ENCINITAS — Voters had a chance to meet with candidates running for mayor and council on Monday night at a public meet-and-greet event hosted by the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce at MiraCosta College’s San Elijo campus.
The event attracted around 100 attendees, who had the opportunity to speak directly with candidates. It was the culmination of months of planning by the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce, which initially aimed to host a debate or forum.
Difficulties in organizing a neutral moderator and format agreeable to all candidates led to the meet-and-greet format instead.
“It was more than a compromise,” said Sherry Yardley, CEO of the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce. “Pivoting from a forum to a meet and greet was the best choice that we made, and it was proven tonight.”
Candidates for mayor and council interacted one-on-one with voters, answering questions about housing, homelessness, and other pressing local issues. While many in attendance had already made up their minds on their preferred candidates, incumbent Mayor Tony Kranz and others still found value in the event.
“It allows for some direct dialogue with voters, which I think is important,” Kranz said, though he noted forums could allow for more substantial debate between candidates. “A debate format would allow for a better exchange of information and challenge one another’s ideas.”
Councilmember Bruce Ehlers, a mayoral candidate, echoed Kranz’s sentiments about a forum, adding meet and greets are effective for one-on-one discussions, but forums offer a better opportunity to reach a broader audience and allow for direct comparisons between candidates.
“Meet and greets are great, but you need a lot of these to replace one forum as far as getting the message out,” Ehlers said.
Council candidates Allison Blackwell, Destiny Preston, Jim O’Hara, and Luke Shaffer were also present, engaging with voters and addressing concerns about topics such as affordable housing, public safety, and development.
Blackwell, who’s running against Shaffer for the District 1 seat, said that while the event had a good turnout, she felt that supporters largely stayed within their own groups, and there wasn’t much crossover between different candidate supporters.
“I don’t see many people crossing the room,” Blackwell said, adding she was looking forward to an upcoming Oct. 1 virtual forum with Shaffer. “I’m really excited that Luke Shaffer agreed to the League of Women Voters forum (via Zoom).”
Shaffer believed that both formats had value, with the forum offering a more structured way for voters to evaluate candidates. However, he said some attendees asked challenging or pointed questions, which he welcomed as an opportunity for engagement.
“Mostly it’s about housing, about homelessness and public safety,” Shaffer said, referring to the most frequent types of questions voters asked him about.
Running against O’Hara, Preston expressed her disappointment that a forum for District 2 voters did not come together. But she said these types of events allow her to reach voters she might not otherwise meet.
“I’m still doing the hard work that it takes to win and making sure that I reach District 2 voters,” she said. “Being a candidate’s crazy, and there’s 10,000 voters in the district, so it’s just so hard to reach everyone.”
While acknowledging that some voters may have preferred a formal forum, O’Hara said the meet-and-greet format provided a valuable opportunity for personal connections. O’Hara emphasized that voters should base their decisions on candidates’ body of work and their commitment to issues
“I think it’s been a really good, positive night,” O’Hara said. “Ultimately, I think this boils down to connecting with people, and this is one way to connect with people”
While many attendees were already familiar with the candidates, many expressed appreciation for the chance to meet them face-to-face.
“People did say that they were happy we put this on and that they got to know the candidates they didn’t know a lot better,” Yardley said.
3 comments
In her own words, Preston advocates choosing “collaboration over chaos.” Unfortunately, her definition of collaboration is evidently to support Sacramento’s relentless war of overcrowding, defoliating, congesting stack-and-pack infill against our established residential neighborhoods. Even our own mayor has stated that “Encinitas is 97 percent built out” and has expressed frustration with Sacramento’s housing mandates, so why would Encinitas want its city council to be infiltrated by a Scott Wiener proxy?
O’Hara and his wife have deep residential and professional roots in Encinitas. They know what makes it so desirable and the threats we face from the big money real estate investors and developers who fund the Wiener juggernaut. I fully trust O’Hara to stand up for our community. In contrast, I have yet to read or hear any pro-neighborhood, anti-developer statements from Preston.
This is a complete disappointment. What candidate thinks 100 out of over 60,000 residents is a good turnout?
Forums and debates used to be the norm, and at least available for replay on YouTube.
In addition, to avoiding any forums, Ms. Preston has been nowhere to be seen in Leucadia. We got her competitors literature and Bruce walked our neighborhood. Destiny feels very much like Kellie Hinze. All talk, no action. Well, certainly no representative action for her constituents at the least.
Maybe Destiny is being mentored by the mayor. Tony Kranz doesn’t do a lot of campaigning either. I guess they’re hoping their party and their donors will save the day.
I’m hoping the good people of Encinitas have learned from the last six years of bad management and vote NO on Measure K and elect Bruce Ehlers by a landslide.
I also hope Leucadia is paying attention and residents are willing to go with locals Jim and Luke for council seats.
Looking forward to Bruce, Luke and Jim winning and bringing sanity back to Encinitas Government.
What name was Destiny Preston using? Apparently she has used at least 3 different names for her ‘businesses’ and facebook groups.