Community Corner

Letter: Downtown Encinitas Becoming Increasingly Dangerous After Dark

In a letter to the editor, Michael and Nora Wohlfeld express their thoughts on the city's growth and safety.

We have lived in the fine city of Encinitas for 35 years. For half this time, we have lived on Second and Third Streets and can say it was a great experience and biggest problem with noise and disturbance was a post office truck two times a night.

Certainly all this has changed and growth is normal especially for a beach community. Planned growth is crucial to say the least. Sadly, there are now more bars staying open past midnight than anything else in the Downtown area. Every Sunday morning I help set up the new Self-Realization Fellowship J Street chapel and most of the time is spent picking up trash: beer cans, cigarette butts, stuck chewing gum, lots of paper and even clothes that have been left behind! Along with this, we have had to repair lights and other things that got broken since the day before (Saturday) when it is cleaned.

We can also say that we no longer feel safe biking anywhere near Downtown after dark. Even up to a few years ago, it always felt very safe to bike even at 10 pm. 

With this change, we have moved one mile East into a very quiet, safe neighborhood in which adults and children feel very comfortable being outside even at night.

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It is obvious that solutions are needed and need to be to implemented if we all want to have a safe and friendly Downtown. Bar owners have spent lots of money buying licenses and remodeling buildings and it is undestandable that they have a "right" to use their investment. However, in all cases, there must be a ballance between business rights and community rights. Perhaps a first step is get all the bar owners together with the city personal, explain the problems and complaints, and let them offer solutions they can abide by and live with. Obviously this must be well organized and followed through with so it does not simply become a token gesture. On any night, it is clear that most of the customers doing business in Downtown Encinitas drive here from other areas, leave their trash, etc. and then go home. 

Michael and Nora Wohlfeld

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