Oceanside CA— Oceanside, CA. – The Sierra Club has endorsed three candidates for the Oceanside City Council elections. Esther Sanchez is endorsed for Mayor, Shari Mackin for council District Three and Jane Marshall for District Four. The Sierra Club also recommends a NO vote on Measure L, the citizen’s referendum on a dense housing development on Oceanside farmland, according to co-chairs of the Sierra Club Oceanside team, Barbara Collins and Roger Davenport.
Speaking about Measure L, Davenport said, “The Sierra Club does not oppose development, we support it in the right places, with affordable housing where people can access services and jobs. But we say No on Measure L because it will sharply increase traffic congestion and put a dense housing development in a wildfire danger area on some of the last remaining farmland in North County.”
“This election is critical for the quality of life Oceanside and the endorsed candidates will do the best job of supporting smart growth, protecting water and air quality, promoting job growth with middle class wages, and supporting social equity and justice,” said Collins.
Esther Sanchez will bring experienced leadership to the Mayor’s office. She is an effective advocate for growing jobs with middle class wages, livable neighborhoods and bicycle-friendly policies for the City. She has worked to develop affordable housing in smart growth areas, preserve land from harmful development, and to adopt measures that would add to and protect parkland, agricultural land, watershed resources and the coast. She championed the Oceanside’s Zero Waste goal which has been a model for communities throughout the country.
Shari Mackin has lived in south Oceanside for over 40 years. She’s a retired teacher and she served on the City Council from 2005-2006. As the Deputy Mayor under Mayor Wood she secured a $7.3 million grant for UV water treatment. She fought a proposed aquarium at the Oceanside Harbor which would have eliminated the harbor beach. She was a leader in the successful grassroots effort to stop the Manchester Resort project in 1998 when the City Council gave a hotel development company unprecedented access to a large portion of the Oceanside beach and 400+ acres of city-owned land in the heart of Oceanside.
Jane Marshall is a successful small business owner who has lived in District 4 for over 30 years. Working with Scenic Oceanside, she succeeded in stopping a proposal to allow Las Vegas sized flashing billboards on Highways 76 and 78 in Oceanside. She also organized Oceanside residents to stop a four-lane road from being built through Guajome Regional Park in east Oceanside. She worked to get Measure L on the ballot so Oceanside residents can decide whether to allow a sprawl housing development on Oceanside’s farmland.