Volume 4, Issue 3
www.encinitasadvocate.com
October 27, 2017
Community
Encinitas couple marks 75th anniversary. A6 PHOTOS BY BRITTANY WOOLSEY
The city plans to tear down a wall, shown above, at the end of Starlight Drive to build a gate for access in and out of Encinitas Community Park.
The City of Encinitas will build a public right-of-way along Starlight Drive that will lead through Encinitas Community Park as a route between Cardiff Elementary and Ada Harris Elementary.
Some neighbors oppose public right-of-way to Encinitas Community Park Through Project Concern International, local resident finds a global calling. A8
See page A4 for photos of the BOO by the SEA Carnival and Fall Festival.
BY BRITTANY WOOLSEY The city is planning to build a pathway to Encinitas Community Park through a Cardiff neighborhood on the southwest corner of the park, but some neighbors have publicly opposed the project and have threatened possible legal action should it move forward. The city council on Oct. 11 approved — with council member Mark Muir dissenting and 16 public speakers sharing their opinions about — a $66,000 gate at the end of Starlight Drive, off Warwick Avenue, as part of a safe walking route to school between Ada Harris and Cardiff elementary schools. But some neighbors at that meeting argued the gate would reduce privacy and safety for the five homes along
Starlight Drive, which is privately owned, has no sidewalks and currently dead-ends with a wall that separates the street from the park. Regan Schaar, a six-year resident whose home sits on the corner of Warwick and Starlight, said her house would essentially become a "fishbowl" that passerby could look into when they walk by. Her son's bedroom is 18 feet from the proposed walkway, she said, adding concerns about possible homeless people who may live in the park and would have easier access to her home. "My husband said our house would become like a line at Disneyland where people can walk by our house and look right in," Schaar said in an interview in the neighborhood following the meeting.
impacting the area, Ogata said. Schaar argued she believed the area wasn't a true "safe route" to school since there were hills on Warwick and Starlight that would affect accessibility for the disabled. The hills would also create blindspots for drivers who wouldn't see the children walking or biking by, she said. She argued the pathway would also only save about two to four minutes for children traveling between the two schools. "This isn't a safe route to school," Schaar said. "It's a path through a neighborhood with a gate. If that's what [the city] wanted it to be, that's what they should have said it was. There's no reason to put a path in this street. There's no reason to disrupt and SEE PARK, A15
Local couple’s blood donation for Las Vegas hits close to home
ENCINITAS ADVOCATE
BY BRITTANY WOOLSEY he first time Ryan Manion donated blood, it was to get out of class in high school. When he donated for the second time in Encinitas on Oct. 25, it was for a more personal reason. The blood drive, hosted by Sherri Babaie of Natural Elements Wellness Collective in Encinitas and the San Diego Blood Bank, aimed to support the victims of the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival that killed 58 people and injured 546 others. Manion and his wife narrowly missed the shooting,
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She also shared concerns that a public access road could diminish nearby property values. Starlight Drive has two irrevocable offers of dedication that were made in the 1970s that would allow the city to take it over at any time to be dedicated as public right-of-way, should it be needed for public use. Ron Ogata, who has lived in the neighborhood since the 1980s, said he had heard neighbors came to an agreement with the city years ago that the area wouldn't be affected by traffic when the park was being considered. However, staff at the Oct. 11 meeting said no records indicating that information were found. Neighbors also formed no-park and scaled-back park committees to show they were not in favor of a park
BRITTANY WOOLSEY
Kelley and Ryan Manion of Carlsbad donate blood to the victims of the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, which the couple had left 20 minutes prior to the tragedy.
having left the festival grounds 20 minutes prior. Ryan said the Carlsbad couple decided to leave after growing tired and hungry from being at the music festival for three days. "Something made us leave. It was really weird. The other days we stayed the whole time," he said as he laid next to his wife on a bed, donating blood in the blood bank's bus parked on Second Street. "We had an Uber that came to pick us up, and we were on the freeway driving past the event when they SEE SHOOTING, A19