{"id":201,"date":"2014-10-30T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T16:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esconeighbors.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=201"},"modified":"2014-10-30T16:32:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-30T16:32:00","slug":"escondido-mayor-abed-failed-to-comply-with-water-quality-regulations-implications-for-escondido","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/?p=201","title":{"rendered":"Escondido Mayor Abed failed to comply with water quality regulations–Implications for Escondido"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n<\/div>\n

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\n
\nIssues around water quality
\nand regulation continue to worsen here in Escondido.   Please review
\nthis important information regarding Escondido Mayor Sam Abed’s violation of
\nthe stormwater permits<\/b><\/span>  <\/span>  Escondido 2014<\/a>.<\/span>  <\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThis is serious and is very troubling for the region. <\/o:p><\/span>Please watch the video clip
\nat the end which includes the comments of  Mayor Abed and then
\nDeputy Mayor Marie Waldron (now in the Assembly) about their views on the
\nstormwater permit and regulation.  This a key reason we have lost
\nconfidence in the city\u2019s ability to achieve compliance with stormwater regulations.  We thank the Regional Board for their diligent action
\nin investigating this issue<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/o:p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nhttp:\/\/escondido2014.com\/2014\/10\/29\/stormwatergate-mayor-abed-paves-his-half-acre-on-grand-avenue-without-meeting-water-quality-regulations\/#comments<\/a><\/o:p><\/div>\n


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\n<\/p>\n

\nThis
\ninformation has major ramifications on the water quality goals of Escondido
\nNeighbors United.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n1.  
\n We learned late last week that the Oak Creek developers have
\nchanged their project to locate even more homes on to sensitive lands next to
\nFelicita Creek. <\/b> We have raised repeated concerns about how
\nstormwater is planned for that project.  More homes closer to the creek
\nmeans more hardening and more runoff potential.  Now, those impacts will
\nbe even worse.    In our comments on the DEIR, we raised several
\nconcerns about the future enforcement of standards.  The environmental review
\nof that project stated repeatedly that impacts would not occur from the
\nproject because there would be compliance with the stormwater regulations.
\n We are not so sure.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n2.   Now
\nwe learn that Mayor Sam Abed, the leader of the city, has failed to comply
\nwith stormwater quality laws and is currently subject to an on-going
\ninvestigation<\/b> by the Water Quality Control Board regarding his paving
\nis property at 540 W. Grand Ave. This evidence of his lack of commitment
\nto our important water quality and environmental laws should be of concern to
\neveryone in our region.    The Mayor’s disregard of regulations
\nhas financial impacts as well– creating unfair competition and costs all of
\nus, the city, the state, additional money to  bring him into
\ncompliance. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n3.  
\nThe source of the violations is clear in Mayor Abed’s comments about his
\nlack of respect and commitment to stormwater regulations when he offered his
\nopinions in January, 2011 in excerpt–: For me, I\u2019ve seen this several
\ntimes. It\u2019s another mandate\u2026the EPA has a history of over regulation….<\/i><\/span>there is no question of the over-regulation in this…”<\/i> \u2026the most cost effective way is mother nature, that will take
\ncare of it <\/b>without regulation without paperwork\u2026\u201d<\/i>  <\/span>(emphasis added)<\/i><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThere are
\nmany troubling aspects to these statements.  Since Mayor Abed is in a position
\nof leadership, he has a responsibility to learn how the environment actually
\nworks.  The reason Mother Nature can\u2019t \u2018take care of it\u2019<\/i> herself
\nis that we are constantly paving it over<\/b>\u2014hardening the surface with parking lots and development causing pollution and runoff to flow off the
\nsites which in turn erodes our creeks and degrades our water quality. 
\nBecause of this, we all pay the price of polluted water, stream
\nerosion, and flooding.<\/b>  If the EPA had been over-regulating, we
\nwould have clean water now!  The reason the stormwater permit continues to
\nget more stringent is that we are under-regulating and, in this case, under-complying. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThis has
\nonly heightened our significant concerns about the runoff issues in Escondido.
\n As it, now stands we cannot rely on the city  to secure and
\nensure compliance with the stormwater rules for new development.   There
\nare many such developments proposed for Escondido, such as at Oak Creek, Amanda
\nEstates, Safari Highlands Ranch, and others that will need very strong
\nimplementation of stormwater requirements or our environment and water quality
\nwill suffer.  <\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n
\nMayor
\nAbed does not seem to understand the critical role the stormwater pollution
\npermit has in cleaning up our local waters.   That he, himself, does
\nnot comply is a significant problem and sends a troubling message<\/b> about his
\ncommitment to environmental protection rules. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWe urge
\nthe Mayor to take the time to get educated on water quality and environmental
\nissues– and comply with them–<\/b> so
\nthat we can all have more confidence in the actions of the city he leads as we
\nface more and more development threats to our water quality in the region.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAs for
\nthe regulators, we actually agree with Ms. Waldron who speaks at the end of the video clip, the Water Board is government
\nat its finest<\/i>, we appreciate the Water Board’s firm hand and diligence in
\nupholding and defending our water quality regulations.  We urge the Water
\nBoard to continue to ensure compliance at this site.  We will have
\nadditional recommendations soon about future actions the Board should take to
\nensure full-compliance in Escondido.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMore
\nlater. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Issues around water quality and regulation continue to worsen here in Escondido.   Please review this important information regarding Escondido Mayor Sam Abed’s violation of the stormwater permits    Escondido 2014.   This is serious and is very troubling for the region. Please watch the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Escondido Neighbors United","author_link":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}