Picture taken at San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve. (Left to Right) City Council Member Joe Mosca, Devan (6 yr. old son), Garrett (9 yr. old son) and Matt (husband)
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!
Dear Friend,
Running is on my mind this morning as a write this week’s newsletter. That’s because I just came from the first Surfing Madonna Oceans Project Encinitas Half Marathon. This run was a big success, and on its first year. Over 6,000 runners gathered at Moonlight Beach for the start of the race, and with so much excitement in the air, you could definitely feel it! I was thrilled to be involved in this important event for our community: welcoming runners to the community and helping kick off the race.
Because of the funds raised through this hugely successful inaugural half marathon, Surfing Madonna Oceans Project was able to raise necessary funds to continue their work in our community, which ranges from surfing camp for children with special needs to many conservation programs (see surfingmadonna.org for all of their programs and contributions).
City Council Meeting
The City Council met this week on Wednesday. Below is a rundown of some of the items that we discussed and actions that we took.
Carbon Fee and Dividend (CFD) Program – the Encinitas Environmental Commission passed a recommendation asking that the Encinitas City Council support a resolution, which the California legislature passed in 2016, calling on the U.S. Congress to pass a Carbon Fee and Dividend program as a market based approach for reducing carbon emissions and combatting climate change. Essentially, this is a CFD:
Carbon fee and dividend puts a steadily rising fee on carbon-emitting fuels, at the source, where they are first introduced into the economy. 100% of the revenues are then returned directly to households, in a monthly dividend check.
Carbon pricing as a means for decreasing carbon emissions has been around for almost three decades. Not a new concept and one that has been adopted by many nations around the world.
There have been several studies that show that a CFD will reduce carbon emissions below 1990 levels in 20 years and that recycling the revenue creates an economic stimulus that adds 2.8 million jobs to the economy (see http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jun/13/how- revenue-neutral-carbon-tax-creates-jobs-grows-economy).
About two-thirds of households will break even or receive more than they would pay in higher prices. This feature will inject billions into the economy, protect family budgets, free households to make independent choices about their energy usage, spur innovation and build aggregate demand for low-carbon products at the consumer level.
CFD does not increase the size of government, require new bureaucracies or directly increase government revenues.
At the end of the discussion, and after a good amount of public feedback, the City Council, on a 4-to-1 vote, supported the resolution calling on the U.S. Congress to pass a CFD (I voted to support).
Open Space and Trails – Council Member Mark Muir requested that the City create a committee that would look at the possibility of acquiring open space and trails and look at funding strategies for such acquisition. I was very happy to have this discussion since it is an important goal of mine to increase the amount of open space that the City holds for public use and to continue the pursuit of acquiring more land for trails so that we can connect more of them. Instead of forming a committee, though, we decided to ask that our Parks & Recreation Commission to take on this task. We will also take up the matter of funding for acquisitions at our next City budget meeting. We’ve not settled on a dollar amount to set aside each year for acquisitions, but the original recommendation was for at least $200,000.
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program – CDBG is a federal program administered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The CDBG program has three objectives:
Benefit low and moderate income persons;
Aid in the prevention of slum and blight; and
Meet an urgent local need.
This year the City anticipates receiving approximately $260,000 in CDBG funding. The City Council reviewed several proposals for use of this money. Two takeaways for me: the need in the community is much greater than the funds that we have to spend and there are so many community-based-organizations that are doing such special and amazing things in our community.
Here is how we vote to allocate the approximately $260,000:
Organization
Program
Funding FY 2016-17
Requested FY 2017-18
Recommended FY 2017-18
PUBLIC SERVICES ($39,078 Available)
Community Resource Center
Homeless Prevention & Intervention
$17,728
$25,000
$18,155
Meals-on- Wheels
Meals-On-Wheels Encinitas
$6,445
$8,000
$6,871
San Dieguito Alliance
Project YO Youth Outreach
$4,189
$8,000
$4,615
ElderHelp
Concierge Club and HomeShare Program
$4,189
$15,000
$0
Interfaith Shelter Network
Rotating Shelter
-
$6,000
$4,615
Catholic Charities
La Posada de Guadalupe Homeless Shelter
$4,395
$10,000
$4,822
Subtotal
$41,135*
$72,000
$39,078
Organization
Project
Funding FY 2016-17
Requested FY 2017-18
Recommended FY 2017-18
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS ($169,574 Available)
Community Resource Center
Facility Improvements
$32,000
$32,000
$32,000
City of Encinitas
Cardiff ADA Improvements
$196,000
$98,000
$98,000
City of Encinitas
Residential Rehabilitation Program
$2,978
$39,574
$39,574**
Subtotal
$265,978*
$169,574
$169,574
Organization
Project
Funding FY 2016-17
Requested FY 2017-18
Recommended FY 2017-18
PLANNING & ADMINISTRATION ($52,105 AVAILABLE)
City of Encinitas
Administration
$42,447
$39,705
$39,705
Legal Aid Society of San Diego
Fair Housing Services
$12,400
$12,400
$12,400
Subtotal
$54,847
$52,105
$52,105
San Elijo Lagoon Double Track (SEDLT) – As a part of the San Elijo Lagoon Double Track (SELDT) project, there will be the installation of a retaining wall around San Elijo Avenue in Cardiff area. The City Council has asked the Arts Commission to work with San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to develop aesthetic elements for the retaining wall, which should reflect community character. The point here is that while the wall is necessary to hold back the slope, the wall should be designed in a way that it will fit into our community and enhance the community.
Housing Element – The mayor and the deputy mayor, who are the two members of the council that are a part of the Housing Element Update Sub-Committee, gave an update as to their efforts to date. The good news is the sub-committee is making progress in exploring options for eventually having a compliant housing element.
Committee & Board Meetings
San Elijo JPA – Last week, I attended a meeting of the San Elijo JPA, and here’s a high level overview of what we did:
Authorized General Manager to prepare legal documents for a negotiated bond sale for an amount not to exceed 22.4 M for wastewater and recycled water infrastructure (these projects have developed over time and are list in the agency’s capital project list);
Authorized an amount for architectural services for the building program, which primarily includes the agency’s main facility in Cardiff on Manchester Avenue; and
Both of the items above will come before the City Council for its approval.
City Department Briefings & Tours
To learn more about our city government, I set a goal for myself to meet with each city department head within my first six months as your city council member. I can report that I am closing in on this goal ahead of schedule. Over the past week, I have met with:
Engineering Services Department – I met with our interim public works director and a supervisor from our engineering team this past week. It was very interesting to learn about their role in our city government and to learn about the many important and impactful projects they are working on.
The Engineering Services Department provides a variety of technical and administrative support functions for the City of Encinitas.
The Department provides services related to engineering issues included in public and private development, traffic control, storm water management, and the Coastal Zone Management Program.
The Engineering Services Department consists of the following divisions:
Encinitas Half Marathon – Surfing Madonna Oceans Project sponsored the 1st Encinitas Half Marathon. A very big success. I was thrilled to be present for the start of race to welcome the runners to Encinitas. Because of this success, Surfing Madonna Oceans Project will continue the great work that are doing in our community, which ranges from surfing camps for children with special needs to many conservation programs.
Scripps Hospital Tour – Council Member Tasha Boerner Horvath, Assistant City Manager Mark Delin, and I met with Carl, Jan, Amber, and John at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas for an excellent tour of their wonderful facilities, which highlighted their outstanding health services and great commitment to our community.
“A Nation of Immigrants” Community Seder @ Leichtag Commons – I attended a beautiful Seder dinner this evening where the theme was “We are a nation of immigrants”. It was nice moment to be reflective and to think about how much we all have in common and what it means to be in community with each other.
Please let me know if you need help on city matters or how you feel on issues of importance to you. I am available to meet each Thursday from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM at City Hall. You can email me at jmosca@encinitasca.gov.
Thank you, and have a wonderful week!
Joe
This morning at the start of the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project Encinitas Half Marathon
This past week at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas for an excellent tour of their wonderful facilities, which highlighted their outstanding health services and great commitment to our community.
