Old Encinitas community meeting on the General Plan

About 70 people showed up. It started with a brief intro from Mayor Dan Dalager and Patrick Murphy from the Planning Dept. Both of them came across as very likable, but Maggie Houlihan was the one who drew big cheers when she was introduced. Then there was a short presentation from urban planning consultant Daniel Iacofano about Encinitas' current characteristics and the process of doing the General Plan.

Then we broke into small groups give feedback on what we like about Encinitas and what we want to see in the future. It was one of those scenes from any workshop with a bunch of people throwing out ideas and someone writing down on butcher paper everything that was blurted out. There were a lot of motherhood statements and generalities. Most groups hit the same themes: unique character, environment, mom+pop shops, walkability, etc.

There's another meeting May 1 and one in October, but it's unclear how much room for community involvement there will be once they go beyond the motherhood statements and actually start writing the plan. It sounds like the "Advisory Committee" has already been selected. Let's hope they represent the community.