The City of Carlsbad’s TGIF Concerts in the Parks begin on June 24, 2016 at Stagecoach Community Park, located at 3420 Camino de los Coches. The outdoor concert series runs each Friday through Aug. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m., at community parks across the city.
For the complete 2016 lineup, please follow the jump.
[click to continue…]
{ 0 comments }
Tonight 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]
{ 8 comments }
Why does mayoral candidate Matt Hall continue to mislead Carlsbad voters about a measure on the November ballot?
His website was revised a day after my July 30 Carlsbadistan column criticized him for wrongly claiming the city charter amendment up for a vote would create a two-tiered pension plan for city employees. He now says he “successfully persuaded” his fellow council members to adopt the plan last spring, continuing to imply it covered all new city employees. He failed to point out that only police and firefighter benefits were affected.
The charter amendment would require a vote of the people for future pension benefit increases for safety employees. The council would retain the right to reduce them. Hall says he supports “fair” and “balanced” public employee pensions. He doesn’t explain why he should only be trusted to cut them.
[click to continue…]
{ 1 comment }
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.
It really is that simple.
[Link: North County Times]
{ 2 comments }
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:
And absolutely no skateboard parks. Follow the jump for the entire press release.
[click to continue…]
{ 0 comments }
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.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
{ 4 comments }
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 }
RSS Feed-Posts