The 2026 Encinitas Action Candidate Questionnaire
The 2026 Encinitas City Council District 3 candidates are Arielle Golden and Ed Sprague.
On August 3rd, Encinitas Action invited all six candidates for Mayor and City Council Districts 3 and 4 to answer the same nine questions about the issues, decisions, and responsibilities they would face if elected.
We’re publishing the responses over three weeks: District 4 last week, District 3 this week, and Mayor next week.
Each candidate received the same questions, the same 150–200-word response limit, the same deadline, two reminders, and the commitment that their answers would be published exactly as received.
Three candidates submitted responses; three did not.
Last week’s first installment prompted a spirited online discussion. Some questioned Encinitas Action’s affiliations and perspective, criticized the questionnaire as partisan or manipulative, and suggested that candidates couldn’t trust us to present their responses fairly.
We think readers should have the information to judge that for themselves. Encinitas Action’s members, mission, funding, and approach to civic engagement are public:
Encinitas Action: Who We Are and What We Do
Our structure, membership, funding, and approach to civic engagement
The District 3 (Cardiff) questionnaire and candidate responses are below. Judge for yourself the questions, the answers, and each candidate’s decision to participate — or not. When a candidate did not participate, we’ve noted that fact where their responses would have appeared.
Ed Sprague
NO RESPONSE RECEIVED
Arielle Golden
1. Vision: What are the three biggest challenges facing Encinitas over the next four years, and what would be your top priority in addressing them?
Street safety – We have had far too many preventable deaths on our streets. We need to focus on what will make an impact on this. That could include red light cameras, and other deterrents to speeding, running red lights, and distracted driving. We also need our walking and biking infrastructure to be safe, to protect all road users.
Managing our growth – With new housing being developed throughout Encinitas, we will have new residents joining our city in the coming years. The city must take a proactive approach to managing the anticipated increased use of our infrastructure. This includes traffic light timing, focusing on better, more friendly transit options for all, and enhancing community spaces.
Change management I believe we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, so change is especially difficult for all of us. I think the city needs to develop a change management approach to communicate and integrate programs, projects, and proposals with residents. Change management always begins with establishing whether there is a need or sense of urgency in the first place, and that’s where we should begin.
2. Housing & Local Control: What approach would you take to balancing the need for housing with preserving the unique character of Encinitas neighborhoods?
I approach problem solving collaboratively. I would proactively work with our neighboring cities, the county, and the state to ensure that anything that is mandated needs to work for us. Our approach of fighting back against these entities over the past few years has not worked to produce the results that our city wanted.
While we do have a need for housing in Encinitas, in my view we do not need more luxury homes. If we will be adding housing, I believe it should serve as workforce housing, and should be a way for the next generation to make Encinitas their home, as we did before.
In District 3, people of different incomes and life stages are interwoven throughout our neighborhoods, and this is one of the things that makes our little town so unique.
3. Fiscal Priorities: If declining revenues or rising costs forced difficult choices, which city services or investments would you protect first, and what would you be willing to postpone or reduce?
I would first visit the Master Plans, which the City has developed utilizing expert staff and engaged volunteer residents. These contain, for the most part, different priorities for the City and their level of importance. I would use these Plans to make the decision. Adding skate parks or skate features, for example, is #12 out of 13 priorities in the Parks plan. So I would begin the assessment of what to postpone or reduce by reviewing the lowest priority programs and projects delineated in our Plans.
4. Infrastructure: Encinitas has experienced multiple traffic fatalities and serious injuries in recent years. What specific steps would you take to improve safety while maintaining mobility throughout the city?
We need red light cameras (not Flock cameras) and other deterrents to speeding, running red lights, and distracted driving. We also need our walking and biking infrastructure to be safe to protect all road users. This could be bulb-outs to protect pedestrians, crosswalks with more safety features, and driver education and enforcement. Keeping traffic flowing smoothly also enhances safety.
Children on e-Bikes need to understand how to use our roads safely, and to do so on e-Bikes that are safe for people their age. And drivers also need to adjust their behavior to keep other road users safe. The city should ensure there are regular education programs to communicate this information to our residents.
5. Homelessness: What would you do to address our unsheltered population in Encinitas?
There are so many different needs within the unsheltered population in Encinitas. We need several approaches to address the issue. The City should have relationships with different partner organizations working on homelessness, as each agency has their own expertise, and specific needs that they each serve.
We need a partner organization working with individuals and families who are seeking a path out of homelessness. The Safe Parking Program was an excellent example of this.
We do need continued enforcement of our laws and ordinances, and this is one piece of the puzzle.
On City Council, I would absolutely accept grant money to address homelessness from
the state, especially if our partner homelessness service provider organization was requesting that we do so.
6. Leadership: Describe a time when you disagreed with your political supporters or closest allies. What did you decide, and what did you learn?
That’s the beauty of local politics and community organizing. We all come together to better our community or to support our neighbors, and even so we might all come into that space from different backgrounds and with different motivations.
For example, when there was a proposed skate feature at Glen Park, I came together with some residents to discuss what we wanted for the space and different ways that Glen Park serves the community. Some people came and talked about the fact that it would bring more skaters to the park, and they were concerned about that. Others worried about the noise impact on local birds. While many disagreed with why they wanted to be at the meeting, we were able to move forward together by coalescing around a common theme: our love for Glen Park.
I am running to ensure residents in Encinitas feel safe, heard, and supported. To accomplish this we need sturdy, compassionate leadership that is future-oriented.
7. Judgment: Name one decision made by an Encinitas City Council that you believe was wrong. What would you have done differently, and why?
The insistence on wholesale removal and redesign of Santa Fe, rather than simply fixing the features that don’t work, is poor stewardship of our tax dollars. I am in favor of making changes that are needed for first responders, but public safety also includes bikers on our roads.
I am not in favor of downgrading the safety ratings of our city’s bike lanes, especially the ones that go right in front of a high school, as this one moves these bikers from a protected lane to being sandwiched between moving cars and parked cars.
When presented with an imperfect project like the Santa Fe Corridor, (which to this day has not be completed so it is difficult to assess as a whole,) I would want the Council to vote to make changes and improvements to the Corridor, as a way to fix what needed to be fixed, while saving taxpayer money to be used on other projects.
8. Management: How would you define and maintain a positive working relationship between the city council, city manager, and city staff?
Communication, communication, communication.
The goal is to have a staff that feel empowered and educated to make decisions within their jobs. This benefits the whole community as we engage with the City in different matters. This means staff need to be educated and confident in their areas of work, and cultivated by their managers.
We need a “customer journey” project, where we assess a resident’s experience going through each of the City’s processes. For example, what does a resident go through from start to finish when pulling a permit, how could that be improved, and how could our staff be empowered to improve that service?
A satisfied and educated staff is critical to a functioning city.
9. Hidden Issue: What is one issue facing Encinitas that you believe deserves more public attention?
While knocking on doors, I have had so many voters share with me their frustrations about going through the permitting process. We want our residents and businesses to be able to enhance their homes or small businesses for the betterment of the community. We should be encouraging our small businesses to make changes that they think will improve their work, and we should make it much easier for them to do that than it is right now.
You only asked for one hidden issue but here is another: I wish we had more different types of cuisines in Encinitas. We have a fabulous restaurant scene here. And, we are a multicultural town on the ocean and I want even more options from around the world!
Next week, we’ll publish candidate responses for Mayor. There’s a lot at stake in this year’s Encinitas election. We encourage you to learn about the candidates, attend meet-and-greets and debates, and ask questions. An informed electorate makes for a stronger Encinitas.
Thanks, and stay engaged,
Encinitas Action