escondido city council

Recycled water and social injustice upheld

Escondido’s city council approved a conditional use permit on Jan. 11 to build a recycled-water treatment plant  on a vacant lot at 1201 E. Washington Avenue near the Springs retirement home. The facility  will further treat water from the city’s Hale Avenue Resource Recovery facility to a level suited for agriculture, mainly avocados. In a later phase, the city will expand it to focus on potable reuse water….


Tale of two master-planned developments

347-home Rancho Tesoro began to take shape this month between Cal State University San Marcos and San Elijo Hills at San Marcos. Meanwhile, 550-home Safari Highlands around Escondido was put on hold due to continued environmental concerns and the need for another round of reports. Rancho Tesoro on the way in San Marcos What once was pristine hiking turf broke ground this month for the…


He (Abed) said. She (Diaz) said.

Yet again, Mayor Sam Abed has demonstrated his total lack of tolerance for dissenting opinions. Abed is quite content to let Councilman Ed Gallo take what seems like hours in his reminiscences, but no tolerance for Councilwoman Olga Diaz’s vital questions about what the city is doing to coordinate and plan for all the developments it approves. — Margaret McCowan Liles (For more, visit “A Blue…


Escondido education: Jose Fragozo returns; Heritage Charter School hassle continues

Two items drew me to Thursday’s Escondido Union School District Board of Education meeting. Firstly, I was curious to see the reception Jose Fragozo would get after the restraining order against him was lifted. This was covered in the Escondido Grapevine: https://escondidograpevine.com/2016/03/25/eusd-denied-restraining-order-against-trustee-jose-fragozo-breaking/. Secondly, Agenda Item 301 “Conduct a public hearing on a request for a material revision to the Heritage K-8 Charter School petition…” caught my attention….


Farm Bureau golf tourney, building facades, lifesaving heart app and Cruisin’ Grand

Farm Bureau Golf Tournament The San Diego County Farm Bureau is holding a four player scramble golf tournament benefitting the Farm Bureau and its Scholarship Fund. The tournament will be held at The Vineyard at Escondido Golf Course beginning at 11 a.m. and a shotgun start at noon, on Thursday, April 14. Also on tap will be lunch, banquet and an awards ceremony following the…


Escondido Library at Grape Day Park?

At its Feb. 28, 2010 meeting, the Escondido Library Board and the Trustees of the Escondido Library Endowment Foundation gave the Escondido City Council a presentation of a “phased approach” to develop a new library, by upgrading the old library and adding to that building. On June 16, 2010,  that Council — Mayor Sam Abed, council members  Olga Diaz, Ed Gallo, Mike Morasco, and Marie Waldron…


Marijuana, voodoo science and Escondido

Fox News 5 had a camera in the City Council Chambers at the Jan. 13 Escondido City Council meeting. I think they were probably there to cover Agenda Item 14 ORDINANCE 2016-01 AMENDING CHAPTER 33 AND DELETING CHAPTER 16F OF THE ESCONDIDO MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO COMMERCIAL MEDICAL CANNABIS (MARIJUANA) LAND USES AND BUSINESSES (AZ 15-0004), but I did not watch their news that night,…


Clark’s back with another hotel scheme and other Escondido City Council tales

Two items on Wednesday’s closed session of the Escondido City Council caught my attention, both property negotiations. First was the City’s property at 2269 East Valley Pkwy., and the negotiating party the American Heritage Charter Schools. That property is now leased by one of the Escondido Community Child Development Centers (ECCDC). I was concerned that, once again, the city was evicting a needy tenant to…


Solutions for Change affordable housing project gets $2.1 million Escondido boost

Escondido City Council members approved with extreme enthusiasm $2.1 million toward an affordable housing solution for Solutions for Change. It’s part of the non-profit group’s plan to provide housing for battered, abused women and children next year.   It was a Wednesday love fest of sorts for the Vista-based non-profit started in 1999 by “social entrepreneurs” Chris and Tammy Megison, who attended the council meeting…


Big Escondido city manager salary reveal and more came Wednesday (spoiler alert)

Time for the big reveal on Wednesday, Nov. 18. That’s when the Escondido City Council members unanimously approved, with no practical discussion, the new $234,719 annual base salary with an additional, and lucrative, benefits package and contract for newly hired city manager Graham Mitchell who assumes office Dec. 18. It’s the same as outgoing city manager Clay Phillips got in his last three-year contract although Mitchell…