Comments on: ‘Update’ plan is more ‘extreme makeover’

By: Not Long Beach

Not Long Beach — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 15:35:43 +0000

Did you notice that the observer stated that Iocafano didn’t identify WHICH beach town, but only said "yes?" Was it Long Beach docks that they worked with, one of the towns on Lake Erie’s polluted beaches?

The ‘housing expert’ that Iacafano brought with him for the project roll out, was very proud of working in South Gate, a suburb of LA, where they had housing projects to serve a majority population of low-income residents with density of over 80 units per acre.

What makes them experts on Encinitas, when they are so poud of the work that they did in South Gate, which is a completely different type of community? Did the South Gate citizens REALLY communicate that they wanted to live this type of high density? Is this what is meant by "walkability and bike friendly?"

Based on our experience, they give surveys and hold meetings as a demonstration, yet throw out any rational opinion or factual information that contradicts the plan that they had prior to even meeting with citizens. Doing so is NOT research, it is not community participation but it is propaganda in its ugliest form!

By: In reality

In reality — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:43:57 +0000

"Apparently MIG refused to answer a question about whether they ever worked with a beachtown before? "
Well, that is not what occurred.
I heard the answer clearly stated as, "YES", There was no refusal to answer, as you stated.

By: Another Madoff

Another Madoff — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:45:33 +0000

I think that Daniel Iocafano has one of the most impressive resumes out there. I don’t actually blame people for being sucked into his scheme since he has an advanced degree from Berkeley and an impressive list of clients. (Notice that there are few REPEAT customers!)

The problem is, that with all of his background, he is not interested in doing what is right for Encinitas as much as doing what is right for Iocafano.

What he sells is not a toolkit for community involvement, but a toolkit for FAKE community involvement. People surveys that are manipulated or ignored, and the people on the steering committee were subjected to his endless blabbing and their recommendations, were written down on sheets and disappeared into some black hole.

Fake community involvement means that someone named Pat Murphy goes to him with a Housing Element that was already rejected by Encinitas citizens, and asks Iocafano to make it look like survey results concluded that we now wanted it.

If Iocafano was really interested in finding out who we are and understanding the actual needs of the community, he would have done that first, and from that information, selected survey questions that would refine our needs and preferences.

He mixed up a fake needs assessment with other surveys that he uses everywhere from Burbank to Richmond. He has mixed the original General Plan with the NEW General Plan (Andrew is spot on here).

We are Encinitas. Why would we want to change anything?

By: Ted Bell

Ted Bell — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:11:49 +0000

Everyone involved in hiring MIG in the first place should be fired.

By: Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:44:10 +0000

In this particular case, the ‘developers’ ARE the planners! The folks who own the properties along Encinitas Boulevard and El Camino Real have organized a resistance against this ‘planner’s dream’; Councilwoman Kristin Gaspar has been haunting the Planning Department in an attempt to to determine just ‘How’ things got so far afoot from a simple update. While this is con-job is not a simple as it looks at first sight, just looking at all the planners and architects appointed by the Planners to the citizens advisory board should have set off alarm bells; the curious thing is that the coastal town councils signed off on flooding New Encinitas with low-income housing. Not very neighborly.
Supposedly someone is going to press the re-start button on this; eyewitnesses of the last citizen meeting reported that members of the Leucadia Council were asking harder questions and that Mr. Murphy was less than forthcoming.MIG made an embarrassing admission that it didn’t really know Encinitas very well, after all; see Joint-Venture libraries. Apparently MIG refused to answer a question about whether they ever worked with a beachtown before?
Get up and show up at the next General Plan hearing; read the Land zoning and public health parts of the Comprehensive General Plan before you attend.