PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
.com SERVING NORTH COUNTY SINCE 1987
VOL. 33, N0. 44
NOV. 1, 2019
SAN SANDAG MARCOS -NEWS presents ‘5 Big Moves’ to council
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By Samantha Taylor
homeless. “That’s 740 more people than identified during the point in time count who do not have a permanent home they can afford,” he said, adding that the population included people 65 years or older, veterans, the disabled, and those displaced as a result of leaving and surviving domestic violence. Furthermore, he stat-
OCEANSIDE — The “5 Big Moves” county transportation plan as THE proposed by the San Diego AssociVISTA ation of Governments recently made its way to City NEWS Council chambers. On Oct. 23, representatives from SANDAG including Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata presented the “bold new transportation vision” to council. SANDAG previously presented the plan to Carlsbad City Council in July. According to Ikhrata, RANCHO the 5 Big Moves plan is reSFNEWS sponding to the county’s need to meet state greenhouse gas emission reduction requirements as well as federal requirements. Interim Land Use and Transportation Planning Director Coleen Clementson told council that even with the current plan in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, emissions are still rising far beyond the county’s set reduction goals. Counties must have plans in place to reduce greenhouse gasses in order to receive funding from the state. The 5 Big Moves plan would bring high-speed rail, shuttles to major work centers, a large transportation hub and more to the region. More specifically, the five moves are Complete Corridors, Transit Leap, Mobility Hubs, Flexible Fleets and a Next OS (Operating System). The Complete Corridors concept is considered the “backbone” of an entire transit system that repur-
TURN TO HOMELESSNESS ON A7
TURN TO SANDAG ON A7
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CELEBRATING DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS
Lluvia Ferrer, Kailyn Figueroa and Gabriella Campuzano model traditional Mexican dresses and makeup at the Solana Beach celebration of Dia de los Muertos on Oct. 27 in Solana Beach. They attended with their San Marcos Girl Scout troop to join hundreds of people at La Colonia Park for a celebration of the Mexican tradition that honors family members who have died. Photo by Sean Buffini
Encinitas votes to tackle homelessness By Tawny McCray
ENCINITAS — City Council seems committed to try to face homelessness in the city head on with a pair of votes at its Oct. 23 meeting. The first was a vote allocating $75,000 from the city’s general fund to hire a consultant to develop a Homeless Action Plan. The second launches a one-year Homeless Outreach Pilot Program in partnership with the Com-
munity Resource Center (CRC) and dedicates a full-time sheriff’s deputy to the program. Both votes were unanimous, 4-0, with Mayor Catherine Blakespear absent. “Homelessness is complex, it is multi layered, with many different needs of many different people represented,” said John Van Cleef, executive director of the CRC. “Homelessness requires solutions
that are multi-faceted and require long-term commitment. And our community has the social, the innovative, the logistical and the capital resources to create an asset-based solution that works for our needs and is both transferable and scalable to other communities.” The annual “Point in Time” count, done in January in the middle of the night, has been relatively consistent over the past
three years, showing that there are about 120 homeless people identified in Encinitas, 79 counted outdoors as “unsheltered” and 41 counted as “sheltered.” Van Cleef said that number doesn’t account for the larger “invisible” homeless population: the couch surfers, car dwellers, and office sleepers. He said the center provided service to 860 residents last year who identified as
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