Mayor Dwight Worden presented the current state of affairs in Del Mar. He is the Mayor of Del Mar. Now retired, he practiced law for 30 years in coastal north county, serving as Del Mar City Attorney from 1977-1983. He also served on the Coastal Commission as a Governor and President of the Senate appointee and is heavily involved in all Del Mar activities. One fun fact about Dwight is that he plays bass and fiddle in two bluegrass bands that perform throughout the region.
Some of the key highlights from his talk were as follows:
- Politics has become very contentious and some civility needs to happen.
- He believes that climate change is a key factor in the issue of sea-level rise that Del Mar is facing.
- On the technology side there are advancements and research in making crippled people walk.
- On the Biology side, nano technology is allowing miniature pills containing cameras to go through the body and take pictures.
- As far as state of CA he feels that democrats may lose but there are more NPP (No Party Preference) voters rising.
- As far Del Mar specific highlights, he had the following points --
- The city has a population of 4200 with 2 million annual travelers and about 3 million visitors to the annual fair.
- Biggest issue is the cost of land and lack of affordable housing. He wishes that teachers and firemen and other service professionals could afford a place there.
- San Diego county overall has a shortage of housing units by 171,000.
- Short-term rentals is another major issue and they are working on some reasonable solution.
- Residents are also concerned of the rising sea-level threat. They expect about 3-5 feet rise by 2070. The city is planning a "managed retreat" and some cities, such as, Cardiff is testing the use sand dunes to hold back the ocean water.
- Water restriction is another big challenge here. There is a $13 Billion proposal to add 2 tunnels from north CA to south CA.
- Side walk re-vitalization project has been approved and we should soon see an enhanced look for down-town.
- The Del Mar Plaza is now under new management since last year and these new owners are local Del Mar residents and so there are big plans to renovate the Del mar Plaza soon.
- He said that the City Council project is complete now and it was one of the projects that was on time and under budget! It has 140 parking places and the vendors will pay some fee but it will be free for customers.
Charles popped the question as to why he chose this role. The mayor said that as a lawyer for 30 years he wanted to explore how it feels to sit on the "other side" as a policy-maker. He said it is mostly rewarding but not to expect a thank you from anyone.
In the end, our club president Bill Sutton awarded the Joshua Malawi school certificate to Dwight that represents donation of school supplies by DMSB to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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