Encinitas seeks more low-income housing sites

from The Coast News, July 1, 2022

Sheriff releases details on SCOTUS gun ruling

The CoasT News

P.O. Box 232550 Encinitas, CA 92023-2550 315 S. Coast Hwy. 101 Encinitas, Ste. W 760.436.9737

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SDUHSD made right call

To the Editor:

As reported earlier by The Coast News, the San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Sunday to terminate Cheryl JamesWard’s employment as its Superintendent, effective Aug. 15.

This action achieves a milestone for SDUHSD parents and community members who rallied together to engage the school district when comments made by the Superintendent threatened the cohesion and unity of our community.

This issue has galvanized the Asian American community and we have seen an unprecedented outpouring of activism. On behalf of all the parents who have had their voices heard, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Trustees for taking definitive action.

During a school district diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training on April 11, when asked why Asian students do so well in school, James-Ward attributed the academic achievement gap to family wealth, saying, “We have an influx of Asians from China, and the people who are able to make that journey are wealthy. You cannot come to America and buy a house for $2 million unless you have money.”

Ward doubled down when the board president pushed back, “In my community, in Carmel Valley ... we had a large influx of Chinese families moving in, sight unseen, into our homes, into the community, and that requires money.”

Those comments falsely associated academic success with family wealth and belittled the efforts of Asian students, while casting the Chinese American community as perpetual outsiders.

This inflammatory stereotyping of Asian American students and families further marginalizes our community, many members of which have been victimized by the recent rise of anti-Asian hate incidents and crimes both in California and nationally.

In the two months since the initial incident, hundreds of SDUHSD parents have petitioned the SDUHSD Board of Trustees to discontinue its employment of James-Ward due to her racist comments, and her lack of leadership and integrity in her responses to the incident.

In the wake of this corrosive episode, the voices of many SDUHSD parents, including those from the diverse Asian American community, have been energized.

Many parents participated in school district board meetings for the first time. Their collective action has contributed to the Board’s latest decision to release James-Ward.

Our organization welcomes this positive outcome and will continue to work with the school district and the community in the near future.

We will continuously strive to ensure that students of all races and ethnic backgrounds have the opportunity and resources to reach their full educational potential.

Mingzhu Zhang, Asian American Parent Association of San Diego

Will the abortion decision revive Calexit movement?

Calexit, the movement for California secession from the Union, has never gotten off the ground, despite the efforts of the so-called California Freedom Coalition, formerly Yes, California! which unsuccessfully tried running separatist ballot initiative drives in 2017 and 2020.

Its reasoning then was that California pays far more into the federal government in taxes than it gets back in federal spending, unlike much smaller states like West Virginia and Mississippi, which get far more back than they pay in.

Secessionists also held that this state is permanently underrepresented in the Senate and Electoral College compared with places like Alaska, Wyoming and Delaware.

If there are ever to be causes that might spur this state and perhaps some of its neighbors to go it alone, the twin U.S. Supreme Court decisions this spring to cancel out laws like California’s restrictions on carrying firearms and the federal right to female bodily privacy and, thus, abortion, might do it.

Right now, most voices opposing those decisions are exhorting their cohorts to “resist.” They don’t say how to do that effectively, even as the rulings are often compared to the Supreme Court’s infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision upholding the rights of slaveowners to pursue escaped slaves even in so-called “free” states.

That 7-2 ruling, like the 5-4 anti-abortion decision, was voted in by justices with personal interests in the cause at hand, folks who under some standards ought to have recused themselves from voting.

In the Dred Scott case, the court majority were slaveowners or former high officials of slave states from Maryland to Georgia. In the new anti-abortion ruling, all five justices voting to end the right are Roman Catholics taught since early childhood in church and/or school to oppose all abortions.

Abortion and gun control adherents can resist all they like, but it’s not likely to change a thing. When that sinks in, it’s just possible some people might consider other courses of action.

For sure, California often acts like a semi-independent country, and the abortion decision immediately set the state into action.

Within hours, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a compact with two other states, Oregon and Washington, to promote abortions in all three states to women in scores of Republican-controlled places where the procedures are now suddenly illegal or soon will be.

No one now knows whether this will be the first step in a move toward secession by California and its neighbors, with like-minded places like Hawaii and the Canadian province of British Columbia possibly joining in.

They might form a powerhouse country, perhaps called Pacifica, that could be a major world economic and military force.

Already, in spring 2020, when ex-President Donald Trump first indicated he might try cheating to hold on to power, the nominal head of the Calexit movement, Marcus Ruiz Evans of Fresno, observed that, “People are saying, ‘Hey, I used to think Calexit is a fanciful idea and I still do, but I’m coming around; we need a government that works and I don’t believe America can anymore.’”

That’s the same feeling a lot of Californians are voicing in the days after the Supreme Court’s two late-June decisions.

Some lately have cited an 1860 editorial from the Dubuque, Iowa, Herald that argued, “It does not follow that because a state cannot secede constitutionally, it is obliged under all circumstances to remain in the Union. There is a natural right, which is reserved by all men, and which cannot be given to any government… to form a government for their mutual protection... and for such other purposes as they may deem most conducive to their mutual happiness and prosperity.”

Those would be the very grounds toward which California and two of its neighbors now might be moving. Ironically, rather than resisting, what’s left of the Union might just say “good riddance,” since a California departure alone would all but assure indefinite Republican rule of the rest of America.

So far, though, secession is a mere idea that has never had much support. Yet, history shows that borders, policies and governments are never permanent, no matter what any constitution may say.

california focus

tom elias

CITY STAFF recommends identifying additional sites quickly to avoid a potential inventory shortfall and running afoul of state housing law. Graphic by Juan Roballo LIVE AT PALA CASINO SPA RESORT

U PCOM ING H E ADLIN ERS

Encinitas faces housing inventory shortfall by ‘23

 City seeks bids for latest Housing Element update

By Jacqueline Covey

ENCINITAS — By next year, the city of Encinitas anticipates triggering California’s No Net Loss Law— a failure to maintain a sufficient supply of adequate sites in Housing Element inventory — unless it can identify additional locations for lower and moderate-income households.

“The city will need to approve additional sites to accommodate the remaining unmet share of our city’s [Regional Housing Needs Assessment],” Planning Manager Jennifer Gates told the Encinitas City Council at its June 22 meeting.

A motion for city staff to draft a request for proposal for a Housing Element Update passed 4-0, with Mayor Catherine Blakespear absent.

The city is seeking a consultant to develop a Housing Element Update that includes community engagement, analyzing available and appropriate sites, and proposing necessary changes to the city’s Fair Housing approach. An environmental impact assessment is also listed in the scope of work.

The bidding is expected to start in July. The project would wrap up in March 2024 to meet the deadline for a Proposition A vote during the June election.

If all pending housing projects in the city are approved as written, a net loss is anticipated by 2023. The state’s No Net Loss Law requires cities to maintain the availability of sites accommodating its share of low and very low-income earners.

Susan Turney, a voice in city housing issues, is one of many residents who aren’t entirely on board with the city moving forward in a seemingly-similar direction as in previous years.

“My question would be, ‘What will the consultant be trying to do? Conducting ‘outreach’ sounds like more of the same – these workshops, this gathering input — we’ve seen it before,” Turney said. “I think it’s a dog and pony show to once again check a box. Our Prop A Right to Vote was recently upheld in court, so ultimately, the council will have to present projects, levels of affordability, and sites that will pass voter muster.”

Turney said the loss of the unit buffer should not come as a surprise. In the city’s housing plan, parcels were designated with the assumption that 100% of the buildouts would be affordable housing units. According to Turney, the percentage of affordable housing was closer to 20% on approved parcels.

For example, if the city were required to accommodate 1,000 affordable housing units under RHNA, it would build 1,000 units at 100% affordability. However, only 150 affordable units (per 1,000 units) would be built at 15% per parcel, a dilemma that led to the city’s current gap.

The city’s request for proposal, or RFP, seeks a consultant to alleviate these issues and work with the community on potential solutions for affordable housing locations.

“As we reduce from the Housing Element Regional Housing Needs Allocation where we identified these sites, we have to make sure that we have identified other sites,” Gates said when asked how the RFP would impact intended housing under the El Camino Real Specific Plan.

Gates explained a Housing Element Update would be required when units are quantified in the El Camino Real project or in any development that impacts the city’s share of affordable housing.

Despite agreeing to give staff time to identify new sites before the anticipated 2023 cut-off, several council members were wary of repeating previous mistakes regarding residential housing capacity.

“I cannot support moving forward without additional conversation regarding how we’re going to do this,” said Councilmember Tony Kranz, noting he was surprised the initiative was brought before the council at this time “because I’m not going to repeat the same process that we used last time.”

Others echoed that sentiment, Councilmember Joy Lyndes reminding her colleagues of the “lessons learned” over the past several years.

However, Deputy Mayor Joe Mosca said some time-sensitive aspects could cost the taxpayers later if the city isn’t organized.

“We know, based on our read of the new net loss law and what our site selection was with the Housing Element, that we’re going to come to a point where we don’t have a buffer, and we’re going to eat through whatever we have in terms of buffer,” Mosca said. “But this time, we’ll have to put it on the ballot, and it’s going to take time.”

Due to the city’s previous entanglement in the courts over the previous Housing Element (Measure T, Measure U), the last site selection did not go before voters. However, this year, residents will be able to weigh in on the city’s housing plan.

Elected officials and residents disagree on the best way to increase density in Encinitas – an initiative brought forward by the state across all cities. There’s a feeling of a stalemate on where affordable housing should be located and who gets to decide.

The RFP doesn’t preclude deliberations into the goals and initiatives under a Housing Element Update. Mosca said that identifying potential sites will take time, adding he wants to put an adequate plan before voters come June 2024, and consultants can help quicken that process.

Mosca did recognize that “we absolutely do stick to the fact that we need to do this differently, and we need to have a conversation now about what that process is going to look like.”