Should elected officials use the dais to attack nonprofits that disagree with them — or focus on representing all Encinitans?
At last week’s special meeting to determine the fate of Santa Fe Drive, the Encinitas City Council voted 4 – 1 to spend at least $3.6M to remove safety features, including protected bike lanes and narrower streets.
Councilmember Jim O’Hara characterized public and written comments regarding Santa Fe Drive as “propaganda,” the result of politically driven “astroturfing” by deep operatives. He debased the community advocacy group Encinitas Bike Walk, and community advocacy organizations in general, saying they’re “claiming to be grassroots while recruiting supporters across the political spectrum who might reject them if they knew the partisan nature of the effort.”
If you missed the meeting, this 4 1/2-minute video captures many of the speakers, and O’Hara’s response to public input.
If you’re still curious for more, his complete, shocking 10-minute speech can be found at the meeting’s 2:26 minute mark, and exposes what O’Hara really thinks about individual citizens and community groups that don’t share his views but are nevertheless working for a better Encinitas. (Notably, Councilmember O’Hara doesn’t address the proliferation of anonymous social media accounts peddling his own political agenda.)