Search: The Lossings at Carlsbad

The Lossings To Eat Up Even More Of Carlsbad

by The Editors on June 30, 2010

Thelossings-Tm-Tm-1At the City Council meeting last night (June 29, 2010) the City announced that to cover the $4.2 million in loans it has made to “keep the golf course in the black” it is now planning to “transfer” and possibly sell two pieces of City-owned property, according to a story in the North County Times.

Initially, the two lots were to be leased to golf-related businesses, but they have stood vacant since they were created. . . One parcel is about 5 acres and the other is about 7 acres. They sit on each side of College Boulevard on the eastern edge of The Crossings at Carlsbad course. . . Joe Garuba, who is handing the issue for the city, said after Tuesday’s meeting that there has been “some interest” recently in the properties, but declined to provide specifics about the negotiations. . . . “I’m not going to talk about who or what,” he said.

We have one question: How much of Carlsbadistan is this golf course going to eat up before someone puts a stop to it? The Lossings has already cost the City of Carlsbad nearly $70 million and now the City want’s to begin slicing off pieces of itself to pay for more?

If the City is going to sell anything to cover its golf course loans it should simply cut it losses and sell the golf course to Legoland. They can throw up a few block sculptures, create some Lego golf carts, call it the “World First Lego Golf Course” and charge $350 green fees.

We’re not usually in favor of privatization, but The Lossings has been a revenue suck for over a decade and the sooner the City gets out of it the better. Then the City can spend a tiny fraction of that money on things everyone will use like parks, swimming pools, and skateboard parks. . .

[Link: North County Times via VoteJonWantz]

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The Lossings: Carlsbad’s Big White Elephant

by The Editors on December 31, 2008

Thelossings-TmFormer Carlsbad City Council candidate Thomas K. Arnold weighs in on The Lossings-At-Carlsbad in today’s North County TImes.

Most sensible minds now agree that the golf course never should have been built. While it is true that taxpayers initially voted in favor of building a new municipal golf course in 1990, in light of all the delays and cost overruns, the matter really should have been brought back up to a public vote before construction actually commenced. . . . But that’s all water under the proverbial bridge, and the question now is what to do with this white elephant as it continues to bleed red ink.

Click the link for the rest of Thomas’ ideas.

[Link: North County Times]

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The Lossings-at-Carlsbad

by The Editors on December 13, 2008

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Carlsbadistan’s $74 million golf course continues to miss it’s budeting marks losing ground in nearly every metric, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The course, The Crossings at Carlsbad, was projected to lose $893,428 in 2008, an amount the council approved last year. That loss ballooned to $1.6 million, however, and the budget projects a similar loss in 2009. . . . The course made less money than projected – $6.4 million as opposed to $6.6 million – and cost more to operate – $5.9 million as opposed to $5.6 million.

Next year tax payers may be asked to kick in another $1.6 million. Then again with the economy going south and unemployment growing, people may have a lot more time to golf in the coming year.

[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]

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City To Chip $186,000 More At The Lossings

by The Editors on June 28, 2011

Thelossings-Tm-TmTonight when the Carlsbadistan City Council meets they will approve AB#20.610 or Improvements To The Crossings and Adjacent Open Space Erosion Mediation.

Apparently, City staff and Kemper Sports Management (the company that runs The Lossings, but can’t seem to do it at a profit) have decided (after paying a golf consultant to prepare a report) that improvements need to be made if the business is ever expected to prosper.

In order to increase “course playability” the city staff would like to spend $80,000 making the 18th hole easier. Apparently, people aren’t playing the course as much as they should because the 18th hole is just too difficult. City staff is also suggesting that $12,000 be spent to transform a “boardroom” into the clubhouse’s second bar. Apparently, the Canyons Bar and Restaurant (one of the more profitable pieces of the Lossing’s business in the past) is not the kind of establishment that keeps golfers around after their round.

But that’s not all. Thanks to heavy rain fall last winter (and the way the land has been artificially shaped for the course) city staff would also like an additional $106,000 for “open space remediation.” They’d like to “repair serious erosion” that created “crevices and brought silt onto city streets.”

Of course, money has already been set aside in the “Golf Course Capital Reserve Fund” for simplifying the 18th hole and building another bar, however, city staff would like to use money from the Capital Construction funds to pay for the erosion repair. And just like that another $200,000 is flushed down The Lossings.

Meanwhile, we still don’t have the Alga Norte Pool nor the skateboard park. Nice, huh?

[Update June 29, 2011: For the record the City Council unanimously approved the $106,000 erosion control funding and the $80,000 to simplify the 18th hole, however, they did not approve the $12,000 to create a “players club” because Farrah Douglas didn’t like the idea of using the boardroom as a temporary bar. She thinks the course needs something more luxurious and suggested maybe turning the pro shop into a new lounge. Council will discuss the new bar issue at a future time.]

[Link: City County Agenda and AB#20.610]

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Something Wrong At The Lossings?

by The Editors on November 21, 2010

Thelossings-Tm-Tm-1It doesn’t take a professional to know that something is terribly wrong with Carlsbadistan’s The Lossings at Carlsbad golf course. But the City apparently hired one anyway. And according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times that consultant discovered some problems.

“It’s a difficult golf course to play. The design is very severe,” Sunrise Golf consulting company President Mark Tansey said at a Carlsbad City Council workshop TuesdayIn an interview Friday, Tansey said several holes along the back stretch of the course are extremely tough for the average golfer. The holes have multiple “forced carry” points where golfers must hit their balls over hazards and can lose those balls if their shots fail. . . . Add fairways with slope issues and the bad visibility from some hole tee-off points, and you’ve got some very frustrated golfers, he said.

Apparently, $75 million just doesn’t buy the same quality golf course that it used to. It’s difficult for many to remain calm when discussing the horrific theft of public moneys that is The Lossings. How City Council members who voted for the golf course can in the same breath discuss a “coming public employee compensation disaster” is completely astounding. At this point we’d probably all be better off if the City sold the clubhouse to a chain restaurant, closed the golf course, and turned the land into a public park that everyone could enjoy without having to pay $80.

[Link: North County Times]

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Mayoral Candidate Bernard Pickets The Lossings

by The Editors on September 21, 2010

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Carlsbadistan’s mayoral candidate Glenn “most independent candidate in America” Bernard, is spending this morning (Tuesday, September 21, 2010) personally reminding patrons of Carlsbadistan’s public The Lossings at Carlsbad golf course to “Please Patronize Private Courses Only.”

So far we have no evidence that any golfers have tee’d off on him. Last we saw, he was peacefully working a crossword puzzle and smiling to golfers as they drove in the course’s main entrance.

The Lossings At Carlsbad has been nothing but a drain of City funding since opening in August 2007.

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The Lossings Needs More Money

by The Editors on November 26, 2009

Thelossings-Tm-TmAs if The Crossings Lossings At Carlsbad golf course hasn’t already cost the people of Carlsbadistan enough, KemperSports Management, the private company the city pays to run the golf course says they aren’t “hitting budget projections this year and will need and extra $150,000 to cover,” according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.

That’s in addition to the original subsidy of $1.79 million that the city contributed at the start of the year, the financial report states. . . Next year’s operations at The Crossings at Carlsbad course also will require a substantial city subsidy. In the golf course’s 2010 budget, which the City Council will be asked to approve Tuesday, operators are asking for a $1.76 million city subsidy. . . Mayor Bud Lewis said Wednesday he hadn’t seen the financial figures yet, but was “sorry to hear” that the course needed more money this year. He said he would probably vote to grant the budget requests.

Of course he would. No pool. No skateboard park. But sure, keep spending millions of dollars every year on a golf course that continues to lose money. Epic! This whole issue is getting so absurd that it’s almost impossible to speak politely about it.

[Link: North County Times]

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Riehl World: Taj Magolf’s Extreme Makeover

by Richard J. Riehl on August 11, 2011

ThelossingsMark Twain once called the game of golf “a good walk spoiled.” Something similar could be said of Carlsbad’s $68 million public golf course–a splendid setting for weddings, dining and golf, spoiled by tilting fairways, undersized greens, and lost balls.

A struggling economy, the many affordable courses nearby, and its playability have been blamed for the course’s annual deficits. Hopes for a financial turnaround are based mostly on the attractiveness of the venue.

That was a summary of a consultant’s report for the city of Rockville, Maryland on the financial condition of its Redgate Municipal Golf Course. The recommendations? Modify greens and bunkers, build additional facilities for player convenience, and launch a more aggressive marketing campaign.

Sound familiar? The differences between The Crossings and Redgate are foreboding. Rockville’s course is 40 years old. You can play it for half of what you pay for a round at Carlsbad’s Taj Magolf. [click to continue…]

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Riehl World: The Crossings on Life Support

by Richard J. Riehl on December 30, 2010

Thelossings-Tm-Tm-1This year’s $1.7 million bailout of Carlsbad’s three-year-old golf course will bring the total amount of annual subsidies since its opening to $5.1 million. Four of the five council members who voted to tap city coffers again this time voted for each of the previous giveaways. Here’s a small sample of what three of them have said to explain their votes to save a failing enterprise.

The most creative justification came from newly re-elected councilman Mark Packard. “We’re not subsidizing,” he claimed, “we’re ‘fronting’ the money. None of us on the council play golf, so we didn’t do this for our own benefit.” For him, keeping the course on life support amounts to a misnamed and selfless act.

In a variation of I’m-from-the-government- and-I’m-here-to-help, Mayor-elect Matt Hall assured his constituents, “The five of us manage the affairs of the city very well and I feel certain it will pay for itself.”

Holding environmentalists largely responsible for the ballooning cost of construction from its $11 million estimate 18 years ago, Retiring Mayor Lewis sadly predicted, “This will pay, maybe not in my lifetime.”

Each year since its August 2007 opening, the number of budgeted rounds of golf has fallen. The number for 2008 was 52,000. This year’s number of actual rounds is projected to be 42,000. That’s a 20 percent decline. Reaching next year’s budgeted goal of 44,000 seems unlikely, given the course’s track record.

Follow the jump for the rest of the story. . .
[click to continue…]

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City Council Spends $1.6 Million More On Golf

by The Editors on December 17, 2008

ThelossingsIt’s nice to know that no matter what projects the City of Carlsbad considers in future years (Swim complex, skateboard parks) they will always be trumped by sinking more money into the Lossings-At-Carlsbad.

Last night the Carlsbad City Council agreed unanimously to spend $1.6 million on the course next year, in addition to the losses already budgeted for, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Councilman Mark Packard said the council expected the course to break even after five to seven years, and then turn a profit. He said that may take longer with the recession. “I think it would be way premature to walk away from it at this point,” Packard said.

Mark Tanner, the former CFO for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Pepsico International spoke some sense at the meeting. “Sometimes when you make a wrong decision . . . you have to go back and change the decision,” Tanner said.

Exactly.

[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]

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