Letters: This needs to be said about the Encinitas council and civility

Encinitas City Councilman Luke Shaffer is the man some local activists love to hate. Despite his strong record of service, transparency and commitment to Encinitas — not Sacramento — Shaffer has become a target for the state-aligned, central-planning crowd.

Shaffer is a retired Marine, a husband, a father, a youth coach and a neighbor who has given his time to this community. Yet this organized activist faction has chosen to magnify an unfortunate incident — something that didn’t even merit a police call when it occurred — into a public spectacle that now threatens to send him to prison for more than four years.

That should give every fair-minded resident pause. Do we really want to see a man who has served his country and community with honor imprisoned over what appears to be a politically motivated overreaction?

The alleged “victim” in this case is represented by Marco Gonzalez, a local figure in political and legal circles who has become closely aligned with the same Sacramento-driven network pushing high-density mandates and weakening local control.

Coincidence — or coordination?

Which brings us to these activists themselves. It’s an odd alliance: people who once fought to protect local character now marching in lockstep with the same development interests they once opposed. Their so-called “progressive” housing agenda now serves the financial goals of Wall Street funds and institutional investors, extracting local equity from homeowners and transferring it to corporate landlords.

There is no room for state or national politics at City Hall. Local government should be about neighbors solving problems, not party platforms or Sacramento agendas.

Yet Sacramento’s influence has crept into every corner of our cities, turning once-civil debates about housing, zoning and safety into ideological battlegrounds. Councilman Luke Shaffer is the latest, but by no means the only, victim.

This current council was elected by a strong majority on a simple promise: restore transparency and local control. As a centrist, I struggle to understand why some on the political fringes continue to attack a council that has consistently voted in favor of humanitarian causes.

The council’s record speaks for itself: CRC funding, Safe Parking, ICE rules of engagement and homeless outreach—all approved unanimously, 5-0. These are not the actions of a council lacking compassion.

Local control remains the core issue, especially as Sacramento imposes housing mandates that override local zoning, disregard infrastructure limits, and overlook fire safety and evacuation concerns.

The Clark Avenue project is one example. The council, hearing legitimate fears about neighborhood safety, voted to seek independent legal guidance to clarify its options. The 4-1 vote wasn’t anti-housing; it was pro-responsibility.

The lone dissent came from Councilmember Joy Lyndes, aligned with the same local activists and state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, who continues to promote high-density, developer-driven projects backed by moneyed interests.

Anyone willing to step forward and run for local office deserves respect. It takes courage to face the noise, social media attacks and relentless criticism that come with public service. But that respect becomes conditional when the local office is treated as a stepping stone to higher ambitions.

When candidates start thinking more about the next rung on the ladder than the people they represent, our cities lose. City leaders who wish to serve their communities without political calculation are a gift.

Encinitas deserves better than this circus. We can debate projects, policies and processes with passion, but we must do so with civility and fairness. The men and women serving on our council are not villains — they are our neighbors, trying to navigate an impossible set of state mandates while preserving the safety, character and livability of our city.

City Hall is not a campaign launchpad or a battlefield for Sacramento’s political games. It’s where we decide, together, what kind of community we want to live in. Let’s bring back respect, reason and local focus. Encinitas is not a brand or a stepping stone — it’s our home.

Mike Lewis
Encinitas