Council Stalls Skatepark Project Again

by The Editors on July 23, 2008

This is getting to the point of absurdity. Last night the Carlsbad City Council voted to stall the proposed $50 million Alga Norte Park, Aquatic Center and Skateboard Park and not put it out to bid because as the Mayor said we’re having hard economic times, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

Mayor Bud Lewis recalled when his family lost its home when he was a youngster during the Great Depression, and said it was not good for the city to spend millions on a project during hard economic times.

Council voted to reconsidered the park in October. What they failed to mention is that this means Carlsbad will be without a skateboard park for even longer now as the Orion park will be destroyed so the city can build a police and fire training facility.

Note to Mayor Lewis: when economic times are hard it’s all the more important that kids and families have local, free recreational options. Not less.

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

hard times is only when it doesn't benefit the mayor July 23, 2008 at 12:13 pm

Gee, “hard times” certainly didn’t stop the mayor and his cronies from approving a golf course that was way more expensive than Alga Norte park!!

And “hard times” doesn’t stop the mayor and his minions from letting developers continue to overdevelop every part of the city, and doesn’t stop him and his friends from taking MANY campaign contributions from these same developers!

And I’m not 100% sure, but know why the police don’t have a place to practice shooting? I think it was taken by the city….for……the boondoggle of a golf course!!

Just as the mayor and his friends prevented most of what would have been a great aquatic park for kids, and yes, a great skatepark, now they are stopping it completely from even being built! Hmmmm — the aquatic/skatepark was on the drawing board WAY before the golf course — guess which one was fasttracked for approval and guess which one was put on the back burner??

C’mon folks — vote these people OUT of office!! Lewis will FINALLY retire, but Anne Kulchin and Matt Hall are his clones and they show no signs of listening to the great advice about term limits. They are the Ted Kennedys of Carlsbad.

none July 23, 2008 at 6:21 pm

Don’t for 1 minute think that the real reason this is being delayed is because the city council is licking their wounds from the golf course’s failure. It’s honeymoon phase is about over and it’s falling far short of revenue expectations. Without the restaurant it’s losing money.

Jamey Lyon July 24, 2008 at 8:06 am

Okay, I’m a nationally ranked competitive swimmer, and am currently raked no. 1 in the U.S. for the 13-14 year old guys mile.

When my family and I moved to Carlsbad four years ago, there was chatter of this aquatic complex being built…sooner rather than later. I joined North Coast Aquatics and as of last summer, have been practicing in the highest group of the team, the senior group.

Every day, morning and/or afternoon, my mom has to take an hour to drive me down to La Jolla where the team practices. Not because the team is based down there, the head coach lives in carlsbad, but because there is no pool in carlsbad that can handle 50 or 60 kids in it at once.

Every time a vote has been cast to FINALLY get the pool built, the whole team has their fingers crossed that the city of Carlsbad will stop wasting time on things that we don’t need and start looking at what we do need. But every time without fail, the pool is “delayed” which is just another step closer to them never building it at all, and that golf course was a huge money pit from day one…In fact, the more of this stuff that goes on in this city with Lewis and how he always has his way with the cities resources and projects are managed, the more it feels like he is dictating what all goes on in Carlsbad to that regard.

Needless to say, the whole team is starting to get pretty aggravated at Carlsbad for delaying the pool more and more every day.

Just Do IT!!

Patrick July 25, 2008 at 10:20 am

Oceanside closed the pier skatepark with the promise of new parks being built. Land has been set aside, designs finalized, the ground has yet to be broken and the projects appear to be stalled. I fear the same fate for Carlsbad’s skatepark plans. As for the new golf course, the layout is gimmicky and the greens fees overpriced. $60 million plus didn’t seem to buy much.

Carlsbadoin August 11, 2008 at 5:19 pm

That teenage girl Rogers who is running for city council was at the skateboard park talking to people about Alga Norte. She goes to city hall and gets in their face on a regular basis. I bet they don’t know whether to laugh or cry that she’s running. She’s only 18 and they other candidates are old enough to be her parents and grandparents but people are disgusted about stuff. if they vote against alga norte in october, she just might win from disgust votes! Ha! My kids will have no place to skate and they don’t care about skaters.

Thomas K. Arnold August 12, 2008 at 10:13 pm

I find it sad that our city has been overspending for years on overblown projects like the $70 million golf course and the vacant Farmers Insurance Building, which was once eyeballed for a potentially grand new Taj Mahal-like city hall, and now is getting cold feet about spending any money at all–not even for badly needed fire equipment, a pool that is not just a recreational but also a public safety issue (we live on the beach; our kids need to learn how to swim!, and a downtown village in desperate need of a little civic TLC. Get creative! If there are things we need, figure out a way to get them built without draining our reserves! Consider partnerships with the private sector, or a regional approach–teaming with, say, Oceanside and Vista on a regional training facility for police and firefighters. I find it ironic that years ago, the city of Vista added a water park to its plans for a municipal pool as a means of financing the entire project, and paying for its upkeep. Here in Carlsbad, we strip away the water park elements from our pool and then, lo and behold, decide it’s still too expensive to build! Go figure.

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