Racks are tacky
What can be done to eliminate those tacky magazine racks? In the 900 block of Prospect, there are over one dozen!
I heard “no permit” is required for them.
Julia Frederick, La Jolla
” Ed. note: under recently passed legislation, publishers must pay a yearly fee to the city for each news rack and must maintain the racks. There is talk of raising this fee in the near future.

Newspaper racks, parking, council cash
Hooray for the owner of 1020 Prospect who had his property manager call the city regarding the 27 newspaper racks in front of his building. The city came out and red-tagged many that were not following the municipal code. There are now 12 left. The owner of 1020 Prospect St. has now put two big planters and a bench in part of the space that was vacated. It looks great!
We counted 112 racks from the 900 block to the 1200 block on just one side of Prospect. Why so many and can’t the racks that are approved just be at the intersections? Why doesn’t the City control this, instead of someone having to complain? In our letter Feb. 10 to the editor, we wrote that the El Paseo in Palm Desert doesn’t have any racks except at one intersection. We also noticed driving through Hillcrest that there are only two or three racks together in a block. Newspaper racks in La Jolla Village are out of control.
Evidently there must be a parking problem or the city would not have had three plans drawn up when we came to La Jolla in 1995. Their No. 1 plan was under the 8000 block of Girard from Scripps Park. There still is no money available or has anyone come forward to donate money for a parking garage. The majority of businesses and residents are against parking meters. Is there someone with the time that might consider starting a fund to raise money and then get a bond measure to build a garage? It would have been great if some of the time (negative and positive) spent by Promote La Jolla, the La Jolla Council, the Parking Committee and Keep Parking Meters Out Committee on this could have put that effort into raising money for a parking garage. In 2004/2005 Promote La Jolla raised around $200,000 for an advertising campaign from its members. They could do this again easily and it would be a good start for a parking garage.
Also to you on the City Council, what were you thinking asking for a 24 percent raise in salary? Ever since we have lived here, we always hear the city has to cut budgets for the Park and Recreation Department, cut employees here and there, no money for cutting weeds on Torrey Pines Road or La Jolla Parkway or this or that. Then you ask for a 24 percent raise. If a few years back you would have voted to put in a cost of living of 4 percent or a CPI in each year, like we have had in every business lease we have had over 31 years, the public would probably have accepted it. Today you would be making the salaries you think you are worth.

Clair and Jean Thelin, La Jolla

The dirt on people who don’t scoop
” The following is a copy of a letter sent to District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer.
My name is James Olson and I live in Pacific Beach. I find myself writing you today on the “spur” of the moment based on what I have witnessed in the past 24-hour period. I have been witness to more dog feces on the boardwalk and beaches than I care to.
With that being said, I think we need to examine a ban of dogs on the boardwalk. I am not against dogs; I’m just against the lazy owners that can’t clean up after them. I ride my bike on the boardwalk on a daily basis and I see more “dog remains” all over the place. If we are reviewing a ban of alcohol at the beach for the reason of cleanliness, I truly believe we should take a real look at restricting dogs. We have dog beaches for them and they can run and “crap” all day long and if the owners don’t want to clean up after their dogs, fine. Because the only people that will be stepping in the remains will be fellow dog owners, not innocent bikers out for exercise.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had the displeasure of cleaning “dog remains” from the treads of your bike tires, so let me tell you firsthand that I would rather do something else, like say, “stub” my toe extremely hard than do this, because I believe that the same percentage of people drinking, causing a problem, are the same percentage that don’t clean up after their dogs. As I said, I witnessed in the past 24 hours two dog owners not clean up after their pets. This is littering and should be treated as so and the fine should correspond to that of littering.
If we are restricting the drinking of alcohol at the beach for one of the reasons being that of keeping our beaches clean, we need to examine the restriction of dogs for that same reason.
Those same percentages also don’t know what the leash law is and the hours they’re permitted to walk their dogs on the boardwalk.
In closing, let me say: let the dogs have Dog Beach and let humans have the rest of the beach and boardwalk, because at least beer cans are recyclable and hold a “cash value” for someone.
James Olson, Crown Point