PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
.com SERVING NORTH COUNTY SINCE 1987
VOL. 33, N0. 40
OCT. 4, 2019
SAN MARCOS -NEWS
Carlsbad plans to analyze.traffic com on 3 major roads THE By Steve Puterski
AFTERMATH: An early-morning fire Sept. 30 devastated local businesses on the corner of North Coast Highway 101 and Daphne Street, including Mozy Cafe, Shatto & Sons and the Cali Life art gallery. Photo courtesy Greg Cali/Cali Life Photography
Inferno destroys Encinitas businesses By Abraham Jewett
ENCINITAS – An early morning fire burned down three Encinitas businesses in the Leucadia neighborhood on Sept.30. No one was injured in the blaze but Mozy Cafe, located on North Coast Highway 101, along with Shatto & Sons T-Shirts and the Cali Life art gallery were all destroyed when a 2-alarm fire broke out shortly after midnight. Peace Pies Raw Food Café was also affected. Firefighters responded to the scene within minutes, but flames had already torn through the roof when they arrived, according to Encinitas Fire Chief
Mike Stein. Mozy Cafe’s owner Gary Grassi said he felt “numb.” “We are here for the community the community is with us,” Grassi said. “Mozy’s in our corner, we want to bring it back for ourselves and for everyone else.” Grassi said people told him they had had heard screaming and a pop from the patio side of the Cafe – which is not located near the eatery’s kitchen – when the fire started, making him question how the blaze could have started. “I don’t want to speculate but it just seems a lit-
tle weird,” he said. Fire investigators were on scene to try and determine what could have started the fire – with the results expected in several days. Juan Hermosillo, who has worked at Mozy’s for a year and a half, expressed uncertainty about what’s next for him. “I have too many feelings, I just think about it, like what am I going to do after this, I’m panicked. I don’t know,” he said. The building’s longest tenant, Shatto & Sons T-Shirts, had occupied the building for the last 44 years, and owner Jim
Shatto called it “one of the worst days of my life.” “I was pretty proud of that building and all the businesses that were in there,” he said. Both Shatto and Grassi said they hope to rebuild. Residents from nearby apartment units were also evacuated as the fire department worked to combat the flames but have since been able to return. Three GoFundMe pages have been set up and can be found online. Encinitas’ Pandora Pizza will also be hosting a one-year anniversary/fundraiser for Cali Life from 4-8 p.m. on Oct. 19.
CARLSBAD — Traffic concerns along three major roadways were addressed Sept. 24 and staff is moving forward with more research to find optimal methods to calm traffic. The city is looking at several areas for improvement including College Boulevard from Carlsbad Village Drive to Sage Creek High School; Tamarack Avenue from Skyline Road to Carlsbad Boulevard; and Carlsbad Boulevard from the Agua Hedionda trailhead to State Street, according to Paz Gomez, deputy city manager for pubic works. The item returned to the council for its Sept. 24 meeting after hearing the issue during its June 11 meeting, which also saw the council deny the installation of a stop sign at Tamarack Avenue and Valley Street as it was deemed to be not appropriate for the intersection. The council approved options for physical extensions, such as curb extensions, roundabouts, restriping and others for the College Boulevard segment. “This would be above and beyond what is in the Mobility Plan, currently,” said Councilwoman Cori Schumacher. “We’ll do an analysis of the pros and cons of each in the event it’s not included in the Mobility Element,” City Manager Scott Chadwick added.
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Numerous tools can be applied toVISTA traffic calming such as NEWS speed cushions and tables, raised crosswalks, traffic circles, chicanes or by narrowing lanes through striping or curb extension, said John Kim, acting city traffic engineer. The challenge he said, is that Carlsbad and College boulevards and Tamarack Avenue are not conRANCHO sidered residential streets. He said the strategies staff SFNEWS used were based on recommendations through the General Plan Mobility Element. On Carlsbad Boulevard, staff recommended improvements at Hemlock, Cherry, Maple, Sycamore and Oak avenues, along with at the Army and Navy Academy. Those upgrades will include curb extensions (where feasible), pedestrian-activated in-pavement flashing lights and paint bike lanes in green, Kim said. College Boulevard, meanwhile, is an arterial street with a speed limit of 45 mph and averages 22,000 vehicles per day. Kim said the recommendation would be to install six to eight speed feedback signs. The signs, he said, can record a vehicle’s speed and the time of day. Mayor Matt Hall said the information would be shared with the Carlsbad Police Department, while Kim added the police depart-
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