It would have warmed your heart. The December 14 Escondido City Council meeting was packed with citizens concerned about district elections and water rates. If you rejoice in representative democracy, it was a great night. At the December 7 meeting, Demetrio Gomez had announced that a group was planning to bring suit against the City [...]

An Escondido group has threatened to sue the city for violating state and federal voting rights laws. The group, represented by members of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, has demanded that the Escondido City Council vote, by Dec. 14, to switch from at-large elections to smaller geographic districts. Read more in North County Times. [...]

It was a classic example of small-town politics. Escondido Mayor Sam Abed’s second ‘Town Hall’ meeting, held November 15 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, showed just how local politics can be. Questions included street maintenance, heating in the city’s swimming pool and a homeless mother who needed housing in a program that would [...]

Reluctantly, the Escondido City Council has dropped the requirement that contractors working for the city use the federal E-Verify program to ensure that all employees are legal residents. They had to do it under a new state law, but they didn’t have to like it. “My intent is to circumvent (Gov. Jerry) Brown’s attempt to [...]

The City of Escondido has more than $83 million in net assets in a variety of funds, according to a forensic accountant hired by the police union. According to Peter Donohue of PBI Associates in San Francisco, the amounts far exceed the generally accepted norms in municipal finance. “You’ve been told (by city officials) that [...]

Despite action by both Escondido school districts to change to district elections, Mayor Sam Abed tells the North County Times that Escondido will not be switching, at least not voluntarily. The school districts made the changes to avoid legal challenges under the California Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters rights. Abed says the city [...]

A long-simmering dispute over pension funding pits the City of Escondido and its Council majority against the Escondido Police Officers Association. That dispute is escalating with two announced Town Hall Forums the EPOA has scheduled Nov. 1. The events feature a forensic accountant who has studied the city’s books and concludes that it has much [...]

North County Times reports October 25 that the downtown Escondido hotel project is back. Developer Craig Clark is proposing a “less luxurious” hotel with an above-ground parking garage. Council member Gallo likes the idea, Council member Diaz is concerned about downgrading the quality of the hotel. Mayor Abed claims it will be “a very upscale [...]