Rental rules should be 30-day minimum stay in La Jolla

As long-term La Jolla residents, we believe the increasing popularity of both short-term vacation rentals and the rental of private homes for special events disturbs our quality of life and threatens to turn La Jolla from a thriving, family community into a careless party town.

There is a 30-day rental minimum in the San Diego Municipal Code. We ask that the city properly enforce this 30-day minimum, rather than continue to tolerate short-term rentals. We additionally support an outright ban on the rental of residentially zoned properties for special events, to lessen the chances that a property may be rented for 30-plus days as a ruse to stage events.

We take as our inspiration the City of Coronado, which prohibits occupancy for less than 26 consecutive days, and the rental of private properties for special events, weekend stays and weekly vacation homes. We believe this is the best way to both reduce noise and preserve the residential character of our local neighborhoods.

We welcome visitors to enjoy La Jolla — we have hotels that can fit all budgets. But we hope visitors will remember that for us, La Jolla is not a vacation destination, tourist trap, or commercial investment opportunity. It is our home.

We hope our fellow residents will be able to join us in support at the next public meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Vacation Rentals.

Yours for peace, quiet and community,

The 30-Day Club

Jon Mangerich

, Chair

Karen Heyman

, Co-Chair

Review of ‘The Winter’s Tale’ sadly, misses the mark

The Feb. 27, review of “The Winter’s Tale” falsely states that King “Leontes ... eventually orders his pregnant wife be put to death, along with his young son, Mamillius ...” This is a synopsis of some other story which is completely different from “The Winter’s Tale” written by William Shakespeare and produced on stage by The Old Globe.

In “The Winter’s Tale,” Leontes orders the death of his friend Polixenes by poisoning and the death of his daughter by fire. (Note that neither order is ever executed). Leontes orders that his son, the prince, be taken away from his wife, Hermione, and he orders Hermione to be placed in prison pending trial. His son becomes sick with grief from separation from his mother. Leontes is solicitous for his son’s recovery and gives the order “See how he fares.” Later at trial Leontes threatens his wife with death to which she replies “Sir, spare your threats.” Leontes never in any way orders the death of son or wife.

News comes that the son has died of grief. This news is true and the fault of Leontes, but not something he ordered or something he consciously wished for. Next it appears that upon hearing the news of her son’s death that Herminone is dying of grief. The order from Leontes is “Beseech you, tenderly apply to her / Some remedies for life.” Soon thereafter Paulina says of Herminone “I say she’s dead.” It is up to the audience to judge if this is true or not.

There are many depths to ponder about this play. The review is a disservice to such work in that it completely misstates those facts that are clearly known. Also, I take exception to the reviewer’s belittling ACT IV, SCENE I as one which “makes little sense and adds nothing to the delicious plot.” Firstly, this is Shakespeare’s actual text, and secondly, it is of critical importance to a play in which passage of time plays such a crucial role. Compare it to the “Time Passes” interlude in Virginia Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse.” While my personal subjective experience differs from the reviewer in this regard, I invite the reader to see the wonder of intertwining sorrow and hope in a passage the reviewer sadly experienced as merely superfluous.

John Berol

La Jolla

Looks like city repainted La Jolla’s gold hydrants

I conducted a visual survey today to be in a somewhat better-informed position to advise the public that the danger to us all may be as serious as reported in the

La Jolla Light’s

Feb. 27 story about La Jolla’s fire hydrants being painted gold. Where were these secreted unauthorized paint jobs — two of whose photos accompanied the article?

I observed 11 yellow-painted fire hydrants on Nautilus Street — two of them appear to have been freshly painted with the magnificent brilliant yellow color, as recommended by the National Fire Protection Association (both without benefit of being prime painted beforehand). One was at the corner of Nautilus and Avenida La Reina, and another at the corner of Avenida Manana and Nautilus.

Amazing! A city paint crew responded rapidly to eliminate the evidence of the reported vandalism!

Along Coast Boulevard, I observed 12 of those life- property-serving plumbing fittings. At least four appeared to have a fresh coat of paint. These four were definitely NOT cleaned and primed before being re-coated, either. The gold paint shows clearly at several chipped locations, but all the rest of those other hydrants probably must await their regular maintenance, in due course, having somehow eluded the vicious Gold Paint Vandal.

Too bad the adjacent deep pothole in the concrete street at the park (that hasn’t been filled in over six months) wasn’t responded to as quickly. But that must require a different, slower moving city crew to get involved.

How about those missing blue reflectors that are often affixed to the road surface in the center of the street opposite each hydrant? Is that a different city crew’s responsibility? Missing for years and years. Perhaps those are not necessary anyway. The San Diego Fire Department has a keen awareness of the location of each and every hydrant, and has them all mapped as well. So what difference does the exact color make?

Regarding the reported cost to “remove the paint, clean and prime the hydrants for repainting them the city standard color (including staff time)” being $114 each, this issue should have been submitted to private industry for a competitive bid. Our sources have suggested that this price is about 50 percent too high, based on the cost for the scope of work that appears to have been performed.

It appears that the city crew saved some of those bucks by eliminating both the cleaning and priming where the new coating was applied. So, in lieu of costing $912, far less was evidently spent.

Jack Stevenson

La Jolla

Reporter’s Note:

After

La Jolla Light

received reports that fire hydrants had been painted gold, I went out to find examples and take photos for documentation, which ran alongside my report that you reference. The photos were taken Feb. 20.

Immediately after discussing the matter with the

Light

, city officials ordered the hydrants repainted yellow to comply with city safety standards. The four observed with a fresh coat of paint were likely some of the ones that had been vandalized.

For questions regarding re-painting procedure, including whether the hydrants were cleaned and primed according to protocol, e-mail the San Diego Public Utilities Department’s water division at water@sandiego.gov

A representative from the Public Utilities Department could also better address maintenance of the blue reflectors on the street and how pricing for repairs are determined.

Ashley Mackin

La Jolla Light staff