Three young people killed on Encinitas streets in roughly 14 months. Now the council is acting.

The City Council will hold a special session focused on roadway safety and traffic enforcement at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, at City Hall, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The announcement came after the community advocacy group Safe Streets Encinitas staged a rally at City Hall on July 21 demanding the city treat pedestrian deaths as an emergency.

The meeting follows the July 10 death of Fin Fadick, 17, who was struck and killed while crossing El Camino Del Norte near Edelweiss Lane in Olivenhain at approximately 7:15 p.m. Fadick, who used they/them pronouns and was set to begin their senior year at San Dieguito Academy, died at the scene.

Fadick's death was the third time a young person was killed on Encinitas streets since June 2023, when 15-year-old Brodee Champlain-Kingman died in an e-bike collision at South El Camino Real and Santa Fe Avenue. On April 25, 2025, 12-year-old Emery Chalekian was killed crossing Encinitas Boulevard at Village Square Drive after a driver ran a red light. She was walking back to her dance studio after dinner.

What Safe Streets Encinitas wants

Safe Streets Encinitas, founded by Emery Chalekian's parents John and Bridget Chalekian, is pushing the city to declare a formal state of emergency over pedestrian fatalities and create a street safety task force with representatives from the council, city engineering, the fire and sheriff's departments and local schools.

The group also wants the city to fund physical infrastructure changes immediately.

"We don't want to hear excuses about driver behavior or driver convenience," founding member Laura Van Dusen said at the July 21 rally. "These are children. 'Stop, look and listen' doesn't help when a car is speeding and blows through a red light that's been red for six seconds. The city is responsible for infrastructure that protects them."

Van Dusen told inewsource in June that the group considers three principles critical to improving pedestrian safety: slowing vehicle speeds, shortening crossing distances and increasing driver compliance with traffic laws.

Safe Streets Encinitas member Rhiana Glor has cited Hoboken, New Jersey, as a model, the Union-Tribune reported. That city adopted Vision Zero policies and has gone nine consecutive years without a traffic fatality, achieving the streak through lowered speed limits, curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalks and a task force with shared accountability.

Red-light cameras back on the table

Separately, the council has docketed a red-light camera agenda item for its regular Wednesday, Sept. 9, meeting. The city's Mobility & Traffic Safety Commission voted 5-1 in February to recommend reinstalling the cameras, which Encinitas removed in 2020 during the early months of the COVID pandemic.

A state law that took effect in January 2026, Senate Bill 720, changed the rules: cameras now photograph only license plates, not drivers, and violations are treated as civil penalties starting at $100 rather than criminal fees that previously reached $490 with court costs. Revenue must be spent on roadway safety projects, inewsource reported. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has found that red-light cameras reduced fatal red-light running crashes in large cities by 21%.

Broader context

The pressure on the council has been building for nearly a year. In September 2025, Commissioner James Gross told the Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission that Encinitas had already recorded four traffic deaths that year, more than double what a city its size should expect.

"This is not normal," Gross said at the commission's Sept. 8, 2025, meeting. "The data does not support this being normal at all, and we should not accept this rate of death in our city."

The commission voted at that meeting to send city leaders a letter recommending a state of emergency declaration. In June 2026, the council unanimously approved safety improvements at the Village Park Way and Park Dale Lane intersection, including pedestrian refuge islands, lane narrowing and an all-way stop, backed by a $500,000 appropriation from the general fund.

Meanwhile, the criminal case tied to Emery Chalekian's death remains unresolved. Eddie Sengendo, 45, charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, had his trial date vacated at an Aug. 13 readiness hearing at Vista Courthouse. Both sides return Sept. 14 as plea negotiations continue, The Coast News reported.

The specific agenda for the Aug. 26 special meeting has not been published. Residents can check encinitasca.gov for the posted agenda ahead of the 4 p.m. session at City Hall.