Hoping to unify La Jolla’s varying wants and needs, the La Jolla Town Council hosted its inaugural “One Voice” forum March 14 at the La Jolla Community Center.
The Town Council has a “responsibility to listen to La Jollans and then consolidate those messages to the people who can make real change,” Town Council President Treger Strasberg said.
The many contrasting opinions on everything from La Jolla’s seals, teenagers on e-bikes and other “wildly disparate topics” proves La Jollans “all share a common goal: to see La Jolla thrive,” she said.
As an addition to the forum, the Town Council presented a QR code, which led to an online survey about community members’ priorities, the results of which were updated and revealed throughout the evening.
Of the 19 surveys submitted by the end, the respondents ranked public safety/neighborhood watch as the top priority, with parking second.
To an audience of about 55 people, Strasberg commended the dozens of La Jolla planning groups, associations and other organizations for their “genuine desire to see La Jolla prosper.”
However, she said, “La Jolla associations don’t always get along. Despite our shared enthusiasm … it often feels as though we’re spinning our wheels, unable to move forward in division and discord.”
“What if we were to harness [our] collective energy and that shared vision? What if we could stand together with one voice?” Strasberg asked. “We would see real progress.”
After Strasberg spoke, representatives from several La Jolla businesses, community and civic planning groups and government offices spoke in turn about their organizations, including Friends of Coast Walk Trail, Prana Yoga Center and the La Jolla Village Merchants Association.
Ed Witt spoke on behalf of Enhance La Jolla, which is charged with running the Maintenance Assessment District in The Village to supplement city of San Diego projects. “We’re quite busy,” he said.
Representatives from philanthropy and service groups Las Patronas and the Rotary Club of La Jolla also spoke about their endeavors; community representatives for San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, City Councilmember Joe LaCava and other lawmakers welcomed people to share their views on local issues.
Members of the public and the present representatives were then invited to move to the patio for food, drinks and individual conversations.
“I’m asking you all to assume that someone else’s ideas, though they may contradict your own, do not come from a place of hurt or anger, but from a genuine concern for this community,” Strasberg said. “I urge each and every one of you to … listen to each other’s ideas and to seek to understand and look for opportunities to work together to find common ground.”
The Town Council will host these forums quarterly, she said, in order to “get all of us talking in one voice to the city and to our leaders.”
In the meantime, the La Jolla Town Council will continue to meet on the second Thursday of the month. Visit lajollatowncouncil.org for more information.
