Editorial: Consequential Choices

This year’s Del Mar City Council election may be the most consequential in decades. The new Council will grapple with significant challenges likely to define and shape our community far into the future. Think rail relocation, bluff restoration, sea level rise, affordable housing—and those are just some of the “known knowns,” to use Donald Rumsfeld’s famous framework.

We increasingly find ourselves in situations where other entities have more decision-making power than Del Mar does, even when the impacts are squarely on us. Those with significant leverage include the State, the courts, developers, the Fair Board, and SANDAG. This at a time when our reputation regionally has been greatly diminished. We need leaders who can repair our reputation, gain the trust of other leaders, and build alliances to help us defend our interests when decisions are beyond our control.

Voters should take a hard look to see which candidates have the skills and the credibility to navigate these turbulent waters.

Eight-year incumbent Terry Gaasterland has the clearest accountability line. Her grandstanding performances on TV and in SANDAG forums have alienated many regional leaders whose support we need on important issues. She has very low credibility with our state and federal representatives. She walked and likely crossed the line in shaping and voting on short term rental policies, by failing to timely disclose that she had engaged in short-term rentals. Her inept maneuvering on affordable housing has diminished our ability to protect Del Mar’s interests. We deserve better.

Jeff Sturgis served well on the Finance Committee (as did candidate Jas Grewal). Less well known is the role he has played in injecting incivility and dubious claims into our political discourse, as the founder and principal of the entity responsible for an anonymous publication widely distributed in our community. An example of its sensationalist claims was this headline:  “Mayor Worden Signed Over Control of $1.5 Billion of Del Mar Homes to the California Coastal Commission.”  Pure hogwash.

Jas Grewal and Meghan Spieker are far better choices for our votes (see our endorsements here: The Sandpiper Endorses… 

A final political note. Del Mar has been reliably blue for many elections. Most polls and analysts predict a blue wave nationally in this election. The right wing establishment in the county is betting on a red wave in Del Mar that will allow ethically-challenged incumbents Gaasterland and Dan Quirk to form a right-leaning majority with Jeff Sturgis. Del Mar has too much at stake to put the reins of our City in their hands.