NOVEMBER 2008 (0
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Quality of life at heart of city vote
By Whitney Lawrence
“For every quality of life issue
there are at least two sides,” Encinitas City Councilman
James Bond said.
Encinitas residents will get to choose
those sides Nov. 4 when they go to the polls to elect a new
City Council. Quality of life issues hold great stake in this
election, and while most candidates have the same idea of what
those issues are, there is little overall consensus on what
should be done about them.
The one matter on which most candidates
agree is taking much needed action on what is known as the Hall
Property. The city purchased the property in 2001 and finally
came to a decision Oct. 22 for the 44-acre lot to become an
active park, complete with a skate park, dogpark, baseball
fields and a swimming pool, among other amenities. The issue of
an active park, on which residents are divided, is one Jerome
Stocks, current mayor of Encinitas, voted in favor of. If
re-elected, Stocks said the next step would be phasing.
“It cannot be accomplished all at
once, and we will need to figure out how to best proceed from
here. In other words, what is phase 1, phase 2, etc.,”
Stocks said in a phone interview before the election.
Bond also voted for the measure, admitting
that while some residents are upset about the park because of
anticipated traffic delays and tall, bright lights, Encinitas
is in need of an active park, stating that most of the area
parks are “passive parks” equipped with walking
paths and grassy areas.
Another openly debated topic concerning
residents’ quality of life is sand replenishment. Stocks,
who cowrote Proposition R in 1998, said he believes
implementing a sand dredging program will benefit the city by
increasing recreation. When passed, Prop. R tacked on 2 percent
to the 8 percent transient occupancy tax (TOT) and designated
the extra funds for sand replenishment. Bond said he supports
the now-proposed Prop. K, which would put summer rental homes
on the list of establishments required to pay the 10 percent
TOT (as of the June elections, summer rentals are only required
to pay 8 percent) and again, the extra 2 percent would be
allocated to sand replenishment.
On the other side of the debate, candidates
Joe Sheffo and Bob Nanninga both strongly oppose Prop. K,
citing in Sheffo’s blog, www.sheffo4council.com/blog,
that sand replenishment will create artificial reefs that will
alter surfing conditions, and that there are more pressing
concerns such as “overhauling the embarrassingly
dilapidated lifeguard station at Moonlight Beach.”
Traffic control was also on the top of many
candidates’ agendas. Harriet Seldin noted that there are
not a lot of good answers out
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there yet, but if elected would weigh the
opinions of experts and citizens to come up with different
solutions.
“We need to be careful about future
growth so that it doesn’t result in traffic
gridlock,” Seldin said.
Bond and Stocks also name traffic as a main
concern, but offer specific solutions to address the issue.
Both support widening Interstate 5 in order to curtail traffic
on the surface streets of Encinitas.
“It is an important aspect of
improved circulation,” Stocks said.
Bond said that some of the fixes recently
proposed are not reasonable, and is waiting for a response to a
submitted request for a study of the city’s roads to make
any further judgments. The study should determine which roads
are most impacted and give possible solutions for alleviation.
He said compromise would be an inevitability, as some land
would need to be given up in order to make way for a widened
freeway. If re-elected, Bond said he would focus on improving
Santa Fe Drive and Encinitas Boulevard by equipping them with
safer walkways, for example.
Water desalination is an issue Seldin said
she believes needs to be addressed again by the council, which
voted 3-2 against a measure on the issue. Water desalination,
Seldin said, would offer a diversified source of water for the
city. She said that if elected, she wants to make it a reality.
Cutting back on water usage is another way Seldin said she
would address the city’s water concerns.
While these issues are far from being
resolved, Bond said that since first being elected in 1992,
many measures have been taken by the council that promote
quality of life. They are the things that a lot of residents
take for granted, he said, such as regular street sweeping and
road paving. Bond also noted the $10 million in reserves
Encinitas has acquired during his stay in office to weather
economic downturns, and the fact that the council voted to
build the park on the Hall Property instead of a Costco —
an offer they refused despite of its promise of increased
revenue for the city.
The four other candidates for city council,
who could not be reached by deadline, are Rachelle Collier,
incumbent Maggie Houlihan, Anthony Brandenburg and Doug Long.
Although she dropped out of the race in early October, Betsy
Aceti’s name will also appear on the ballot.
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