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T he C oast News
SEPT. 13, 2019
SANDAG votes for over 27K new North County housing units By Steve Horn
REGION — In a Sept. 6 meeting lasting over three hours, a majority of the SANDAG board of directors members voted down a proposed county housing allocation formula. Yet the vote became moot when the board immediately reversed it with “weighted vote,” locking in the proposal and sending it to the California state government for review. The housing formula, known as the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), is overseen by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. It calls for North County’s incorporated cities to build 27,186 housing units during the 2021-2029 time period. That includes 9,607 in Escondido, 3,116 in San Marcos, 2,561 in Vista, 5,437 in Oceanside, 3,873 in Carlsbad, 1,554 in Encinitas, 875 in Solana Beach and 163 in Del Mar. The housing allocation came from a complex formula, weighting city populations against access to transit centers on a 35% basis and area jobs centers for the other 65%. And the housing units slated for construction, under the
RHNA mandate, is a mix of housing for very-low, low-, moderate- and above-moderate-income housing. When all was said and done, almost no one on the SANDAG board walked away fully content with numbers. The weighted voting system as a means of overturning a standard vote is a creation of AB 805, a bill which became law in 2017. Authored by California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), the AB 805 system gives any of the cities with the top four highest populations the ability to call for a weighted vote in attempting to overturn a standard vote. That many SANDAG representatives will walk away discontent is the nature of the beast in a body representing every city in the disparate county, said Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear just before the vote took place. “We’re not going to be able to come up with something where everyone’s happy,” said Blakespear, who voted in favor of the proposal. Though RHNA is a state mandate, the state has almost never — until a recent case in Huntington
THE REGIONAL HOUSING Needs Allocation is calling for North County’s incorporated cities to build nearly 30,000 housing units between 2021 and 2029. File photo
Beach — brought a civil lawsuit against a region or city failing to achieve its allocated housing numbers. Escondido Mayor Paul McNamara pointed to that in slamming the entire premise of the process. “It doesn’t really pass the sanity check,” said McNamara. “Might as well put them all in Escondido. We’re not going to make those either.” San Diego County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, in her comments, pointed to
the region’s homelessness crisis as exemplifying a systemic failure to build affordable housing under the RHNA banner. “Fix or foster, that’s what we’re up against. Do we want to fix the housing crisis or do we want to foster it?” asked Gaspar, adding that she had recently nearly hit a homeless individual while parking for a SANDAG meeting, which she showed a picture of in making a statement. “We are underperforming and
status quo isn’t going to work. A planning exercise isn’t going to work anymore because people are waking up. Where is the accountability?” Analyzing the allocation from a city-by-city perspective, former U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray — who represented the 49th and 50th Congressional District during two different stints in Congress — testified that he feared the RHNA plan could lead to discrimination within the county.
“If you draw and like that says, south of Highway 8 where you have working class people living close together, packed in, a high-minority, low-income area, and that’s where you’re going to shove the housing,” said Bilbray. “The job-housing balance is only 35% of your strategy. This thing doesn’t wash environmentally, socially or politically.” But San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer spoke out in support of the proposed allocation. “We are in the midst of a housing crisis,” he said. “It’s time to act. Doing things the same way is not going to give us a different result,” said Faulconer. “All of us in our home jurisdictions are working very diligently — I know we are in San Diego — to cut red tape, cut processing time, and get more units out of the ground.” With the proposal passing, it now goes before the California Department of Housing and Community Development for a review. The agency has 60 days to provide feedback, after which the SANDAG board will convene again to discuss and plot next steps.
The life and times of legendary surfer Peter ‘PK’ King
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n the early 1980s, I spent quite a few summer days and nights in La Jolla, up the street from Windansea. I had been recovering from a painful breakup, and Chris and Jill O’Rourke took me in. Surf checks began early each morning and there in the water or at the shoreline were the seasoned rippers: Tom Ortner, Bird Huffman, Debbie Melville, Joe Roper and young guns like Richard Kenvin. The gremmies I remember best were Miko Fleming, Drew Littlemore and Peter King. Miko and Drew were becoming competent surfers. Peter was just beginning. Unlike most surfers who grew up in La Jolla, Peter lacked the advantages of affluence. He reminded me of a sunburned Huckleberry Finn in those days — scruffy
waterspot chris ahrens
and with no direction home. At the time, the drive that would someday bring him to prominence in the surfing world was not apparent. He rode whatever boards he could borrow and so on his 14th birthday, I bought him a used twinfin. Not long afterward, O’Rourke lost his battle with Hodgkin’s disease. Because his was such an emotionally difficult passing, I quit going to Windansea for several years after that. I did, however, hear about Peter and his vastly improved surfing, which was launching
him to the top of amateur surfing contests and would soon bring him into the pro ranks, where he managed to do well among the best surfers in the world. One of surfing’s highest honors before the media explosion of the ‘90s was not a trophy, however, but having your photo on the cover of Surfer Magazine. The shot of Peter slamming the lip on a black and red board with the logo of his board sponsor, Bessell, displayed prominently along with a cross still jolts me. While he was never the best surfer in the world, he was undoubtedly among the most popular. Everybody loved PK for his quick wit and ability to negotiate whatever curveballs life threw at him, and each one of us. He was also an excellent musician and a founder
of Dakota Motor Company and, later, the best surfers ever to be in one musical group, The Surfers which was comprised of PK, Rob Machado, and Kelly Slater. To top it off, Peter also hosted his own MTV show, “Sandlot.” PK’s latest gig is following the pro surfing tour around the world and taking what he calls a “video selfie,” of the competitors. The comfort in which surfers like longtime friend Slater and young phenoms like John John Florence speak with King makes his interviews some of the top in a crowded field. I last saw PK a few years ago when he was out riding his home break, Windansea. I couldn’t tell if he was making an iconoclastic point, or simply enjoying a sunny day, but he rode a
PETER ‘PK’ KING takes a break from surfing and interviews to ride the YMCA Skate Park. Photo by Chris Ahrens
$100 department store soft board with all of his agile grace. Even from shore, it became apparent he was having a blast, stepping off his board to bodysurf to the beach, or inviting another
surfer to step off his board and ride along with him. Sitting there, enjoying the show, I couldn’t help recall that first board, and thinking that it was the best $35 I ever spent.
Bands to ‘battle’ for mainstage spot at Solana Beach’s Fiesta Del Sol By Lexy Brodt
SOLANA BEACH — The city’s 2020 Fiesta Del Sol might still be a ways away, but local bands are gearing up to ‘battle’ over a spot on the beloved event’s mainstage. For the first time, Solana Beach’s Chamber of Commerce is hosting a “battle of the bands” at the Belly Up Tavern on Sept. 16. Audience members and a panel of judges will choose which of six participating bands will get to play at Fiesta. Fiesta Del Sol is an annual celebration in Solana Beach that brings together merchants, artists, musicians and food vendors for
a weekend summer celebration. The longstanding event draws thousands every year to the small coastal city. There are typically about 25 to 30 bands playing per year, between two to three different stage areas. But the mainstage, located in a large city-owned parking lot, draws the biggest crowds. The top two performers at the “battle of the bands” will be able to take the mainstage — the first-place pick taking stage at Fiesta on Saturday, and the second place on Sunday. with the Belly Up to help Chamber of Commerce The chamber, which select which bands play the wanted to let the communiplans and sponsors Fiesta event. ty to decide. Del Sol, has long partnered “There’s so many loBut this year, the
cal bands interested in playing on the mainstage, and there’s not a fair way of choosing which ones do,” said Chamber of Commerce CEO Maryam Hintzen. “This is a way of getting the community and the crowd involved in choosing who will be on the stage.” The chamber recently finalized the six participants: April and the Funk Junkies, Mud, Pearl Jammed, Shaken and Stirred, Static on the Stereo, and The Good Pour. The bands may come as no surprise to readers — many have played at local bars The Kraken or Saddle Bar, with some having graced the stage of the Bel-
ly Up in the past. The bands will be evaluated by a panel of judges from across the county, of few of which will be city or county representatives. But the final outcome will equally rely on the audience: a sound meter will be putting a number to the crowd’s reaction. The event will also be a fundraiser for the Chamber of Commerce and include raffles throughout the night. Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased through the Belly Up or the Chamber’s office in Solana Beach. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the 21-plus event will start at 6 p.m.