PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
.com MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 31, N0. 30
JULY 28, 2017
Encinitas facing .com election THE demand VISTA SAN MARCOS -NEWS
Council votes down distilleries in village
.com NEWS
By Ruarri Serpa
CARLSBAD – The City Council balked at a request to allow distilleries, but said restaurants were OK in an industrial part of Carlsbad Village, after a threehour hearing on July 25. The 2-2 decision came after a request by Nicholas Hammond, owner of Pacific Coast Spirits, to amend the city’s planning documents and allow distilleries in a part of the village designated District 6, on Tyler Street between Walnut and Oak avenues, at a location owned by Mayor Matt Hall. Hall recused himself from the discussion and the council was split on the issue of allowing distilleries in this part of the village, with Councilman Mark Packard and Councilwoman Cori Schumacher voting no. Packard said he believed that distilleries and other alcohol-producing businesses don’t benefit neighborhoods in the long run, so he couldn’t support allowing distilleries. “My old friend Thomas Jefferson helped me out, in a quote I found last week,” Packard said. “On matters of style, swim with the current. On matters of principle, stand like a rock. So my principle is that ... distilleries, wineries are not going to be a long-term plus in the community, so I am not going to support the motion
By Aaron Burgin
Star Encinitas skateboarder Brighton Zeuner turned 13 years old July 14 at the X Games in Minneapolis — one day before she took the title of youngest athlete to win gold in the 21-year history of the event. Skating competitively since she was 8, Brighton competed in her first X Games last year as the youngest female ever invited and missed the podium by one point. This time, she kept her lead throughout both runs in the Women’s Park Final, beating out seven top skaters from around the world. “I am really overwhelmed by all this, and I just hope it inspires young girls to go after what they want, even if they think they are too young,” Zeuner said. Courtesy photos
‘Tool sheds’ for special ed students anger parents
SOLANA BEACH — The placement of a San Dieguito Union High School District special education program in two modular buildings adjacent to the district’s brand new Earl Warren Middle School campus has caused an uproar among parents and special education advocates. TURN TO DISTILLERIES ON A15 For several weeks now,
parents have protested the district’s decision to house its Adult Transition Program in two modular buildings on a middle school campus, which the parents have called “separate and unequal” conditions. The adult transition program educates students with special needs until the age of 22, equipping them with independent living
skills and job skills so they can become productive members of society. The two 1,400-squarefoot buildings have only three windows, little natural light and at least one district parent who toured the facilities said the units smelled badly and were extremely hot. In various emails obtained by The Coast News, parents have
referred to the classrooms as “tool sheds.” “Just imagine, when most graduates go off to college, special ed students in the San Dieguito School District are sent back to middle school with no choice,” said Meg Ford, a parent of a special needs student in the district. “And it’s not TURN TO SCHOOL ON A7
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TURN TO DISTRICTS ON A15
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Youngest & Best
By Aaron Burgin
ENCINITAS — Encinitas has become the latest target in a series of demands for North County cities to abandon citywide elections in favor of electing council members by district. And if history is any indication, Encinitas will be the latest city to begrudgingly RANCHO make the electoral change.SFNEWS The city received a legal demand letter from the law firm Shenkman & Hughes, the same firm that has targeted San Marcos, Oceanside, Vista and Carlsbad in recent months. Attorney Kevin Shenkman, in the letter dated July 14, asks the city to voluntarily change its citywide election system or face litigation. Shenkman argues that the citywide voting violates the California Voting Rights Act because it dilutes the voting power of the city’s Hispanic residents — who comprise 13.7 percent of the city’s 63,000 population. Shenkman’s firm, which represents a voting rights organization for Latinos, made similar demands in the four aforementioned cities. In each case, the city chose voluntarily to create districts for future elections — including at least one district whose population has a Hispanic majority — as op-
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