(Editor’s Note: Michael O’Connor is a retired 32-year Escondido firefighter who is a Valley Center Community Planning Group member. The dispute concerns reporting about the defeated Measure B in the November 2016 election that would have allowed the Lilac Hills Ranch housing project to be built in rural Bonsall and Valley Center. ) I responded to a story written by editor David Ross of the Valley Center Roadrunner. Seems…
ESCONDIDO, CA. — Voting was brisk around Escondido, San Marcos and Valley Center polling stations in Tuesday’s general election, but with a caveat: Many voters weren’t happy to be there. “I don’t know what will happen,” Do-Art Shoe Repair Owner Lucia Capuano said of the presidential election, “but I wasn’t happy with both of them. We’ll just see how it goes.” Capuano proudly wore her “I Voted”…
San Diego County Registrar of Voters related these vote totals Tuesda morning for local candidates and measures. In the Carlsbad City Council race, challenger Cori Schumacher has taken a slight lead over incumbent Lorraine Wood. Schumacher has 20.15 percent (10,471) of the vote, while Wood follows closely with 20.01 percent (10,398), for a 73 vote difference. Incumbent Keith Blackburn leads by nearly 2,000 votes and…
As the battle over the ballot measure to authorize construction of the Lilac Hills Ranch housing development enters its final weeks, the money behind the sides is emerging as a central issue in the debate. On the radio… The proposed Lilac Hills Ranch community is one of the most fiercely contested development projects in San Diego County. It’s made strange bedfellows of environmentalists and developers,…
It was a classic and pretty much forgotten today radio-then-TV show, “Life of Riley,” starring William Bendix as wing riveter Chester A. Riley, who tag-lined in outrage “What a revoltin’ development this is,” when life, as it always seemed to on that venerable show, went wrong. It happened every week back then and it’s happening again around North County. Nobody in North County wants the…
The developer of the controversial Lilac Hills Ranch project contributed $50,000 to the Republican Party of San Diego County shortly after the party voted to endorse the development. LHR Investment Company LLC — a subsidiary of developer Accretive Investments — made the donation on Sept. 21. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/286185205″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Tony Krvaric, chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego County, wrote in an…
With the November election just weeks away, I am encouraging San Diego voters to vote No on the Lilac Hills Ranch Measure B. Measure B is a countywide measure on which all San Diego County voters – including residents of incorporated cities – will vote. Measure B would allow a deep-pocketed developer to build Lilac Hills Ranch, a development of more than 1,700 homes and 90,000…
San Diego Superior Court Judge Eddie C. Sturgeon Wednesday told Lilac Hills Ranch supporters to forget about changing opposition ballot statements. Sturgeon denied the request of Lilac Hills Ranch advocates that opponents alter language in their ballot statement, in effect legitimizing the right of opponents to frame their arguments as they chose fit. “The court supported our concerns about Measure B,” James Gordon of the No on B…
What’s in a ballot measure opposition statement, Lilac Hills Ranch fans, should be settled by San Diego Superior Court Judge Eddie C. Sturgeon almost immediately following a Tuesday, Sept. 13 hearing. The ever-contentious, and litigious, question of placing 1,700 homes and 90,000 square feet of commercial space on agricultural land that is currently zoned to hold 110 new homes and no commercial space in very…
San Diego County supervisors Tuesday officially placed the proposed 1,700 home Lilac Hills Ranch project initiative on November’s ballot for a countywide vote. Supervisors voted 4-0 after hearing a County study outlining differences between the project ballot initiative that voters will consider and the project that County planners evaluated. Supervisor Bill Horn, whose district includes the Valley Center area where the project is proposed, recused himself after…