Public Safety Commission to be defined at Joint meeting of City Council

There will be a joint meeting with this commission and the council held at the Balour Community center, Monday Sept. 8 at 6PM , agenda and details soon to be posted,  to work out the question I describe below.  So, I only spoke briefly about the broad issue at the August eeting, and now send the below message to the city council.   It was a fascinating meeting, as it touched on what should be done when what had been a rural feeder street is built out, and crossing becomes a serious danger.   Unfortunately, while I did record the meeting it was not videoed, so the sincere words of dozens of people can not be shared with the public.  This is one of the things that should be remediated. 


8/10/14

Public Safety usually refers to functions of government that are defined by uniformed services with special police powers.  The ordinance that added this to the Traffic commission described them as relating to:  "emergency response for fire, medical and other crises, as well as the city's efforts to control and reduce criminal activities of all types"

I've been on the Traffic and Public Safety Commission since it was expanded from being the Traffic Commission early this year, and as such have been the point man my attempt to embrace the new mandate.  This has been met with less than enthusiasm by those who were comfortable with the more limited responsibilities of a Traffic Commission.  

to: Encinitas City Council, Commission Members, Active citizens

This description is of my initiated item that will be on the agenda for the Traffic and Public Safety Commission meeting for August 11.  (now for joint meeting of Sept. 8)  While including specific issues it is intended to be a discussion of the the wording and mandate of the expanded commission.   It would be useful if this meeting was attended, with participation by, members of the city council, especially Ms. Shaffer and Mr. Kranz who provided this terminology that is included in the ordinance. (this attendance  would be acceptable, per the booklet 7B-170 PP 13, Guide to Ralph M. Brown Act)

The ambiguity is in city code 2.40.040:

That first paragraph states that "the commission shall study and report to the Council upon any matter referred to it by the council"  yet also in the next paragraph states the commission shall be a "liaison" between the the public and the council-  meaning an intermediary implying in both directions.  This would indicate that the action of the commission is not limited to council directed issues.  We also include Commissioner Initiated Agenda Items, in the city code. 

Unlike other commissions such as arts, recreation or senior services, the subject matter inherently addresses the most crucial and controversial of government activities.  This committee is charged with dealing with : "traffic safety, emergency response for fire, medical and other crises, as well as the city's efforts to control and reduce criminal activities of all types" 

These are life and death issues that a city certainly should deal with proactively, and have a civic entity such as this committee that oversees, as well as works with, the agencies so described.  Those in the council who wrote this mandate may want to ascertain how it is interpreted and whether it meets the underlying goal.    To fully research new laws or enforcement regimens in the areas described in the ordinance will require more than the casual effort of other commissions that deal with less vital services. My personal view is that this function, where the end product will be ordinances and procedures for the uniformed services, it would require greater resources and authority.

If the ordinance is to be more than empty words,  this will take a consequential commitment of time by commissioners, and the authority and compensation should be commensurate with this effort,  somewhat similar to that of the Planning Commission. Since these resources were not provided to the current membership, the applicants were few; and may not desire, or be otherwise appropriate for, achieving the ordinance's goals. 

There should be a procedure for coordination with the council on major projects, so that the work product is not evaluated only after the effort is expended.  I would suggest a fast track for a preliminary approval of going forward to address a subject before details are defined by the commission. 

There has now been some experience with the expanded commission to allow the council to evaluate whether the current structure is functioning as they anticipate, or whether clarification or revision is appropriate.

Al Rodbell

Below are representative issues that could be addressed by a truly empowered citizen public safety commission. 

The first if Robert Bonde's (now in his late 80s)  proposal to merge the fire and EMS services of our city.  It has shuttled between the T&PS commission and the city council earlier this year after fifteen years of his attempting to have this addressed, and now is in some state of political limbo, with his opponents counting on the the human life span to work in their favor for never addressing this issue that could save lives and taxpayer's money.

Here's the live link for the second page that is about traffic noise attenuation, which would require substantive  change, including possible joint effort with adjacent police agencies to combat late night street racing and "rolling thunder" type motorcycle groups. 


This article in today's LA Times, demonstrates how lives can be saved by facilitating CPR using a smartphone app, but that it would take state legislation to provide liability protection, a "good samaritin law" that exists in other states and should be in ours.  This also illustrates as city public safety must include promoting action at other levels of government.