JULY 8, 2016
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younger girls just gravitate towards her. And it was from that, that she knew there was a need for action. The result: The GRO crews — organized groups of girl skaters that hold events and skate sessions wherever they’re formed. It’s why Sebelius, the former Vista resident, was in Encinitas on Wednesday, helping to organize the creation of Encinitas’ own GRO crew. And on Saturday, the Encinitas GRO crew will be hosting their inaugural all-girls skate session at the Encinitas Community skate park. The event will serve as a litmus test of sorts to gauge the interest of girls wanting to be a part of the crew. It’s something that Calli Kelsay, a mother of four, has wanted for her skateboarding daughters for a while now. Especially for her daughters, Aubrey, 8, and Kirra, 6, who have really taken to the sport seriously, Kelsay explained. “Just seeing my girls get so into skateboarding has sparked the fire to create a stronger community feel for my girls,” Kelsay said. Kelsay will be helping to oversee the Encinitas GRO crew as it gets going. The plan is to host monthly skate sessions for girls.
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on behalf of the betterment of our community,” he said. “Over the years I learned to respect her ability to listen to others and try to internalize all viewpoints when forming opinions,” Zito added. “Her ability to stick to the facts and empathize with others who had differing viewpoints are traits that I will miss terribly. “These traits that Margaret had were key drivers in the formation of Solana Beach and what made this city so great and were contributing to her winning the most votes in the first election of our city and thus becoming mayor,” he said. Following the successful 1986 election to incorporate, candidates had less than a month to campaign for the City Council. In addition to Schlesinger, the first council included Jack Moore, Marion Dodson, Celine Olson and Richard Hendlin. The latter three, who were on hand for the anniversary celebration, recalled taking their oaths on on the grass at Fletcher Cove Park 12 hours earlier than planned. “A formal ceremony was scheduled for 7 o’clock at night in the kiva at Solana Vista Elementary School,” said Hendlin, who at the time was 34 and the youngest council member. “The county would continue to have control over landuse decisions until we were sworn in, so we did it before they opened that day.”
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T he C oast News “I think that it’s going to be an awesome opportunity for girls in the community to see, first of all, other girls skating and wanting to be part of that strong community,” she said. “What I really want for my girls is the sense of belonging to something that’s really positive and uplifting, and I see that a lot with skateboarding.” That transition from girls being intimidated to being accepted and welcomed is starting to take hold on the skate parks in Encinitas. Nate Stewart, 18, has been skateboarding for seven years, and is a regular at the Encinitas Community skate park and the YMCA where the girls “kill it” on the transition ramps, pools and vert ramps, he said. “I think it’s pretty awesome,” Stewart added. “I feel like a lot of girls are scared to skateboard because of the stigma that skateboarding’s a guy thing, but I think it’s just a matter of getting over your fear of falling, and I think anybody can get good at it.” Kelsay said even she’s noticed a change in attitudes when her daughters skate at the parks. “As my girls have committed and gotten better at skating I have seen a change for sure,” she said. “When the guys at the skate park see my 6-yearold in a tutu dress drop into the pool, you can tell
there is a level of respect that wasn’t there before. All the sudden their faces change from being mildly annoyed that we showed up to respecting her talent.” Those attitude shifts are coming, in part, Kelsay thinks, to what Exposure Skate, a women’s skateboarding competition and event, brings to the community. Sebelius believes that the shift has been brought about thanks to the efforts of girl skaters in the past, who fought to get to the spot where they are now. “I believe that it’s all of us females that at one point didn’t feel like we belonged at a skate park and felt over-dominated and run over, and basically intimidated by the parks, the boys, the culture, not understanding it, all of us were like, ‘hey, there’s a great benefit here.’ We’ve gained so much from skateboarding,” Sebelius said. “Girls could easily skate just as good as guys and with our society, it doesn’t seem to be that way, but it totally is,” Stewart said. “There’s a ton of girls out there breaking those standards and barriers, which is dope.” The Encinitas GRO crew’s girl skate session is July 9 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Encinitas Community skate park, 425 Santa Fe Drive. It’s free and open to all levels of skaters. Visit girlsriders.org for more information.
“We wanted to be (in place) before the county could process any more permits,” Dodson said. The council’s first action, taken shortly after 7 a.m., was to place a 45-day moratorium on development in the city. Council members were sworn in a second time that evening. “The shared experience that the five original council members had was such a unique bond,” Hendlin said. “We were starting from scratch. “We had no precedent,” he added. “What we had together was a vision. Our city was united wanting to get self-ruled.” Long-time residents say the proposed development of a 3.4-acre site east of Coast Highway 101 was the major reason people finally united to support cityhood. Plans for the lot — once known as the Gateway property but now called Harbaugh Seaside Trails — included a 170-room hotel at the time and a large hotel-condominium complex more recently. It took three decades, but the land is now guaranteed open space in perpetuity. The San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy purchased the property in late 2011. The loan was paid off this year with private donations and mitigation money from the California Department of Transportation. “Our city is now also recognized as a local regional leader in many areas,” Zito said before highlighting other major accomplishments that “would likely
not have happened without a dedicated local government pushing for our interests.” They include the grade separation to lower the railroad tracks and a completed coastal rail trail. “I can tell you those two items alone are the envy of many of the other cities around us,” Zito said. Solana Beach was the first city in the contiguous United States to prohibit smoking on the beach and the first in the county to ban single-use plastic bags and polystyrene take-out containers. Land-use and other issues have continued to attract residents to the council dais. For Paul Tompkins, it was congestion at the freeway intersection. For Lesa Heebner, it was the rail trail. For Joe Kellejian, a member of the original Town Council and a 20-year former council member, it was the grade separation and public safety issues. “We had a vision to create a city and govern ourselves,” Kellejian said. “We had a vision to maintain and to protect the quality of life here in Solana Beach. We turned that vision into a reality.” Kellejian said he and Schlesinger didn’t always see eye-to-eye when it came to what each thought was best for the city. But he always respected her opinions. “I loved her,” he said. “I miss her. We accomplished a great deal under her leadership.”
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Seymour said. The Mission Cove mixeduse affordable housing project aims to make a dent in solving the problem. To date infrastructure work for the entire Mission Cove project is complete. Construction of the first 90 family housing units, a community resource center, and 10,400 square feet of retail space is on schedule, and is estimated to be finished in late 2017. Seymour said foundations for the 90 units are laid and the build will go vertical very soon. Framing of the resource center and retail space is al-
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mance and value, providing cleaner and more efficient combustion, as well as significant reduction in harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) and fine particulate (PM 2.5) emissions. NOx and particulates are directly linked to air quality in California, negatively impacting children, people with lung diseases and driver health. Propel is the largest retailer of low-carbon fuels in
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ecrating the altar, and told someone to call 911. Flanagan said men present followed the man out until he left the building. She added Galvin encouraged them to let him go so that no one would get hurt, and mass
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plex. The hospital would then lease almost half the space for $75,000 a month and prepay $7.5 million in up-front rent. MAC would use the rest of the space to house doctors from a side company it set up for spinal surgeries in TriCity’s operation rooms, as well as other services.
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available to provide help and confidence to those battling the current. Once the athletes complete the swim, they will transition at the Tamarack State Beach parking lot for their bike ride, culminating with the 5K run to finish the race. The hundreds of athletes, though, mark a dip in attendance, Shay said. Saturation of events, plus the introduction of endurance races such as Tough Mudder have chipped away at the triathlon’s attendance. Shay said the city aims to reach 1,000 once again, although at its peak, the triathlon topped 1,200 competitors. She said 1,200 makes for a more crowded race, especially in the water, while 1,000 is about what would be a solid number. “We’re kind of at our lower point now,” Shay ex-
ready completed. The cost to construct the 90 units is $43,432,000. A $890,000 chunk of the awarded AHP funds will go toward that cost. Plans for the remaining 60 family units, and 138 senior/special needs units will be submitted shortly for the first round of plan checks. An adult day care, senior resident services facilities and resident organic garden will be built along with the 138 senior units. These final building phases are estimate to see sticks in the air by early 2017. Seymour said the 60 family units will likely be completed in 18 months. The 60 units will cost $27,214,000 to build. AHP
funds in the amount of $590,000 will go toward construction. Rental rates for a one-bedroom family unit will range from $428 to $883 a month. Three-bedroom units will rent for $519 to $1,088 a month. Seymour said rents are well below market rate, and allow low-income working families and seniors to have greater discretionary spending to buy more community goods and services, and add to the local economy. He added a lack of affordable housing for working families pushes families out of the area, and leaves employers with a smaller pool of workers, which hurts the economy.
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continued. Some parishioners voiced concern that similar incidents have happened at other churches. Flanagan said there have been exaggerated reports on the incident. She added Galvin, who was closest to the man, “is confident that this was not a terrorist incident, a
Muslim related incident, a reaction of the Indians because it was Saint Juniper Serra’s Feast Day, or a politically motivated incident.” Flanagan said a bystander took a picture of the man and his license plate, and police are following up. The crime could carry a fine and jail time.
The deal fell through in 2012 and the building, which was partially completed, has sat vacant since. The hospital ousted Anderson in 2013 and seized the building in July 2014 through its eminent domain authority. Officials see the medical office building as an important piece of its partnership agreement with UC San Di-
ego Health. The university plans to locate specialists in the building, a move that would increase Tri-City’s service offerings. Tri-City the day after the verdict issued a single-sentence reaction: “The district is disappointed in the verdict and we are reviewing all options while at the same time protecting our right to appeal the verdict.”
plained. “We are more concerned with the experience and safety of people. There is always a flow. The warrior dashes and color runs are our competition.” The event was formally catered to professional athletes, but the race became too aggressive, Shay said. The city scaled back the triathlon and focused on amateur athletes looking to stay in shape or scratch off an item from their bucket list. Some professionals, however, still participate using it as a training device before taking on more competitive events, Shay said. Over the years, however, Shay said the biggest changes to the race have been the course. It used to run past the Flower Fields, east on Palomar Airport Road and even crossed the La Costa Avenue-Interstate 5 overpass. But now it is more streamlined and coastal driven, Shay said.
“So what’s unique about our race is the entire race is coastal,” she added. “It’s really pretty.” The triathlon is one of four major athletic events in Carlsbad, which includes the Carlsbad Marathon, Carlsbad 5000 and the Carlsbad Grand Prix, which returns July 17. Roads will be closed along Carlsbad Boulevard from Pine Street to La Costa Avenue; Tamarack Avenue between Carlsbad Boulevard and Garfield Avenue; Palomar Airport Road between Carlsbad Boulevard and Avenida Encinas; Poinsettia Lane between Carlsbad Boulevard and Avenida Encinas; and Avenida Encinas between Carlsbad Boulevard and Ponto Drive. Shay said she expects the roads between La Costa Avenue and Cannon Road to open by about 11 a.m., while the rest of the roads along the course will be open by 1 p.m.