WE CAN DO IT BETTER

ENCOURAGE COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Respect for citizens with knowledge and expertise who are willing to volunteer and work for the community.
  
• Actively identify and acquire open space, which is always a priority for voters.
  
• In planning new development, the uniqueness of each neighborhood should be treasured. We need to direct land-use so that development fits the community, not change the community to fit the development.  We need to establish more opportunities to modify the ‘cookie cutter’ rules and regulations.

AT CITY HALL, WE CAN DO IT BETTER

• City Council and staff should be committed to retaining the unique qualities of existing neighborhoods and communities first.
  
• Interpret the General Plan and Specific Plans to benefit existing communities.
  
• Encourage staff to be open to progressive suggestions. Use some imagination and invite staff to do the kind of critical thinking they are trained to do in solving the challenges that face us as a community.
  
• Improve cooperation and regard between community and staff. Erase the ‘them and us’ thinking from both groups. Encourage open dialog and cooperation towards a ‘We are one’ environment rather than the antagonistic atmosphere that often pervades interactions now.
  
• Focus on traffic. We need to be prepared to control the traffic that will be coming from development in other cities. Example: What Carlsbad is proposing for Ponto Beach is going to have a huge impact on Pacific Coast Hwy as well as other city streets.
  
• Continue to encourage an environmentally sustainable community. Work with and implement input form the Environmental Commission.
  
• Create an open and co-operative working relationship with NCTD (North County Transit District) to deal with the expanding impacts on the rail corridor such as double tracking and more trains using the corridor. Also, in dealing with the ongoing concerns of the un-safe crossing at Leucadia Blvd and establishing bike paths along the corridor.

PLANNING OUR FUTURE, WE CAN DO IT BETTER

• Be at the forefront with progressive ideas, not followers, like we were with the smoking ban.
  
• Establish ordinances that encourage new developments to build homes to the scale of the existing neighborhood, use recycled water for irrigation, and include solar.
  
• Affordable housing: Encourage a variety of housing types.
  
• Water issues: Pursue new options for using grey water. Assist residents in making educated choices by establishing standards for landscaping with draught tolerant plants and trees. City to establish a plan for managing its own plants and trees including a complete inventory.
  
• General Plan update planned for 2008-09. Local control is imperative. We must include community input when planning for our future and not rely only on mandates from SANDAG and the State Of California.
  
• Review the CPP (Community Participation Program) process as it no longer effectively incorporates input from the community into projects during the planning process.
  
• Adopt a program to require a CIR (Community Impact Report) to be done, in addition to EIR’s (Environmental Impact Report) in major development planning. This would provide a more complete picture of the impact the development will have on all aspects of the community.
  
• Emphasize that our quality of life in Encinitas keeps property values up.
  
• Meet with commissions to insure the City Council is aware of citizens concerns
  
• Instigate a system of mediation that will work towards incorporating community input with State, County, and General Plan requirements.
  
• Sunshine ordinance to promote transparency in government. Limit closed-door decisions.
  
• Locate neighborhood and community parks, sports fields, skate parks, tot-lots, and dog parks where appropriate. Promote having parks available to the community as quickly as possible.

NEW IDEAS/POSSIBILITIES

• Consider combining with Solana Beach and creating own law enforcement entity.
  
• Establish a Blue Ribbon Committee, similar to the Blue Ribbon Environmental Committee, to address the possibility of adopting a view ordinance in Encinitas.
  
• Focus on the entryways into Encinitas. Clean up all public areas along the highways, freeways and railroad.