La Jolla Shores board elects new members, talks dockless bikes

The La Jolla Shores Association (LJSA) got creative to resolve a board issue in light of its most recent election, at which five candidates (four balloted and one write-in) ran for eight seats. Drawing from a clause in the La Jolla Community Planning Association bylaws, the board opted to appoint two termed-out board members to an additional term.

In total, seven new LJSA board members were elected or appointed during the March 29 meeting on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus. They are: Steve Chapple, Mary Coakley Munk, Joe Dicks, Dolores Donovan, Terry Kraszewski, John Shannon and Susan Tschirn. There is one vacant seat remaining.

LJSA vice-chair Janie Emerson said: “The idea is to recruit new people to the board, but we also need to have a viable board. In my mind, you need to weigh those things against one another. In the La Jolla Community Planning Association bylaws, there’s a clause that states if you don’t have enough people to fill the open seats, you can allow someone who is termed-out to run for a seat. Our bylaws are silent on that, so we could go either way. Personally, I would like to have willing termed-out members stay on.”

There are 16 board seats, with eight alternating seats up for election each year.

As a secondary action, LJSA decided to draft language for the bylaws that states the board’s position on whether termed-out members could run again in a similar situation.

The new board members will be sworn in at the next meeting. An election committee was also formed to determine next year’s slate of officers. The officer nominations will be announced at the next meeting.

In other Shores news:

Dockless bike discussion: Joining the list of San Diego communities concerned with the explosive proliferation of dockless bikes around town, the LJSA board decided to write a letter to submit to the City voicing its concerns. LimeBike, ofo, Mobike and electronic scooter company Bird, encourage riders to leave their vehicles wherever it’s convenient when their ride is complete and vehicles are available on demand for the next user.

Trustees spent 20 minutes noting the bikes are left in front of businesses, in hedges of private property and on the sidewalk, and riders operate them without wearing helmets.

“We are finding these vehicles in the business district parked in front of other businesses that pay rent and taxes. They are literally under our awnings,” Kraszewski said. “I’ve spoken to some of our elderly neighbors who cannot get around them in wheelchairs and with walkers. Residents are overwhelmingly against them.”

She added that in attending other meetings on the subject, she observed that those who leave the bikes where they shouldn’t get a “mark” on their record and are charged more the next time they rent one, so the company benefits from people misplacing them.

Citing the users who illegally ride on the sidewalk and without helmets, trustee Coco Tihanyi opined: “The City’s Code Compliance department is so strict when it comes to businesses and residents; if you violate the rules, they come and talk to you. I can’t believe with this business, people can do whatever they want without consequences.”

Kraszewski warned: “These companies are just starting to roll them out, this is just the beginning. This is nothing compared to what we are going to see this summer in the beach areas.”

Con attempt?: Issuing a public safety warning, Emerson reported that two men wearing reflective jackets, carrying shovels with no other equipment, entered her property under the guise of being contractors, and attempted to access her backyard. They told her they were with a contracting company and needed to do work.

“But there was no truck and no City insignia,” she explained. “Usually when the City does work, they leave you with a door hanger or a notice. These men had no credentials, they gave me a name, but that could be anything. I told them to leave or I’d call the police and they left. I don’t know if they were legitimate or not. If they were, the City needs to do more to make sure the companies with which they contract are acting in an appropriate manner.”

Undergrounding update: City Council member Barbara Bry’s field representative Mauricio Medina said he would provide an update on the undergrounding project at the next meeting, in response to complaints about potholes in the area. These potholes cannot be fixed beyond a patch, he explained, because anything further would trigger a City moratorium on street work and The Shores is slated to have its power lines undergrounded as part of a City-wide project in the next few years.

The Shores is within Blocks 1J and 1J II of the project. The Shores start date was moved from October 2017 to January 2018, and is now January 2019. Learn more at sandiego.gov/undergrounding/updates

— La Jolla Shores Association next meets 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 11 at Martin Johnson House on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus, 8840 Biological Grade. lajollashoresassociation.org