PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92025 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
.com MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 28, N0. 41
OCT. 10, 2014
The two-member subcommittee composed of Lisa Shaffer and Teresa Barth say taxable bonds would provide more flexibility on what could be done on the Pacific View property. File photo
Taxable bonds endorsed as method to finance Pacific View By Aaron Burgin
Michael LeBlanc of Hillcrest stops to smell the orchids. The San Diego International Orchid Fair was held at San Diego Botanic Gardens Oct. 4 and Oct. 5. Photo by Promise Yee
Orchid Fair draws gardeners, flower lovers By Promise Yee
ENCINITAS — The San Diego International Orchid Fair drew hobby gardeners and orchid lovers to San Diego Botanic Garden Oct. 4 and Oct. 5. “There are orchids from all over the world that you won’t find in your local nursery or grocery store,” Sam Ukima, orchid festival committee member, said. Unique to the fair, growers are on site to provide one-on-one answers to gardeners’ questions, and give lectures geared for beginners. “The actual growers will be there,” Ukima said. “You need to go to the orchid fair to meet these people and buy their plants, you’re not going to find them easily.” Encinitas grower Andy Phillips was a speaker on Sunday. Phillips
usually sells to gardens and landscaping companies. “Bring your plants that you’re having problems with, that you’re not sure what they are, or how to grow them,” Phillips said. “I can give you all the corrective advice you need on what culture they actually need to grow in to grow successfully either outdoors or indoors in Southern California.” Phillips specializes in orchids species, and brought more than 200 different types of orchids to the fair. “The flowers come in all colors and varieties,” Phillips said. “A lot of these flowers are very fragrant. That’s really why people grow them.” He said orchids have a bad rap of being difficult to grow. “With a couple of tricks they become pretty easy to grow,” Phillips
said. Rainbows of orchids were for sale at the fair, including hard-tofind species. Neighbors Michael LeBlanc and Demetria Zwierzynski, of Hillcrest, came in search of house orchids and left with the perfect plants. “I see orchids I’ve never seen anywhere,” LeBlanc said. The fair also hosted two competitions for best flower, one judged by the San Diego International Orchid Society, and the other by the esteemed American Orchid Society. The competition display area is a magnet for orchid lovers and photographers. Professional portrait photographer Laura Makenna said she comes TURN TO ORCHIDS ON A16
ENCINITAS — An Encinitas City Council subcommittee has endorsed taxable bonds as the method to finance the $10 million purchase of the Pacific View Elementary School site. But the city will face another hurdle as it starts the process of determining what to do with the land over the next few years — a zoning code that restricts many of the activities preferred by local stakeholders. The two-member committee composed of Lisa Shaffer and Teresa Barth said taxable bonds would provide more flexibility on what could be done on the property, and they would be willing to pay a bit more for that flexibility than deal with the restrictions that tax-exempt status places on the property and the pitfalls if they run afoul of those laws. “Either we come up
with the financing or we lose the deal,” Shaffer said. “I say we go with taxable bonds and let’s get on to doing something with the property.” The subcommittee will make the recommendation to the full City Council at the Oct. 22 meeting. Shaffer and Barth arrived at their decision during a Monday afternoon meeting attended by nearly 40 people — mostly stakeholders in the arts community — at which time the city’s contract bond counsel told the audience that the spread in interest rates between taxable and tax-exempt bonds was smaller than usual, and both were near historic lows. “Rates are as low as they have ever been,” said Kim Byrens, a bond counsel with Best Best & Krieger, the firm contracted to provide the services TURN TO BONDS ON A16
KRISTIN GASPAR for
MAYOR
Paid for by Gaspar for Mayor 2014 - ID# 1369449
ENDORSED BY ENCINITAS FIREFIGHTERS & DEPUTY SHERIFFS