$74 million golf course, $20,000 police scooter.
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City Hall
According to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune the City of Carlsbad is still kicking when it comes to the California Department of Parks and Recreations plans to charge beach visitors $8 a day for parking in the lot at Tamarack.
Mayor Bud Lewis announced Tuesday that the City Council voted 4-1 in closed session, with Councilwoman Julie Nygaard dissenting, to possibly sue the state Coastal Commission for allowing the parks department to install a fee machine.
We didn’t think the City Council had it in them, but we appreciate their seemingly better-late-than-never attention to the issue.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
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How ironic: our oil-business president “urged Congress” on Wednesday to end the federal ban on offshore oil drilling. Why? Well, rising oil prices, of course.
The Bush presidency has used “global terrorism” to expand the US government’s powers (at home and abroad) like no administration ever before, so it should come as no surprise that he’d use “rising oil prices” to relax environmental restrictions on his family’s business, so his good ol’ bonesmen can drill for a reported “1 billion barrels” right off the coast of Carlsbadistan.
Two North County congressional representatives said they supported offshore drilling, while mayors of two coastal cities, the California Coastal Commission and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dismissed it as a risky, short-sighted solution to the current energy crisis that ignores more innovative alternatives.
No one would be shocked to know that our “North County” congressional representatives are lacking rational thougth processes, but this is crazy. Oddly, Mayor Bud Lewis is against this. And for that we thank him.
I doubt that even if we had an abundance of oil that it would reduce gas prices,” he said. “I really have misgivings about the feds.”
Don’t we all. For more details of this horror show, click some of the links below.
[Link: North County Times, San Jose Mercury News, Boston Globe, New York Times]
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Now that Carlsbad is a charter city the city council can make up its own rules nearly on the fly. And it didn’t take them long. On Tuesday night they voted to make it even easier for council to pass legislation, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The new quorum rules adopted last night will allow the five-member council to pass legislation with a simple majority of the quorum, with some exceptions. That means that if three members are present, only two votes will be needed for a majority vote. Under the old rules, if only three members were present, all three had to vote in favor of any motion for a measure to pass.
We’ve got to say we like the old rules better on this one. Especially when it comes to voting on changes in Carlsbadistan’s village (where several council members own property).
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
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Thanks to a landslide vote yesterday (we forgot to vote) Proposition D collected 82.2 percent of the votes making Carlsbad a “charter” city, according to a story in the North County Times. This means the City of Carlsbad will have a little more local control and the freedom to get around some state laws.
With Tuesday’s passage of Prop. D, Carlsbad can exempt itself from some, but not all, state requirements. A charter city can’t refuse to follow state public meeting laws or traffic regulations, but it can set its own election standards and create its own process for handling construction contracts.
And this apparently means saving money by not necessarily being forced into paying union wages when it comes to building things.
[Link: North County Times and Carlsbad Connect]
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We’ve never wanted another direct connection between Oceanside/Vista and Carlsbadistan and now it looks like we’re safe for the foreseeable future as the City of Carlsbad has decided that finishing the Cannon Road connection would be too costly, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
We’ve always had that (Cannon Road) on the drawing board and all the (environmental) agencies have known about it, but based on what I’ve seen with the agencies, it’d be difficult to do,” Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis said.
Though the connection was apparently approved in 2002 at a cost of $14.5 million, now thanks to environmental hurdles and inflation it would be more in the $30 million according to Carlsbad City Engineer Bob Johnson.
All we can say is thank you, thank you, thank you for keeping Cannon closed.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
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Carlsbad’s firefighters union has endorsed city council member Ann Kulchin in her re-election bid, according to a story in the North County Times.
“We know who Ann Kulchin is, so we had no trouble endorsing her based on her … history,” union President Rick Fisher said Wednesday. . . . The union hasn’t yet made a decision on who to endorse for the second council seat that’s on the November election ballot, he said.
Apparently, the elections are in November and there are two seats up. Also, if you’d like to run you have until July 14 to officially register.
[Link: North County Times]
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They really don’t have any control over what NRG does with their Encina Power Station does with their equipment, but that didn’t stop the Carlsbad City Council from “opposing the proposed addition,” according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
Carlsbad’s council hopes with its vote Tuesday to emphasize concerns the city has about the project in advance of the state’s hearings. City officials have raised questions about air quality, visual blight and other issues, but their main emphasis has been that the entire Encina site ought to get out of the power-generating business. . . . At Tuesday’s meeting, Councilman Matt Hall called the nearly 100-acre site one of the best pieces of land along San Diego County’s coastline. Councilwoman Julie Nygaard said the future of the area was of keen interest to many people in Carlsbad.
We’d be happy seeing the power plant go as long as they leave the smoke stack standing.
[Link: North County Times]
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The City of Carlsbad has paid $105,000 to settle a lawsuit brought on by Robert and Liliana Rees after they were roughly arrested at their home during a birthday party in December of 2006, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
According to the suit filed in federal court, dentist Robert Rees was shot with a Taser several times, punched and had his arms and wrists twisted by Carlsbad police Officers Gerry Ellsworth and George Zavala. . . . Rees’ wife, Liliana, was arrested on suspicion of resisting and obstructing an officer after she photographed the incident and tried to open the door of a police car to take a photo of her husband, the lawsuit said. She said she was slammed against the car. . . A charge of resisting arrest was dismissed when Robert Rees pleaded guilty to a loud noise violation. The criminal case against his wife was dismissed. . . . As part of the settlement, which the City Council approved in a closed session April 8, the couple agreed to drop the lawsuit against the city.
Sounds like money that could have been better spent on a new skatepark.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
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Don’t get too up in arms yet. While the state of California has approved turning the Tamarack Surf Beach Parking lot into a “fee lot” which could cost $8 a day, they are not putting the metering in until they meet with the City of Carlsbad, according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
. . . state officials will meet with the city of Carlsbad to see if the city will pay to keep the lot free, said Brian Ketterer, superintendent of the state’s parklands in northern coastal San Diego County.
If the city puts up the money that the parking charge would have generated, then the state won’t install the fee device in the 120-space lot at the western end of Tamarack Avenue, he said.
The problem is that that state wants in excess of $200,000 from the city. Mayor Bud Lewis is reportedly “not optimistic.” Unless, of course, we all mention how important it is to all of us who use it.
[Link: North County Times]
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