by Richard J. Riehl on August 13, 2010
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.
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by Richard J. Riehl on July 30, 2010
With the retirement of a mayor who has been in office for a quarter of a century and two City Council seats up for grabs, Carlsbad voters will have their first opportunity in decades to make a substantial change in city leadership.
The incumbents have a lot going for them. The city’s in better financial shape than its neighbors, and public opinion surveys show three out of four Carlsbadians have faith in their city government.
Here’s a peek at the candidacies of two council members who say they want to be Carlsbad’s next mayor, Matt Hall and Keith Blackburn.
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by Richard J. Riehl on June 4, 2010
At the close of the Carlsbad City Council’s May 18 meeting, Councilman Matt Hall observed, “History keeps repeating itself. When this issue first came before us in 2001, the mayor and I both voted against it.”
He was referring to an increase in retirement benefits approved nine years ago on a 3-2 vote. This time he joined the mayor on the winning side of a 4-1 vote to roll back those benefits.
Hall’s parting shot was self-serving and unnecessary, unless, of course, you’re running for mayor as the incumbent’s clone.
The new contract reduces benefits for new hires, requires current employees to increase their contribution to the state’s pension fund from 1 percent to 9 percent of annual salary and rejects a request for a 5 percent salary increase to partially offset that pay cut.
The council has been praised for saving the city from bankruptcy and showing leadership for other cities to emulate. But a closer look suggests city officials were motivated more by payback than prudence.
Follow the jump for the rest. . .
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by Richard J. Riehl on March 26, 2010
If you walk the seawall late at night along Carlsbad Boulevard, you may hear voices in the distance sounding the alarm: “To arms! To arms! The unions are coming! The unions are coming!”
The familiar warning cry began with a Feb. 20 headline in the North County Times: “City’s unions expected to play active role in mayoral election.”
From the day City Councilman Keith Blackburn declared his candidacy for mayor, tongues have been wagging about how police and firefighters unions have announced their intent to do whatever they can to put the former police officer in the seat that Bud Lewis occupied for a quarter of a century.
Unlike in Oceanside, labor unions have not played a major role in Carlsbad City Council politics. With more union involvement, will North County’s model municipality of political civility be in danger of being sucked into the all-consuming black hole of partisanship that plagues its northern neighbor?
Follow the jump for the rest of the story. . .
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by Richard J. Riehl on February 11, 2010
From the urgency of its actions, you’d think the Friends of Aviara had just discovered a Super Walmart was about to open its doors on the shores of the Batiquitos Lagoon.
The La Costa neighborhood group is suing Carlsbad’s City Council for approving a planning document that would bring affordable senior housing to their backyard. The lawsuit is a pre-emptive strike on a proposal the City Council has never discussed, much less approved.
What the council did approve at its Dec. 22 meeting was a revision of the city’s general plan that references Pontebello, a proposed project that would add 76 low- and moderate-income units to its housing plan, helping the city meet the state’s affordable housing law.
Senior Planner Scott Donnell explained that if the city failed to obtain state certification for its housing plan it could lose millions in future state and county government grants. Carlsbad would also be exposed to lawsuits halting development until the state steps in to mandate the number and locations of affordable housing units.
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by Richard J. Riehl on December 4, 2009
Is Carlsbad city councilman Mark Packard really more interested in political grandstanding than public safety?
As a member of the North County Transit District board, he cast the only “no” vote to fund a study to install a federally required safety system on our local commuter trains. He said he did so because the feds weren’t funding it. Upon hearing from their attorney that failure to comply with the law would mean there’d be no commuter rail service here after 2015, the eight other members of the board voted to fund the study.
Follow the jump for the rest of the column. . .
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by Richard J. Riehl on November 20, 2009
On his Web site’s home page, San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn explains his personal political philosophy about government and public debt. Quoting himself first, then Lincoln and Jefferson, he congratulates himself for having the honor of serving as an “elected guardian of our County.”
In law, a guardian is defined as someone assigned by the court to be responsible for the care and management of the person or property of a minor or of someone of unsound mind. The word is also sometimes used to describe a defender of public morals.
Maybe that explains Horn’s crusade against teens checking out R-rated DVDs from their public libraries, medical marijuana, and allowing disabled persons to ride publicly subsidized buses to visit casinos.
Assuming most elected officials are in favor of democracy and opposed to public debt, what sets Horn apart is that he evidently thinks of his constituents as either children or incompetents.
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by Richard J. Riehl on November 6, 2009
Who poses the greater threat to the safety of Carlsbad residents, drivers using cell phones while weaving their way at high speed down El Camino Real, or a bunch of guys standing around on the sidewalk hoping to be offered a job by the multitaskers whizzing by?
The sting operation they launched last month to catch violators of the city’s anti-solicitation ordinance indicates city police seem to think the guys on the sidewalk are more dangerous. According to police Capt. Neil Galucci, the bust is “almost like a prostitution citation,” because it requires that the perpetrator enter into a hiring agreement. Police approach the day laborers in unmarked cars and civilian clothes, pretending to offer them work. If they fall for the scam, the undercover cops drive their victims a few blocks away and cite them for being tricked into violating the law. Those suspected of being in the country illegally are turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol. [click to continue…]
by Richard J. Riehl on October 23, 2009
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. I thought of my favorite superhero when I read the qualifications required of the ideal candidate for a position recently posted on the Internet.
The successful applicant, according to the job description, must be a “proactive visible leader, with a collaborative, engaging management style,” and should have “the right blend of skills to navigate these challenging times and build a bridge to the future.” He/she must have “highly developed communication skills, effective interpersonal skills balanced by a sense of humor,” and the ability to be “politically astute, but apolitical.”
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by Richard J. Riehl on September 11, 2009
The scenes were straight out of a spaghetti Western.
In Encinitas one afternoon last month, 12 self-styled patriots strolled down First Street, the downtown stretch of South Coast Highway, as a similar group had done at Carlsbad’s Village Faire a few weeks earlier. North County’s version of the “Dirty Dozen,” six men and six women, carried unloaded guns in holsters strapped to their waists. They said they were exercising their constitutional right to bear arms.
Six unarmed roadies distributed literature to passers-by.
Some on the sidewalk turned away in fear and disgust, as residents of Dodge City once did when gangs of hooligans rode into town. Above the traffic noise, you could almost hear the plaintive whistling of “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling,” from the 1952 movie, “High Noon.”
The events were enough to inspire another fairy tale from this columnist.
Once upon a time in the Land of Pink-Tiled Roofs, a collection of very angry little men formed a support group. Resentful that the royal rulers didn’t show them enough respect, they dubbed themselves the Minute Little Men, claiming to be the kingdom’s true patriots.
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Why does mayoral candidate Matt Hall continue to mislead Carlsbad voters about a measure on the November ballot?
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The Riehl World: A Peek At The Races
by Richard J. Riehl on July 30, 2010
With the retirement of a mayor who has been in office for a quarter of a century and two City Council seats up for grabs, Carlsbad voters will have their first opportunity in decades to make a substantial change in city leadership.
The incumbents have a lot going for them. The city’s in better financial shape than its neighbors, and public opinion surveys show three out of four Carlsbadians have faith in their city government.
Here’s a peek at the candidacies of two council members who say they want to be Carlsbad’s next mayor, Matt Hall and Keith Blackburn.
[click to continue…]
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