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Politics

Encinitas' Proposition A Attracts Thousands In Last-Minute Contributions

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published June 17, 2013 at 1:07 PM PDT
This story was published more than 10 years ago.
Cars cruise beneath the Encinitas sign on South Coast Highway, 2013
Katie Schoolov
Cars cruise beneath the Encinitas sign on South Coast Highway, 2013

Encinitas voters head to the polls Tuesday for a special election on future development.

Last-minute contributions in the thousands of dollars have popped up on the Encinitas City Clerk's campaign contribution website.

Encinitas' Proposition A Attracts Thousands In Last-Minute Contributions
Prop A, a voter initiative in Encinitas, has attracted thousands of dollars in last-minute contributions. The result of Tuesday's special election on what's known as the “right-to-vote initiative" will affect future development in the coastal community.

Supporters of Proposition A want to maintain the original laid-back ambiance of their coastal town and said the initiative will give residents the right to vote on future developments that are denser or higher than the city's general plan allows.

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They’ve raised about $17,000, including about $8,000 in free advertising from the local paper, The Coast News.

But opponents of the initiative have raised closer to $70,000 with thousands of dollars in last-minute contributions. Those contributions include $10,000 from the California Association of Realtors Political Action Committee recorded less than a week before the election. Shea Homes, one of the developers that contributed to efforts to defeat the initiative, gave $5,000. The National Association of Realtors, based in Chicago, also donated $8,000 in polling data to the opponents.

As the economy improves and development resumes, the outcome of Proposition A could be a bellwether for communities around the region trying to maintain local control on growth. It is the second city in San Diego County after Escondido to put the issue on the ballot.

Encinitas has a population of fewer than 60,000 people and is expected to grow to about 75,000 by 2040.

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Politics San Diego
Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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