ENCINITAS — Jerome Stocks, the current Mayor hopes to occupy his seat on the dais for a fourth straight term on the City Council. The November election ballot will feature two seated council members and seven challengers vying for three seats.
After 12 years on the council, with three years as mayor, Stocks said he is proud of his past decisions and is looking forward to making more contributions to shape the future of the city. Despite taking a considerable amount of criticism from some residents over the past years, Stocks said he is committed to continuing his public service on the council. “When you take your slings and arrows away, being on the council isn’t difficult,” he said.
Stocks said his initial feelings about being a council member haven’t changed. “I wanted to do this job; I have a deep, true love for this community. I wanted to be a person who would make decisions to help this community move forward.”
As the SANDAG chairperson for a two-year term and the North County Transit District chairperson for two years, Stocks has become immersed in mass transit issues.
He wants to be a part of the evolution of transit in Encinitas and throughout the county. “In terms of rail transit in the city, just like all along the coastal corridor, it will be double tracked, with more trains and a better commuter service,” he said.
“Federal regulations will change so that we could see light rail rather than heavy rail,” Stocks predicted. “Light rail use less energy, lower pollution and reduces sound impacts along the corridor,” Stocks said. “That directly impacts the quality of life.”
In addition, Stocks looks forward to the future growth in commuter rail and inner city transportation. “Encinitas’ relatively low density suburban geography doesn’t lend itself to successful mass transit,” he said. However, such services as the newly reintroduced Flex Bus that allows passengers to call ahead for door-to-door shuttle service within Encinitas and Solana Beach is a viable option.
As more and more cars take to the highways, Stocks said the future of Interstate 5 expansion includes HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes, two in each direction that will allow single passenger cars to pay for enhanced mass transit services.
With major capital projects, such as the Encinitas Community Park and the undertaking of the General Plan update over the last three years, Stocks said he’s looking forward to seeing many of the tasks come to fruition.
“We’ve put a lot of work into that (general plan),” Stocks said. “The same controversy is always the housing element,” he said. “We just have to show zoning capacity,” he said. “We do have very thoughtful development patterns in this town.”
Regional housing needs assessment can’t be answered on a “jurisdictional level,” he said. “It’s an artificial line. We can show regionally we have the zoning capacity to accommodate our fair share of growth. …
“To the degree we can we should preserve a community’s desire to protect its character,” he said.
The recent Crest Drive appeal to allow the rural community not to install more urban features was in line with an early 2000 vote he made to not allow curbed gutter sidewalks in Leucadia. “I’m going to back the neighborhood every time,” Stocks said.
Stocks said he wasn’t sure he wanted to run for re-election until after a family meeting. “Everyone in my family said, ‘Dad you have to run, this is what you do.’ I didn’t want my responsibilities on the council to take away time from my family, my business,” he said.
His wife of 21 years, Lisa, told him, “The public has invested a lot in educating you in these issues.”
“She’s so much smarter than I am,” he said. “I realized I’m still viable, I still have a lot to offer,” he added.
“Jim Bond is retiring, Maggie Houlihan passed away; we’ve lost a lot of our institutional history,” Stocks said. As the next longest serving council member, Stocks said he feels a “sense of obligation to maintain that institutional knowledge.”
Stocks said he’s still full of ideas that can positively impact the city and the region.
For instance, he’s been pushing SANDAG to have the bid packets on major projects broken down into smaller packages in order to open the market to small businesses. “I think I’m seeing some successes,” he said of the initiative.
As a small business owner, Stocks said he is passionate about the issue.
He also approached the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association with the idea of implementing a downtown valet parking service using City Hall’s parking lot after hours and on weekends.
“Our downtown is thriving,” he said. “That’s a good thing and we want to make sure people have enough parking spaces to utilize all of the amenities we have to offer.”
I don’t feel like a chair warmer, he said. “I still have ideas and want to help the city move forward. I hope the public will have me.”
5 comments
Stocks said he wouldn’t run if his family hadn’t urged him to. I wish they hadn’t! The widely held desire to DUMP STOCKS is no reflection on his family, whom I don’t see at Council Meetings.
Stocks was so many times rude to Maggie Houlihan, even after her untimely death. Stocks shouldn’t try to use her name to promote his own interest in being re-elected. She was targeted by Stocks supporters during her lifetime, and never supported his election or re-election.
Stocks’ “institutional knowledge” is dangerously self-serving to all of those who have been following his career. Twelve years in office is more than enough. Most people DO support term limits. The only reason Stocks has been elected and re-elected is because of the way the vote is split, because he has never and would NEVER be elected by a majority, only a bare plurality.
Stocks has NOT championed open government or neighborhood self-determination. Instead, he’s all about championing special interests. He is famous for being rude to public speakers, not giving us eye contact, cutting us off, interrupting us. His attempts at trying to appear to be humble, his preening at his photo ops at City Hall during Special Presentations, are pathetic.
I don’t see that it’s our job to “educate” Stocks on being a big fish in this little public pond. I reject his twisted “knowledge” and his hypocritical practices. I pray he is voted out of office, just as discredited, convicted ex mayor Dan Dalager was. Prior to Dalager’s being voted out, Jerome Stocks did Robo calls supporting Dalager, ignoring his obvious conflicts of interest, while in office. Stocks and Bond clung to the erroneous belief that the allegations against Dalagar were “just politics.” NOT!
Well said. Great summary!
Jerome Stocks and Jim Bond need to stop going out of their way to make rude comments about citizens and colleages.
We want them to stop talking about people and start talking about the topics on the agenda! This self involvement and egotism is pathetic!
I want to vomit!
Note the qualifier “To the extent we can we should preserve a community’s desire to protect its character”. Someone more committed to the Encinitas residents should have said “I will do everything to support a community’s desire to protect its character”
Mr Stocks also believes the public pension retirement system is doing great and we don’t need to look under the hood.
Protect your neighborhood, protect your wallet. DUMP STOCKS.
Stocks claims,”I’m going to back the neighborhood every time.”
Really?
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