To all it may concern in Oceanside, CA:
I didn’t grow up here. But I’ve resided here for 15 years, long enough to see city improvements & imperfections. I’ve lived here long enough to fall in love with its agriculture, its ideal climate & growing conditions, & believe in its value enough to start my own business here.
Improvements:
Green Oceanside’s Green Waste Recycling & Composting Program is awesome. Oceanside now even has a food waste kitchen, giving food one more chance to thrive before it’s composted. And Oceanside is undergoing a major effort to pipe reclaimed/recycled water out to its farmers by 2024. These are generous efforts for a much-needed food-secure, water-secure, job-secure, renewable future! Thank you, Oceanside.
Imperfections:
The politics of progress. For years, developers have pushed the city to build unwanted, unsustainable shopping plazas & housing developments. Take the Mission San Luis Rey Historic District for example. If you’ve ever been welcomed by the sign at the corner of Mission Avenue & El Camino, you won’t be welcomed by the historic Mission itself, but instead by a messy four-way intersection of strip malls blocking any possible view of the 200-year-old site. Oceanside seems to have sold its fertile & beautiful land, along with its history, long ago.
We work closely with the City & our neighbors to encourage City Council, City Staff, & the Planning Commission to slow down and carefully think about the paradise Oceanside is continually paving over. We hope the City & its citizens can continue to work together as a community to preserve our precious remaining agricultural region.
Food production is a privilege & should be seen as a great long-term asset to Oceanside. Retiring Farmers may want to sell their lands to developers for a higher return, but young farmers know that new farming innovation promotes jobs, soil regeneration & climate mitigation, natural diversity & wildlife, plus amazing tourism potential.
On Nov 6, City Council will be voting on a new North River Farms development, which is NOT A FARM, but another premature housing development threatening Oceanside’s agricultural land. The project conflicts with laws & logic & will have negative effects on traffic & environment.
Will the City have an awakening before it’s too late? Will tomorrow’s Oceansiders have a life in, on, or near a farm, or will tomorrow’s Oceansiders be forced to do their growing & shopping in other cities? That decision is up to the city.
Please write & call City Council urging them to vote NO on the North River Farms Project because “more time is needed to update the general city plan.” (Mayor’s Office: 760-435-3066; or send your concerns to: Council@oceansideca.org)
Or vote louder & attend the November 6, 2019 council meeting!
Thank you,
Jason Mraz
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