Editorial: Priorities 2024

Del Mar, our home: a bit of history. Each era has its own particular set of problems and priorities that require strong clear leadership. In the 1970s intelligent residents with varying opinions, who appreciated our unique location, worked together to solve the issues of that day. One result of the leadership of the time with people working together for a common cause was our Community Plan. With a lot of effort and collaboration, it was drawn up, studied, amended and finalized. Goals and objectives were adopted to restore the lagoon and to protect access to the Pacific Ocean, now framed by green grass parks, our singular Torrey Pines, walkable terrain—the Del Mar we know today.

Today our list of issues starts with climate change. The City’s recently adopted “Resolution Re-affirming the Declaration of a Climate Emergency for the City of Del Mar” follows the 2020 declaration of a local climate emergency and the 2016 adoption of a Climate Action Plan. The updated resolution catalogs “drought, extreme heat, wildfires, species stress, dying Torrey Pines, shrinking kelp forest and coastal erosion, sea level rise, and flooding” as all too real problems Del Mar now faces.

Add to the critical challenge of climate change the state mandate to plan sites for affordable houses, the puzzle of how to end the train travel on our crumbling cliffs, the next phase of undergrounding our electrical wires, street repair, traffic management, structuring city guidelines for additional dwelling units to best insure neighborhood serenity, and of course many more.

These are tough, serious problems. It is time for robust leadership and broad citizen involvement. It is time for people with diverse viewpoints to cooperatively work toward serious solutions. Our first priority: pool our intellectual resources, trade in the tired infighting— the flow of low blows and vicious slogs—for civil debate to generate creative answers for now and the future Del Mar.

We know how to do this. Despite our small differences, Del Mar neighbors help their neighbors in need, no questions about political alliances asked. Our non-profits benefit the entire community and help bind us together. We all love Del Mar and we can succeed by articulating our differences but working towards a consensus in a respectful and civil manner.