Encinitas City Manager a pay raise and so I sent him what I thought was a reasoned response. I got no feedback from him via email, but today the editorial encourages the Encinitas City Council to stiff the City Manager who hasn’t had a raise in three years, and gives no valid fiscal rationale for it other than basically just because we can!