A brick – the Polarized Park award – to the Encinitas City Council for failing, despite endless workshops and meetings and much weeping and wailing, to work out a political compromise over the Hall property, the 44 acres the city purchased in 2001 for a community park.
At the rate it's going, it will be 2021 before anyone takes any pleasure in the potentially transforming acquisition.
Planning and building playing fields while preserving open space shouldn't be as poisonous a proposition as citing the Gregory landfill in Fallbrook, but that's what the Hall project is in danger of resembling.
In the latest twist of the knife, members of the Cardiff-based Citizens for Quality of Life (read: Citizens for as Few Fields, Lights, Noise and Traffic as Humanly Possible) have, as expected, sued over the city's relatively permissive permits.
The Coastal Commission also will hear an appeal from those who believe the City Council has been imperious in approving what you might call the full monty, a generous complement of soccer and baseball fields as well as dog and skate parks, with room for additions such as a teen center and pool.
In the wake of a tough election in which three incumbents were returned to office, wouldn't it be remarkable – earth-shattering, really – if the council could figure out a way to speak as one as the city defends itself against legal challenges?
When the council, by a 3-2 vote taken under the harsh spotlight of the political campaign, overruled the Planning Commission's recommendation for a less intense design, you knew there was going to be blood on the courtroom floor.
As it stands, Councilwomen Maggie Houlihan and Teresa Barth – the two “no” votes – offer tacit support to those suing the city. Not good.
Is there still time for leadership as the prospect of time-killing litigation looms? Is there still opportunity for the council to work out a compromise and stand as one against any legal challenges?
You have to think so.
Can the heretofore divided council demonstrate, now that the divisive election is over, that the art of the possible isn't an impossibility in Encinitas?
A North County Nobel Prize awaits a council that can offer a united front against anyone who would try to put the city's dreams on hold.
A bouquet – the Pragmatic Pedagogue award – to Tom Farber, a Rancho Bernardo High School calculus teacher, for a creative problem to a petty cash-flow problem with his class printing costs.
Instead of pleading poverty to the parents of his students, Farber elected to sell advertising space on the bottom of his math exams. So far, he has racked up about $350 in sales, offsetting the district's cut in his printing budget.
As the de facto publisher of his tests, Farber exercises control over the ads, which range from dentists touting braces to inspirational quotations placed by parents. So far, Farber hasn't generated any controversy with, say, a Hooters ad.
The larger question is how an affluent district like Poway finds itself in a position where teachers must pay out of pocket or become pedagogical panhandlers – or, in this novel case, an entrepreneur – if they want to offer the maximum amount of tests to students preparing for Advanced Placement exams.
Thanks to Farber, a community embarrassment has been turned into a feel-good story with a happy ending.
Nevertheless, this is no way to treat a teacher. As professionals, teachers should spend their time teaching, not hawking ads.
Although Farber appears to have his footing firmly underneath him, he has been forced onto a slippery slope that the district should never have forced him to negotiate.
A brick – the Premature Evacuation award – to a loose coalition of civic activists in Escondido calling for the summary abandonment of a long-planned downtown hotel.
Why the gloom in advance of what may wind up as doom?
As it stands, the hotel ball is solidly in the court of C.W. Clark, the well-respected developer who built the Gateway Center and many other laudable projects.
The city has pledged $19 million to help Clark build the hotel. In theory, that investment would be handsomely repaid in taxes and business stimulation to the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, as well as downtown.
In this toxic economic climate, it should come as no surprise that Clark is having a devil of a time securing financing for the 196-room hotel. After he missed a financing deadline in September, the City Council extended the grace period to Jan. 1.
That's when the die should be cast on the hotel, not now.
Hotel critics such as the firefighters union and the Escondido Chamber of Citizens advocacy group see that $19 million earmark as a pain-free way to balance the city's budget, which is $6 million in the red.
Until Clark turns his thumb up or down, however, the city has a pro-growth deal on the table, one with a clear upside.
If Clark bails – or asks for a bailout – then the council can change course with a clear conscience.
It does no good to urge the city to check out of the downtown hotel just one month before the thunderheads will part, one way or the other.
Logan Jenkins: (760) 737-7555; logan.jenkins@uniontrib.com
