Don’t Look for Another Eden or Camelot

A mong the heady considerations in the ongoing debate over whether several beach communities in North County should incorporate as a single city is: What should the place be called?

To that end, a “Name the City” contest was held by the North Coast Incorporation Coalition, which wants Encinitas, Leucadia, Cardiff and Olivenhain to join as a single city with its own municipal government.

Incorporation leaders don’t want the new city to adopt the name of one of the existing communities because that would insult the residents of the other towns. The proud residents of Leucadia, for instance, don’t want to be considered living in Encinitas. So, the search was begun for a totally new civic name.

Without further ado, here are the suggestions of the six contest finalists: Playa del Sol, Poinsettia, Flora Vista, Villa Pacifica, Rancho San Elijo and San Dieguito (which was the name proposed in 1982, when another incorporation bid was defeated by voters).

Before you scoff at any of the nominations, consider for a moment some of the ones that were not acceptable to the judges.

Perhaps the most intriguing was Camelot, a not-so-subtle acronym taken from the existing communities’ names--”Cardiff And More, Encinitas, Leucadia and Olivenhain, Too.”

“Clever, but a bit too presumptuous,” said Rich Shea, who coordinated the contest. He’s president of the Leucadia-Encinitas Town Council.

Other idyllic names discarded along with Camelot was Shore of Love, Splendid Shores, American Riviera and Eden (as in Garden of).

The beachcombers were heard from, with Surf City, North Shore (as in Oahu) and Moonlight Beach (as in the local state park).

Some nominations may reflect a local pastime. There was San Miguel (as in beer) and Margaritaville (as in tequila).

We wonder if some of the nominators are living in retirement homes. Two suggestions were Sun Haven and Honeydew Hills.

Some cynics nominated Silicon Beach, Duckberg and Pavement.

The area’s flower industry couldn’t be denied: Flowerland, Nectarville and Eckeville, in honor of Paul Ecke, the local poinsettia king.

Someone pitched a marriage of earth science and computer science with Flora Tech Beach.

The Mexican influence was evident with North Mexicala, Los Amigos, Baja Los Angeles and Quatros Pueblos.

Among the combination names were Cole (as in Cardiff-Olivenhain-Leucadia-Encinitas), Elco (same names, different order), and Clove (the “v” is for the neighborhood of Village Park).

And some nominations just didn’t make much sense at all, like Unforgettable and Some Town (as in, “Hey man, that’s...).

Imagine telling a stern traffic cop that you live “in Some Town.” And then, you can tell it again to the judge.

Students’ History Fair

At Balboa Park this past weekend was the Third International History Fair, showcasing the best work of 2,500 junior and senior high school students in San Diego and Tijuana.

Among the projects by Tijuana students: “History of Jai Alai,” “Pio Pico, the First Governor” and “The Monumental Bullring.”

Some of the San Diego student projects had a slightly more contemporary bent: “History of San Diego’s Missing Children,” “History of San Diego’s Street Gangs,” “The Rise and Fall of San Diego’s Tuna Industry” and “The Unifying Impact of Steve Garvey.”

Unsettling News

News about earthquake research commands immediate attention in Southern California because of the frequency of temblors that rumble regularly throughout the region.

So you can imagine the interest that was generated when the Daniel J. Edelman public relations agency in Los Angeles, announcing seminars on earthquake preparedness, sent out a press release that said:

“Seismological studies forecast the likelihood of a major earthquake in the San Diego area this year, potentially causing tremendous damage and casualties.”

Say what?

Pamela Beckedorf, who wrote the press release, said she based it on work from the California Institute of Technology by seismologists Clarence Allen and Kerry Sieh.

But it turns out that neither Sieh nor Allen has made any predictions about a quake anywhere in the area this year.

“It sounds to me as though the statement’s a bit on the wild side,” Allen said. “Our precision is nowhere near that great. The (press release) has made a very loose reading of something done very strictly.”

Actually, according to Allen, the likelihood of a major damaging earthquake occuring somewhere in California this year is about 2%, based on probability analysis along the San Andreas fault. “It’s not a very big one,” he said. And in fact, when San Diego is rumbled, it likely wouldn’t be due to the San Andreas fault, but from a local one.

What gives, Pamela? “Actually, their work doesn’t say specifically San Diego, or Los Angeles, or Santa Barbara for a location, but rather just in the Southern California area,” she conceded. “But since we’re kicking off an earthquake education campaign in San Diego, we geared the release there by saying San Diego will be the spot.”

Maybe the folks at the earthquake education seminar ought to save a few seats for the Daniel J. Edelman agency.