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Blakespear unblocks Facebook critics
Access restored following lawyer’s warning letter
By Stephen Wyer
ENCINITAS — Mayor Catherine Blakespear has reportedly unblocked several critics from her mayoral Facebook page earlier this week after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from a local attorney representing a number of Encinitas residents claiming they were blocked from commenting on the mayor’s social media posts.
Michael Curran, an attorney at the Carlsbad-based law firm Curran & Curran Law, submitted the cease-and-desist letter on April 12 on behalf of Robert Nichols, former chairman of the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project, and approximately 15 other “citizens rights advocates,” requesting that Blakespear allow residents to freely exchange their views on her Facebook posts without being blocked or having their comments deleted.
On Monday, Curran told The Coast News that his clients reported having their full access to Blakespear’s Facebook page restored. Additionally, Curran said he corresponded with lawyers representing the mayor who indicated Blakespear had unblocked the residents in question.
Blakespear did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
As a result, Curran said that his clients would “probably” not be pursuing any further legal action against the mayor, although he maintained that his client’s rights had nonetheless still been violated and that further action was not totally off the table.
“My clients have been damaged as a result of not being able to participate in free discussion and being blocked,” Curran said. “So this is something that we’re still in the process of discussing.”
Curran informed The Coast News on Tuesday afternoon that he also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Councilwoman Joy Lyndes on behalf of several of the same Encinitas residents.
While Curran said he appreciated the mayor’s reversal in allowing his clients back onto her Facebook page, he said that he was disappointed that it had taken legal action on behalf of residents to compel a response.
“Clearly what happened here is that [Blakespear] got caught violating actual law and failing to provide the public with equal access to a Facebook page that she provides and on which she does public business with the city,” Curran said. “When we pointed this out, they scrambled and she and her attorneys fixed it, so while we appreciate the fixing, we do not appreciate the original violations of the law that necessitated this action on our part.”
The attorney sent the cease-and-desist letter claiming that Blakespear had prevented certain individuals — who had expressed viewpoints critical of the mayor and her policies — from viewing or commenting on her mayoral
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Man trapped in car wash dies
By City News Service
ESCONDIDO — Authorities on Tuesday publicly identified the 56-yearold man killed when he got out of his vehicle inside an automated car wash in Escondido and got pulled into part of the machinery that operates it.
Rene Jaime of Las Vegas was staying with family during a trip when he went out Friday evening, April 15, to visit a store and get his car washed, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
About 11:45 p.m., Jaime drove his Scion xB hatchback into the mechanized car wash in the 2100 block of East Valley Parkway in Escondido.
While the car was going through the cleansing system, Jaime stepped out for unknown reasons and was dragged into part of the mechanism, winding up wedged between it and his vehicle.
Alerted by an alarm signaling a malfunction in the equipment, a witness investigated and found Jaime trapped inside the car wash, Escondido Police Department Sgt. Chris Leso said.
Patrol officers were able to free the victim by lifting and moving his car, and paramedics took him to Palomar Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Leso said.
Man gets 15 years in wife’s DUI death
By City News Service
CARLSBAD — A man convicted of driving drunk and slamming a car into a traffic pole in Carlsbad, resulting in his wife’s death, was sentenced April 15 to 15 years in state prison.
Santos Hernandez Ramos, 40, was convicted by a Vista jury last year of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and other charges, though the panel was unable to reach a verdict on a second-degree murder count.
Ramos’ license was suspended at the time due to a 2017 DUI conviction out of San Bernardino County.
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NCTD has attempted to assert its sole authority over all decisions related to the railroad, arguing that federal requirements for railroad safety override local policies. However, Friends of the Del Mar Bluffs claim in the lawsuit that NCTD is obligated to follow state and local laws under their 2018 grant agreement with the California State Transportation Agency, as a condition of using state funds for any projects.
The NCTD has filed two petitions with the federal Surface Transportation Board asking them to recognize NCTD’s sole authority over the project, but has yet to receive a response. On Wednesday, the district filed an update with the federal board describing the escalating pushback against the project via the lawsuit.
“This is clearly an attempt by Friends of Del Mar Bluffs to bypass the STB and to seek relief through forum shopping in state court,” the update states. “NCTD respectfully urges the STB to issue a decision on the preemption issues it raised in its petition herein as soon as possible, especially with respect to the safety fencing project, which NCTD will commence construction of imminently.”
The NCTD also filed a notice of removal on Wednesday which transfers the suit out of San Diego County Superior Court and into the federal California Southern District Court, stating that the case ultimately focuses on federal laws.
Friends of Del Mar Bluffs attorney Anders Aannestad said they will “address the proper forum for this litigation in court at the appropriate time.”
“We anticipate that NCTD’s strategy in removing the case to federal court is to eventually have a federal administrative agency decide these important issues that should be decided by California courts,” Aannestad said in a statement. day after receiving a letter from State Attorney General Rob Bonta on behalf of the California Coastal Commission instructing the board not to approve the contract until they had complied with the Coastal Act and the California Environmental Quality Act.
The contract will cover the first phase of fencing implementation, including 4- and 6-foot fencing directly west of the railroad beginning at Coast Boulevard and running south around 675 feet. Six-foot fencing will begin again with an approximately 75-foot stretch east of the railroad around 13th Street, and then again along the upper bluff from 9th Street to down past 4th Street. Fencing connecting these areas will be completed in Phase 2, according to NCTD.
Construction is planned to begin this summer and should cost no more than $1.5 million, according to the contract.
Following the contract approval, the California Coastal Commission also issued a cease and desist letter to the NCTD on March 7, asserting that they would need to obtain a coastal development permit prior to constructing the fence.
NORTH COUNTY Transit District has attempted to assert sole authority over all decisions related to the railroad, arguing that federal requirements for railroad safety override local policies. Del Mar residents argue the transit agency is skirting state and local laws. File photo
Fenced in
A 2020 trespassing risk mitigation study by NCTD identified Del Mar as one of three areas with the most train strike and trespassing incidents in San Diego County, alongside Encinitas and Oceanside., resulting in proposed fencing projects. While construction is underway in Oceanside and preparing to kick off in Encinitas, Del Mar has continued to push back.
The study found the greatest number of strike incidents on the railway in Del Mar have occurred on a short stretch between Coast Boulevard and 13th
Street, where the railway’s gradual turn to the east creates a “blind corner.” Nine train strike incidents took place in Del Mar between 2016 and 2021, with six resulting in fatalities, according to the NCTD website.
Many residents and city officials have advocated for the fencing to be limited to the area near Coast Boulevard where more strike incidents have occurred, and for NCTD to do away with plans for fencing that could limit public access on the upper bluff trails enjoyed by countless pedestrians, bikers and joggers and where accidents are far less common.
“We understand it’s a dilemma. You have to have public access, but you have to keep it as safe as possible. You have to figure it out, and you have to work together,” said resident Camilla Rang, a bluffside resident of more than 20 years. “You can make it safer, but you can’t bubble-wrap it.”
The NCTD gave the city of Del Mar until Feb. 28 to agree to a modified 4-foot-tall fence design on the Del Mar bluffs rather than the original 6-foot option, with the caveat that the city would need to take on maintenance responsibility and liability due to the reduced height. The City Council ultimately rejected the offer in a 3-2 vote, leaving NCTD to proceed with a 6-foot design.
Residents have also shared concerns about the fragility of the bluffs and the potential impact of fence construction –– particularly the proposed drilling of 3-foot holes –– citing yet another reason that the district needs to acquire a Coastal Development Permit.
A 2020 geotechnical study of the proposed fencing area by Leighton Consulting, commissioned by NCTD, concluded that the project would “not impact the stability of the bluffs or the trackbed support, nor promote additional erosion/bluff retreat.”
However, the city of Del Mar claims that several unknowns remain about the potential impact to the bluffs. The city solicited a third-party geotechnical review of Leighton’s study by Atlas Technical Consultants in September 2021, which noted that the study did not discuss the potential impacts to bluff stability from construction equipment and vibrations, among other factors.
Camilla Rang Del Mar bluffside resident
RATES
CONTINUED FROM FRONT ey,” said resident Katie Taylor. “I didn’t know the numbers would turn out like that but I do recommend you stay with Waste Management because I don’t want to see Republic Services anywhere near Oceanside because it would probably be three times that amount.”
Republic Services, another nationwide trash collector like Waste Management, originally proposed a $40.9 million contract with the city last November.
According to Water Utilities Director Cari Dale, the “substantial” rate increases are due to Senate Bill 1383, also called California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction law. The bill aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing organic waste in landfills, which emits methane, a greenhouse gas that has about 80 times more warming power than carbon dioxide.
The law also requires 20% of edible food that would be disposed of to be recovered for human consumption by 2025.
Councilmember Christopher Rodriguez was one of the two council members to vote against the contract approval as a way to stand up against the state’s new mandates.
“Sacramento likes to move on policies with respect to offsetting climate change at the expense of you California residents, and I disagree with that,” Rodriguez said. “Until local jurisdictions start to fight back against the nonsense coming out of Sacramento, they’re gonna keep passing regulations and expect you to pay for it.”
Mayor Esther Sanchez also voted against the agreement but for different reasons than Rodriguez.
“We have not done enough to get the lowest cost for service and the best services,” Sanchez said. “There is not enough education and outreach.”
To compost collected organic materials, Waste Management has entered into a separate agreement with Agri Service, which operates the El Corazon compost facility.
The city is set to terminate its current operating and property lease agreement with Agri Service by the end of 2023.
