Art, Politics and Music

Last night Encinitas City Hall was the place to be! While City Council decided on who would take the reins as Mayor until the people decide in 2014, Artie Mattson held the opening reception for her artworks on display at City Hall from now until January 10th.  

 

Art fans, jazz heads and hardcore political junkies all mixed in the courtyard.

Artie's twin sons' band Mattson 2 performed in front of City Hall.They will play again at the Encinitas Library this Friday.

 

It was decided that Mayor Theresa Barth would remain Mayor for six months with Councilwoman Lisa Shaffer as Deputy Mayor, while Councilwoman Kristin Gaspar would become Mayor for the remaining six months with Councilman Mark Muir as Deputy Mayor. The people will then decide on who gets to be Mayor for a two year term next November. For more on the council meeting, see this Coast News article.

Before Prop K, the Mayor of Encinitas was determined by a vote of City Council annually. While the SD Union Tribune has called the Encinitas Mayor position 'a largely ceremonial title', there's actually some very important aspects to being Mayor apart from the title of Mayor being a nice thing to put on a future resume when running for higher office. The most important powers of the Mayor of Encinitas, according to some hardcore political junkies I spoke with, are those of setting the City Agenda and selecting the Council Committee appointments. 

Yes, deciding what the City Council actually does week in & week out and deciding who represents the City in discussions with other entitites such as SANDAG, NCTD and the Housing Authority does sound kind of important. If it wasn't an important position, we'd probably just have the Council taking turns and not all of this brouhaha.

Either way, I'm still not sure if that was the weirdest Mattson 2 show, Art show or City Council meeting I've ever been to.