Carlsbad Aquafarm Is Shucking Great Fun

by The Editors on May 31, 2023

Have you been on a tour of the Carlsbad Aquafarm in the Carlsbad Lagoon? If not, you should. They even have parking right off the side of Carlsbad Blvd. Here’s a little more about the shucking place from San Diego Magazine.

The aquafarm’s five acres yield about 2 million pounds of oysters and mussels per year. “If this were a grassland and we were raising cattle, we’d only have enough food to raise half a cow here,” says Matt Steinke, the farm’s general manager. (That’s about 180 pounds of beef.) Gruesome image of a bisected cow grazing its way to marketable chubbiness aside, the comparison contextualizes just how many resources go toward putting animal products on our tables.

While you’re there you’ll learn about how great the oysters are for the health of the lagoon, the ocean, and most importantly how tasty they are once you’ve learned how to shuck them properly. For the rest of the story, please click the link.

[Link: San Diego Magazine]

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Nelson Named CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs

by The Editors on April 20, 2023

Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad is pleased to announce that an exceptional candidate has accepted the position of CEO at Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad – Mr. Chad Nelson.

“I am delighted to say that we have identified the person we believe is best prepared to lead us into the future. Chad Nelson’s experience, ability to inspire those around him, and history with the Club make him an exemplary leader,” stated Travis VanTreese, the Club’s Board President. “Having someone that is so engrained in the Carlsbad community is exciting for us, and the long term relationships that he has with people and businesses in Carlsbad will be integral to the Club’s growth.”

A Club kid himself, Chad grew up in Carlsbad. After graduating from SDSU with a BS in Business Management and a lot of hours on the basketball court, he returned to Carlsbad to begin his 20+ year career in the health care industry. He experienced success by building strong teams that work together to achieve each company’s goals. As fate would have it, Chad was looking for a new opportunity to motivate people and make a positive difference when the CEO opening occurred at the Boys & Girls Club.

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Negotiating Carlsbad’s Oddest Intersection

by The Editors on April 4, 2023

The City of Carlsbad is doing their best in mitigating traffic issues around town. They’ve developed training programs for e-bikes, handed out Safer Together Slow Down Carlsbad signs, and even declared a state of local emergency when it comes to traffic problems. But one effort stands out as their oddest work yet. And that is the intersection of Valley Street and Tamarack Avenue.

Located at the southeast corner of Valley Middle School the intersection is jammed morning and afternoon by kids walking to and from school, parents driving their kids to and from school, and angry commuters just trying to get up or down Tamarack. It obviously needed some kind of traffic solution, but what the City came up with is one of the most confusing, least understood traffic lights in all of Carlsbad. In fact, it is the first such intersection application in the City. It’s called a “pedestrian hybrid signal” a.k.a. Hawk signal.

The lights only function when a pedestrian presses the button to cross the street. The rest of the time the signals simply tower over the intersection like loitering giants with nothing to do. During the morning and afternoon school commute, however, the lights blast out a nearly unintelligible series of red and yellow lights. Sometimes blinking, other times solid. But with nary a green light to be seen.

The City of Carlsbad should have known their solution to the intersection was a failure when they were forced to implement an extensive educational campaign (including light boards on both sides of the intersection) explaining how drivers should use it. Sadly, few paid attention to the educational materials and now that the light boards are gone most drivers continue to be mystified by how to proceed through the intersection once a pedestrian has pressed the crossing button.

So, to help everyone out. Here’s how it works.

  1. The Valley Street side of the intersection is ALWAYS A STOP SIGN. Drivers heading south on Valley need to stop, then proceed through the intersection when safe as they would at any other stop sign in the city. If the crosswalk lights are on, however, drivers must wait at the stop line until the lights go off and the intersection is clear. This one is pretty simple.
  2. Drivers on Tamarack (goin east or west) have several options. And this is where most of the chaos originates. When no lights are on, drivers may proceed through the intersection at a safe speed like there is no stop sign at all. When the button has been pressed by a pedestrian the light begins flashing yellow, it means the intersection is about to turn into a stop signal and drivers should roll through with caution. When the light turn solid red, drivers should stop and wait. When the red light begins blinking, drivers may proceed as if it were a stop sign. They should not do what most drivers do and sit stopped at the intersection while the red light is blinking. Again, the blinking red light is just like a stop sign. Stop, then proceed when it is safe. 
  3. On school days the intersection also has a energetic, brave, and kind crossing guard mornings and afternoons who acts as the ringmaster for this circus. We’ve never seen the crossing guard go against any of the previously listed lighting cues, but if and when they do, then drivers should follow any and all directions from the crossing guard regardless of what is going on with the flashing or static lights. 

It’s that simple. Any questions? Here’s the graphic if you’re a visual learner.

The oddest part about the entire solution is that a simple three-way stop i.e. adding stop signs on both directions of Tamarack Avenue, would have solved most all of the intersection’s problems. City Staff did not think that was a good idea. Sadly, they were wrong.

[Editors Note: Last night (April 3, 2023) the City of Carlsbad Traffic and Mobility Commission met to update everyone on general traffic issues and specifically hear a report from City Staff on how the intersection of Tamarack Avenue and Valley Street is working. As is usually the case, City Staff believes that what the City has done is the right thing and their report seemed overly positive. To hear the City report and see the comment from one person Click here.]

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Carlsbad Reads: The Line Becomes A River

by The Editors on April 3, 2023

Carlsbad Reads Together is an annual event that connects the entire Carlsbad community through reading, discussion and engagement of selected books. Throughout the month of April 2023, all three library locations will host book discussions, an author visit, and offer corresponding Exploration HUB classes, youth and teen events and more. This year’s selection for adult readers is Francisco Canú’s The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches From The Border.

Selected with input from some of the most engaged library patrons, the 2023 Carlsbad Reads Together adult selection is “The Line Becomes a River” by Francisco Cantú. This true story of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent’s experience on the front lines of the U.S.-Mexico border presents a nuanced, balanced view of courage and compassion in the line of duty. . . Raised in the Southwest United States, Francisco Cantú’s lifelong fascination with the border led him to find a job where he would experience its danger and heartbreak firsthand. He became a US border patrol agent, and over the next four years, he policed drug routes and smuggling corridors and tracked lost migrants across the desert. Now the author of a bestselling memoir about his experiences, he speaks with urgency, honesty, and empathy about how the border wreaks violence on both sides of the line.

For all the details on the book and planned events, please click the link.

[Link: Carlsbad Reads Together]

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Museum of Making Music Celebrates MIDI@40

by The Editors on March 31, 2023

One of Carlsbad, California’s best kept secrets is sandwiched away between the Flower Fields and Legoland. It’s the Museum of Making Music in the headquarters of the National Association of Music Merchants at 5790 Armada Drive Carlsbad, CA. Don’t let its drab business park location fool you. If you care about music, you’ll love it.

This month, there’s even more to see. Adding to an already cool, interactive space illustrating the history of making music, the museum is launching a new exhibit celebrating the 40th Anniversary of MIDI. What is MIDI? It is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface–an electronic music communication standard created by Dave Smith and Chet Wood that is arguably the single most important invention in the history of sound.

In the 40 years since its introduction, MIDI continues to create new ways to perform, record, and teach music. It also has helped promote accessibility, inclusivity, collaboration, and more. . . The exhibition explores the history and inspirations behind MIDI. It also includes a variety of interconnected interactive instruments! Plan a visit to the Museum of Making Music to discover this brand new exciting exhibition!

The new MIDI@40 exhibit opens Friday, April 7, 2023. If you haven’t ever been to the Museum of Making Music then now is the time. If you haven’t visited in a while, then this exhibit is the perfect reason to see it again. Museum members will get a preview of the show Thursday night, April 6, 2023. For all the detail, please click the link.

[Link: Museum of Making Music]

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Don’t Play On The Carlsbad Cliffs

by The Editors on January 23, 2023

A little reminder from Black’s Beach (January 20, 2023) on why it’s never a good idea to climb over the Terramar fence so you can get a better photo from the cliffs, nor to EVER play beneath the cliffs anywhere between the Terramar Stairs and Palomar Airport Rd. Yes, we’re scolding you right now!

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Carlsbad Bargain Home of the Week

by Eero Lloyd Neutra on January 19, 2023

This week’s bargain $2.6 million dollar home is located in Olde Carlsbad on Oak Street. And what a delight it is. The freshly remodeled 1,900 square foot cottage features four bedrooms and three baths–all updated in the latest modern farmhouse style that photographs perfectly for posting to Redfin, Airbnb, VRBO, or Pinterest? (Do people still use that?)

Aside from the bedrooms, all the interior walls in this home have been artfully removed to allow for one flowing living space that includes entry way, living room, dining room, kitchen, and breakfast nook with a stunning brick fireplace as its center piece. The entire house features “White oak floors” that look just as good as the always popular vinyl flooring featured in so many homes for sale in the area.

The largest of the “bedrooms” (or what was previously the garage) could also be rented out as separate living quarters (to help pay the mortgage). The open-beam garage ceiling was left and painted white, as one does when flipping houses. The garage floor appears to have been covered in the same durable flooring used throughout the home and the old garage door was at some time in the distant past replaced with an expansive picture window offering stunning views of the multi-textured driveway and festive retaining wall. For the eco-minded buyer the bespoke, aged asphalt and concrete driveway also features decorative cracks with organic grass growing through out for a delightful mixed surfaces look.

The asking price for the property rolls in at $1,366 a square foot (or about two times the median selling price for a home in the zip code). But remember, this includes an enormous 1/3 acre lot of unimproved, flat, brush land that only needs your dreams to turn it into a garden haven, an ADU, or the perfect place to park all your cars, as there is no longer a garage. It appears that land on two sides of the property is about to be “developed,” so the time to buy is now before the lot gets ringed by three-story condominium complexes.

And best of all. . . free bird house.

[Link: Redfin.com]

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Carlsbad’s Monroe Pool Updates Approved

by The Editors on December 13, 2022

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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Legoland Adds San Diego To Miniland

by The Editors on November 10, 2022

Visitors to Legoland California can see the sites of San Diego without leaving the Carlsbad, California resort thanks to the addition of America’s Finest City to the park’s world famous Miniland.

“San Diego is one of America’s most beautiful destinations filled with incredible architecture, landscapes and history – making it an obvious choice when selecting the next city to add to Miniland U.S.A,” said President of LEGOLAND California Resort Kurt Stocks. “Our in-park Master Model Builders are extremely passionate about this project, and they can’t wait to collaborate with LEGOLAND Parks fans near and far on the future of this very special addition to Miniland. Each build will provide guests with a deeper connection and understanding of our home city and will encourage our local and out of town visitors to embrace all that San Diego has to offer.”

The San Diego Miniland will be completed in the spring of 2023. So plan your vacation accordingly. For the official info from Legoland California, please follow the jump.
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Legoland Brick-or-Treat Starts Sept. 17

by The Editors on September 15, 2022

It’s that time of year again at Legoland. And the monsters have arrived for the annual Brick-or-Treat festivities.

Brick-or-Treat is included in a general admission ticket and select annual passes. The Halloween festivities begin Saturday, Sept. 17 and continue every Saturday through Oct. 29 and Sunday, Oct. 30. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.legoland.com/california.

For the official word from Legoland, please follow the jump.
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