by The Editors on September 19, 2008
We were wrong when we said the Poseidon Resources Inc. desalination plant had cleared it’s last hurdle on August 22, 2008. Now the San Diego Coastkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation have filed a lawsuit in Superior Court “in an attempt to force another review of a proposed seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad,” according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The lawsuit against the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board claims the agency did not ensure the best site, technology and design for the facility. “What we are trying to do is make sure that all of the analysis goes on so that we get the best plant possible,” said Gabriel Solmer, Coastkeeper’s legal director.
We hate to admit it, but we kind of like seeing the project faced with more hurdles.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by Richard J. Riehl on September 12, 2008
The biggest challenge facing Carlsbad’s leaders in the near future will be to agree on spending priorities without the safety net of an ample reserve fund.
The city’s yearly budget surpluses may soon disappear because of the planned opening of new city facilities and a reduction in new development as the city reaches build-out.
Enter the Carlsbad Six, City Council candidates ranging in age from 19 to 74.
Their campaign Web sites suggest they can be divided into three groups: the Insiders, the Outsiders, and the Long Shots.
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by Richard J. Riehl on August 29, 2008
Have you noticed every other year at this time your local member of Congress takes a keen interest in your opinions while listing the wonderful things they’re doing for you in our nation’s capital? It comes in the form of a glossy mailing, made possible by your taxpaying generosity. Since public funds can’t be used for campaign purposes, you’re expected to believe the arrival of these mailings shortly before the next election is purely coincidental.
The mailers all seem to carry the same message, showing how the incumbent’s priorities perfectly capture the prevailing political winds. After recounting the many ways they’re looking out for you, the officeholders ask for your feedback in a brief opinion survey.
The questions are cleverly designed to confirm the politician’s own position or to persuade you to agree with positions they’ve already taken. A loaded question like, “Do you believe Congress should grant amnesty as a pathway to citizenship to the 12-20 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States?” leaves little doubt about your expected response when you’re confined to a yes or no answer.
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by The Editors on August 25, 2008
Carla Mays is representing the 50th Congressional District at the Democratic National Convention. And she is from Carlsbadistan. She is also blogging the convention for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Here is a small piece of her first report:
. . . As a Carlsbad resident, and young black professional woman, folks always try to link me with liberal Democratic politics. I like Barack as a progressive centrist, who believes in socially responsible business development, economic and community development that protects and stimulates small business and entrepreneurship (the real engine of our economy), affordable and quality health care and housing , and to protect social security and retirement investments. . . . Those of us in Generations X and Y are too often thought of as slackers and know-it-alls, but that could not be further from the truth. We are the most educated unemployed and/or underemployed generation.
Follow the link for the rest as well as ongoing coverage from Carla as the convention rolls on.
[Link: SignOnSanDiego.com]
by The Editors on August 21, 2008
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.
While other campaigns are bragging about how much money they’ve raised, Rodger is keeping it simple.
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.
[Editors’ Note: The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Logan Jenkins featured Evan in his column today.]
[Link: CleanCarlsbad.com]
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by The Editors on August 10, 2008
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.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on August 7, 2008
We just got an email today from Carlsbad City Council Candidate Evan Rodgers letting us know that her paperwork has been accepted.
I just heard from the City Clerk that my forms and signatures were verified by the Registrar of Voters. I am now an official candidate and will be on the Nov 4 ballot. . . . My website is CleanCarlsbad.com.
Any candidate that has a website with a skateboarder at the top of the page is getting our vote. Plain and simple. Stay tuned for our continuing coverage of Evan’s City Council bid.
[Link: CleanCarlsbad.com]
by The Editors on July 18, 2008
She’s been on the Carlsbad City Council since 1980, almost long enough to remember Mayor Bud Lewis as an elderly man, but Ann Kulchin is running again, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
But she’s not running alone. Four other people have filed the paperwork to appear on the November 4, 2008 ballot. They include:
- Glenn Bernard, a real estate sales agent and businessman.
- Keith Blackburn, a Carlsbad police sergeant.
- Farrah Douglas, owner of a printing company who is a planning commissioner.
- William Jubb, a banker.
Seems like it might be a good idea to change things up on the council doesn’t it? Especially when Ms. Kulchin is so anti-skateboarding.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on July 14, 2008
In another shocking reminder of just how long these last six months of the Bush presidency are going to be, George W. today lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling.
With this action, the executive branch’s restrictions on this exploration have been cleared away. This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress,” Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House.
The American people? How can anyone take this seriously. It’s not the American people who will benefit from the rape of America’s coastlines, it’s the Bush family and friends oil business. Luckily, lifting the executive order means nothing until congress agrees.
That didn’t stop US Representative Darrell Issa (R-Vista) from jumping onboard, in a statement released to the North County Times:
“This decision is a step in the right direction for American consumers and our economy, but a defeat for the environmental lobby that has spent tens of millions of dollars in Washington over the years to place our nation’s energy reserves off-limits,” Issa said in a written statement.
Note to the oblivious: the solution is not more drilling, the solution is less consumption. Is this really that difficult to understand?
[Link: Washington Times and North County Times]
by The Editors on July 14, 2008
The Carlsbad City Council is wasting no time making changes after becoming a charter city. In June, the City Council changed the State requirements for what makes a quorum at Council meetings, making it much easier for them to vote on anything. Now, according to a story in the North County Times, they are considering no longer “paying union-scale wages for large construction projects” and changing the way they purchase office supplies.
City officials have said recently that the proposed purchasing changes could save Carlsbad millions of dollars, but the proposal is likely to be opposed by construction union members. In the past, union advocates have said that failing to follow the state’s prevailing requirement will hurt local families.
It seems to us like the State guidelines are there for some very good reasons, and for the local City Council to just change them to save a little money, or in the case of the office supplies, make it easier to spend money without getting “formal price quotes” just doesn’t seem responsible.
[Link: North County Times]
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