Our Mayor Stocks Leans to the Far Left

Edited for clarity and length, 9AM

Made ya look! . . . you who Googled. Seriously, the new cameras just installed at Encinitas city council chambers have some really odd effects that need some adjustments. One could get vertigo trying to watch these close-ups that tilt to the left and to the right. Did you find yourself tilting your head when you watched from home?

Making caricatures of community members speaking out at council meetings?

You can’t make this stuff up! No, I don’t believe it is a conspiracy to give speakers at the podium the Modigliani treatment. Figures are elongated and the background is squeezed into an unreal perspective like this painter’s portraits. Look again at a clip. It's odd.

Allowances will be made for the IT workers at city hall to work some more to give people who view meetings on television’s channel 19 or online a better picture of our city government in action. And maybe we can get more and better views of the audience and audience reactions too.

This is not to say that the physical space, the furniture, furnishings, audio-visual and technical voting system haven’t created real obstacles in the past. The city council members, especially Jim Bond, struggled mightily to figure out how to vote on new equipment. It was painful to watch.

Who can forget the childish bullying during our mayor Stocks’ first days his second stint as mayor in 2008? For no apparent reason the podium was turned to face the council at the center of the public aisle, rather than classic position alongside the dais, facing the camera to allow a speaker to address the television / online audience, the chamber audience and the council from the podium.

When activist Lynn Braun angled the wheeled podium into the regular position she was scolded by Dan Dalager. Lynn was the thorn in the majority's side and 2007 was particularly intense for Lynn's scrutiny of council behavior. She had an uphill climb each week. Finally, after several weeks the wheeled podium was bolted in the position the majority preferred – facing them exclusively. It still is bolted in place with industrial strength bolts. So, we now show our backsides to the camera and the public audience. I guess they showed her! Silly men.

Sidewalk Dining for $.79/day

George Hejduk, a regular speaker at council meetings is the self-appointed watchdog on sidewalk dining and has spoken out regularly for years. There's a long history of the city not responding, responding but not enforcing ADA and other public aspects of our coastal downtown sidewalk dining. 2011 looked like this issue would finally get some resolution. 2012 begins without a final decision from the council.

The city staff findings are not presented here, simply a bit of discussion from Jerome Stocks in these two clips of Our Mayor's representing . . . his viewpoint. Characteristically, in two words, Stocks Mocks TM . . . a whole range of targets.

Sidewalk Dining is brought back to the council on November 16, 2011 agenda based on the above comments and more. Watch how Teresa Barth's attempt at addressing Jerome Stock's objection to an annual fee by treating it as a realistic concern is translated into a manufactured(?) complexity.

Full April 13 meeting can be viewed here and November 16 meeting here. Sitting through these in real time made $.79 a day a really foolish sticking point for then Deputy Mayor Stocks. Only the cynical might guess this was for 2012 campaign support or some other political jockeying or simple vindictiveness.