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FEB. 24, 2012
THE COAST NEWS
Voters, city spar over wording on ballot By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — Oceanside voters, represented by The Sutton Law Firm, sent a letter to City Council requesting ballot wording on the vacancy decontrol ordinance be changed. Currently the question voters will see on the ballot says rents on mobile home park spaces can be raised “to market value,” while the text of the ordinance, which voters will not see, says “without limit.” Some think the present ballot wording will prejudice voters to be in favor of the ballot measure. “The ballot question on the Oceanside vacancy decontrol measure is illegal, false and misleading,” Bradley Hertz, an attorney with The Sutton Law Firm, said. “Market value is very different from without limit. ‘Without limit’ the landlord
can charge whatever he wants to charge.” There is still time for City Council to change the ballot wording before voting material is printed. “It should state the essence of the measure, not use other terms that are not used in measure,” Hertz said. “The City Council can make the decision to make a few changes to wording.” Voters represented by The Sutton Law Firm want the wording changed so that fellow voters clearly understand what they are deciding on. “It’s a simple fix,” Hertz said. “The words ‘to market value’ be deleted and the words ‘without limit’ be inserted. It’s the most minimal change possible for it to be rewritten to make the question accurate. I hope the city responds in good faith.”
Hertz added that if City Council does not make the wording change a lawsuit would follow. “We set a deadline for Feb. 23 for council to make a decision,” Hertz said. “We’ll proceed to court right away if council does not change the ballot question.” City Council will meet Feb. 22 and discuss the item in closed session. “If there is silence or rejection (from council) we’ll rush into court,” Hertz said. “We’re not arguing the pros and cons of the ordinance. We just want voters to have an accurate question.” City Council previously OK’d the disputed wording and may stick by it. “To prove wording is fraudulent or misleading, there is an extremely high standard,” said City Attorney John Mullen.
Mullen said the words “market value” came directly from the title of the ordinance. “The ordinance included this language,” Mullen said. “In a nutshell they seem to believe to remove city regulations is not market rent.” According to Mullen, “without limit” means without City Code Chapter 16B limits on mobile home space rent increases. “An appraiser would tell you market rent assumes no artificial restraint,” Mullen said. “There are pages and pages of limits in the vacancy decontrol section (of Chapter 16B).” Mullen said the present ballot wording is clear. “To say (the wording) is fraudulent, I don’t think that is the case at all,” Mullen said.
With spring near, maybe it’s time for a vacation JOE MORIS Baby Boomer Peace I’m in that spring mood. I can feel it getting closer. Vacation time is near. We’ll have some late winter-early spring storms and of course it will be cloudy on Easter Morning for sunrise service. But soon we’ll feel that Ahhhh feeling of being free. At least I hope so. When I was growing up in the 1950’s we really were free. Everyone took responsibility for themselves and our authority came from our parents. Somewhere along the way our infinitely wise politicians decided that rules needed to be made to save us from ourselves. A tyranny of the minority do-gooders overwhelmed the majority. By today’s standards my father would have served a long time in jail for the punishment he inflicted on my brothers and me back then. But for some crazy reason we boomers grew up just fine. We just naively and innocently gave away authority to others thinking it was better for society as a whole to protect that one person somewhere, whoever he or she was from someone bent on doing something or other. Then unfortunately, we baby boomers started accepting that it was better to give our child a “time out” rather than a good spanking because the PC police would turn us over to Child Protective
Services. I think that in the minds of our kids they began to see that they could control their parents through the fear of being brought before the State. This was a starting point for our kids to have this entitlement mentality; to be able to turn to government to control others for perceived afflictions. And of course we all know our kids are smarter than us. They used to tell us that all the time. We obviously have an election coming this year. Maybe you’ve noticed. I am not going to advise anyone on how I think they should vote. I’ve been all over the political spectrum. I was drafted into the Army in 1971. I was mentally prepared to die for my country yet I voted for McGovern. I didn’t like that we were in Vietnam, yet I was willing to die for my country anyway. The next presidential election I voted for John Anderson instead of Carter. I eventually voted for Reagan in his second term. I voted for Ross Perot instead of Bush the senior. I did not like the Socialistic tendencies of the Clinton Administration so I wasn’t about to vote for Gore, and I voted for Bush. Even though I didn’t vote for him, the thing I did like about Obama was that for eight years of Bush there was so much acrimony from both sides of the evenly divided aisles of government. Obama promised transparency and bridging the divide. This country was ready for peace within. There was great hope.
Unfortunately Mr. Obama never stopped campaigning. We’re farther apart than ever before. The Republicans are always the bad guys. The rich are always the bad guys. Parents are always the bad guys. Government is the good guys. They know what is best for us so now we have a bloated bureaucracy with a bunch of Czars making all kinds of rules that aren’t even voted on by our elected representatives. We are moving toward an entitlement society that is being accepted by a generation grown up on entitlement and government protection. I think we need some simplicity in government. Our little United States Constitution is only about what, four pages long. Look how long the Health Care Plan is alone. I believe over 2000 pages. Remember, for every word there can be more than one interpretation. I quote former President Clinton: “It depends upon what the meaning of ‘is,’ is.” I kid you not. Please government, leave us alone. Let’s have a moratorium on laws. We have enough already. All we have to do is enforce the most obvious ones we have and get rid of about 90 percent of the rest. And, let us be real parents and raise our kids the way we feel is in their best interest, not the governments. Even the bible said not to spare the rod. All the foregoing leads me to how government seems to be manipulating our
thoughts and actions. Over the Feb. 11 weekend, the news was having an orgy warning us, just as spring is in the air, that a travel advisory is in effect for Mexico. For those of you who have followed me for a while know, I have been doing my best to be honest and to paint a realistic picture of our neighbor to the South and yet in one fell swoop the State Department in complicity with the National Press, Television, print and Radio blew that to smithereens. They all made a big deal that there have been 48,000 drug related deaths in Mexico since 2006. And, worse yet they amplified that there were 131 American deaths in 2011 alone. Then the Television stations put this big map of Mexico on the screen all painted in Red with little Green Dots by Puerto Vallarta, Cabo, Cancun and a few others. Those are the really safe places but they didn’t say that. At first glance you’d think those places might be bad. So I called the State Department on Monday. I asked what the big deal is and please, who are these 131 Americans killed in Mexico? Who are these people? My gosh, one American gets kidnapped or killed in a foreign country and it’s front page news, but 131 in one country and not a peep? Well, a little investigation brought me to the truth that the press was too lazy to report. Nearly every one of those TURN TO BABY BOOMER ON B14
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By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — Frustrated his colleagues seemingly did not support his efforts to address several procedural issues, Tom Chino resigned from the 22nd District Agricultural Association on Feb. 14, about two hours before a scheduled monthly meeting and less than six months after being appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the board of directors that manages the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Chino emailed his resignation letter to fellow board members, fairgrounds officials and the Sandpiper, a Del Mar community journal. “When I was appointed to the Fair Board I looked forward to bringing my background as a full time farmer, and my considerable experience in the California food business, to the benefit of the 22nd District Agricultural Association,” Chino wrote. “I did not come into office with any kind of reform agenda in mind,” the letter stated. “I only wanted to do my best to promote the agricultural interests of the fair and of the state.” Chino went on to say he was “taken aback” by an audit report from the CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) accusing the 22nd DAA of improper payments to district employees. At the January meeting Chino asked his fellow board members to refer the CDFA audit issues back to committee for follow up but his motion failed for lack of a second. He also introduced an open-meeting policy for adoption, but it, too, died after none of his colleagues would second the motion. “The message was clear that this board is not interested in pursuing these issues that I feel must be addressed,” Chino wrote. “Instead of addressing these serious issues some board members embarked on a personal attack on me.” The agenda packet for the January board meeting included a thread of emails between Chino, fairgrounds staff and board members and the director of state fairs and expositions, who was trying to coordinate oneon-one orientation meetings with new directors. An email from Chino to Dwight Worden inadvertently sent to a fairgrounds executive assistant ended up in the packet made available to the public. When asked
about his relationship with Worden, Chino said he is his personal attorney and adviser. Worden is a former Del Mar city attorney who recently worked on an ad hoc city committee tasked with forming a response to the 22nd DAA’s EIR for expansion plans at the stateowned facility. Worden is also the founding partner of a law firm representing the San Dieguito River Valley Joint Powers Authority in a lawsuit challenging the EIR. The fairgrounds attorney and other board members said the relationship between Chino and Worden represented a conflict of interest and expressed concerns about Chino possibly sharing information with Worden that was discussed in closed session. Chino said he only seeks advice from Worden and never discusses with him litigation or employees — matters required by law to be held in closed session. “To be clear: there has been no leakage by me from closed session, no discussion by me of the lawsuits outside closed session, and there are no documents, email or otherwise, between me and my personal attorney about these subjects because we never discuss them,” Chino wrote in his resignation letter. “It is my personal hope that at some point the Board will pursue the reform agenda that I feel is critical to the long term well being of the district,” the letter stated. “Under the present circumstances, however, I feel it is best for me to step off the board, and I offer this memo as my resignation effective immediately.” Board President Adam Day said he was surprised by Chino’s actions. Day said he hasn’t spoken to Chino since his resignation but the two did discuss the situation in the weeks after the January meeting. “We both understood each other’s professional positions,” Day said. “I respect him, his background and his experience. I looked forward to his service on the board. I wish him the best.” Del Mar resident Bud Emerson, who addressed the fair board at its Feb. 14 meeting after hearing about Chino’s resignation, said he was “pretty distressed” about the news. “I think it’s a sad day for those of us who believe TURN TO RESIGNATION ON B14
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Fair board member resigns in frustration
DOUGLAS KERR Encinitas resident, Rotary Club member and United Healthcare Advisor (Lic. #0G64783)
The Encinitas Sheriff's Volunteer Patrol performs home vacation security checks, assists with traffic control, enforces disabled parking regulations, patrols neighborhoods, schools, parks and shopping centers and visits homebound seniors who live alone for the communities of Encinitas and Solana Beach. Volunteers must be 50 or older, in good health, pass a background check, have medical and auto insurance and a valid California driver's license. Training includes a two week academy plus 4 field training patrols. The minimum commitment is 24 hours per month on patrol or in the office, and attendance at a monthly meeting. Contact Laurence Reisner, Administrator 760-966-3579.