Destiny Preston
Encinitas City Council Candidate – District 2
We are grateful to the candidates who responded. We received responses from Destiny Preston, Allison Blackwell, Tony Kranz, and Jim O’Hara. We did not receive responses from Bruce Ehlers and Luke Shaffer. We will post their responses if they provide them.
Correction: We inadvertently initially posted Allison Blackwell’s responses on both her page and Destiny Preston’s page. This error has been corrected.
Issue #1
Slower speeds reduce injuries and fatalities. Encinitas has been rolling out infrastructure treatments around town, such as roundabouts and speed humps as well as lowering speed limits following the passage of AB43. Other measures for reducing speed include traffic enforcement, stop signs, and traffic calming including lane narrowing, striping, speed tables, chokers, and chicanes.
Do you think reducing speeds should be a city goal?
Yes, reducing speeds should be a city goal.
If yes, what do you think are the most effective ways of reducing speeds?
I appreciate the recent work council has achieved to bring down speeds, but I think we should go further to implement a citywide speed limit cap of 40 mph. The most effective ways of reducing speeds are physical changes to the road to ensure bikes and pedestrians have physical separation from cars and road design that supports Complete Street principles. Education and enforcement are also powerful tools that can complement speed reduction strategies.
Issue #2
The El Camino Real corridor south of Santa Fe is constructed essentially as an in-town highway.A high schooler’s recent fatality there indicates how unsafe it is for those not in motor vehicles.
Do you think changes are warranted for this corridor?
Yes, without question changes are warranted for the south corridor of El Camino Real.
If yes, what would you propose?
A lane reduction to reallocate sufficient space for physical protections for bicyclists and pedestrians is reasonable given the ample right of way to work with.
Issue #3
Mixed use developments combining residential and light commercial, such as retail, have the opportunity to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) by making destinations closer to where people live.
Are there any areas in Encinitas in which you support changing zoning in order to facilitate this type of development?
Recent state law upzones significant portions of Encinitas by right, this includes commercial areas, schools, and faith-based institutions. These upzones by the state can provide sufficient zoning for affordable housing requirements without going through the painful process of council choosing sites that would then need to be taken to a vote of the people. Some of these state up-zoned parcels are close to transit corridors, where there are amenities, which could help us build a more walkable and bikeable community. As a Councilmember, I will do my best to up-zone places where density makes the most sense to achieve walkable communities.
Issue #4
Encinitas’s city code identifies parking minimum mandates for different types of development. Parking mandates eliminate the ability of businesses to right-size their parking allotment, often leading to unnecessarily wasted land and more dispersed facilities that are less conducive to walking and biking. State law prohibits parking mandates within 1/2 mile of a major transit station (in Encinitas, this includes only our downtown transit station), allowing local businesses to determine how to best use their property while increasing the bikeability, walkability, and transit mobility of the area.
Under what conditions and at what other locations would you support the removal of parking minimum mandates?
There are destinations in Encinitas that are overparked, in terms of their parking lots are often underutilized. These are easy targets to lower parking minimums and reallocate space for people rather than cars. Implementing a local shuttle service has been a long-time goal of city leadership and providing such an alternative to single occupant car trips could create favorable conditions to reduce parking minimums elsewhere. I do believe that we need to ensure we maintain multimodal accessibility forall, which at times will require allocating parking spaces. But we should always be evaluating where there might be opportunities to enhance other modes, including transit, so we can reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips.
Issue #5
The restaurant street-side eateries (streeteries) add to the vibrancy and people-friendliness of downtown and have been economically beneficial to the restaurants, but have been objected to by some non-restaurant businesses due to loss of street parking. One method that cities have used to manage parking is the implementation of Parking Benefits Districts (PBDs), in which metered parking rates are set at a price to encourage turnover and parking availability while feeding revenue back into the immediate neighborhood.
What is your opinion about such a program?
A PBD would be a great option for the City to consider. We are balancing many different uses of our downtown parking, and we want to make sure the uses serve residents, businesses, and beach goers. It seems that a tailored PBD program could be designed that could produce revenue which also preserving access.
How would you manage parking better in downtown Encinitas to enhance its people-friendliness and vibrancy?
For example, a free first hour of parking could support folks to run errands at the non-restaurant businesses and likely would cause others to choose different transportation options, such as rideshare. Dynamic pricing that shifts across different seasons and weekend vs weeknight is another example for a mechanism to adaptively managing the demand with the finite number of parking spaces. Additionally, a PBD near beaches could encourage locals that are able to walk, bike, skate, or roll to the beach, perhaps in combination with drop-off and pick-up, while the parking revenue that is generated could be targeted to expand access in the form of a local shuttle service, active transportation improvements, and other mobility enhancement activities (e.g., focused on seniors and those with disabilities).
Issue #6 (Optional)
The El Camino Real Specific Plan calls for converting parking lots to community gathering spaces, pocket parks, greenbelts, and multi-use residential and commercial redevelopment.
What do you like about this plan?
The El Camino Real Specific Plan is a good approach to redefining this car-dependent corridor. Big box retail is still doing well in Encinitas, but trends indicate that it might not continue on that trajectory for the coming decades. The Plan helps us to shape the future of development that we want and prepares us to transition towards a neighborhood and pedestrian oriented framework.
Issue #7 (Optional)
The city has made many infrastructure improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians since incorporation, though bicycling and walking are still challenging for the 8 – 80 group of bicyclists.
For your district (or for the Mayor, the entire city), what is your top mobility infrastructure improvement that you will champion?
I support improving existing multimodal infrastructure and expanding it throughout the city to advance safe routes to school, safe and legal rail crossings, quiet zone improvements, and continuation of the Rail Trail; these are top community priorities from my perspective.
Issue # 8 (Optional)
The cycle track along South Coast Hwy 101 from Cardiff to Solana Beach has increased coastal accessibility via bicycle for families and slower riders. However, it has generated a lot of controversy in the road-cycling community and was the site of a recent bicyclist fatality.
Do you believe this facility needs improvement, and if so, how?
Overall the cycle track has been an enhancement to walking and biking along this stretch. I understand a sidewalk completion project is underway to link Encinitas to Solana Beach on the west side. I do believe an east-west crossing is needed in this vicinity and to make multi-modal use safer. I support evaluating the potential impacts of a lane reduction to lower speeds and create even more space for all users of the road.
Issue #9 (Optional)
Encinitas will vote on whether to add a 1% sales tax to help fund the infrastructure improvement projects identified by the Infrastructure Task Force, many of which will enhance mobility around town.
If the tax doesn’t pass, how will you fund these projects?
I do support the tax measure, unlike my opponent. It will be difficult to accomplish all our infrastructure needs and goals without it. I will also leverage my existing professional relationships with federal and state government agencies to help us attract grant funding. We can also explore additional revenue sources by increasing developer fees and as previously mentioned, exploring the creation of a parking benefits district.