Starting in late May and continuing throughout the summer, look out for a new ”Coast Cruiser” shuttling folks up and down along the beach corridor, from Leucadia, CA to Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA.

Approved by the Encinitas council last May (2008), it was agreed that the launch of the minibus would be postponed until summer of 2009.  We’re almost there! 

The intention of the delay was to provide more time to seek additional grants and sponsorships to offset the operational expenses, and apparently, the Leucadia 101 MainStreet Association, who has primarily been responsible for seeking grants and administering the pilot project, has succeeded in raising the funds.  The cost of a ride will only be $1, and weekend passes will also be available, so, folks, please take advantage of it!  Grab your surfboard and hop on!  Service will be hourly on Saturdays and Sundays. 

One particularly cool feature is that the minibus bus will run on vegetable oil donated by local restaurants, so you’re really reducing the carbon footprint by leaving your car at home!

I’ve whined before about the lack of public transport, so I, for one, will sit back and enjoy the ride!

The Annual Encinitas Garden Tour is coming this Saturday, April 25th, from 10 am – 4pm!  In its fourth year, this fun event presents a truly rare opportunity to visit a series of exquisite gardens in the private backyards of select Encinitas and Cardiff homes.  

Every year, the organizers pick a different area where visitors can WALK to the 20 or so participating gardens.  This year, the gardens are located in the composer district of Cardiff-by-the-Sea. 

The Festival will also include a Gardener’s Marketplace at Cardiff Elementary School with unusual plants, vegetable seedlings, garden art, and information about gardening.  Parking will be at the San Elijo campus of Mira Costa College, and shuttle buses will be provided.  Visit www.EncinitasGardenFestival.org to get more info or buy tickets.  By the way, volunteers are still needed, so, if you’re interested, call to get more info.

I found myself stuck in another traffic bottleneck this morning.  It took me half an hour to drive off the exit ramp and creep the 1/2 mile to my Coldwell Banker Del Mar Village office.  And, what gets me is that it was totally avoidable!

Del Mar Fairgrounds

I ought to know better after living and working next to the Del Mar Fairgrounds for the last 20 years!  Summer after summer, we locals learn to arrange our schedules around the traffic patterns generated by the San Diego County Fair and the race track season.  The problem is we forget that the Fairgrounds are also used throughout the year for a variety of events. In fact, the facifilites are used for over 350 events a year.  They include weddings, receptions, equestrian and other animal shows, concerts, craft shows, home shows, car shows and other social and consumer events.

When there’s an event going on, it can take hours to go a mile, and sometimes, there’s no way to turn around and take another route.  It can be rather frustrating, to say the least, and as I mentioned, it’s totally avoidable!  I am hereby promising myself to visit http://www.sdfair.com/ and check the schedule once a month to make sure I know what times and days to avoid.  Hey, and who knows?  I may even learn about an event I wouldn’t want to miss!  For example, I’m sure my 2 yr old and my 4 yr old would enjoy the circus that’s coming next week – I never would have known about it had I not written this post and checked the schedule!

If you’d like to take advantage of the great prices out there and buy a second home – a launching pad, so to speak – to all the wonderful events at the Fairgrounds, give me a call (760-815-1318)!  It is a phenomenal time to buy.  Or, if you just can’t take the traffic anymore and want to sell your Del Mar CA home, I have buyers for you!  Give me a call!

Running out of prefixes for 760

With the ever growing number of cell phone and fax users on the planet, combined with the tremendous increase in the quantity of homes in North San Diego County, the region using the 760 area code has rapidly been running of out of telephone numbers. 

To split or not to split 760 and 442

The traditional fix in the past has been to split the area into two, with one portion transferring over to a new area code.  This kind of split puts an enormous burden on small businesses as they must reprint stationery, business cards, advertising materials, signage, etc., not to mention the danger of losing connection to former customers.

A successful fight to keep 760!

442 Overlay map from www.Keep760.org

Thanks to an organized effort by keep760.org, and to the community participation in response to their urging, we have succeeded in getting the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) to agree to an overlay instead.  What this means is that every number that begins with 760 will remain the same.  Only newly issued numbers in the overlay region will contain the new area code, 442.  The two area codes will coexist within the same geographical area.  This is phenomenal news and a huge victory for those of us doing business in this region.  And for those who live in Cardiff CA homes, Encinitas homes, Leucadia homes or owning property in other areas of North San Diego County, we have been spared a monumental inconvenience.

A minor downside

The only down side, and its merely a minor nuisance, is that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires dialing the area code + telephone number for all calls where an area code overlay exists. But with most equipment featuring autodialing and speed-dialing, we’ll barely notice it.