Editorial: Long-Term Lens

Most elected positions are set up in a way that rewards short term accomplishments. Long term goals often are achieved (or not) long after decision makers have left office. So it is with our City Council positions, elections coming every two years. Yet many of our biggest existential challenges do not fall neatly into two or four year election time frames.

 

Looming in our long-term lens are sea level rise, nuclear plant waste, climate deterioration, sand erosion,  affordable housing production, crumbling bluffs, train track relocation…. Not many short term successes there for political bragging rights. Do we have visionary leaders who can make wise decisions that will protect our interests beyond their terms in office?

 

We can urge our Council Members to be good caretakers for future generations. And to back that up we can use an approach that has served us well for decades. Energetic citizen participation created our Community Plan and has guided our leaders for decades to achieve much of what we value as a community. Over the years we nurtured a network of citizen committees, boards, task forces, workshops, and hearings. Free from political constraints, citizens can be creative and strategic about solutions for today’s problems and being smart about the future.

 

This high level of citizen involvement has long been a defining characteristic of Del Mar. More recently, we have seen a disappointing trend of dwindling involvement of citizen groups. Some of the committees still in existence are operating in a top-down manner from staff or Council liaison, instead of a more flexible bottom-up approach–not the best way to motivate volunteers.

 

Particularly now when we have a divided four-person Council, we need to reinvigorate our committees and workshops to get the best thinking of an engaged community.

 

Del Mar has an incredibly rich pool of talented, accomplished citizens. Tapping into that reservoir has always worked for us and we really need to revive that tradition for both short and long-term challenges.