The two candidates for Encinitas City Council\u2019s District 3 seat highlighted their differences at a voter forum last week, mentioning everything from their length of residency to their views on roadway improvements.<\/p>\n
Ed Sprague, a retired firefighter and former Olivenhain Water District Board member, repeatedly noted that he has three decades of experience in emergency services issues, as well as more than a decade in water district budget decision-making. He moved to Encinitas as a child in 1977, and \u201cthis is home across four generations now,\u201d he said as he talked about how his grandchildren go to Cardiff schools.<\/p>\n
Arielle Golden, who has two young children and is a former chair of the North County Food Policy Council, said she is part of the more than 40 percent of the city\u2019s residents who have moved here within the last two decades. She described herself as having a \u201cforward-facing vision\u201d that was optimistic, but realistic. She talked about making the streets safer for children to walk and bike, mentioning the challenges she\u2019s faced doing this with her young children.<\/p>\n
The two candidates also emphasized their differences when it came to state and national topics. In his opening statements, Sprague mentioned that he wanted to stand up \u201cagainst one-size, fits-all\u201d policies put out by the state Legislature, while Golden mentioned her support for reproductive rights, community integration and climate change programs.<\/p>\n
Both candidates are making their first runs for the District 3 seat. The district, which mostly covers the Cardiff region, is represented by Joy Lyndes, who has decided not to seek re-election.<\/p>\n
Sponsored by the Cardiff 101 Main Street\u2019s Cardiff-by-the-Sea Town Council Committee, Tuesday\u2019s forum drew a crowd of about 100 people, including a group of high school students. The two candidates were asked to answer 15 questions, which were compiled in advance based on e-mailed submissions from the community. Topics included everything from rent control for mobile home parks to the use plastic bollards on the edges of bike lanes.<\/p>\n
In response to questions about the recent overhaul of Santa Fe Drive, which was pursued by a prior City Council and now is opposed by many of the current council members, Sprague said he thought the prior council shouldn\u2019t have done such a large-scale reworking of the roadway, adding that the design of the south side of the roadway is of particular concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a safety improvement \u2026 I\u2019m looking for a redesign, which is sad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Golden said she could support some changes, but definitely not the removal of the separated bike lane on the south side of the street, which is currently being considered.<\/p>\n
The candidates also differed on:<\/p>\n
Their positions on rent control for low-income mobile home parks. Golden said San Marcos has done this and she thought it was worth exploring in Encinitas, while Sprague said he had concerns about private property rights and balancing mobile home park owners\u2019 needs with that of park renters.
\nAdvice they\u2019d give a high school student who worries about affording to live in Encinitas in the future. Sprague mentioned that teens do need to be realistic that \u201cthis is a high-demand area\u201d and might want to consider living somewhere more affordable first, as he did as a young adult, and then move back later; while Golden said she\u2019d like to explore new ways to build more affordable housing in town, including partnering with nonprofit development entities.
\nHow to handle homelessness issues. Sprague said the city needs to continue to make certain its money is being well spent, saying Encinitas spends $1 million a year on various homeless-related programs; while Golden said she opposed the recent termination of the overnight parking lot program that served newly homeless people who were temporarily living in their vehicles.<\/p>\n
But they both agreed when it came to plans to put a pedestrian crossing point under the railroad tracks at Verdi Avenue. Both said it was something the community would love to have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The two candidates for Encinitas City Council\u2019s District 3 seat highlighted their differences at a voter forum last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1400,7,4779,4601,4602,4603,23,100,3054,74,84,76,75,1696,77],"class_list":["post-472109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-2026-elections","tag-california","tag-cardiff-by-the-sea","tag-encinitas","tag-encinitas-advocate","tag-encinitas-advocate-news","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-north-county","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}