Carlsbadistan

With the retirement of a mayor who has been in office for a quarter of a century and two City Council seats up for grabs, Carlsbad voters will have their first opportunity in decades to make a substantial change in city leadership.

The incumbents have a lot going for them. The city’s in better financial shape than its neighbors, and public opinion surveys show three out of four Carlsbadians have faith in their city government.

Here’s a peek at the candidacies of two council members who say they want to be Carlsbad’s next mayor, Matt Hall and Keith Blackburn.

Continue reading ‘The Riehl World: A Peek At The Races’

In his North County Times column this week TK Arnold remembers his friend and Carlsbad City Treasurer Harold “Mac” McSherry.

Maybe an hour after police found his father’s body in his State Street office, Travis McSherry, the eldest son of Carlsbad City Treasurer Harold “Mac” McSherry, posted this on his dad’s Facebook page: “I’m angry and confused. I don’t know why you felt that was your only way out. But you were loved and you will be missed. RIP. I love you, dad.” That pretty well sums up the feelings of most of us who knew McSherry, who took his own life after facing increasing pain from a brain tumor. . . We’re angry, because Mac was such as integral part of our lives, and he had no right to rip himself away from us.

He will certainly be missed. For the rest of Arnold’s thoughts please click the link.

[Link: North County Times]

In an official press release from the City of Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis officially confirmed the death of City Treasurer Harold “Mac” McSherry and reminded us all of the kind of man he was:

“Mac approached his role as city treasurer very professionally, always working to make sure city funds were safe and earning the highest rate of return for our taxpayers,” said Mayor Claude A. “Bud” Lewis. “He was a man with a tremendous intellect and immense curiosity about the world and was also very generous with his time giving back to our community. He will be greatly missed by his entire City of Carlsbad family.”

Our thoughts are with everyone at the City offices but mostly with the McSherry’s family and their close friends. For the rest of the release, follow the jump.
Continue reading ‘Carlsbad Mourns The Loss Of Harold McSherry’

According to a note posted on Julie Nygaard’s facebook page the three-term former Carlsbad City Councilwoman is no longer in the race for a seat on the Carlsbad City Council.

In a status update posted at 12:27 PM July 12, 2010 she wrote the following:

After much thought, deliberation and soul-searching, I have decided to not seek election to the Carlsbad City Council.

As many of you may know, I have a new grandchild in my life, and I want to spend more time with her. While I believe I have assembled a winning team, the commitment of campaigning, and then serving on the council, is not one I want to make at this point in my life.

Carlsbad is a special place because of the people who live, work and play here. I love this community, and I only want the best for it. I know Carlsbad will continue to be the best place to live in Southern California.

I want to thank all the people who have helped during this time, particularly my campaign management team of James Comstock, Julie Baker and Ellen Roundtree. They have been very generous in their commitment to me. They are owed a special thank you.

I also want to thank all the people who have encouraged me, believed in me and helped me throughout the years. Your help has been greatly appreciated.

I am proud of the projects that I have worked on throughout the years. Working together, we have created an amazing community.

I will continue to be involved in Carlsbad as a member of the Planning Commission. I will still make my presence known in Carlsbad, and I’m sure I will see many of you around.

Thanks, again, for your support.

Sincerely,

Julie Nygaard

There is sure to be more on this story in the coming days.

[Link: Facebook]

At the City Council meeting last night (June 29, 2010) the City announced that to cover the $4.2 million in loans it has made to “keep the golf course in the black” it is now planning to “transfer” and possibly sell two pieces of City-owned property, according to a story in the North County Times.

Initially, the two lots were to be leased to golf-related businesses, but they have stood vacant since they were created. . . One parcel is about 5 acres and the other is about 7 acres. They sit on each side of College Boulevard on the eastern edge of The Crossings at Carlsbad course. . . Joe Garuba, who is handing the issue for the city, said after Tuesday’s meeting that there has been “some interest” recently in the properties, but declined to provide specifics about the negotiations. . . . “I’m not going to talk about who or what,” he said.

We have one question: How much of Carlsbadistan is this golf course going to eat up before someone puts a stop to it? The Lossings has already cost the City of Carlsbad nearly $70 million and now the City want’s to begin slicing off pieces of itself to pay for more?

If the City is going to sell anything to cover its golf course loans it should simply cut it losses and sell the golf course to Legoland. They can throw up a few block sculptures, create some Lego golf carts, call it the “World First Lego Golf Course” and charge $350 green fees.

We’re not usually in favor of privatization, but The Lossings has been a revenue suck for over a decade and the sooner the City gets out of it the better. Then the City can spend a tiny fraction of that money on things everyone will use like parks, swimming pools, and skateboard parks. . .

[Link: North County Times via VoteJonWantz]

A man who reportedly calls himself “Mr. Watchdog” was thrown out of the Carlsbadistan City Council Meeting on Tuesday June 22, 2010 after he apparently referred to the Carlsbad Police Department’s handing of homeless people as “bullshit,” according to a story in the San Diego Reader.

Mr. Watchdog was the first citizen to address the council. He claimed that Carlsbad police are harassing homeless people, especially those living in their vehicles. He asserted that police accuse the homeless of camping illegally when, in fact, they’re trying to keep a roof over their heads. . . Mr. Watchdog didn’t get much further on this point after saying the policing approach was “bullsh-t.” Mayor Claude “Bud” Lewis interrupted. A courtroom officer approached the speaker and stood next to him. “I have three minutes. What is this? Show me the law that says cussing is illegal,” he yelled as the officer escorted him out. “You’re done,” said Lewis, to which Mr. Watchdog responded, “Okay, another lawsuit. Thank you.” As he was led out, he said “f— you” multiple times.

Now the man claims he is going to file a lawsuit.

The City should certainly take this seriously. A similar case in Santa Cruz, California in which homeless advocate Robert Norse was removed from council chambers in 2002 for giving the mayor a Nazi salute resulted in a free speech lawsuit that is currently being heard in a federal appeals court and could end up in the Supreme Court.

[Link: San Diego Reader and LA Times]

Founding directors from left are: Jacquie Thye, President; Harriet Norris and Edna Gibson, Vice Presidents; Tom Hersant, Secretary and Kim Miller, Treasurer. Not shown are directors Bernard Doughty and Rich Paulsen.

The Carlsbadistan City Council may have voted to end their support of the The Sister City committee after 22 years, but that’s not going to end the relationship between Carlsbad and its sister cityes of Futtsu, Japan and Karlovy Vary (a.k.a. Karlsbad), Czech Republic, according to Jacquie Thye the president of the newly formed Carlsbad Sister City Ambassadors.

CSCA has formed a nonprofit corporation to continue Carlsbad’s 20-year sister city relationships with Futtsu, Japan and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. It will also search out other world cities to promote peace, cultural awareness and economic opportunities for Carlsbad residents and businesses. Your ideas and support are welcomed to showcase the many faces of Carlsbad to the world through delegation visits, student home stays, group travel, seminars and other exchanges.

It’s nice to see private citizens taking action when the City drops the ball. For more information of the Carlsbad Ambassadors, click the link.

[Link: Carlsbad Ambassadors]

Three years ago in one of our first posts on the Carlsbadistan blog (hard to believe we’re growing up so quickly, huh?) we mentioned the “motor homeless problem.” Here’s a little of what we said:

Like the swallows to San Juan Capistrano, each summer sees the return of a handful of motorhomeless to Carlsbad. Each day they make their migration from one free parking spot in the neighborhood to the sea wall. We believe it’s time for a “No Vehicles Over Seven Feet Tall” ordinance.

Now, according a story last week to the North County Times, the City of Carlsbadistan might actually doing something about the problem. San Diego’s Fox 5 was even on the scene yesterday. So we’ll repeat it again: all the city needs to do is put in a maximum height requirement of seven feet on all the streets. How hard is that?

[Link: North County Times]

At the close of the Carlsbad City Council’s May 18 meeting, Councilman Matt Hall observed, “History keeps repeating itself. When this issue first came before us in 2001, the mayor and I both voted against it.”

He was referring to an increase in retirement benefits approved nine years ago on a 3-2 vote. This time he joined the mayor on the winning side of a 4-1 vote to roll back those benefits.

Hall’s parting shot was self-serving and unnecessary, unless, of course, you’re running for mayor as the incumbent’s clone.

The new contract reduces benefits for new hires, requires current employees to increase their contribution to the state’s pension fund from 1 percent to 9 percent of annual salary and rejects a request for a 5 percent salary increase to partially offset that pay cut.

The council has been praised for saving the city from bankruptcy and showing leadership for other cities to emulate. But a closer look suggests city officials were motivated more by payback than prudence.

Follow the jump for the rest. . .

Continue reading ‘The Riehl World: Carlsbad Burns Firefighters’

While the recent City Council hammer drop on the Carlsbad Fire Department resulted in what some consider to be an eight percent pay cut for Carlsbadistan’s fire fighters and second rate benefits for new hires, the Carlsbad Police Department has apparently reached a “tentative” deal that will give their staff a four percent raise over the next two years according to a Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

. . . the police officers will receive a 4 percent raise over two years, in two 2 percent installments. And they will pick up the 8 percent share of their pension contributions over two years, in two 4 percent increments. . . .The City Council this week didn’t impose a two-tier pension system on police officers, but plans to hold a vote in November to have residents decide whether to cap employee pension benefits.

According to our calculations that means the police officers only got a four percent pay cut of the next two years. Better than eight, right? Not only that but the new guys won’t get worse benefits.

[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]