April 2009

Pizza Port Buys Building In Point Loma

by The Editors on April 20, 2009

Getthumbnail.AspxThe owners of the Carlsbad-based restaurant chain Pizza Port have reportedly purchased a building at 1956 Bacon St. in San Diego for $1.6 million, according to a story on Costar.com.

The buyers will occupy the building, which was constructed in 1989 in the Point Loma submarket. It was vacant at the time of purchase. Pizza Port has other locations in Solana Beach, San Celemente and Carlsbad.

Looks like the world is getting another Pizza Port. There can never be too many of those.

[Link: Costar.com]

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Realtors Will Try Anything To Sell Houses

by The Editors on April 20, 2009

Joseph StatueThings have apparently gotten so bad in the Carlsbadistan real estate game that local Realtors are turning to Catholic mythology for help the sell slow moving properties, according to a story in the LA Times.

Allen Meredith and Ronnie Wilson (pictured right) with the Richard Realty Group prepare to bury a statuette of St. Joseph in the yard of a house they have listed in Carlsbad, CA. . . Real estate agents are snapping up “St. Joseph Home Selling Kits” for would-be clients — in both English and Spanish-language editions. Ronnie Wilson, an agent in Carlsbad, Calif., includes the figurine in her regular marketing kit, along with “For Sale” signs and online advertisements.

Apparently, burying a statuette of St. Joseph “the patron saint of home and employment” will work wonders. Then again, most Realtors would probably take a dump in the middle of the front lawn at midnight if they thought it would help. Wonder if anyone’s tried that yet?

[Link: LA Times]

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Tuesday Is Pack The Council Night

by The Editors on April 20, 2009

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]

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Optometrists Who Rock

by The Editors on April 20, 2009

OffaxisCarlsbad Optometrist Howard Levy, 56, and his OffAxis bandmates have been getting a lot of press lately after the group was quoted in a story about how the economy is pushing people to spend a little more time doing the things they love. For Levy that means rocking out.

“But the music is totally a stress buster,” he said. “It’s the passion of our souls to play music, create music, bond with all these people and take our mind off our daily routines.” . . . He joined OffAxis, a group of opticians, optometrists and others in the eye-care industry who play classic rock tunes such as Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There” for fun and charity. The band’s name, a play on words that only an optometrist would get, refers to a common visual distortion known as an astigmatism.

OffAxis is world famous and we’ve never heard of them. Funny how that happens to us all the time.

[Link: The Times and Calgary Herald]

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Carlsbad Student Aces ACT

by The Editors on April 17, 2009

Z8D2B2027223B688588257599007F885B.JpgDaniel Ng, 17, of Carlsbadistan just got a perfect score on the American College Test (ACT) and that’s something only 46 students in the nation have done, according to a story in the North County Times.

Only one-tenth of 1 percent of students who take the test end up with a top score of 36, said Nancy Owen, spokeswoman for the company that administers the American College Test, better known as the ACT. The four-hour test has 215 questions that cover four subjects: English, math, science and reading.

Currently, Daniel says he wants to be a doctor, but we’re thinking the La Costa Canyon High School student can pretty much be whatever he wants.

[Link: North County Times]

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Power Of Vision Press Conference Video

by The Editors on April 16, 2009

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We Do Not Need More NRG Pollution

by The Editors on April 16, 2009

041609 18-1

Opponents of NRG Energy‘s plans for a second power plant near the shores of Carlsbadistan’s Aqua Hedionda Lagoon gathered at Cannon Park today (April 16, 2009) in the shadow of the Encina Power Station to speak to the media.

News 10, News 8, and writers and photographers from the local papers were present along with approximately 40 citizens to hear people including Carlsbad Councilman Matt Hall, former Councilwoman Julie Nygaard, and Kerry Siekmann (among others) speak out against the new plant.

Siekmann spoke to the fact that SDG&E does not need the power this new plant will produce. In fact, she said, SDG&E hasn’t even contracted with the plant to buy power. Where will it go? Maybe Los Angeles, she said.

“This power can be sold everywhere,” Siekmann said. “But where will the pollution go? Here. So we get 854,000 tons of carbon emissions. We get all the particulate pollution that the American Lung association links to death from respiratory and cardio-vascular causes, increased number of heart attacks, hospitalization for asthma among children, inflammation of lung tissue in young healthy adults just to name a few. We get all the ozone pollution too that the American Lung association says may lead to serious health concerns including premature death, chest pain, inflamation of the lining of the lungs. This is not just about our neighborhood. It’s not just about Carlsbad. It’s about the whole air basin here in San Diego. This is not the right plant, it’s the wrong plant.”

Former City Councilwoman Julie Nygaard agreed. “We should not sit back idly and watch our way of life be diminished,” she said. “In all my years of public service I have never seen a proposal that stands to do as much damage as this one does to our community.”

For more information on the plant and the people who oppose it click the link. Or click here for Barbara Henry’s story in the North County Times.

[Link: Power of Vision Carlsbad]

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Callaway Cuts 162 Employees

by The Editors on April 16, 2009

Callaway-LogoYesterday afternoon, April 15, 2009 Carlsbadistan based golf giant Callaway announced that it had cut six percent of its workforce on tax day.

A spokeswoman said the company had to “make some changes because of economic conditions.” . . . The company is still in the process of notifying affected employees.

If you found out about it here, we’re sorry.

[Link: 10news.com]

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The Upper Deck Sued By Topps

by The Editors on April 14, 2009

UpperdeckLongtime Carlsbadistan readers will remember the trading card battle of 2007 waged with when Carlsbadistan based trading card company The Upper Deck Co. made an offer to buy Topps. Though the companies went through several rounds in court the sale never happened.

Now, Topps is taking The Upper Deck Company to court for allegedly stealing layouts and designs from cards Topps produced in the 1970s, according to a story in BusinessWeek.

In its lawsuit, Topps described how it believes Upper Deck mimicked its design with just a few variations. . . It said similarities between each company’s cards included the use of a colorful, divided two-tone border, the player’s photograph superimposed on a thin white border, the player’s autograph toward the bottom of the picture and the use of an image of a baseball on a bottom corner of the card. . . Topps asked that Upper Deck be ordered to destroy the cards and turn over any profits, along with other unspecified monetary damages.

Good luck on this one. As we all know, judges and juries are notoriously experts when it comes to graphic design.

[Link: BusinessWeek]

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Group Hopes To Save Village H

by The Editors on April 14, 2009

Savevillageh

A stretch of private land in Calavera Hills that local residents had hoped the City of Carlsbad would buy and turn into a park has been sold to Thompson Co. of Nevada, according to a story in the North County Times. And the new owner plans to subdivide the 60 acre property.

This has made a group of local residents upset enough to launch an anti-developement website called SaveVillageH.com. And they are blaming the Carlsbad City Council for not honoring the wishes of its own Open Space Committee.

For over ten years, residents around Village H and from elsewhere have done everything they can to lobby the Council and City to preserve the property. SaveVillageH.com, in its original incarnation several years ago, was a focal point for this effort (with much work by PreserveCalavera.org as well). . . .As a result, three Council members now serving who served then (Lewis, Kulchin, and Hall) all expressed a willingness to preserve the land. But despite their Open Space Committee ranking the property as tied for #2 in the entire city (as worthy of acquisition) and despite the landowner making two very low offers to the City (one reportedly only $300,000), the Council — in a legally questionable closed-door session last year — declined to buy the property.

While we believe for the most part that private land owners should be able sell their land to whomever they want it is strange that the City would pass on a parcel that they obviously had interest in. For more info, click the link.

[Link: Save Village H]

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