Sunday, August 8, 2010

Anarchy in the ENC



Cardiff's Ken Harrison, writing in the Coast News Aug. 6 dead tree edition, apparently not available online, reminds us that people can still get together to get things done themselves rather than waiting for government action.


Folks in Encinitas are known for their roll-up-the-sleeves attitude, taking matters into their own hands, and getting community projects done. Prior to cityhood, local chapters of the Elks, Optimists, Soroptimists, Kiwanis, Lions, and other service clubs personally built almost every ball field in the area.

Twenty-seven years ago, Cardiff residents raised money and poured 1.2 miles of sidewalk along Birmingham Drive because the county refused to build a sidewalk on the busy thoroughfare. They financed the construction by selling one-foot squares where "owners" could put handprints and messages in the wet cement.

Such was the case recently for a band of 40 Crest Drive residents. In an act of "independence" on the July 4 holiday weekend, after waiting six years for the city of Encinitas to landscape the unsightly northwest corner of Crest Drive at Santa Fe Drive, residents took matters into their own hands.

He goes on to detail how 40 residents donated a little time and money to landscape the corner. If the city had done it, it would no doubt have cost 10 times as much and required fat contracts with city council cronies and many hours of studies by bloated-pension-getting city workers.



This is one of the things I love about Encinitas. The community spirit of the people has not yet been crushed by the bureaucrats and the public employee unions. That's becoming harder and harder to find these days.

And I bet you didn't even think of yourself as an anarchist.

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