KELLIE SHAY HINZE

CITY COUNCIL MEMBER
COMPLETE STREETS ACTIVIST

Kellie is a native of Encinitas, with a BA in Psychology and Masters Education and a Masters in Global and International Studies. After teaching a year in Bhutan she chose to come back home where she worked for Leucadia 101 and is now currently an Encinitas Council Member. One of her passions is helping develop ‘complete streets’, streets that serve cars, pedestrians and bike riders.

HOUSING STORY

When I was growing up here in this house on Neptune owned by my grandparents, we always had people renting out rooms. I have really good memories of shared space with the tenants who lived here on the property together. We had chickens, a garden and little nooks and crannies for our own personal spaces. I have really good memories of shared meals and spaces with the tenants who lived here as I was growing up.

My grandma is still my landlord and she has kept my rent very low so that I am able to continue living in Encinitas. Many of my friends who also grew up here have left as they are no longer able to afford the cost of rent. I am extremely fortunate that my grandma, who was a teacher, saved her money to buy the house I live in now alongside her and my dad. Without her generosity, I would not be able to live in Encinitas.

How did you become a community leader in Encinitas?

While I was teaching in Bhutan, it opened my eyes to global and local governance and the wheels were turning for me about a global civil society and how there are some of us in the world who are lucky enough to choose where we want to live. That's not an opportunity available to most people in the world. I had never understood that privilege before. Once I understood it, I felt a new responsibility. I had been offered this really great position working on a globally focused project. Or should I come back to Encinitas without any job prospects or ideas about what I was going to do next. It really wasn't even a question for me. I knew I needed to come home.

It turned out all the training I had gotten through my degrees and experience internationally was perfect. I went from feeling disjointed in my early twenties to purposeful now here at home working with Leucadia 101 on issues I believed in that affected my own hometown. So, when becoming a member of the city council came along, it was the correct next step, even though I never planned on my life going in this direction.

Tell us about your passion for ‘complete streets’ here in Encinitas.

So much work has already been done in Encinitas to rethink our roads, our traffic. Mayor Blakespear's vision includes what I'm passionate about; mobility. There are also other active Encinitas leaders working on this issue. These are people who understand the technicalities of road design and can speak the language of traffic engineers to start incorporating aspects of “complete streets”, which are streets that serve cars, pedestrians and bike riders. Change can be difficult. And, personally, especially since Roberta Walker was hit and almost lost her life, I feel a lot more vulnerable on the street. I don't quit, I just think about the dangers more than before. My hope is that at some point, people who don't choose to bike can see that the choice for others to bike is actually helpful to their quest to reduce traffic, since then more cars are off the road.