May 2010

Will Carlsbadistan Ever Get A New High School?

by The Editors on May 18, 2010

Hs Cannon-Tm1We’d like to think that kids entering Carlsbadistan kindergartens this fall will have a shot at attending the Carlsbad Unified School District’s new $130 million high school at least one year before they graduate, but with the recent setbacks who really knows if that will be a possibility.

The latest problem to hit the school is the issue of California State Water Board certification, according to a Stacy Brandt story in the North County Times.

Earlier this month, the local branch of the California Regional Water Quality Board denied the certification the district needs to proceed with the project. The decision was a procedural matter necessary because the board wasn’t able to review materials on time, said James Smith, a assistant executive officer for the regional board. . . “We’re not talking about the merits of the project itself,” he said. “We’re still working with the applicant …. We just needed a little more time on this one.”

Why? Developer Bentlety-Wing Investments has complained about what effects “the project would have on water quality.” CUSD Superintendent John Roach is quoted as saying the complaints are “essentially ‘blackmail'” and are only about the money.

We just hope construction can begin soon for the sake of the youth of Carlsbadistan. Click the link for the rest of the story.

[Link: North County Times]

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Visit Carlsbad’s 30 Second Spot

by The Editors on May 13, 2010

This 30-second TV spot from Visit Carlsbad is so lush and the colors so saturated that we hardly recognized our own Village. Funny how that works.

[Link: Visit Carlsbad]

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Leesa Bellesi, the wife of Carlsbad’s Coastline Church pastor Denny Bellesi has apparently called for a boycott of the Miss USA Pageant after photos of the contestants posing in lingerie showed up on the Internet, according to a story in the Orange County Register.

Bellesi, who has made a tradition of watching the pageant, sent out an e-mail to hundreds calling on people to boycott the show, which airs live from Vegas Sunday night on NBC. . . “Christians and young women in general in these pageants are being asked to compromise themselves regarding modesty of any kind,” she wrote.

It’s true, but sadly sex sells every single time.

[Link: OC Register]

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TK Arnold: Village Skatepark A Brilliant Idea

by Thomas K. Arnold on May 12, 2010

27828 385407907461 335673472461 4152397 543297 NIt’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.
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Legoland Fund Raiser Stacks Up $137,000

by The Editors on May 12, 2010

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Emcee Mark Walton, Scott Meritt and Brian Hargett from the Carlsbad Police Officers Association, and Chris Lawrence and Ken Sugahara from the Carlsbad Firefighters Association (L-3730) present their donation to the Carlsbad Educational Foundation at the Celebrate Carlsbad Day at Legoland event on May 1, 2010.

For the past seven years the Carlsbad Education Foundation has teamed up with Legoland California Resort on Celebrate Carlsbad Day at the park. This year it was held on Saturday, May 1, 2010. With a specially priced $15 tickets, it’s the one day a year that we can actually afford to visit the the theme park. But more importantly, it’s a day that Legoland donates their proceeds to a very good cause: helping to educate the youth of Carlsbadistan.

Legoland donated $116,000 to help fund weekly music instruction for every elementary school student in the Carlsbad Unified School District through the upcoming year. And that’s pretty generous.

“This year’s ‘Celebrate Carlsbad Day’ was a major success, enabling us to raise enough funds to support our elementary school music program across nine schools for the entire first semester of the upcoming school year,” said Valin Brown, chief executive officer of the Carlsbad Educational Foundation. “This means that more than 5,000 local students will receive weekly music instruction as a regular part of their public education. We couldn’t have done this without the tremendous generosity of LEGOLAND California as a phenomenal corporate partner that cares deeply about public education.”

Thanks, Legoland and donors who helped with the rest of the $137,000 raised. For more information on the day follow the jump.
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Miss Carlsbads Interviewed On Lancer Link

by The Editors on May 12, 2010

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No disrespect to the young women who complete in the Miss Carlsbad Pageant, but we’ve never been big fans of beauty pageants in general. So each time we run into members of the Miss Carlsbad court at various Carlsbadistan events we’re almost surprised to find them being so kind, polite and helpful in whatever they are doing.

Miss Carlsbad Alaina Crabtree and Miss Teen Carlsbad Skyler Blankenship were interviewed together in a story published yesterday on Carlsbad High School’s Lancer Link in which both girls discuss the pageant, what it means to be a Carlsbad Miss, and why they competed. Click the link for the rest. . .

[Link: Lancer Link]

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La Costa Appoints New Spa Director

by The Editors on May 12, 2010

Spaunderstars GiftcardMichelle Frye, the former spa director at SE Dan Deigo Hotel, has been appointed director at the La Costa Resort & Spa, according to a story on Hotel Interactive.

Frye will manage The Spa at La Costa, an elegant 43,000-square-foot sanctuary envisioned by world-renowned spa specialist Sylvia Sepielli. Divided into two spaces, a 28,000-square-foot interior and 15,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard, the spa creates an environment in which guests feel connected to nature whether they are indoors or out.

As long as she doesn’t change the Roman Waterfalls or cut the Cucumber Water we’re happy she’s here. Sounds like it might be a good time for a double-dip deal.

[Link: Hotel Interactive]

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So Who Is Really Paying For Desal?

by The Editors on May 12, 2010

South Close2Few writers have pulled together a better overview of the entire Poseidon Resources Carlsbad Desalination Plant story than the DC Bureau’s Janet Wilson.

In Wilson’s 3,400 word piece titled Poseidon’s Desalinization Plant: Dream Water Supply or Draining the Pacific and Taxpayers? the USC Anneberg Hunt national health reporting fellow, covers most all the issues relating to how the plant will be funded, who will be paying the bills, and how those on both sides of the discussion feel about it. Read it, it may change your mind.

[Link: DC Bureau]

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Rubio’s Fish Tacos Sold For $91 Million

by The Editors on May 11, 2010

Rubios LogoCarlsbadistan’s world famous Rubio’s Fish Taco restaurants has agreed to be purchased by a Greenwich, Connecticut based private equity firm called Mill Road Capital, according to a Bradley Fikes story in the North County Times.

If the deal goes through, Rubio’s stockholders will get $8.70 per share. That’s about 45 percent more than the closing price on Oct. 14, just before Rubio’s disclosed an unsolicited offer, the company said. . . Rubio’s board declined that particular offer from a group headed by Los Angeles-based investor Alex Meruelo. But Rubio’s said it was open to receiving other offers. . . Shares closed Monday after the sale announcement at $8.50 each, up 84 cents from Friday’s close of $7.66.

Rubio’s founder Ralph Rubio says he and the management team will be staying on with the company. “They like what we’re doing, they appreciate the management team, and the results we’ve had, so the management team stays on in our current roles,” Rubio said.

Then again that’s what the new owners always say, isn’t it?

[Link: North County Times]

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Encina Power Station Forced To Stop Killing Fish

by The Editors on May 11, 2010

Low Tide13-1Last week the California State Water Resources Control Board voted to protect sea life by phasing out “once-through cooling for seaside power plants” like Carlsbadistan’s iconographic Encina Power Station because the process “kills more than 2.6 million fish and 19 billion fish larvae annually,” according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“It will have the result of retiring a very high portion of the coastal, once-through cooled power plants,” said Steve Hoffmann, regional president for NRG Energy, which owns the Carlsbad facility. . . “We have to conform with this new water policy by the end of 2017,” Hoffmann said. “We either have to put in closed-loop cooling, or we have to have a way of screening marine life from our intake, which is technically very difficult.”

Maybe they could just dismantle the entire plant and ship it to Arizona. . . leaving the tower, of course. . .

[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]

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