The Coast News INLAND EDITION
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VISTA, SAN MARCOS, ESCONDIDO
VOL. 2, N0. 2
Mayor Abed discusses win, looks to future By Ellen Wright
ESCONDIDO—Mayor Sam Abed gave a presentation Jan. 6 to the Escondido Chamber of Commerce to meet with local business leaders and discuss his goals for the new term. He plans to focus on four major priorities, financial management, economic growth, neighborhood improvement and public safety. He also spoke about his election success. He said getting nearly 60 percent of the vote was both humbling and rewarding, although it wasn’t easy. “All of the hard work by myself, my colleagues on city council and our staff pays off,” Abed said. He said he spent $25,000 on polling, which helped him narrow down important issues with the voters. “Illegal immigration was (second most important), did our opponents know that? I don’t think they had a clue what was going on,” Abed said. The polling helped him target specific areas by issue with mailers. The polling showed him who cared about what and where. It was broken down by council district, gender and ethnicity. “You do not send an immigration mailer to all the voters. You send it to the people who have an issue with immigration,” Abed said. “You exclude the people who do not care about immigration. So this is a very targeted campaign that we did.” His polls found the most important issue to be jobs in the city and the economy. Abed said he was pleased with the election results although consid-
JAN. 16, 2015
Harsher punishment for illicit massage businesses approved By Ellen Wright
Mayor Sam Abed speaks to Escondido Chamber of Commerce members on Jan. 6 about his election win and what he hopes to see in the future. Photo by Ellen Wright
ered the failure of Proposition G a loss. Prop. G would have made Escondido a charter city if it had passed. He blamed its loss on bad luck. The mayor considered the failure of Proposition H a huge success. Prop. H would have made it possible for developer Michael Schlesinger to build up to 430 homes on the defunct Escondido Country Club. Schlesinger hoped the residents would see his proposed development as a compromise since it offered public amenities like a recreation center,
pool and trails for use by all residents. Abed said his neutral stance on Prop. H helped him get 50 percent of the democratic vote from residents surrounding the country club. In the past, Abed supported turning the country club into permanent designated open space. Councilwoman Diaz, who ran against Abed, supported Prop. H as a compromise that would avoid costly litigation. Abed also said that Stephen Siaw TURN TO ABED ON 2
ESCONDIDO— City council passed the first ordinance of 2015 on Jan. 7 to combat illicit activities in massage parlors. According to Jay Peterek, assistant planning director for the city, the amount of massage establishments has doubled since 2009 when a state senate bill passed to regulate the licensing of massage practitioners. The state bill focused on licensing massage therapists but made it difficult for local regulation. It led to an increase in illicit activities, Peterek said. Mayor Sam Abed said the majority of new massage parlors are fronts for illegal activities, like human trafficking and prostitution. “I can tell you these are not good businesses, not all of them but most of them are coming to Escondido for the flexibility,” Abed said. On Jan. 1, a new state bill became effective, called the Massage Therapy Act, which re-establishes local jurisdiction over massage parlors.
The city can now increase penalties for massage facilities that violate the law. Abed said that with the new assembly bill he wants to get rid of the “bad apples.” “It’s a struggle from a policy perspective not to penalize good business but at the same time, I will not allow one establishment to misuse the massage places to provide prostitution and misuse. We need to clean the city up,” Abed said. The ordinance mandates nine shopping areas in which massage businesses can operate out of. Peterek said they were chosen because they have high traffic and are well maintained, which means it would be difficult for illicit activities to take place. People wishing to open or continue to operate a massage business outside of the centers must apply for a Conditional Use Permit. The new ordinance will target owners and operators as well. TURN TO MASSAGE ON 14
New Vista skatepark receives construction funding Busy roads to get busier in San Marcos this month By Rachel Stine
VISTA — Vista City Council allocated $1.8 million for construction of the city’s new outdoor skatepark and other funds for city park improvements at its Tuesday meeting. With an increase in development over the past two years, the city collected a higher sum of building fees than originally estimated. City staff proposed financing the skatepark and repairs for existing parks with the new funds, which are designated for recreation projects. A new skatepark has long been on the City Council’s agenda since Vista’s original skatepark was leveled in 2008 to make way for the city’s Civic Center. Though no citizens spoke about the skatepark at Tuesday’s meeting, supporters in the past have said that an outdoor skatepark would promote a healthy lifestyle for Vista’s youth. “Just having something creative and active to do,… it’s a great opportunity for kids especially in an underserved neighborhood,” said Jack Flaherty, president of the nonprofit Vista Skatepark Coalition. City Council voted
Deputy Mayor John Aguilera said that the city needs to focus on funding new recreation projects that benefit Vista’s youth. Photo by Rachel Stine
in March last year to construct the skatepark at two locations on Santa Fe Avenue, one for intermediate/ advanced skaters and the other for beginners. Each site is over 10,000-squarefeet. Aura Skateboard Training Facility, a private indoor skatepark, is the only skate venue in Vista and charges a fee for use of the course.
Flaherty mentioned that there have been several fatalities over the years of people skating in city streets. He said that having an outdoor, concrete skatepark that is free to the public may take some skaters off the streets. Now that construction funding is set aside, the skatepark is anticipated to open sometime in 2016. The city had previously
allocated $50,000 for planning the skatepark and is currently selecting a designer for the project. The remaining development fee funds, totaling over $3 million, were appropriated for improvement projects including replacing the gazebos and picnic tables at Brengle Terrace Park, adding restrooms at Buena Vista Park and Pond, and installing shade sails at several city playgrounds. Deputy Mayor John Aguilera spoke in favor of moving forward with the skatepark, and urged that the city focus on creating more sports and recreation outlets for the Vista’s youth. He said that he understand that the park repairs are needed, but pointed out that they do not support the city’s goal of “creating youth opportunities.” Mayor Judy Ritter said she was worried that after the prosed park projects are constructed, that the city will be nearly built-out, leaving little land for new recreation facilities. Having expressed their concerns, City Council unanimously supported allocating the extra funds to the skatepark and park improvements.
By Aaron Burgin
SAN MARCOS — San Marcos residents should expect a busy stretch of roads in the San Marcos Creek area to be even busier during the month of January, due to some preliminary testing that will pave the way for road improvements in connection with the major Creek District developments. City officials warn that the following streets will be subject to lane closures throughout the month
• Bent Avenue between Discovery Street and San Marcos Boulevard • Discovery Street between Bent Avenue and Via Vera Cruz • Via Vera Cruz between Discovery Street and San Marcos Boulevard. The streets could be reduced to one lane Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Traffic control teams will be there to direct on-
coming traffic during the closures. The closures will help crews to do soil and geological testing that will give them the information to start laying the ground work for two major projects: a four-lane bridge across San Marcos Creek along Via Vera Cruz and a two-lane bridge across the Creek at Bent Avenue. Construction on the bridges is expected to start in late 2016. Both of these streets currently have to get shut down when the creek overflows during the rainy season. But officials said the larger benefit of the bridges is that it will provide the necessary street infrastructure to accommodate the city’s 214-acre makeover of the creek district, which will include hundreds of new housing units and mixed-used projects, a 73-acre habitat preserve, and other improvements. This project will take 15 to 20 years, but it is one of the region’s most widely anticipated projects.