Last week Houlihan fired off charges against the Chamber for not living up to their contract. This week former Encinitas Chamber CEO Gary Tucker fired back.

See Also: Chamber in Over its Head.

Both the UT and the NCT ran stories this week on the council's position on using the Quail Gardens Drive property for a community garden.

Both articles make is seem like Dalager, Bond, & Stocks have a plan for the property, but that would mean that they came to a decision behind closed doors in violation of the Brown Act. Vice President of the ETA, Kevin Cummins has been trying to get the council to publicly discuss plans for the site for over a year (see Quail Gardens Investment).

From the NCT:
Councilmen James Bond and Jerome Stocks said they couldn't support that location because the city plans to eventually put housing on the property. It would be financially irresponsible for Encinitas to use the land for a garden, they said, adding that they would only support the garden project if it were on another city-owned parcel ---- the roughly 50-acre Indian Head Canyon open space preserve area at Saxony Road and Quail Hollow Drive.

Curiously, Dalager recommended using a wildlife preserve.
Councilman Dan Dalager said he would prefer the Indian Head site, but later added that he could wait to decide until he had more information about the project.

From the UT:
Councilman Dan Dalager said that Indian Head Canyon – 54 acres off Saxony Road near the Encinitas-Carlsbad boundary – has plenty of space for a garden and possibly an animal husbandry center for 4-H.

While the council didn't formally designate a site, three members – Stocks, Dalager and Councilman James Bond – made it clear they oppose using Quail Gardens Drive because the city might want to sell that land.

See Also: The Coast News

UT Chamber of Commerce given new contract – and probation
The Encinitas Chamber of Commerce is on probation after city officials said it failed to meet the terms of its contract to operate a downtown visitors center and promote tourism.

City officials said the chamber closed the Encinitas Visitors Center at 859 Second St. on weekends without authorization, didn't communicate with the city about staff turnover, failed to maintain an adequate Web site and distributed outdated publications. End Excerpt.

The City continued to pay the Chamber during this period. The Chamber's operations have been manned by very politically active members who have used the Chamber's media resources to support council candidates and their causes.

UT SD Pay Cuts
“I'm never happy when we have to impose a 6 percent pay decrease on families but I feel this council has made some tough decisions that other councils just passed along,” Sanders said.

NCT Investment losses reveal flawed assumptions, critics say
The pension fund, which covers all San Diego County employees, uses a host of variables to determine how much is needed in taxpayer and employee contributions to pay for the retirements of all its workers. One of the most important calculations is how much managers expect the fund's investments to earn on Wall Street. If the pension fund assumes the investments will earn a lot, it can take less out of employee paychecks and taxpayer coffers.

See Also:
Encinitas Pension Notes
Pension Archives

NCT MWD seeks 10 percent cut
Southern California's primary water supplier will take up a staff recommendation next week to cut the amount of water it delivers to the region by 10 percent, a decision that likely would trigger mandatory conservation in the cities of San Diego and Riverside counties.

UT Bait and switch
No need to plunder earmarked TransNet funds
If the SANDAG board goes along with this plunder, it would only reinforce the cynicism many voters share toward their elected representatives, who too often are abysmal stewards of tax dollars paid by hard-working San Diegans.

NCT Council agrees to additional planning for streetscape project
In a unanimous vote, the council agreed to spend up to $85,900 for additional traffic studies, a fourth public workshop and some mailers or other publicity on the issue.