This page explains, in simple steps, how you can help preserve the Thursday bridge game at the Encinitas Community & Senior Center. Each section is a clear action you can take.
Next week, petitions will be available at these games:
Simply attend one of these games and sign the petition there.
You can make a public comment! Click for instructions.
Your presence matters even if you choose not to speak.
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Encinitas City Hall
Address: 505 S. Vulcan Ave., Encinitas, CA 92024
Arrive a little early so you can find seating and be present when the item is discussed.
If you wish to speak, please follow these steps:
This is your speech, so you may say anything you want. If you wish, you may draw content from the Appendix below.
If you know what it takes, please share, so we can act to put the item on the agenda.
Once the item is on the agenda, everyone can submit their comments to the City Clerk about it.
If you reside in Encinitas, click here to find your district from the Encinitas District Map .
Knowing your district number will tell you who your Council Member is.
| District | Council Member | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Shaffer | 760-633-2622 | lshaffer@encinitasca.gov |
| 2 | Jim O'Hara | 760-633-2620 | johara@encinitasca.gov |
| 3 | Joy Lyndes | 760-633-2621 | jlyndes@encinitasca.gov |
| 4 | Marco San Antonio | 760-633-2623 | msanantonio@encinitasca.gov |
Please email your council member. This is your email, so you may say anything you want. You may draw content from the Appendix below.
In the email, please copy the mayor, Mr. Bruce Ehlers, at behlers@encinitasca.gov. It is appropriate that Mr. Ehlers gets sufficient time to research the request, confirm the facts, and assist the council members during the meeting.
When signing the email, please add your street address, so the council member can verify that you are indeed a constituent of theirs.
In writing, please remember that the readers likely have no idea what bridge is,
and/or that one is already hosted at the Center and/or that they are the ones setting the rates.
You can request then new price to be anything you want it to be.
Here are some options:
Request the new price to be $12: $9 to the instructor and $3 to the City.
Arguments FOR doing so: More palatable, anything higher almost doubles it.
Arguments AGAINST doing so: The Center's share drops from 30% to 25%. Will need a new Director, because Larry has extra expenses for subcontract labor to lug things.
Request the new price to be $12 without specifying a split.
Arguments FOR doing so: More palatable, anything higher almost doubles it.
Arguments AGAINST doing so: The Center will surely keep 30%. Will need a new Director, because Larry has extra expenses for subcontract labor to lug things.
Request the new price to be $13, same 70-30 split:
Arguments FOR doing so: Only asking for one thing, the new price, not a new split. If they go for it, continuity is assured, because Larry will take over.
Arguments AGAINST doing so: It is almost double the previous price, and less likely to be accepted.
Raise the fee for the Thursday bridge game from $7 to ___.
Bridge is a four-person strategy card game played worldwide, and the world’s most popular card game. It involves mental acuity, strategy, memorization, counting, and sometimes subterfuge. It is a great social activity, especially for seniors trying to stay mentally active. For many seniors, it is the only weekly social interaction they enjoy, and a vital respite from isolation.
Every Thursday afternoon the Community & Senior Center hosts a bridge game. For the last 30+ years the management of this Center has done an amazing job with the facility: The diligence, cleanliness, helpfulness, and all-around excellence of the Center staff have helped this game grow to be the largest in the area. This game now attracts some 80 seniors every week. Before COVID, it drew over 150 seniors. Encinitas is now the Bridge Capital of San Diego County.
The long-time organizer/director of this game, Ms. Ida Burcham, is now retiring after some 30 years of running this game along with her late husband, Mr. Paul Landrum.
No new Director is willing to step up and replace Ms. Burcham because of the pricing: The activity is treated as a “class”. As such, the City Council has imposed a fee of $7/student, 30% of which goes to the Center and 70% to the instructor.
Categorizing this game as a class does not do justice to the game: if anything, the game is more of a 4-hour “lab”.
Categorizing this game as a class does not do justice to the amount of work that the Center staff must do: For a class, 4 more students would mean 4 more chairs. For bridge, it would mean 5 chairs and another table. At 30% of $7, the Center gets only $2.10 per player.
Categorizing this game as a class does not do justice to what the instructor must do to earn the remaining $4.90 per player:
The storage and labor needed for running the game are substantial:
It is an absolute miracle that Ms. Burcham has continued to operate this game for so long with the declining buying power of the $7 price of the ticket.
Raising the fee will not place the game out of anyone’s affordability range: these same seniors are already paying $13 at Oasis (Rancho Bernardo), the second largest club in the county.
Raising the fee costs nothing to the City: the players are already paying it.
So, for bridge only, I request that the City Council raises the fee to _____________.
Time is short; please act quickly.