The mayor of Encinitas highlighted the city’s “bold steps” regarding transportation in his final State of the City address.

Newly completed projects that make it easier to drive, ride and walk around Encinitas took center stage during the mayor’s annual State of the City address Thursday night.

“One of the reasons I’ve really enjoyed this State of the City event every year is that it allows an opportunity to pause and review what happened over the past year and use that framework to assess the future,” Mayor Catherine Blakespear said near the start of her television address. “Without the state of the city, one could easily move from project to project, and priority to priority, without noticing the seriousness of completed milestones. And for the city, the year 2022 was marked by many positive achievements.”

Among those key achievements were many transportation projects, Blakespear said, including:

The mayor said she was particularly proud of the “transformative power” of the Leucadia Streetscape project along the coastal highway, combined with the El Portal pedestrian tunnel.

“We have reunited a community that was separated by a railroad,” she said to much applause. “And we’ve re-created a positive public space for gathering and travel, where the freeway was once neglected and deteriorating.”

Thursday night’s address was delivered to a crowd of about 200 people at an event hosted by the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce at the Alila Marea Beach Resort, located at the far north end of the Leucadia Streetscape project. The event marked the sixth time that Blakespear has provided an annual assessment of the city’s status. It’s also her last – she’s running for the state Senate and is not seeking re-election as mayor this fall.

For the second year in a row, the speech was broadcast live on the city’s website, and while the video was occasionally out of focus and it was difficult to see the mayor’s face, the sound quality was good. To view the address, visit: https://m.youtube.com/c/CityofEncinitasCA/videos.

The crowd at Thursday’s event included representatives from the city’s three Main Street associations, many business people, elected officials and candidates for offices ranging from the school board to the water district. One person who did not attend was Councilwoman Kellie Hinze, who recently gave birth to a daughter, the mayor noted.

Several times during her speech, Blakespear said Encinitas was able to achieve its many recent successes because the city’s elected leaders, city employees and citizens were willing to take “bold action” to find solutions to tough problems, including creating overnight parking for people who have become homeless and temporarily live in their vehicles.

“It goes without saying that controversy follows bold action,” Blakespear said near the end of her speech. “But when you see problems solved and people’s lives improved, the pain of living through the controversy is worth it.”

A willingness to make tough decisions will also be needed by future city leaders in the coming years, she said, especially when it comes to resolving the city’s housing development conflicts.

“This is the toughest debate we have in the city,” Blakespear said, adding that she doesn’t expect that to change anytime soon. “I predict this city will continue to struggle with finding places to add affordable and market-rate housing.”

One arts-related project he expects to be highlighted next year is the renovation of the former Pacific View Elementary School. The city council has agreed to allocate $7 million to turn the long-vacant school property into a city cultural center. Renovation work should begin early next year and be completed by the summer of 2024, the mayor said, noting that a special council meeting will be held next week to discuss renovation plans and solicit construction bids. That meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, September 6.