Great Leucadia Tree War

Leucadia's trees are under attack from the city of Encinitas!
A timeline thus far:
First, the city cuts down the trees in Leucadia Park.
Then, they target several of the eucalyptus trees along 101 for removal.
Then, the city removes some of the trees from Orpheus Park because of some 1990's era verbal agreement with the developer of a condo complex. They would have removed more if an activist wasn't camped out in one of them. School kids from Ecke Central even got into the protest action.
I won't pretend to understand tree biology and know whether or not these trees needed to be removed. But the deal with the condos smells fishy. Assuming there was a verbal agreement, how long was this supposed to go on? Forever? How many other "verbal agreements" are there that we don't know about. I was surprised that city manager Cotton wouldn't listen to a sitting council member and delay the removal. How hard would it be to stop and figure things out.
Leucadia blog is covering all aspects of the Great Leucadia Tree War.

Houlihan v. Hotel For Dogs

The UT alleges that Council member Maggy Houlihan is behind the city's rabid code enforcement against a local dog kennel. Mrs. Houlihan lives in a rough neighborhood. One "neighbor" posts inflammatory signs along interstate 5 and she sets the city enforcement squad on the other. Houlihan could very well have tipped off the city, but the owner had also build a wall that might have aroused suspicion. Moral of the story: don't piss off your neighbor if the happen to be a city council member.

Update:
The kennel can keep most of the canopies. Although some require permits. The city is now safe from canopy blight.

Much Ado About Nothing

Taking a half day for Christmas Eve and News Year Eve doesn't seem like front web page news.

Big Brother Strikes in Oceanside

The Oceanside Police Department has made it much easier to track people, or recover stolen vehicles, depending on you who trust.  Their cruisers have a device that can read license plates as they drive by.  But don't worry, they won't use it improperly because there are "rules" that apply.  Sgt. Ken Gow says there is no reason to be concerned.  Mr. Gow, when the DHS comes calling with a list of plates to monitor and no warrant, are you going to put your job on the line and tell them it is against the rules.  I don't think so.  The President of the Unites States has rules also and look how well they were followed.

Collier Shenanigans

The UT is really covering the Encinitas council race. You might get the impression they were trying to sell newspapers.
They seems to have caught Rachelle Collier in discrepancy about her stand on needle exchange programs. Like Mrs. Collier, I am not sure what this has to to with Encinitas. This whole story is bizarre. First someone makes a bunch of "survey" calls that say Collier supports lifting the ban on needle exchanges. Then Collier and Maggie Houlihan stage a press conference to deny the support and denounce the calls. Then afterward, Collier is presented with a survey where she apparently did support what she just got through saying she didn't. Sounds like a setup to me. Crazy stuff.

Houlihan Shenanigans

A very concerned citizen, Harry Eiler, blew the whistle on Maggie Houlihan's trip to Japan a few years back. A number of things are interesting about this.
The honesty of Mr. Eiler is absolutely refreshing in these days of doublespeak and political correctness. By waiting four years after the incident to take action, it is obvious that the only motive was to harm Houlihan's reelection chances. But rather than beating around the bush, he comes right out and admits his motive (and his source: Houlihan's arch-enemy Jerome Stocks). Whatever you think of his tactics, you have to give him credit for being honest.
It seems that Maggie was cleared by city attorney Glenn Sabine and the Fair Political Practices Commission after the Japan trip. Why keep bringing this up?
It seems that Stocks and Christy Guerin where "concerned" about Maggie's husband getting all this money. They didn't seem that concerned with trying to pass an illegal clean water tax though.
Lastly, how can you write an article about this now infamous Japan trip without mentioning the cat incident. The author should be fired.