PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
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VOL. 33, N0. 36
SEPT. 6, 2019
SAN Bluff replenishment efforts MARCOS gain congressional-NEWS support By Lexy Brodt
Celebrating Survival A PADDLE OUT is scheduled for Sept. 7 at Encinitas Moonlight Beach to celebrate 13-year-old Keane Hayes, who survived a shark attack at Beacon’s Beach last September. FULL STORY ON PAGE A10. Courtesy photo
Homeless workshop opens up dialogue for city By Steve Puterski
CARLSBAD — Residents from all over the city came to pitch their ideas, solutions and concerns regarding the homeless population at a public workshop on Aug. 27. City staff, along with the City Council subcommittee on homelessness of Mayor Matt Hall and Councilwoman Cori Schumacher, and the Carlsbad Homeless Outreach Team held the workshop at the Harding
Center, 3096 Harding St. Hall and Schumacher said homelessness is one of the most pressing issues, and one the two political opposites are in lock step. “It’s a statewide problem,” Hall said. “We’ve reach out along the corridor (State Route 78 cities) because it’s a regional issue.” “We need short- and long-term solutions,” Schumacher added. “This is one area of concern we are in perfect alignment.”
Residents were in groups of five to six per table and tasked with relaying their opinions on the biggest issues and concerns regarding homelessness, generating ideas to address it and identifying three things they could commit to that would help the issue. Many concerns centered on a lack of housing options, whether in Carlsbad or the county, job training, hygiene, encampments, addiction and crime, among
others. Residents Kyle Gelbart and Rob and Kathy Roth discussed some of the more pressing issues at their table. Gelbart said encampments are concerning, while noting a deeper dive on the data and breakdown of the root cause per individual would be useful. The Roths said it’s tough for addicts to reach a treatment facility with speTURN TO HOMELESS ON A9
ENCINITAS — Legislators are voicing their concerns over North County’s volatile bluffs, with Congressman Mike Levin and others urging the funding of a project that would bring more sand to beaches in Solana Beach and Encinitas. The two neighboring North County cities and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been developing the Encinitas-Solana Beach Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project for 17 years, according to a press release published by Levin’s office on Aug. 21. The project aims to bring a few million cubic yards of “compatible sediment” to the two cities’ beaches over a 50-year period — an effort meant to widen the distance between the fragile bluffs and the rising sea. Although the cities are contributing their share of funding to the project’s Planning, Engineering & Design (PED) phase, federal funding is pending. The project was authorized by Congress in 2016. In mid-August, Levin sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget’s Acting Director Russell Vought, urging him to approve $700,000 for the project’s first year, which would cover the remaining funding needed for the PED phase as well as a required economic update. Levin was backed by Senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein in his call to action, and the effort was most recently endorsed by State Senator Patricia Bates (R-Laguna
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Niguel). The request followed a similar letter Levin sent to the Army Corps in late July, urging Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite with the Army Corps to harnessTHE federal funding for VISTA the project. But his request took on NEWS greater urgency after an early August bluff collapse in Encinitas killed three local residents. “It is long past time for the Administration to do its part to help stabilize our coastal bluffs and ensure that no further lives are needlessly lost,” he said in a recent statement. “ThisRANCHO is not about tourism or recreation, this is about SFNEWS basic public safety …Ultimately, we also need robust action to address the climate crisis if we want to stem coastal erosion and protect infrastructure. We can’t afford to wait any longer.” Bluff collapses in North County have been attributed to many causes, including groundwater irrigation. But sea level rise has remained the most controversial factor, with local jurisdictions and organizations butting heads over how to best protect beaches and bluffs from rising wave action. Beach nourishment has become a common sea-level rise adaptation strategy for coastal cities. The longstanding project would involve dredging sand from borrow sites in San Diego County and bringing it to the two neighboring cities in intervals. In Encinitas, the effort would involve constructing
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