Carlsbad’s last public skateboard park had some issues from the very beginning. While fun to roll, it never has had much flow and some of the sections were just plain wrong. Thankfully, that won’t be the case with the new Alga Norte Skatepark thanks to the involvement of former pro skateboarder Kanten Russell, according to a story in the U-T San Deigo.
Earlier this week, Russell walked the construction site at one of his projects, a 25,000 square-foot facility being built as part of Alga Norte Community Park in Carlsbad. It’s scheduled to open in September, he said. . . Carlsbad is where the first modern skatepark went up in 1976 — it no longer exists — and Russell sees the new one as paying homage to that history while making its own mark as a “crown jewel.” . . “I’ve done public meetings all across the country to talk about various projects, and every time I show anybody a picture of this park they say, ‘Where is this again and when will it open?’ They will definitely be flying in for this.”
We haven’t been out to check it out in a while, but once they start pouring the walls things go pretty fast. Meaning, it could be a great skate summer at Alga Norte, finally. Seems like it’s taken forever, doesn’t it?
The new City of Carlsbad, CA Skate Park is ready for 2012 ! ASD was selected to completely re-design the park before construction. Thanks for all the input from Pro Skater Andy Mac on the bowls and the entire ASD team for their hard work.
This skateboard park has been in the planning stages so long that it’s good that it gets a little update. And it looks good. The bowls look fun and the street section looks like the latest in skate plaza goodness. This should be good.
Seems like we (and TK Arnold) were just talking about this the other day, and now the City of Carlsbadistan has announced that the City Council will consider updated plans and specifications for the construction of the Alga Norte Community Park at its Tuesday, October 6, 2009, meeting. They will also authorize the City Clerk to advertise for bids for the grading of the park site which is apparently the first step in building the 32-acre project on Alicante Road and Poinsettia Lane.
Follow the jump for the entire press release. Sounds a lot like good news to us. [click to continue…]
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I heard Keith Blackburn’s robo-call to action. While other North County cities struggle with budget cuts threatening vital services, Carlsbad’s rookie city councilman was asking for our help to keep his campaign promise to bring a second swimming pool to the city. I wondered if he’d been inspired by Congressman Bilbray’s recent onslaught of irritating electronic invitations to his “teletown meetings.” Was this just the beginning of year-round campaigning by our local politicos?
Although I didn’t attend the council meeting, I did watch the videotape of it several days later on the city’s Web site. To my surprise, I found myself in total agreement with Blackburn’s argument in favor of starting work now on the Alga Norte Park and Aquatic Center. [click to continue…]
Thanks to some proposed budget cutting by the City of Carlsbad the Alga Norte Skateboard Park and Swim complex may be put off until 2014 in a plan that includes trimming as much as $4.5 million, according to Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
The proposed spending reductions will be submitted to the City Council in January as the city begins its process of putting together next year’s budget, Elliott said. . . . Among other things, the city may stop filling vacant positions and hold off on new equipment purchases. It also might delay the long-sought Alga Norte swim complex. Instead of opening in 2012, that complex might not open until 2014, Elliott said. A new city public works center and renovations at the Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park also may be postponed.
Equipment purchase and hiring freezes are fine, but let’s not stall out on Alga Norte. This city needs a respectable skateboard park and it would be nice if today’s kids could get in there before they’re not kids anymore.
Now, thanks to being a “charter city,” the City Council is considering putting the bids out to builders who pay “non-union wages” according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Councilman Mark Packard was the leading advocate for adopting a city charter, largely on the savings that the city could gain on public projects. “Unless staff can show me some overriding reason why we would do it as a prevailing-wage project, . . . I’m going to be supportive of allowing nonprevailing-wage bids,” Packard said. . . .Packard said he believes the city can get a high-quality project and save 15 percent to 20 percent, or about $5 million, by putting it out as a nonprevailing-wage job.
This obviously gets right to the heart of American labor issues. Hopefully, the City Council will do the right thing.
First, the Carlsbad City Council was worried that many of the bids they got for the Alga Norte Park project were too low, now they’ve voted (4-1 according to the North County Times) to reject all six park construction bids and start the entire process over again.
City staff members had recommended the council’s move, arguing that there were multiple problems with the bids the city received. “We felt it was in the public’s best interest to reject all bids and start over,” said Skip Hammann, the city’s municipal projects director, after the council’s vote. . . . Key among the problems was that the lowest bidder — Consolidated Contracting Services of San Clemente, which bid $29.3 million — didn’t submit all the required information about the subcontractors it would be using, he said.
We’re guessing it’s better to weed out the problems now, than wait until the contractors decide to cut corners on the skateboard park.
Carlsbad city officials were surprised when they saw the Alga Norte Park project bid from Consolidated Contracting Services of San Clemente because at $29.3 million it was $10 million lower than the next closest bid, according to a story in the North County Times.
The park, which will include a “multi-pool swim complex,” ballfields, playgrounds for kids, and most importantly a skatepark, sits on 33 acres at the corner of Poinsettia and El Camino Real. But why was Consolidated’s bid so low?
. . . an official with the architectural firm that drew up the park plans attributed the low construction bids to a variety of factors. Everything from having good plans to work with to a slumping construction industry helped, said Joniene Swick of Wimmer Yamada & Caughey. . . . The economy could be playing a part, others said. Bids for several recent government projects in San Diego County, including a Highway 52 proposal, have come in lower than expected, said a representative for Associated General Contractors —- a national organization that represents some 1,400 contractors who bid on government projects in the San Diego region.
Hey, as long as the cost savings doesn’t come at the skatepark’s expense (as usually is the case) then we’re all good. We’ll be watching you Consolidated.
While it shouldn’t be all that surprising (seeing as Carlsbad seems loaded with members of the “screw you, me-first” crowd) more than 25,000 people actually voted against updating the facilities at Carlsbad’s 40-year-old Monroe public pool. It’s sad that nearly half the voting community didn’t see the need for a good swimming pool facility that can be used by both the community and the students of Carlsbad High School. Thankfully, 26,576 people voted in favor of spending close to $24 million to update the entire pool facility. So it’s going to happen. And to those people we say thank you!
Here are a few of the things we can all look forward to:
• Expansion of pool for larger swimming (50% more lanes) and water polo competitions
• New 8-foot wall with gates along Monroe Street side to reduce sound from the pool
• Larger pool deck with lockers
• New exterior deck showers
• Renovated locker rooms
• More shade structures
• More bleachers
• Larger parking lot
• New entrances including an outdoor option that will no longer require passing through the locker rooms
• Reconfigured lobby, new first aid/administration offices and meeting/event room
• Replacement of pool tile, plaster, piping, pool deck, drainage, pumps and filters
• New building with mechanical room and family restrooms
• Separate mechanical room access for service vehicles to reduce parking lot impacts for users
• Replacement of existing solar water heating system and installation of rooftop solar panels to generate electricity
• Enhancement of equipment storage space
We’re seriously looking forward to the Village finally having a pool that’s as nice as the one at Alga Norte. A place where all of Carlsbad’s kids can learn to swim, cool off in the summer, and develop skills that may help them get a full ride college scholarship. And to those who voted NO, you’ll still be able to use the updated pool anyway. We are a community, after all. If you’d like to stay updated on any and all projects the City of Carlsbad has in the works, click here to sign up for the emails!
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