The Coast News INLAND EDITION
ESCONDIDO, SAN MARCOS, VISTA
VOL. 5, N0. 24
By Steve Horn
TURN TO NEWLAND ON 12
NOV. 29, 2019
Study: Palomar at ‘high risk’ of insolvency
Board amends Newland Sierra ballot measure REGION — In a 3-2 tally, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted on Nov. 19 in favor of amended language for a contested ballot measure centering around a long-contested North County housing project. Unless successfully legally challenged, the new language will now be voted on by the county’s electorate on March 3. The project, Newland Sierra, was originally approved by the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 26, 2018, in a 4-0 vote. Just weeks after that vote, though, opponents of the project gathered the legally required number of signatures they needed to put a referendum item in opposition to the project on the ballot. But the language of that ballot measure came under question by its opponents, namely Newland Sierra, in the aftermath of polling work done by the developer. In response to the findings, the company’s legal team wrote a letter to the Board of Supervisors on July 31 requesting a language change under threat of legal action. The Board of Supervisors would a week later hold a closed session meeting and vote on the amended language options on Aug. 6 in response to that letter. The agenda for that day’s meeting lists the agenda item as "Conference with Legal Counsel — Anticipated Litigation," with no other details offered. To those present at the Nov. 19 meeting, the ballot measure seemingly came at the proverbial 11th hour. One attorney present on behalf of proponents of the initial ballot measure language even called the arrival of the language change “weird” during the public comments portion of the meeting. But Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, a Republican who represents large sections of coastal and inland North County, said that this was
.com By Steve Horn
recommends the following tips to help avoid getting scammed. First, use caution with any automated message from an unknown or suspicious contact, whether it’s an unsolicited email, suspicious text message, or customer service contact. “Look for typos or bad grammar, along with misspellings in email senders and domain names,” he said. Cristobal said when in doubt, mark anything unwanted as junk or forward it to a trusted IT provider to assess the threat before you click,
SAN MARCOS — At its Nov. 12 meeting, spanning over four hours in length, Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team Deputy Executive Officer Michelle Giacomini said that Palomar College faces a “high risk” of fiscal insolvency. Presenting the results of a six-week analysis done by the state agency to assess financial risks faced by the college, Giacomini displayed FCMAT’s findings in front of the Palomar College Governing Board and an overflow crowd which poured into an outside seating area and library audio room set up to accommodate the large audience. She said the college now faces “tough questions” in the months ahead as it attempts to steer its economic ship in a different direction. FCMAT is a state agency which does fiscal risk analyses at K-12 public schools and community colleges. Giacomini served as the overseer for FCMAT’s analysis for Palomar College. Calling the fiscal health risk analysis “one of the fastest I've ever done,” Giacomini lauded the college’s staff for quickly transmitting documents over to her and FCMAT staff to complete the inquiry. She also called the college “brave” for putting itself through the ringer of the analysis. Giacomini added that she thought that might signify that the college may not face much fiscal danger. But Giacomini thought wrong, she said, pointing to the college’s $12 million financial deficit “That's concerning and usually I trust my gut reaction more,” she said. “And it was wrong.” For the fiscal health risk analysis report, Palomar College earned a score of 44.5%. For FCMAT, a score of 40% or higher connotes facing a “high risk” of driving off the fiscal cliff. “At the current pace, salary and benefit costs will consume 100% of the unrestricted general fund revenues in three years,” reads the FCMAT report. “In two years, the district will have consumed all reserves and will be forced to borrow $6.5 million from an external source to remain solvent. The district has now
TURN TO CYBER MONDAY ON 22
TURN TO PALOMAR ON 6
STUNT DOGS SOAR IN ESCONDIDO Suhey Perondi, part of the husband-wife team that runs Stunt Dog Experience, with one of the stars of the show, which came to the California Center for the Arts for two performances this month. STORY ON PAGE 13. Courtesy photo
Scammers gear up for Cyber Monday By Tawny McCray
REGION — Cyber Monday is around the corner and with the recent email scam that affected 300 million Amazon customers, it’s important to know how to safely navigate shopping online. Mark Cristobal, who with his wife Mary Ann, owns CMIT Solutions, which serves Encinitas, Carlsbad, Solana Beach and Rancho Santa Fe, said last month’s Amazon swindle was a fresh spin on the tried-and-true email scam. “Phishing messages that appeared to be legitimate notifications from the online retail
giant attempted to trick users into sharing their account credentials, private logins, and financial information,” Cristobal said. “The fake requests required a response within 24 hours, threatening to permanently disable access to Amazon if they weren’t met.” Cristobal said that extra push worked, tricking thousands of unsuspecting users into clicking an “Update Now” button embedded in the email. That then led to a convincing simulation of Amazon’s login page, which asked for account name and password followed by name, address, city, state,
ZIP code, phone number and date of birth. From there, users were prompted to enter their credit card or bank account information as a final form of identify confirmation, which led to an automatic logout and redirect to the real Amazon website. “It’s a classic phishing scenario, one that is repeated time and time again with minor variations on different platforms and websites,” he said. “But it’s also one that you, your colleagues, and your company can avoid with planning, communication, and cybersecurity education.” Cristobal said he