City Council, on Tuesday night April 8, 2008, voted 4-1 to increase the the “traffic fee” developers pay to the City for every single family home they build from $1,150 to $3,530, according to a story in the North County Times.
City planners told the council that they anticipate 4,600 more residential units and 10.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space to be built in Carlsbad, adding that the increased development will put thousands more vehicles on area roads. . . . Councilwoman Julienne Nygaard noted that the fee has been in place since 1991 to help keep Carlsbad from becoming gridlocked. . . . “One of the concepts we have always had in Carlsbad is that new development would pay its way,” Nygaard said.
We agree with Ms. Nygaard. Pay their way they should.
The Voice of San Diego’s Rob Davis weighs in with a story on the Poseidon desalination plant and brings up some good points, namely that the plant will not be carbon neutral nor will it reduce San Diego’s dependency on Northern California water.
Poseidon has not agreed to make the plant carbon neutral, a step that would require the company to zero out the emissions generated by its energy use. Peter MacLaggan, a Poseidon senior vice president, said doing so would render the $300 million project financially infeasible. Instead, Poseidon says the plant will be “net carbon neutral.”
And:
“Poseidon’s proposed project does not ensure a decrease in imported water supplies to the San Diego Region,” a commission staff report states. “Poseidon acknowledges that the State Water Project would continue to pump available water to Southern California users, but then argues that it should still be credited for what would then be a non-existent reduction in emissions.”
Just a couple more things that make us wonder why any of this is worth further damage to the lagoon and of shore sea life?
In a recent list of the 100 Best Places to Live and LaunchFortune Magazine listed Carlsbadistan as number 32 (right between Leesburg, Virginia and Hamden, Connecticut) as a great place to live and launch a new business.
Carlsbad’s fun-based economy includes booming tourism, thanks to LegoLand, adventure sports outfitters, and major manufacturing of golf equipment. . . . Biotech and golf-related ventures dominate the list of businesses in the self-proclaimed “golf manufacturing capital of the world,” but action sports companies like Reef and No Fear have recently relocated to the area.
On the con side they said we had “an aversion to growth.” And it’s true. Luckily, we have the Pacific Ocean to protect us on the west side.
Say good-bye to the classic mid-centuy, tiki stylings of the Ocean Street Apartments overlooking the lagoon at 2303 Ocean Street on Carlsbadistan’s northern border. According to the City of Carlsbad those 50 units are getting demolished so 2303 Investors, LP can put in “35 residential Airspace condominiums” with underground parking.
While neighbors are probably happy to see 50 rental units worth of problems wiped off the face of the map, it will be sad to see the old place go.
It was 25 years ago that Ralph Rubio and his father founded the Carlsbad-based Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill and made fish tacos the official food on San Diego, according to a story in the San Diego Business Journal.
With $16,000 from his father, Rubio, a 1978 graduate of San Diego State University, launched the company that made the fish taco San Diego’s signature dish in January 1983. . . .The idea for Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill came from excursions to Baja California, where Rubio and his college buddies dined in cantinas and at little stands lining the avenidas. . . .“My father and I talked about the concept for a long time, and then finally we did it,” he said.
Linking this up this story is making us hungry. Follow the link for the rest of the story, we’re going out to one of their 170 shops for some fresh fish tacos.
Top-Flite (Callaway’s golf ball brand) has had some sales trouble, but the Carlsbad company is not down and out. While rap commercials have almost unilaterally sucked, this one is pretty damn funny. And it was all filmed in Carlsbadistan. Notice anything familiar?
On Sunday April 5, 2008 the San Diego Golf Academy which they claim is the “oldest and largest golf college in the world” (and we won’t argue because we don’t golf) is throwing an open house to celebrate the opening of their new campus.
The onsite radio broadcast by 101 KGB-FM will feature the classic rock station’s on-air personality Bromo, who is widely known for the bizarre acts he performs during broadcasts typically due to losing bets on rounds of golf with co-workers. The open house will also include facility tours, prize giveaways, food and refreshments. . . . “We are very excited to have Bromo attending this event. He is an entertaining disc jockey and an avid golfer who always has a good time on the course, win or lose,” says Richard Iorio, SDDGA’s San Diego campus director. “SDGA teaches many concepts surrounding the game and business of golf, and among the more important lessons is simply to enjoy the game.”
The party runs from 11 AM to 5 PM at 1950 Camino Vida Roble. While we can’t really figure out a reason why we’d want to go, we’re sure golfers will be able to figure something out. They’re so good at rationalizing pointless exercises.
According to BrandWeek, Carlsbad-based company TaylorMade is suing competitor Nickent over ads that the company has been running on TV and in print that “lead consumers to believe that its 4DX driver is the No. 1 driver model on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour.”
“Occasionally fringe companies in the industry try to encroach on our territory as the No. 1 driver in golf by misrepresenting the facts,” said Bob Maggiore, TMaG’s vp-marketing. “Being the No. 1 driver model at a Nationwide Tour event does not equate to being the No. 1 driver on tour. TaylorMade has been the No. 1 driver brand on the PGA Tour, as well as the Nationwide Tour, since 2001. That more than qualifies us to question Nickent’s logic and judgment in making claims that are misleading at best, and blatantly false at worst.”
See what tough times in the golf industry lead to? Semantics battles.
Futurist and best-selling author Joel Kotkin will speak the morning of April 15, 2008 at the first “Momentum Breakfast” hosted by the Leadership North County Alumni Association at the Sheraton Carlsbad Resort and Spa.
Kotkin will explain the powerful trends shaping urban and suburban development today and in the future not just locally but around the country and around the world. Kotkin’s most recent book, ‘The City: A Global History’ studied what cities since the beginning of recorded history through to the present needed in order to become great. Kotkin found that healthy, reliable infrastructure such as roads, schools, medicine, food and water supply were the best indicators of future success.
We’re hoping all the members of the City Council will attend this breakfast. Tickets are $30 each (including food) and can be purchased on the Lncalumni.org website. More details after the jump. [click to continue…]
We’ve caught the Parthenon’s glow during a roof-top dinner at The Fresh Hotel, cringed as Hollywood stars hit on Canadians from a waterbed on the roof of The Standard Hotel, and waved from the deck of Mr. A’s as jet airliners flapped past. We’ve even shared a pitcher on the roof of the old Margarita Rocks in Oceanside, but we’ve never, ever watched the sun set from a roof-top restaurant in Carlsbadistan. That may change when the new Lumiére Carlsbad Village Hotel goes in on Ocean St. at Offshore.
lumière hotel group is currently entitling a proposed four story, fifty-five key ocean front hotel in Carlsbad, California featuring an opulent rooftop restaurant, lounge, and pool with unforgettable views of the Pacific Ocean. We will be offering a small number of oceanfront residences for purchase.
According to the project description filed with The City, the hotel will feature 39 hotel rooms, 10 condominiums, and two affordable apartments (you know, for the help). We haven’t seen the plans yet, so we really have no idea what the hotel will look like, but either way, it will be cool to look out over the Paciic from a rooftop restaurant in Carlsbad.
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