by The Editors on June 23, 2010
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]
by The Editors on June 21, 2010
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]
by Richard J. Riehl on June 4, 2010
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. . .
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on May 27, 2010
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]
by Thomas K. Arnold on May 26, 2010
I found it ironic that the day after the Carlsbad City Council imposed a realistic new contract on the city’s Firefighters Association, newspaper headlines up and down the state announced that the board of the California Public Employees Retirement System was asking the state for an additional $600 million handout to help pay for public employee retirement benefits next year.
The request (which was subsequently “delayed,” according to news reports, due to concerns about the state’s own financial viability) underscores the need for dramatic pension reform. Simply put, the overly generous benefits cities gave their employees in the early 2000s are unsustainable. We can’t afford to let our public safety employees retire at 50 and receive pensions as high as 90 percent of their peak-year salaries. But the unions that represent these workers have steadfastly refused to accept reality and renegotiate their contracts —- leading to two possible outcomes.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on May 18, 2010
Tonight, the City of Carlsbad City Council voted to “impose its last, best and final offer” to the Carlsbad Firefighters’ Association. It’s an offer the CFA has already turned down, but now it appears to be the deal they’re going to get from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010.
“I wish we could have come to an agreement, but at this time the City Council must take the action we feel is in the best interest of the city and the community,” said Claude A. “Bud” Lewis, mayor of Carlsbad. “This year’s difficult contract negotiations are a reflection of the tough times we are in and do not in any way diminish the appreciation and respect we have for the work of our employees.”
The terms of the deal include no salary increases and requires CFA members to pay nine percent of their salaries toward their own retirements. It also creates a secondary retirement tier for new employees that will pay out two-percent of their salary for each year worked after retirement at 50.
According to the North County Times, “Councilman Keith Blackburn opposed the decision, arguing that Carlsbad should be cautious and not be the first community to take such a drastic step. If all the other cities in the region have much better retirement plans, then Carlsbad is going to be the “last resort” employment option for any new firefighter, he said.”
Firefighters’ Association Vice President Chris Lawrence Lawrence was paraphrased as saying that “council’s decision would disappoint the city’s firefighters, but would not affect the high quality of care they provide.”
Click here for North County Times coverage, or follow the jump for the official word from the City of Carlsbad. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on May 18, 2010
The City of Carlsbadistan will implement some good old fashioned traffic directing this summer through a new digital technology that will allow remote operators to control the traffic lights at the city’s busiest intersection at Palomar Airport Road and El Camino Real.
“This new Traffic Management Center will revolutionize the way we manage traffic in the city,” said Doug Bilse, the city’s traffic signal systems engineer. “It’s a great example of investing in technology to work more efficiently and achieve better results.” . . . The purpose of the pilot program is to develop a five year program to replace the city’s current system, which is limited to a small number of traffic signals that can be coordinated. As the multi-year program is completed, city staff will be able to view the signal operations along an entire corridor and optimize the system to improve traffic flow through the city.
We wonder if a couple guys with florescent vests and a whistles couldn’t do an even better job. Follow the jump for all the details. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on May 18, 2010
At a Carlsbadistan City Council hearing tonight (Tuesday, May 18, 2010) the Carlsbad Firefighters Association will either get more time to discuss their issues with city official, or City Council will give the union a final offer that could effect 63 of the 85 fire department workers, according to a Ray Huard story in the North County Times.
Under the proposed plan, newly hired workers could retire at age 50 and collect a pension equal to 2 percent of their wages for every year they worked. The change wouldn’t apply to association members already working in the department, [city spokeswoman Kristina Ray] said.
Apparently, the CFA isn’t happy with that. We’re not sure who is right, but we know this–the people in the city who should be well paid fall into three groups in our opinion: teachers, firemen, and police officers.
Follow the jump for the City’s side of the story.
[Link: North County Times]
[click to continue…]
by Thomas K. Arnold on May 12, 2010
It’s one of the best ideas I’ve heard yet for Carlsbad’s quaint downtown village: turning an ugly old city maintenance yard on the south end of State Street into a skateboarding museum and “action arts center.”
The plans, presented to an unimpressed Carlsbad City Council by the Carlsbad Village Association, are absolutely, positively brilliant. In addition to the museum, the decrepit old yard would be home to an art gallery, an education building, a multimedia production center and a skatepark. Best of all for a city concerned about its finances, supporters aren’t asking for a dime of city money, hoping to fund the project solely through donations and grants.
All they want is the land.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on May 6, 2010
Carlsbad City Council candidate Jon Wantz announced today that he is endorsing councilman Keith Blackburn in his campaign for Mayor of Carlsbad.
“Councilman Blackburn’s vision is a long needed solution to what Carlsbad and its residents deserve,” Wantz said. “His stance on projects such as Alga Norte Park, Westfield Shopping Plaza, and Car Country Carlsbad are in line with mine. His proven leadership skills and commitment to a transparent local government were also factors.”
We’re actually looking forward to this election season. . .
[Link: Give It A Chance]
RSS Feed-Posts