The Coast News
Check out our Spring Home & Gard e inside this n issue!
VISTA, SAN MARCOS, ESCONDIDO
VOL. 10, N0.8
INLAND EDITION
.com
MARCH 31, 2023
Trial date set in lawsuit vs. swim school
Escondido, arts center OK new deal
By Laura Place
By Samantha Nelson
VISTA — A trial date has been set for next year in a parent’s civil lawsuit against Callan Swim School in San Marcos alleging that school officials’ negligence led her son to be sexually abused by a former instructor in 2021. The child, referred to as M.G., was 6 years old when he was allegedly abused by then-instructor Nicholas Piazza during a swimming lesson at Callan in July 2021. The boy’s parent stated in the civil complaint, filed in October 2022, that school officials ignored red flags indicating that Piazza should not be working with children — specifically, a previous report that Piazza encouraged a child to reach into his pants during a swim lesson and a juvenile charge he was facing for performing a sexual act with his family dog. During a hearing Friday, March 24, at the Vista courthouse, San Diego County Superior Court Judge Robert Dahlquist scheduled a jury trial for March 2024 along with a readiness hearing in February 2024. The judge also acknowledged that both sides are engaged in settlement negotiations. “I’ll just encourage the parties to keep working on that … hopefully it will be resolved and the case will be dismissed,” Dahlquist said. Piazza, 19, is facing TURN TO SWIM SCHOOL ON 17
cause I see it every day at my school,” said Miguel Castillo, a Vista High School STAY Club member. “I want this problem to be fixed in order for our future generations not to be exposed to these substances.” City Attorney Walter Chung said the city opted not to have additional fines, license suspension, and revocation penalties since $1,000 is the state’s maximum penalty for tobacco retailers. “We want to make
ESCONDIDO — The City Council has agreed to a new operations and management agreement with the California Center for the Arts after years of operating on expired terms. Council approved the new agreement, spelling out the city’s maintenance and financial obligations during the March 22 council meeting. The new agreement will operate on a 15-month term basis before switching to a 12-month term basis when the new agreement expires in June 2024. According to staff, these term limits are meant to align the agreement with the city’s annual budget approval process each June. Council originally approved a management agreement with the California Center for the Arts Foundation, the nonprofit organization that runs the arts center, in 2014 with a term of five years. Although that agreement expired in 2019, the city and the arts center have continued to manage the center under the same terms on a month-to-month basis. Last year, the city committed to creating a new management agreement with the arts center foundation that would spell out exactly what responsibilities the city and the foundation have, which the previous agreement lacked. The new agreement clarified that the city, which owns the building, is responsible for sound equipment and lighting. “For many years, there’s been mispractice in the process,” said Deputy City Manager Chris McKinney at the council meeting. “Staff have generally agreed on how to maintain the center, but it was beginning to cause problems because it hadn’t been spelled out
TURN TO TOBACCO ON 17
TURN TO ARTS CENTER ON 5
WORK IN PROGRESS
Crews this week removed an old broken pipe and replaced it with a new one on westbound State Route 78 between College Boulevard and El Camino Real. As of Wednesday, the westbound lanes between College Boulevard and El Camino Real are closed for emergency repairs on damaged culverts. According to Caltrans, once the westbound lanes reopen, crews will close the eastbound lanes to complete the culvert repair. Photos via Twitter/Caltrans San Diego
Vista hikes fines for tobacco sales to minors New rules shift penalties from clerk to retailer By Laura Place
VISTA — New regulations adopted by the Vista City Council have quintupled the fines for retailers selling tobacco products to minors and implemented more serious licensing penalties if offenses continue. Previously, selling tobacco products to a minor would result in a $200
fine for the clerk making the sale and a warning to the retailer, followed by license suspension for 30, 60 and then 90 days for each subsequent offense in three years and license revocation on the fifth offense. Under new rules unanimously approved by the Vista City Council on March 14, retailers themselves will face a $1,000 penalty for a first offense rather than the clerk. Second and third offenses in three years will result in 90-day and oneyear license suspensions,
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respectively, with license revocation after a fourth offense. The tighter regulations go into effect in mid-April and came about after public outcry about rising youth tobacco access at a meeting in late February. Community members said increased penalties are long overdue and praised the city for cracking down. “I want to thank you all for acknowledging the problem with tobacco in our community. I’m really against tobacco be-
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