The City of Carlsbad has a new city attorney. The City Council hasn’t voted on Celia A. Brewer’s appointment yet, but don’t let that stop the City from announcing her hiring. Brewer’s past work has included being interim attorney for the Port of San Diego, and assistant general council for the San Diego Water Authority.
“Celia’s diverse experience and collaborative style will be a great fit for Carlsbad,” said Mayor Matt Hall. “Her legal expertise coupled with strong leadership and communication skills will be invaluable as the city faces future challenges and opportunities.” . . Brewer will succeed City Attorney Ron Ball, who is retiring Dec. 31 following 26 years of service to the City of Carlsbad.
Brewer is scheduled to official start work on January 22, 2013. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
Oh, we love trash! Anything dirty or dingy or dusty Anything ragged or rotten or rusty. . . and it appears we’re not the only ones. The City of Carlsbad has planted six different styles of garbage cans in the Village of Carlsbad this week and they what your help deciding which style of trash receptacle you’d most like to see around town.
The trash receptacles are all located on State St. between Carlsbad Village Dr. and Grand Ave., with one by the fountain at State and Grand. Voting is open until November 30. . . The cans were either donated or loaned by various street furniture manufacturers. The goal of the contest is to determine which cans the public likes best and which perform the best — and ultimately to upgrade the existing receptacles throughout the Village.
Each can has a card on it explaining exactly how to vote. For complete info follow the jump [click to continue…]
Last week Carlsbad City Manager Lisa Hildabrand unexpectedly announced her retirement, effective at year’s end. But inside information from reliable sources speaking off the record suggests the occasion won’t be marked by a gold watch and tearful goodbyes. In fact, if you listen closely, you may hear city worker bees humming a tune sung by Munchkins in the Land of Oz.
On Tuesday, October 16 Hildabrand met with city council members for her annual performance review. Following that meeting she began negotiating a separation agreement with City Attorney Ron Ball. It provides severance pay of $192,000, equaling 10 months of her current salary, to be paid in a lump sum no later than January 15, 2013. [click to continue…]
After having called the police numerous times to complain about the motor homeless pulling up in front of our house in the middle of the night and camping out (and having the Carlsbad police tell us there was nothing they could do about it) we’re glad to finally see the City Council take action.
In a workshop on Tuesday, Oct. 16, the Council directed staff to draft an ordinance that would prohibit overnight parking of RVs within the City of Carlsbad between the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. The ordinance would include exceptions to accommodate the needs of city residents and guests. . . “The City of Carlsbad wants to continue to allow residents and tourists the ability to enjoy our great coastal weather and attractions in their recreational and oversized vehicles during the day,” City of Carlsbad Deputy Director of Transportation Bryan Jones said. But he noted that the practice of camping overnight in RVs on city streets results in many problems and complaints.
While we’d rather having the RV ban go into effect at midnight, but we’ll take 2 AM. For more complete details, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Apparently, there are some in Carlsbadistan who have been bumming out all their neighbors, making their street look trashy, and being bad people in general by leaving their trash cans out on the street well after pick up day. But thankfully, that is against the law and the City of Carlsbad is sending volunteers out with reminder notices to make sure everyone picks up after themselves.
Under city laws, trash carts may be put out on the street between 6 p.m. the day before collection and 6 a.m. the day of collection. They must be removed no later than midnight the day of collection. . . “Residents have done a great job making the switch to the new trash service,” said Craig Schmollinger, management analyst for the city’s Utilities Department. “The goal of this effort is to give a friendly reminder to residents about the need to take their carts in after trash day.”
Do everyone a favor and put your trash cans away after they’ve been emptied. That way, no one has to place a reminder on your can. Follow the jump for more info. [click to continue…]
How stoked are we with the latest news from the City of Carlsbadistan? Way. The Carlsbad City Council recently voted to ban smoking from all outdoor restaurant areas were food and/or alcohol are served as part of an update to the City’s ordinance covering smoking.
The ordinance was introduced Sept. 25 and will come before the City Council for adoption, currently scheduled for Oct. 2. The new ordinance will go into effect 30 days after its adoption. At that time, dining establishments will be required to ban smoking in outdoor spaces where they serve food or drinks, and to post signs alerting patrons of the ban. It would also require smokers to stay at least 20 feet away from outdoor dining areas, to prevent second-hand smoke from affecting diners.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now if we could just get smoking outdoors (including in a car with the windows down) banned in Carlsbadistan, things would be all good. People are aren’t allowed to defecate all over the city’s streets, why should smokers be allowed to stink everything up? Think about it.
For the official word from the City of Carlsbad, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Tonight from 7 to 9 PM (September 7, 2012) the Village of Carlsbadistan will bask in the bright twinkle of decorative LED lights.
The decorative lights are Phase 2 of the Village Works “Light the Village” pilot project. Phase 1 saw the addition of LED rope lights on the pedestrian poles on Carlsbad Village Dr. between Carlsbad Blvd. and Roosevelt St.
Now through a partnership between businesses, property owners, and the City of Carlsbad, the whole Village looks a little brighter. For the official word, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Carlsbadians who couldn’t afford the $85-a-plate Chamber of Commerce State of the City report luncheon at the Sheraton last month were invited to a free showing of a ten-minute video at the Dove Library a few days later. Former Mayor Bud Lewis didn’t like to give or listen to long speeches, so he turned to videos to serve as the annual report to city residents. Mayor Matt Hall continued the tradition, sacrificing information for feel-good entertainment.
Sinclair Lewis would have smiled at the unbridled boosterism of Carlsbad city officials featured in this year’s State of the City video. He’d be reminded of the self-satisfied city fathers of Zenith, Babbit’s fictional Midwestern hometown. But Carlsbad residents were shortchanged if they expected to get more than a virtual pep rally from their city’s annual report. [click to continue…]
Mark Twain once said of life’s injustices, “No good deed goes unpunished.” That came to mind when I learned of Carlsbad’s plan to outsource jobs of city workers who sacrificed pay and benefits over the last several years to help the city survive the Great Recession. Carlsbad not only survived, it prospered on the backs of those worker bees.
The city council voted Tuesday night to seek bids from contractors to outsource all parks maintenance services. A consulting firm was paid $102,000 for a report claiming contractors could save the city $1.7 to $3.68 million each year.
What’s wrong with this picture? Ninety-six percent of city residents rate parks maintenance “good” or “excellent.” But city officials are now ready to risk that level of citizen satisfaction by replacing those responsible for it with lower-paid workers hired to enhance the profitability of a private contractor.
The consultants compared Carlsbad’s yearly parks maintenance cost per-acre, half of which is currently contracted out, with that of three regional cities that outsource all landscaping services. Only one, at $5,464 per acre, was lower than Carlsbad’s $6,572. The other two spent $10,353 and $10,104. [click to continue…]
In a move that would seem to be just the beginning of a push to reduce the number lower-paid City of Carlsbad employees, the Carlsbadistan City Council last night voted to “pursue outsourcing of all parks maintenance work” according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
The move came just a few weeks after city-hired consultants issued a report showing the city could save between $1.7 million and $3.68 million by outsourcing all parks maintenance work, including tree-trimming, lawn mowing, irrigation system repairs and weed prevention. . . Council members emphasized that the ultimate decision to outsource wasn’t happening Tuesday night —- their move simply starts that process and will give them more data on potential cost savings.
According to the story, outsourcing the park maintenance could affect 48 dedicated, skilled City of Carlsbad workers. Hopefully, the council will remember that our parks look as great as they do because we have people who care working on them. All outsourcing does is take our public funds and channel them directly into the hands of private corporations who profit by not paying their workers a living wage. It also pushes accountability further and further away. On the other hand, think of all the money the City could save if it outsourced all of its administration functions?
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Get Riehl: City Manager “Retires”
by Richard J. Riehl on October 30, 2012
On Tuesday, October 16 Hildabrand met with city council members for her annual performance review. Following that meeting she began negotiating a separation agreement with City Attorney Ron Ball. It provides severance pay of $192,000, equaling 10 months of her current salary, to be paid in a lump sum no later than January 15, 2013. [click to continue…]
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