PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 26, NO. 22
JUNE 8, 2012
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Traffic, mobility addressed
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Venus crosses THISWEEK the sun t
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By Bianca Kaplanek
neck and neck.” In an interview with National Public Radio, Danon said he expected to finish the race in a “distant second.” Danon began his campaign in 2009,seeking to defeat Pam Slater-Price, who has held the District 3 seat for nearly 20 years. She announced last September she would not seek re-election. Roberts entered the race in January.“In just five months I think we began to resonate with people, who appreciate not only my professional life, but my personal life story as well.They see that I care about
DEL MAR — With the public review period closed for the draft environmental impact report on the village specific plan, city staff has been working to address and respond to the approximately 70 comments received. Those focused on traffic and mobility were presented at the June 4 meeting,after which council members reaffirmed their preference to reduce Camino del Mar to two lanes with roundabouts. “I am more and more convinced that the roundabouts (are) almost like a life preserver to us as a community,” Councilman Terry Sinnott said. “This is a way that we can move forward and survive and prosper with an ever-growing traffic load that we’re going to have to live with. I think the roundabouts (are) a solid solution.” Most of the nearly dozen speakers at the meeting agreed. “I’m in support of the roundabouts,” longtime resident Ann Dempsey said. “I think they’re a good idea. I have since the ’70s.” Planning Director Kathy Garcia said there were a number of concerns about the functionality and safety of roundabouts and the potential of overflow traffic in the surrounding residential neighborhoods. Camino del Mar, the main thoroughfare through the downtown area, was designed to accommodate around 15,500 cars a day. It currently carries approximately 18,700 vehicles on a typical day. That number increases to about 23,100 during the summer, San Diego County Fair and Del Mar horse races. Studies indicate replacing the stop signs with traffic signals could increase the carrying capacity to 30,000 more cars a day. “It is true that if we kept the four lanes and we replaced our stop signs with signals we could carry additional traffic,” Garcia said, adding that it would not increase the capacity for parking, pedestrians or
TURN TO SUPERVISORS ON A23
TURN TO REPORT ON A20
By Tony Cagala
A RECORD OF SERVICE After 25 years of service, Deborah Cervone retires from her position as Encinitas’ City Clerk. B1
INSIDE
TWO SECTIONS, 48 PAGES
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COAST CITIES — It took about six hours for Venus to transit the sun Tuesday, but it’ll take another 105 years before the second planet from the sun will cross it again. But for those who managed to see the planet arc across the face of the sun, it could only help to stir the imaginations and put into perspective just how large the universe is. Liana Goldberg, 13, came to view the event with her mother Merryl at Double Peak Park in San Marcos. “It was really interesting,” Liana said after seeing the small black dot of a planet cross against the sun through a telescope for the first time. It was cool, she said, knowing that she was witness to such a significant event. One of the event’s significance is in its rarity, explained Dr. Michael Burin, assistant professor of physics at Cal State San Marcos. He and other colleagues from the physics department at Cal State set up several tele-
Ian Phelps, 13, takes in the rare Venus transit Tuesday while looking through solar shades. Crowds gathered at Double Peak Park in San Marcos to witness the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the planet arc across the face of the sun. Photo by Tony Cagala
scopes for the public to safely view the event. Historically, he said, the event carried a lot of significance. “Until this was meas-
Astronomy is usually a nighttime thing.” Dr.Michael Burin Asst.Professor of Physics,CSUSM
ured accurately in the 1700s, we didn’t know how far away the sun was from the Earth,” he said. Using that knowledge gives us a scale of the solar system, Burin said, which
helps practically, he added, if you’re going to plan a mission somewhere. “You’re going to have to know the distance.” Astronomical events still hold a fascination on the old and young; the amateur and professional astronomer based on the turnout at the event’s viewing. “Because it’s out of this world,” Burin said. “Venus, it’s another planet. There’s nothing in your day-to-day life that you can encounter — everything’s on Earth — and there’s a few things, the stars you see at night and events like this…but astronomy is usually a nighttime thing.” This was the second astronomical event this year
that allowed stargazers to view celestial happenings during the day. In May people in the continental United States were able to view the annual solar eclipse. One of the ways that astronomers have been able to use the transit event is by studying how light can help detect other planets in the distance. “One of the Kepler missions is currently looking for exo-planets, planets going around other stars,” Burin said. “So when the planet goes around a star, one of the ways we can detect it is the light from the star dims a little bit because there’s a planTURN TO VENUS ON A20
Danon, Roberts to face off in November By Bianca Kaplanek
COAST CITIES — With no candidate receiving more than 50 percent of the vote in the June 5 primary election, Steve Danon and Dave Roberts will face off in November for the District 3 seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Danon, 46, is the chief of staff for U.S.Rep.Brian Bilbray. He received 22,962 votes, or about 32.8 percent. Roberts, 51, is a Solana Beach City Councilman who works for a nonprofit organization focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology and management systems for health care.
He garnered 22,062 votes, or 31.5 percent. With 14,141 votes, Del Mar Mayor Carl Hilliard came in third. Combined, Bryan Ziegler and Stephen Pate received slightly more than 15 percent of the votes. Danon said his top priorities for the county are eliminating red tape and unnecessary regulations to create economic opportunities,reforming public employee pensions and establishing a regional ethics commission. He said he would like to create a private sector retirement system for supervisors and nonpublic safety personnel, abolish a $12,000 annual
car allowance for supervisors that is added to their salary for pension benefits and eliminate a $5 million grant program that allows supervisors to fund projects in their districts. Roberts campaigned to end perks for politicians such as car allowances, build private/public partnerships to attract businesses to the region and foster sustainable business practices. He also wants to revise the county’s regulatory process to help entrepreneurs expand and grow their businesses. “We are just thrilled with the results,” Roberts said. “Nobody thought that we’d do so well. I never thought we’d be