The Coast News, Jan. 6, 2012

Page 1

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94

THE COAST NEWS

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MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

VOL. 26, NO. 1

JAN. 6, 2012

FIRSTHAND LOOK

Banner exhibit on track

ARTS ALIVE

■ Late council

THISWEEK Solana Beach residents get a first look at new low income housing designs coming to the A3 area.

member’s image continues to stir debate

Thanks to a grant from the Price Family Charitable Fund, students will be able to take field trips to B1 museums.

By Wehtahnah Tucker

ENCINITAS — The Arts Alive banner exhibit will proceed as planned according to organizers after a rocky start. The event was originally going to be dedicated to the late City Council member Maggie Houlihan who died

INSIDE

TWO SECTIONS, 48 PAGES

Arts & Entertainment . . A8 Camp Pendleton News . . B10 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . B16 Comics & Puzzles . . . . . B18 Consumer Reports . . . . B12 Eat In and Save . . . . . . . . A17 Frugal Living . . . . . . . . . A7 Legal Notices . . . . . . . . A18 Lick the Plate . . . . . . . . B11 Life, Liberty, Leadership . . A4 Local Roots . . . . . . . . . . A6 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . A21 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Pet of the Week . . . . . . . B3 Second Opinion . . . . . . A11 Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Smart Money . . . . . . . . A17 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . A15 Taste of Wine . . . . . . . . B9 Who’s News? . . . . . . . . . B3

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A situation that started with the best of intentions and now it’s turned into a real bad scene.”

CHILLY

WELCOME

Danny Salzhandler Project Coordinator

Above, Solana Beach resident Revere Schmidt takes a moment to acclimate to the cold water before taking the Penguin Plunge New Year’s Day. Right, 8-year old Del Mar resident Luc Wells plays in the sand with his friends after the Penguin Plunge. See more on page B19.

ees who have cashed out some of their vacation pay. “More transparency is a goal of mine,” Watson said. He added that he is not opposed to receiving suggestions for more ways to achieve that objective. A vow to increase transparency could become more important in the future as the Brown administration is discussing a possible change in the way agricultural associations are governed. The state recently cut about $30 million in funding for fairgrounds. It’s been suggested their

Sept. 16. Danny Salzhandler, coordinator of the project, said more than 100 banners with a sketch of Houlihan on the backside of the banner were given out to participating artists weeks ago. “A situation that started with the best of intentions and now it’s turned into a real bad scene,” Salzhandler said in an earlier interview. The Downtown Encinitas Mainstreet Association was initially granted the permit to use the city’s light posts to hang the banners along Coast Highway from La Costa Avenue to Cardiff’s restaurant row. However, Salzhandler asked that when the organization’s board of directors voted to use banners without the late council member’s image, that it instead rescind the permit to avoid any

TURN TO TRANSPARENCY ON A23

TURN TO BANNER ON A23

Photos by Daniel Knighton

DAA seeks to improve transparency By Bianca Kaplanek

DEL MAR — Efforts to improve transparency at the 22nd District Agricultural Association, which operates the Del Mar Fairgrounds, are moving forward, but changes will not be dramatic or overnight, according to a subcommittee formed to address the issue. New board members David Watson and Lisa Barkett said they are discussing systematic options to more openly inform the public about 22nd DAA actions. “We don’t want to recommend wholesale changes of how everything is done,” Watson said at the Dec. 13

meeting. They both agreed the first change should be to the website, which they described as “impossible to navigate.” They also want board members listed and the best way to contact them added. Barkett said she would like the home page to be more social-media conscious. “I know there’s a lot going on here,” she said, noting that “meaty” items such as the master plan for future fairgrounds improvements and recent criticisms from the California Department of Food and Agriculture should be easier to find.

If information on the website is for the public to view, it should be easier to navigate, Watson added. “The more business that can be conducted publicly, the better,” he said. Since June, Gov. Jerry Brown has replaced five of the nine members on the board of directors. Three of them — Watson, Tom Chino and David Lizerbram — already held a public meeting Dec. 8 to discuss a report from the Department of Food and Agriculture that questioned several board actions, including the process for tracking dining expenses and employ-


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