by The Editors on November 15, 2007
At 8:35 PM tonight the members of the California Costal Commission are still meeting the Sheraton San Diego Hotel at 1433 Camino Del Rio South. From the thoughts expressed by commissioners Sara J. Wan and Steve Blank it does not look like it’s going well for the Poseidon Resources or plans for the desalination plant.
There is a whole bunch of information that is simply not available to us to make our decision. . . I’d love to be able to approve a desal project that would work, but this is not it as presented,” Wan said.
From the sounds of the discussion it is the opinion of at least three of the Commission members that Poseidon and friends did not provide the information and mitigation measure details needed for the Coastal Commission to make any decision on the plan at all. Commissioner Larry Clark summed it up this way:
We have one of two options. . . we have the option of spending the next few hours going through each and every one of these conditions, or we can continue this matter. My sense of this is that we are far better off if we continue this matter.
If you’re online you can watch the the hearing live by clicking here.
[Link: California Coastal Commission]
by The Editors on November 15, 2007
If a ban on smoking at Carlsbad beaches could raise tax revenue for the city you know the Carlsbad City Council would have been all over it years ago. But seeing as a beach smoking ban is simply a smart, well-reasoned thing to do, the Council has only recently thought about it.
“Apparently, we’re the last one to consider a smoking ban,” Councilman Mark Packard said, mentioning that the Encinitas City Council decided Tuesday to draw up such an ordinance.
According to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times Carlsbad is that last North County city in San Diego County to take action. Bans are already in place in Del Mar, Oceanside and Solana Beach.
But not everyone is in favor of this ban. Mayor Bud Lewis thinks this “smacks of over-regulation,” and Councilwoman Julie Nygaard doesn’t see a “butt-problem” at Carlsbad beaches. Then there’s Police Chief Tom Zoll. He seems to view it as more work:
Enforcement of a smoking ban at the beach won’t be easy — it could require dispatching an officer to walk the beach, he said.
Yes, Chief Zoll, an officer may actually need to get out of his or her car and we know how dangerous that can be.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 15, 2007
We’re thinking of creating the Carlsbadistan Bank Robbery Tote Board, just so we can more easily keep track of all the bank robberies in our quaint little village (this is number six in six months).
Today’s perp was described as a white, 60-year-old man, 5 feet 10, about 160 pounds wearing glasses, a white shirt, and blue jeans.
The man entered the [California Bank and Trust] branch on Carlsbad Village Drive near Madison Street about 10:45 a.m. After the teller gave him the money, the robber ran away. No weapon was seen.
Though we find it hard to believe that he ran all that fast. He was 60.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on November 14, 2007
The votes are in and the new student council at Kelly Elementary school includes (from left to right): Grady McDermott, vice president; Allison DeGour, secretary; Ethan Emery, president; and Analisa Almaguer, treasurer. Given the chance, we’d swap these four out with the Carlsbad City Council immediately. No questions asked.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 14, 2007
It came as no real surprise to anyone, but last night the Carlsbad City Council voted unanimously (as the seemingly do for most development plans) to approve the environmental impact report on the Ponto Village Beachfront Vision Plan, according to a story in the San Diego Union Tribune.
It envisions 180 hotel rooms and 126 time-share units in an upscale resort overlooking the lagoon; a 215-room Hilton at Poinsettia Lane and Carlsbad Boulevard; and a 269-room hotel on Ponto Drive. . . . The plan also projects 128 condominium units, shops, restaurants, a wetland interpretive park and trails.
Looks like it’s all downhill from here.
“This is a very special place in our community,” Councilwoman Julie Nygaard said before voting for the plan. “There’s a lot of increased amenities. In the end we’re going to come out with a really nice place for our community.”
Yeah, special like Main Street in Huntington Beach. Wahoo!
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on November 14, 2007
Pat Weber, the owner of the Carslbad-based San Diego Surfing Academy, decided to escape the fires last month by taking his girlfriend to Baja for a short surf trip at Cuatro Casas. Things only got worse once they got into Mexico, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.
Just after sundown Oct. 23, two men wearing military clothing and ski masks confronted the couple. Weber said he initially refused to come out of his motor home, but surrendered after the robbers fired a shot into the vehicle. “They made us get down on all fours – execution position – and put guns to our heads. . . The gunmen sexually assaulted his girlfriend before stealing $10,000 worth of computers, video cameras and other gear, he said.
Weber stopped in Ensenada and reported the robbery. Apparently, they weren’t the first to be robbed at Cuartro Casas. Click the link for the rest of the story on the downside of Baja surf trips.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on November 13, 2007
Tonight, according to the North County Times, the “Trustees of Carlsbad Unified School District are expected to approve three high school design and construction contracts totaling more than $5 million.”
The contracts include: $4.28 million in design fees to the architectural firm Perkins + Will; $150,000 in preliminary construction planning to McCarthy Building Companies; $322,240 in preliminary construction planning to Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc.
This spending is all part of the the approved Proposition P that “authorized the district to sell $198 million in school construction bonds.” It’s nice to see money being spent on education, so go crazy with it.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 12, 2007
The wheels of progress seem to simply grind everyone into submission through sheer boredom. We’re reminded of a line from Tolstoy’s War and Peace quoted by Liesl Schillinger in the New York Times:
Where the issue is undecided it is always the most stubborn who come out victorious.
We’re not big fans of what’s called The Ponto Vision Plan, but at the same time we’re becoming less stubborn each day. Tomorrow, starting at 6:00 PM, the Carlsbad City Council will again meet to make up for a discussion that was postponed October 23 because of the fires.
At the meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall, council members will debate whether to accept an environmental report on the Ponto planning document. That report was ordered two years ago after strong public opposition to the development plan surfaced.
If you still care, show up at City Hall Tuesday at 6:00. We might see you there.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 11, 2007
According to a story in The Eureka Reporter Taarna Renee Wiltsie, 19, of Carlsbad died near Orick, California “when her vehicle left US Highway 101 near Bald Hills Road, careened off an embankment, overturned and landed in a creek.”
Wiltsie was found dead inside her 2007 Toyota Corolla by emergency personnel at approximately 4:24 a.m. Sunday, according to a California Highway Patrol collision report. . . There were no witnesses to the incident, but a passerby discovered the vehicle after noticing tire tracks on the shoulder of the roadway and checked out the scene.
Taarna was a staff writer at Palomar College’s award-winning, student-run newspaper The Telescope. According to a story in the North County Times, Wiltsie was on her way to visit her parents in Springfield, Oregon. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.
[Link: The Eureka Reporter]
by The Editors on November 10, 2007
The San Diego Sheriff confirmed that an injured 28-year-old man was found near the tracks at Acacia Street in Carlsbad.
The Sheriff’s Department is investigating whether a man who was found seriously injured on the railroad tracks in Carlsbad was struck by a train. . . . The 28-year-old was found lying on the west side of the tracks near Acacia Avenue at 2:40 a.m. [November 10], a sheriff’s news release said. There is no railroad crossing where the man was found.
According to a Carlsbadistan news tipster the man survived, however, his arm had been severed.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
At 8:35 PM tonight the members of the California Costal Commission are still meeting the Sheraton San Diego Hotel at 1433 Camino Del Rio South. From the thoughts expressed by commissioners Sara J. Wan and Steve Blank it does not look like it’s going well for the Poseidon Resources or plans for the desalination plant.
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