Encinitas retains official despite calls for removal over Facebook post

ENCINITAS — The Encinitas City Council decided to leave a member of the Urban Forestry Advisory Committee in his current appointment, despite calls for his removal from many members of the public and a council member.

Steven Houbeck was nominated to the committee during a Feb. 11 City Council meeting. He was selected to serve a partial term, set to end March 1, 2027, while all other appointees from that meeting will serve until 2029.

Shortly after his appointment, Houbeck shared a post on Facebook at approximately 10 p.m. on Feb. 13 that led to both a public apology and calls for his removal from the committee.

In the post, he referenced an email from San Dieguito Union High School District Superintendent Anne Staffieri that included video of a Black History Month event hosted by the Black Student Union at Canyon Crest Academy.

Houbeck wrote that the “video shows numerous scenes of blacks dressed in tribal gear banging on drums.”

He later clarified online that he was concerned the superintendent was being “derogatory towards the black community” and “exhibiting soft racism” by not mentioning more modern accomplishments such as those by musician Prince, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas or “Mr. Padre” Tony Gwynn.

“It’s racist for the Left to denigrate accomplished Blacks because they’re Conservative,” Houbeck wrote.

During his March 26 inaugural meeting with the Urban Forestry Advisory Committee, Houbeck said he “will conduct my approach to topics in a professional and sympathetic manner.”

“I look upon this as a learning opportunity to be more sensitive to the words I use in certain venues and subjects,” he said in March. “I do regret any harm that may have been caused to the members of the community.”

At the April 22 City Council meeting, Councilmember Joy Lyndes added an item to the agenda seeking to remove Houbeck from the appointment. Houbeck did not attend the meeting.

“This item is based on the fact that this community has voiced its concern about Mr. Houbeck at City Council meetings in the past — numerous ones — requesting that the city consider his removal from this appointed position,” Lyndes said.

She said it was an “appropriate and responsive step” to remove Houbeck from the committee because he had become “a lightning rod for our community.”

“Once we decide that that appointment no longer serves the city or no longer serves our intent anymore, then it’s up to us to take action,” Lyndes said. “We have that authority. Mayors have exercised this authority and city councils have exercised this authority in the past.”

Houbeck did not attend the meeting because he was planning to attend a production of “Spamalot” at La Costa Canyon High School.

He submitted a video in which he described the work he had done in his career, his appreciation for dance as an art form, and his intent behind the original post.

Houbeck said the post was made before he was selected to serve on the committee and that “the brevity of the post caused confusion and should have been written in more detail to explain objections I had.”

“My intent was never to degrade members of the community or artistic dancers,” he said in the video. “I celebrate diversity and artistic expression. I have for many years legally represented and volunteered time with members of the community that are autistic, non-verbal, and intellectually disabled in our local school system. Often the only way these folks can communicate or to find joy is through music and dance. And it’s a beautiful expression that encompasses a universal language.”

With time left on Houbeck’s video statement, Mayor Bruce Ehlers cut it off at the three-minute mark due to the city’s standards for public comments.

“I’ve got to be fair with everybody here,” Ehlers said.

Calls for removal

Members of the community expressed outrage over Houbeck’s appointment during public comment at multiple council meetings over the past several weeks, including this week’s meeting, where it was decided to leave him on the Urban Forestry Advisory Committee.

Some members of the public even spoke against Houbeck’s appointment during his swearing-in. At those meetings, advocates for his removal stood and held signs reading, “Your Silence is a Choice.”

Speakers said his social media posts showed a pattern of behavior and that by not removing him, the council was endorsing his statements.

During the April 22 meeting, those calling for his removal pointed to near-word-for-word similarities between his March 26 and April 22 statements and noted that he did not use the words “sorry” or “apologize” in either.

Ehlers asked attendees not to stand while holding signs “because we need to be respectful of everybody.”

Monette Marino Keïta, a percussionist, said her daughter was the victim of a racial slur while a student at San Dieguito Academy last year. She said Houbeck’s removal would help address what she described as a troubling trend.

“It emboldened other kids to mimic these offensive behaviors because nobody was being held accountable,” Keïta said. “The ‘n-word’ has become an everyday occurrence on SDA campus. You can ask any high schooler today. We see this truth in a video of the young girl being bullied at the Carlsbad park recently.”

Keïta said inaction sends the message that her daughter, who is studying music at San Diego State University, “is not valued; that her art form is not valued.”

“Houbeck would like a slap on the wrist,” said Yusef Miller, representing the North County NAACP and North County Equity and Justice Coalition. “Houbeck would like an opportunity to learn from his mistakes, but he’s had plenty of opportunities to learn from his mistakes. And the only thing we see now is this superficial placation of the people who are sitting here that come here and stay to the wee hours of the evening just to make sure justice is done.”

Julie Thunder, an appointee to the Senior Citizen Commission, was the only speaker in Houbeck’s defense, calling the issue one of “perspective and proportionality.”

“But that is what accountability looks like,” Thunder said of Houbeck’s response. “Not perfection, but reflection, clarification and apology. At some point though, we have to ask whether the response has outgrown the original misstep. What began as a poorly phrased comment has now escalated into calls for removal from public office. This feels less like accountability and more like a demand for, as the saying goes, a pound of flesh.”

Council response

None of the council members defended Houbeck’s original post, but no one seconded Lyndes’ motion to remove him.

The discussion led to heated outbursts from members of the public, and Ehlers asked the sheriff’s deputies to escort several people out of the room.

“I find Mr. Houbeck’s Facebook comment to be insensitive and demeaning to African-Americans and West African dance,” Ehlers said. “Mr. Houbeck’s choice of words and phrases, such as ‘Blacks,’ ‘tribal gear,’ and ‘banging on drums,’ were racially demeaning and dismissive. The statement would clearly offend many people, as it has, and it deserves an apology.

“I know several people actively calling for Mr. Houbeck’s dismissal have not accepted his apology or think it is ‘too little too late.’ However, he did offer an apology.”

Ehlers said the delay in addressing the controversy stemmed from allowing the grievance process to play out before making public comments.

The mayor added that while some had cited other social media posts by Houbeck, he had not seen any he considered offensive or racist, describing most as political in tone.

“Simply sacking Mr. Houbeck provides minimal opportunity for Mr. Houbeck or the community as a whole to learn. We need to talk, discuss, and learn together as we’re doing tonight,” Ehlers said. “If someone expresses discriminatory statements, let us coach them, teach them, and hopefully grow together. Of course, repeated occurrences or egregious statements or acts may be grounds for removal.”

He closed with a rhetorical question: “Will this be a teaching moment for Mr. Houbeck and all of us, or will it be more political theater like we have too often been subjected to on the national stage?”

Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara said that while apologies may not always meet expectations, Houbeck had made an effort.

“He came back and tried to justify it and then he came back and he apologized,” O’Hara said. “I didn’t actually even like the way he apologized to be honest. I thought he could have done a simpler, better job of apologizing.”

“I don’t know what else this body at this point could ask him to do to show his mistake except apologize in his way,” he added. “And none of us have to accept it in this room, but he did apologize. And I can’t ask him to do more than that.”

Councilmember Marco San Antonio said that as “the only Asian guy up here,” he had experienced racism and had also been criticized for his own social media posts.

“I talk, try to talk to everybody because guess what? We’re not perfect,” he said. “But I try to make the best of the situation.”

“I don’t agree with the way Steve Houbeck said what he said. I also would have said things different and I think in the future maybe he will too. Hopefully he will,” San Antonio said.

Councilmember Luke Shaffer said that as the father of mixed-race daughters, he has no place for racism in his community, but said he did not believe Houbeck intended to spread hate.

“I don’t think it’s individually Steven Houbeck,” Shaffer said. “To be quite honest, there’s a group of, I’ll say activists — I’m not going to say political activists — I don’t know, I think it’s more ideological activists — that seem to be finding themselves — routinely since I’ve been here — at every division of this city, every chance to divide this city, they take it.”

“And that’s what this issue is about,” Shaffer said, “is the same divisive people coming in and creating a further division in a community that just wants to get on with their lives and move forward.”

Lyndes said she felt some comments by her colleagues were “tone deaf.”

“I worry when I hear us say that people, our constituents who disagree with us, are divisive,” she said. “And I think we miss the point that they are our constituents. We’re not always going to agree, but there were plenty of people who submitted letters asking for us to consider this item and to remove this individual. These are our constituents. They’re our voters.”

Lyndes added that it would be “wrongheaded” to blame constituents.

“I hope — I think the community expects us to do better, and they were hoping we would do better,” she said. “We still have the opportunity to do better in the future. And I hope — I hope — we do. But I’m not happy with the way this is going.”