Encinitas City Council candidate Tony Kranz

If residents voting for Encinitas City Council are looking for a candidate that knows the city, Tony Kranz says to look no further. Kranz moved to Encinitas when he was just a year old (in 1960) and went to Ocean Knoll, St. John’s and Oak Crest before graduating from San Dieguito High School in 1977.

An incumbent who has served on the City Council since 2012, Kranz says his familiarity with the city makes him a good choice for one of the three open seats. Kranz is running against fellow incumbent Mark Muir, Planning Commissioners Tony Brandenburg and Tasha Boerner Horvath, and former Assembly candidate Phil Graham in the Nov. 8 election.

Tony Kranz (Courtesy)

“The other candidates are all fine people and would bring their own perspective to the City Council, but none of them graduated from San Dieguito and have the experience of being part of Encinitas when it was the ‘Flower Capital of the World,’” Kranz said in an email to the Encinitas Advocate. “That said, I look forward to serving the community with two of them.”

A graduate of Palomar (AA degree) and Cal Poly, and a printing and graphic arts project manager by trade, Kranz spent time living in Alaska (where he was a member of the Army National Guard) and Minnesota before settling back in Encinitas in 1997 with his wife Cynthia. They have three adult children, James, 31, Brian, 29, and Stephanie, 26.

In addition to his work on the Council, Kranz’s public service includes being the Vice Chairman of the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor board, a Joint Powers Authority, representing the North County Transit District.

“Locally, I have been working to build more safe, legal ways to get across the railroad tracks and to reduce the impacts of trains on our quality of life,” Kranz said. “To these ends, the city received a $4.7 million grant from the state to build an under crossing in Leucadia from El Portal to Paul Ecke Central School and we have budgeted money for a legal crossing at Montgomery Avenue in Cardiff.

“We are also doing a study of the improvements that would be necessary to create a ‘Quiet Zone’ throughout Encinitas.”

As he has watched Encinitas grow, Kranz now sees transportation as an issue that must be focused on now.

“The impacts of traffic on our community are significant and it is important to make our roads safer and more efficient.” Kranz explained. “I believe the first step to accomplish this is to update the Circulation Element of the city’s General Plan and to use the public outreach during this process to prioritize improvements.

“We must have a strong voice in regional decisions about the transportation infrastructure that cuts through our communities and leaders with vision to usher in the age of autonomous vehicles. Improving our biking and walking infrastructure is also a high priority of mine.”

Kranz is also proud of his work making the new Marine Safety Center happen at Moonlight Beach, construction is getting started soon, and he believes that another focus of the Council should be growth control:

“Controlling growth will be very important and I will continue to do everything I can to limit the impacts of development on our communities. I will do all that I can to improve our quality of life and protect our environment.”