Editorial: A Story to Remember

Periodically we remind ourselves and new readers about the Sandpiper story, why and how it was created and what we are trying to accomplish. So here’s the story as we know it.

More than two decades ago a group of residents who had been involved in the formative stages of our town were concerned that Del Mar’s reputation was being harmed by divisive  attacks from a publication with authors who were anonymous.  Instead of being defensive and reactive, the group decided to start telling the real Del Mar story in a positive way. The Sandpiper was created to tell that story as reflected in our Community Plan, our “constitution,” a truly remarkable detailed vision of how to protect our small town quality of life.

The Sandpiper was born to advocate for  core values of the Community Plan.  

• carefully managing our built environment

• preserving and nurturing our natural environment

• involving our human environment

We operate by telling  stories about how decisions get made about land use: the size, location, and neighborhood character of proposed structures and structural changes. Most important are the deliberations of the Design Review Board and the Planning Commission, as well as the City Council. And we try to stay in touch with decisions outside of Del Mar that affect our quality of life.

We tell stories about efforts to preserve and protect our lagoon, beach, ocean, clean air, clean water, trees, greenery, bluffs, flowers, birds, critters, and open spaces. We try to cover all of the natural assets that enhance the character of our community. This includes regional ecological matters that affect us.

We tell stories about the many talents of the citizens of Del Mar, their dedication to community building, their accomplishments here and beyond. We encourage citizens to be informed and involved to assure that smart decisions get made about how the community develops. We encourage respectful debate about important community issues.

We try to evaluate candidates for City Council who have demonstrated through words and civic involvement their understanding of the Community Plan, its vision, and its inherent values.

We try to live by a few operational guidelines:

• all of our editors and writers are volunteers

• donations are used only for printing, mailing, website expenses

• the more writers the better

• all viewpoints need to be represented

• all writing is governed by principles of civic discourse

Del Mar is a small community with truly unique qualities. We have a large appetite for  building a vibrant community through our core values. There is always much to learn about, much to talk about, much to decide. Our job is to encourage your voices in telling the stories about this important work.