PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 26, NO. 29
AUG. 3, 2012
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Council pursuing layoff plan
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By Christina Macone-Greene
Oceanside Police Department for three years. Police officers, family, council members and residents shared memories of the police officer, husband, father and Oceanside native. “Dan, he was a homegrown good guy who loved being with kids,” Councilman Jack Feller said. “I don’t think he had regrets over his life.” “The tribute means a lot to men and women in
CARLSBAD — The Carlsbad City Council voted unanimously to pursue an option that would outsource all park maintenance services and that would potentially impact close to 50 city employees. The city chose to move forward in collecting more data before executing any final decision. The move by the city has triggered a “meet and confer” process with the CCEA (Carlsbad City Employees’ Association), the park maintenance employees’ union. The accounting firm Baker Tilly provided a comprehensive report to Carlsbad which showed that contracting out park maintenance could save the city anywhere from $1.7 million to $3.8 million annually. Deputy City Manager Cynthia Haas addressed the city council reminding council members that, during the annual goal-setting workshop 18 months ago, staff was asked to explore the idea of contracting out more of their services as a way to further reduce operating costs. “But it was with the caveat that the high standards that we have in place would not be sacrificed,” Haas said.“We are back again to explore the various programs and approaches.” Earlier in the year, the city contracted Baker Tilly to conduct the analysis. Haas pointed out that the city already has contracts with outside vendors to perform services as tree maintenance and open space care. With the Baker Tilly report, staff recommended three options to the city, which were to either outsource all parks maintenance services, outsource only tree and landscape maintenance, or remain status quo. “I do want to emphasize that we are not talking about recreation services,” Haas said when talking about
TURN TO BESSANT ON A16
TURN TO LAYOFFS ON A16
CHARGED UP
The Chargers begin team practices and fans have great expectations from the team and coach A15 Norv Turner.
INSIDE TWO SECTIONS, 48 PAGES
Arts & Entertainment . . A10 Brush with Art . . . . . . . A11 Baby Boomer Peace . . . B23 Camp Pendleton News . . B12 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . B20 Comics & Puzzles . . . . . B22 Legal Notices . . . . . . . . A18 Lick the Plate . . . . . . . . B11 Local Legends . . . . . . . . B4 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . B4 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . B3 Sea Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . B5 Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . A15 Taste of Wine . . . . . . . A22 Who’s News? . . . . . . . . B19
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A REAL RIOT The Cardiff “kook” statue is the victim of another shenanigan last Saturday. Artists dress the statue, formally titled “Magic Carpet Ride,” in a tribute to the guerrilla-style graffiti work of British artist Banksy. The statue is modeled after a Banksy piece called “Riot,” (inset photo). The cardboard cutouts wrapping around the statue feature many of the “characters” found in his artwork, which is often created on the sides of buildings, bridges and parks. Photos by Daniel Knighton
City renews contract By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — A renewed contract between the City of Oceanside and Oceanside Firefighters’ Association (OFA) and Oceanside Fire Management Association (OFMA) will have firefighters pay the full employees’ portion of retirement benefits, take away minimum staffing provisions and put a cap on management level salaries. These contract updates will save the city $251,774 in 2012-13 and $457,258 annually in following years. OFA president Daniel Gonzales said firefighters
consider the agreement a reasonable compromise on the part of firefighters and the city. “It’s the best deal for both sides we can agree to right now,” Gonzales said. City Council OK’d the contract in a 3-2 vote Wednesday, with Councilmen Jerry Kern and Gary Felien voting no. Felien credited firefighters for their service, but voiced opposition to the contract. He said the terms fell short of saving the city enough money. He pointed TURN TO CONTRACT ON A16
Bridge renamed in honor fallen Oceanside officer By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — More than a dozen uniformed police officers stood along the back wall of the city council chambers and a half dozen members of the Bessant family sat in attendance at the Aug. 1 council meeting as City Council unanimously voted to rename the Pacific Street Bridge to honor Officer Dan Bessant. Bessant was shot in the line of duty on Dec. 20, 2006 after serving the