Local News

February 12th, 2009

Quarter Pound of Meth Seized During Search

On Thursday, February 5, 2009, members of the Escondido Police Department's Special Investigations Unit served a search warrant in the 100 block of W. 13th Avenue in the City of Escondido. As a result of the search, detectives discovered approximately one quarter pound of crystal methamphetamine. The street value of the meth is estimated at approximately $4,250.

As a result of the search, detectives arrested Adrian Aguilar, 30, of Escondido, for Possession of a Controlled Substance for Sale. Aguilar was later booked into the Vista Detention Facility on the listed charges as well as an immigration hold. Also arrested was Anselmo Nunez, 34, of Escondido on an outstanding warrant. Nunez was also transported and booked into the Vista Detention Facility.

To report any suspicious activities in your neighborhood, you may contact the Police Department directly, or you may make an unidentified call on the "Anonymous Tip Line" at (760) 743-TIPS (8477) or via the Web site at www.escondido.org/police.

Adrian Aguilar

Anselmo Nunez

Vista Zoning Changes To Restrict Some Businesses

The Vista City Council was expected to vote this past Tuesday on zoning changes aimed at curbing the opening of certain businesses in the city, including check-cashing centers, day spas and pawnshops. Such businesses would face increased regulation and require special permits to operate.

The move is aimed at regulating those “commercial uses that we feel detract from the city's ability to revitalize its commercial areas,” city officials said.

The rezoning would focus on major thoroughfares such as Melrose Drive, East Vista Way and Santa Fe Avenue. If the changes are approved, businesses needing a special-use permit would include:

Bail-bonding agencies.
Bargain-basement stores.
Check-cashing centers.
Hiring halls or labor centers.
Pawnshops.
Smoke shops.
Smoking lounges.
Tattoo parlors.

The proposed zoning changes also would address the number of massage therapists allowed to operate at a day spa or acupuncture establishment.

Councilman Steve Gronke said closely regulating such businesses “is part of the effort to improve the quality of the city. This is just another step toward that as the city matures.”

Escondido Officials See Pension Reform and Business Retention

Stabilizing city finances, improving business retention and reining in the cost of city employee pensions were among the priorities set by the Escondido City Council during a Tuesday afternoon brainstorming session. In a four-hour meeting some less conventional ideas arose, such as relocating the city's library onto the campus of the performing arts center, transforming the city's flood control channel into a "river walk" and giving city employees financial incentives to live in Escondido.

The Paper’s Ed Gallo, a former City Council Member, attended the brainstorming session and rejported no action was taken, but city staff members will craft the priorities into a two-year "action plan" that will be presented to the council this spring. City officials said the council has held such meetings several weeks after each general election since the 1990s.

Other topics covered Tuesday were whether the city should cut funding for its Police Department, how the city should maintain its aging infrastructure and ongoing efforts to revise the city's development blueprint, which is known as a general plan. Councilmen Sam Abed and Dick Daniels urged City Manager Clay Phillips to initiate "a regional discussion" on the issue of pension reform.

They said it was key for all cities to simultaneously rein in pensions for new hires, because any city that acts alone would be at a competitive disadvantage for recruiting workers. Councilwoman Olga Diaz said it was also crucial that council members and the public better understand the complexities of the city's pension system. Diaz said she struggles to explain to constituents why some retired city employees receive up to 90 percent of their city salaries as pensions.

"Is that fair?" asked Diaz, contending that middle class workers with no pensions had every right to be upset and confused about such policies.

The city manager explained that the system is based on a complicated state formula. He said many employees chose to give up pay raises in exchange for better pensions, and that the city has actually saved money on such agreements. Because of problems with the investment returns of the state's pension system the city's pension contribution has zoomed from zero to more than $15 million per year.

Council members also discussed the city's budget deficit, which climbed above $6 million this winter because of severe reductions in sales tax revenue. Diaz said the council needs to explore deeper cuts to the Police Department. About $405,000 was eliminated this winter from the department's $35 million annual budget, but Diaz said more cuts make sense because the department accounts for 43 percent of the city's $82 million annual budget.

Late in the meeting, Abed suggested the city move its main library from Kalmia Street to the education wing and museum area of the performing arts center. His colleagues said they were willing to consider the ambitious plan. Next, Diaz suggested the river walk plan and encouraging the city's high-paid workers to bolster the city treasury by living and shopping in Escondido.

Paramount Fire Prosecution Not Likely

The liklihood of prosecution in the Paramount Condominium Fire case appears to be not very likely. Four incomplete condominium buildings were destroyed by fire over two years ago and still there is no sign of building a replacement structure.

The county district attorney has the case in hand but no decision has been made as to prosecution. There is evidence that the blaze was caused by a male worker at the site, either "recklessly" or "intentionally." The question is whether the evidence is strong enough to proceed with prosecution, and, if so, whether to prosecute as a misdemeanor or felony. The suspect, who lived in Oceanside at the time of the blaze, has been interviewed by police in connection with the fire, but never arrested. He was described in 2007 as being in his mid-20s.

A new developer has bought the Paramount project from D.R. Horton for $4.4 million, about 25 percent of Horton's $17.5 million purchase price in 2005.
Negotiations have commenced between the city and the new developer.

Palomar Medical Center West:
$21 Million In Features Cut

Behind Schedule: January, 2012 projected Opening Date

Trying to get a handle on a runaway budget for the Palomar Medical Center, west of Escondido, trustees voted Monday to cut $21.4 million from design plans for the new hospital. A lesser number of conference rooms, cheaper building material, eliminating outdoor gardens and spiral staircases, all went into the disposal basket as the budget was trimmed and trimmed again.

Trustees were concerned that the "hospital of the future" the community was promised in 2004 before approving a $496 million facilities bond, would wind up looking like a “poor boy’s version.”.

But the costs have jumped in price from $773 million to $957 million in less than two years. Trustees are also considering the cancellation of plans for the new medical tower at Poway's Pomerado Hospital which would save about $91 million. They will hold off on that decision until this summer.

Michael Covert, chief executive of the hospital district, said the current Palomar Medical Center functions fine without a playground and that the new hospital would not need a playground for kids.

More City Councils Consider a Pay Cut

Given the lousy economy, more and more City Councils are stepping up to the plate and offering to take a pay cut. They don’t make that much anyway but every little bit helps. Even if the effort is largely symbolic, councilmembers seem to feel the need to share the burden, economically. Latest on the agenda: Carlsbad’s city council voted last night on a proposal to take a 5% pay cut. At press time we had not received the results.

“Since we're going to be taking away at some point from our employees, I thought the council should set the tone,” Mayor Bud Lewis said Monday.

No city council has given itself an across-the-board pay cut, though two Escondido councilmen have said they will take less. The Escondido council decided to forgo a scheduled 5 percent pay raise last month when it cut all employees' pay by the same amount. Councilmen Sam Abed and Dick Daniels said they'll also return 5 percent of their pay.

The Escondido council reduced everyone's pay rather than lay off employees to close that city's $7.4 million budget gap. Carlsbad cut its $113 million operating budget by $5 million last month but stopped short of laying anyone off.

Lewis admitted it was symbolic but said: “If we're going to do it to others, we should do it to ourselves. We do not want to lay off workers. We're concerned about that.”

Carlsbad has slashed overtime, reduced maintenance schedules and implemented a hiring freeze to reduce its spending. Last year, the San Diego City Council provoked public outrage when it voted to give itself a 24 percent pay raise – to $93,485 a year – as the city grapples with ongoing deficits. The council rescinded that raise after Mayor Jerry Sanders threatened to veto it. Sanders would have made $130,000 annually had the measure stuck.

The San Marcos City Council considered limiting its raises at its meeting last night. If adopted, the council would tie any increase to the consumer price index, with a cap of 5 percent. Such a raise would be 1 percent for 2009-10.

Oceanside Mobile Home Park to Close

Because it is unprofitable, Catalina Mobile Estates, one of Oceanside's older mobile home parks, dating to just after World War II, is closing and will be razed. Only eight residents are left in the 57-space park. It is zoned for residential use but could be changed to permit more commercial development along Coast Highway.

The owner, John Grant, said the property could remain vacant until the real estate market turns around. He blamed his financial woes on the city's rent-control ordinance governing mobile home parks.

Rent-control Law Irritates Another Mobile Home Park

Forty five owners in an Oceanside Mobile Home Park are angry over a state law that limits rent controls on mobile homes that are used as second homes. The Mira Mar Mobile Community could arise at other mobile home parks, city officials said because a section of state law says that if a coach owner receives a homeowner's tax exemption on other property, the mobile home may not fall under local rent-control laws because it could be a vacation or second home.

The issue is significant in Oceanside, where 18 mobile home parks are regulated by a city rent-control ordinance. Mira Mar Mobile Community may be the most likely park in the city to have mobile homes used as vacation units because of the park's location on a bluff overlooking Oceanside Harbor and the ocean, Assistant City Attorney Barbara Hamilton said. But the state law applies to all parks, Hamilton said.

Tower Management Co. of Pasadena, which runs Mira Mar on behalf of the owners, Kendall West LLC of Burbank, cited the law when it raised the rents on 51 of the 171 residences in the park. Rents would be raised from $350 a month to $850. Since then, owners of six properties have proved that Mira Mar is their first home and have been exempted from the rent increase.

C. William Dahlin, a Santa Ana attorney representing the park owner, told the city's Manufactured Home Fair Practices Commission on Thursday night that the owner has offered long-term leases to owners who opt out of rent controls.

“Unsure of the future and unable to afford the rent increase,” Kelley said, “five residents have sold their homes to the park owner for 10 cents on the dollar. This is more than just a rent debate. It is beginning to destroy people's lives.”

The homeowners group obtained a temporary restraining order in Superior Court on Jan. 28, preventing the rent increases. A hearing has been set for 1 p.m March 20 in Vista Superior Court on whether to make the order permanent. On Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously to join the case to protect its rent-control laws.

Palomar College Trustees to Consider Approving Contracts

About a dozen contracts for the construction of a large academic building. on the campus of Palomar College came under the withering eyes of the cost-conscious trustees last night. Work on the 100,000-square-foot building began in November on the San Marcos campus. The $37 million building will house several departments, including business administration, computer science and American Indian studies. It's expected to be finished in late 2010, officials said.

The 11 contracts considered last night included fire protection, plumbing and roofing. They also included purchases of sheet metal, ceramic tile and metal decking. The contracts add up to nearly $19 million.

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