The Carlsbad City Council gets a lot of emails. They’re typically from concerned constituents about upcoming meetings.

But in the lead-up to the July 15 council meeting, there was a noticeable uptick. The council received more than 25 emails, all about the same agenda item. The item wasn’t particularly high stakes. It was a procedural issue about applications that were outside the previously-approved housing plan. Many of the emails contained similar wording, urging the council to keep the housing plan the same.

At the meeting itself, Councilmember Priya Bhat-Patel brought up the surge in community engagement. Along with the majority of the council, she voted for the motion.

“Sometimes a few dozen emails may make the difference in terms of what the decision ends up being,” Bhat-Patel sa

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