In his latest column for the North County Times, TK Arnold suggests that since the City of Carlsbadistan appears to be “dragging its feet” when it comes to grading the 32-arce Alga Norte Park and Aquatic Center, that it might be a good idea to go the privatized route and ask Legoland to include a “competition sized pool” in their proposed 5.5 acre water park.
Wouldn’t it be grand if a spectacular competition-size pool was added to the mix? . . The Carlsbad City Council could put into action its long-professed affinity for government partnerships with the private sector, maybe even contracting with Legoland to operate the pool. Legoland could then play host to swim and water polo tournaments that draw thousands of visitors —- further justification for the hotel the park wants to build.
This may be one of the most ridiculous suggestions we’ve heard in a while. Aside from the fact that Legoland already has a large enough footprint in our city, do we really want our local swimming complex controlled by a New York City based private equity fund (Blackstone Group)? Do the children of Carlsbadistan need to be constantly bombarded with Lego advertising each and every time they go swimming? If you’re still wondering, the answer to both rhetorical questions is: No!
What the City of Carlsbadistan needs is a proper swimming pool (and skateboard park). The City has the money and several mandates from its citizens. The discussion does not need more ridiculous clutter. It needs clear and concise messaging. We can do it in four words: get those tractors rolling.
Last night at the Carlsbadistan City Council meeting the gang reviewed “a preliminary capital improvement program budget of $68.8 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1.” The capital improvements include the following:
Agua Hedionda Channel
El Camino Real Widening – Tamarack to Chestnut
El Camino Real Medians
Vista/Carlsbad Interceptor and Agua Hedionda Lift Station Replacement
Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
Hydroelectric Pressure Reducing Station at Maerkle Reservoir
Pavement Management
Concrete Repair – curbs, gutters, and sidewalks
And absolutely no skateboard parks. Follow the jump for the entire press release. [click to continue…]
Tomorrow evening (April 21, 2009) is officially “Pack The City Council Chambers” night as City Council will be reconsidered something they’ve reconsidered several times already: the fate of the Alga Norte Park something we like to call it the Alga Norte Skatepark. (AB#19.780)
City Councilman Keith Blackburn is so interested in all of us attending that he’s reportedly calling 40,000 people, according to a story in the The Times.
For about $2,000, Blackburn has taken the unprecedented step of hiring a company that operates an electronic “phone tree” to reach as many of Carlsbad’s 40,000 households as possible today with a 30-second, recorded message from the councilman. . .Blackburn is urging residents to show up at a council meeting, set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, at which the proposed park will be discussed.
The fact that the citizens have to show up to remind the City Council that we need a new swim complex and skateboard park is crazy in our opinion, but looks like we’re all going to have to go anyway as it apparently is the only way members of the City Council ever hear anything.
Building parks should be the one thing that the City Council does on their own, but apparently, they need our help. Be there Tuesday evening at 6 PM.
[Editors’ Note: Evan just posted this comment to another story on our site and we thought it deserved to be front and center. Evan worked hard for Carlsbad during this campaign and she did it in a pure way that made the political system look old, tired and corrupt. We are extremely proud of her efforts and of the nearly 4,000 people in Carlsbadistan who were wise enough to vote for her. She is exactly the kind of community worker that Carlsbadistan needs more of. Please follow the jump to read the entire post.]
Thanks, everyone, for your support and votes and especially to Snyder Art, our very cool campaign HQ in the Village, to CarlsbadCrawl.com and Carlsbadistan.com for spreading the word online!
Together we offered another point of view to the election and got some momentum going in a new direction. A good thing about a lot of the ideas that we developed is that they don’t depend on the City or tax dollars to implement: we can get Phantom Gallery and other projects going on our own toward making Carlsbad clean, lean, and green. It’s never been more important for our city and citizens to be fiscally and physically fit. Please join me in keeping Alga Norte Park at the top of the Council’s priority list.
Evan Delaney Rodger, the 18-year-old junior at Cal State San Marcos, is running for a seat on the Carlsbad City Council and she’s not taking campaign donations from anyone: no individuals, no special interest groups, no developers, no hospitals, no businesses. No one.
She is refusing all contributions to be free of all special-interest influence, confident she will not need tens of thousands of dollars to run. She has embraced a “lean and green” online and grassroots word-of-mouth campaign as a viable alternative to landfill-destined roadside signs. . . . “Scaling things down makes sense in this economy, for the environment and most importantly in terms of rebuilding the community’s trust. It’s easy for the average person to become cynical and apathetic when big donations and campaign spending are spiraling out of control.”
The more we hear, the more sure we become that Evan is right for Carlsbad. Follow the jump for Evan’s entire press release.
Logan Jenkins, the sometimes cranky San Diego Union-Tribune columnist, has a nice profile on Carlsbad City Council candidate Farrah Douglas telling her action-filled story of escaping Iran in 1979 after the fall of the Shah’s administration.
“I was crying all the time,” Farrah said. “We were stuck. Everybody else had left.” Finally, the U.S. Embassy, which had not yet been invaded, contacted Farrah with a scheme to get the family out of Iran. . . . They would take a special Pan American flight operated by volunteers. They would fly separately, not as husband and wife. Farrah would say she was visiting a sick sister in the United States.
Now, if we could just read a little about Farrah’s thoughts on the Alga Norte Park. Just by looking at Farrah’s list of establishment endorsements (including Mayor Bud Lewis) we’re guessing we already disagree with her.
When the Carlsbad City Council discussed the proposed Alga Norte Park last night we were worried they were going to do what many cities across the nation have done: cut funding for the planned skatepark. Luckily, that didn’t happen. Instead, they eliminated the water slides from swim complex.
Packard and Councilman Matt Hall have repeatedly argued that the water play area is a luxury that should be eliminated from the plans. Their position gained ground in recent months as state and national economic forecasts became grim. At Tuesday’s meeting, councilwomen Ann Kulchin and Julie Nygaard joined them in voting for a scaled-back project, while Mayor Bud Lewis voted against it.
Luckily, Mayor Lewis was voted down because his wacky idea was to build either the swim complex or the rest of the park but not both. We all know that if Carlsbad needs one thing it’s a quality skatepark.
In the 2007/2008 Carlsbad City Budget that was approved on June 26 the city has added 21 new positions and a $50-million pool at Alga Norte Park (future home of Carlsbad’s new skatepark). We’ll get four new police officer (thanks), and one new fireman (is that all?) We can also look forward to a 9.1 percent increase in water rates and 6.35 positions cut at the library, according to The Coast News.
The theme of the budget is building a sustainable community through effectively managing today’s resources. We’re ensuring that we have money, and setting aside money for the future, and living within our means,” said Lisa Irvine, finance director for Carlsbad.
The budget includes $182.3 million for capital improvements and $186.2 million for operations. Anyone with insights into these numbers is encouraged to explain them in the comments section.
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!
We had to wait all summer long (until the last event of the 2017 TGIF Concerts In The Parks series) but we’ll finally get some jazz in a Carlsbad park on August 18, 2017 as the JazzKatz Orchestra with Whitney Shay cools down Alga Norte Community Park.
Directed by Chaz Cabrera and Whitney Shay, the JazzKatz members are some of the finest and most experienced jazz musicians hand-picked in the San Diego area. The JazzKatz exhibit a passion for modern to classic jazz and emulate the swing sounds of big band music, helping to create a distinctive style that is their own, and never fails to impress.
As always, the music begins at 6 PM. Alga Norte Community park is located at 6565 Alicante Road in Carlsbad, California. Shuttle service operates between 4:30 to 9 p.m. from Ocean Collection, 2510 Gateway Road in Carlsbad.
If you have a Carlsbad news story, press release, event, rumor, or scandal that we'd be interested in (and there are a lot of them), please click the link to send them to The Editors.
Or just search the site to see if we've mentioned it before, right here.
In his latest column for the North County Times, TK Arnold suggests that since the City of Carlsbadistan appears to be “dragging its feet” when it comes to grading the 32-arce Alga Norte Park and Aquatic Center, that it might be a good idea to go the privatized route and ask Legoland to include a “competition sized pool” in their proposed 5.5 acre water park.
RSS Feed-Posts