Civics 101: IOD = Irrevocable offer of Dedication. When an agency requires a developer or landowner to give certain things to the agency, often as a component of development, such as land for open space or for a sidewalk, an entire street, a streetlight, a pipeline or other infrastructure, etc., the property is granted through an IOD.The Planning Dept. recommended that the council approve this without discussion; that is, it was part of the Consent Calendar of issues deemed routine. But, a member of the public "pulled this item" which means it was placed on the agenda to be discussed instead. The clip begins as a city staff is flipping through maps and giving a sort of unintelligible description. As is often the case, Teresa Barth attempts to clarify what is being presented.
Yet that isn't the real story of this post. The story is the behavior and an awareness that we individuals are watching, entitled to information and explanation regarding the governance of the city. This includes balancing the public good against individual's or private companies' interests.
Anything is fair game if a point of view from Barth or the public is different than his own or that of the council majority. It seems clear if one watches enough city council meetings, he doles out his vindictiveness in an intensity based on who the person is. It’s what he does and he rarely deviates from this template. The 2012 version, from this last council meeting on January 25, also features the deputy mayor acting very much like a spokesmodel to set up the mayor’s response and to patronize Barth following the mayor's speech. It's almost like a duet.
Anyone else wondering just when Stocks was going to let citizens know about magnanimous NCTD rail kingdom granting Encinitas serfs the right of way ribbon of land for bike/pedestrian paths, fences and landscape? How about any great and powerful
The challenge remains, to get as many people to the city council meetings as possible. Besides making these people with the titles have to perform their duet (or quartet) in front of many witnesses, it gives councilwoman Barth some knowing faces in the room.
Wednesday Night's City Council Agenda - February 8th at 6 pm
From the City of Encinitas website:
6. Council to make an appointment to the Element Review Advisory Committee to fill the New Encinitas resident position. Vote by council ballot to make an appointment to the Element Review Advisory Committee to fill the New Encinitas resident position.
7. Council to meet with applicants for Commission for the Arts, Environmental Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning Commission, Senior Citizen Commission, and Traffic Commission. Appointments are scheduled to be made by Council on February 22, with an effective date of March 1, 2012.
Hear each applicant briefly explain his/her qualifications and interest in serving on a commission.
Item 6 is needed because none of the applicants for ERAC were vetted properly, so there was a ringer in the New Encinitas resident position. This sadly, makes all of the ERAC members vulnerable to doubt. This is a city clerk screw up, whether deliberate, directed by others or simply incompetence.
Lisa Shaffer recently challenged the process of commission appointments in general. This is a theme for this blog to pursue because our mayor and friends have increasingly ignored quality applicants in favor of friends and backers.
Shaffer also spoke to the subject and substance of this post among other things in her letter to the San Diego Union Tribune Editors. The relevant excerpt regarding Mayor Stocks recent email to some that he was going to begin sending a newsletter:
"I want to know how he’s working to improve the atmosphere in City Hall to one of respect and collaboration. Stocks is the mayor of all of Encinitas, and I think that role comes with a responsibility to communicate regularly with the citizens". – Lisa Shaffer, Encinitas
