The City of Carlsbad, California has found a new way to fill their tax coffers, while helping to add to the misery of the homeowners of the "Village by the Sea" as it has come to be known. The new misery is known as Vacation Rentals.
It's not just vacation rentals, but unbounded vacation rentals, where any homeowner west of El Camino Real can now rent their home by the day, week or month any time of the year simply by obtaining a no-cost permit from the city. Unless your Homeowners Association CC and R's expressly prohibit such rentals, the rest of the neighborhood is...well...screwed. This was passed by the City with no notice to the homeowners; such activity was prohibited in the past.
You will now be subject to all sorts of new people in and out at all times of the day, night and week, people that you don't know. In fact, people that the person who rented their home does not know! There is no vetting process; from what I have been able to determine, it's all done over the phone, not even a face to face meeting with the owner. Information is exchanged, credit card information taken, and the code to a lock box and, if required, an access code is provided for a gated community. Thus any semblance of security that the homeowners are paying for has now been destroyed as their gate code is in the hands of how many strangers?
And who are these people? Vacationers? Kids who have their parents rent the home for them? Party animals from some local or out of state college that will ruin your life for how long? Is the solution to call the police every night that they keep you up past midnight with loud partying when you have to go to work at 5 AM? Who cares about the security deposit when it's YOU, not the homeowner who rented the place that has to put up with the problems. He's somewhere else enjoying his peace and solitude. And, if the "vacationers" do damage outside the confines of the rental property, who will pay for that? I can see lawsuits where you have to sue your former neighbor due to his "vacationers".
Many people on vacation are truly responsible and there are hotels and homes on the beach that have been rentals for eons just for that purpose. So why did the City of Carlsbad allow this to happen? Greed! Just to collect tax revenue! The city officials claim it's good to open the doors for more tourists and places for them to stay, but not at the cost to the residents who actually live here and must be subjected to this nonsense. I'd bet if a vacation rental opened up beside one of the city officials homes, they would be quick to figure out a way to shut it down. Plus, these homes do not have to pass city inspection like a hotel! What about insurance? Do the insurance companies know these are being used as rental homes for hotel type occupancy? If there is a fire or liability loss, do these homeowners have adequate insurance coverage or, in the case of a Home Owners Association, will the HOA have to "pony up" because of insufficient coverage?
Lots of questions and few answers. Unlike how things used to be, you no longer have any expectations on who might be in the home next to you tonight...or tomorrow...or the night after.
My suggestion to the good homeowners who are the true victims of this governmental snafu is to call the police department when they are disturbed by loud parties or problems with these vacation rentals. Enough complaints will put the city on notice that we are not happy with this transgression. And, enough complaints will also let the vacation home renters send a message to the owners that we might not be the most welcoming community they could wish for. After all, we do not have to like what the City has shoved down our throats! Bad reviews by renters will result in vacation rentals dropping fast! Like they used to say...welcome to Carlsbad..now go home!
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
California...the Drought and Electric Supply
As most people know, we have a severe to exceptional drought in California. Couple that with a shortage of electrical generating capacity and you have the makings of a catastrophic scenario that would result in not only financial but physical ruin to the people of this state.
However, in their lackadaisical and lackluster management style, the politicians and politicos of the entire state have somehow decided that it is okay to issue tens of thousands, or perhaps more, building permits, most for single family dwellings, that will severely deplete the existing water and electric supplies. Many are being built in areas that will require heavy use of air conditioning and with three and four bathrooms, thus severely increasing water usage, not even considering irrigation usage.
But the politicians don't want to talk about that. All they can think about is tax base. Growth is good for California is what they tell us. Put a house or some other building on every square foot of ground that you can, and leave only a tiny plot of green and call it a "preserve". That "tax base" will not provide more water or electricity, and when we run out you won't be getting any water from it. Nor will the homes be helping the rotating blackouts and brownouts we will be seeing as a result of the excessive load on the electric grids.
San Diego Gas and Electric promised we would have more than adequate power once the Sunrise Power Link ws completed, regardless of the future of the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant. They lied. Once San Onofre went off-line, there started to be talk of shortages, and here we are again in the same quandary with power shortages and the power company whining about lack of generating capacity. Yet they now want to increase fees to a two tier system so the homes in the desert will pay less and those on the coast who use less electric will pay more. The power company says it is only fair as it equalizes costs for all. Sounds like an Obama plan to share the wealth, doesn't it? Take away from those who save, will tolerate 85 degrees at night in their homes when the Santa Ana winds blow and don't use air conditioning, and give it to those who keep their homes nice and cool. What a crock of crap.
Again, about water, I own a small home with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. A postage stamp size personal yard and a few plants my spouse waters infrequently. We use an average of 7 units of water a month, sometimes as low as 5 or 6 units. But using 7 as a reasonable basis. A unit is 768 gallons so that equates to roughly 5,376 gallons or 179 gallons a day. We do a load of wash every day, sometimes two, (front loader ECO machine) drink city water through filters, shower (low flow heads), cook, flush toilets (low flow flush), water for our cats, and an occasional hot bath for a sore back. We take our cars to the $5.00 car wash occasionally so we don't wash them at home anymore. We find from the water company that our use is average for a home of our size in this development, where the community landscape is basically watered by a combination of reclaimed and city water.
If you double the size of the home, bathrooms, occupants, land space, etc, you effectively almost double the water usage. So even if you consider the water usage at 12 units instead of 14, you will be looking at 9,216 gallons per month for a new home that really watches their water usage. Multiply that by tens of thousands and then add in all the industrial and commercial spaces that are going up and we're in much worse shape than the politicians admit.
And, finally, know who will be so screwed by all this? The long time homeowners. Because we will be the first to lose water and electricity as we are on established grids. The new buildouts will simply slow down as we watch our economy and jobs go down the tubes. Our short sighted politicians will blame all this on someone else and run out the door like the rats they are deserting a sinking ship.
Sadly, this is not a prophesy. It's a fact that, unless there is a miracle, will come true. It's already a fact in the Central Valley where we have the New Dust Bowl as a result of decisions made solely by politicians. It's coming our way sooner than anyone thinks.
However, in their lackadaisical and lackluster management style, the politicians and politicos of the entire state have somehow decided that it is okay to issue tens of thousands, or perhaps more, building permits, most for single family dwellings, that will severely deplete the existing water and electric supplies. Many are being built in areas that will require heavy use of air conditioning and with three and four bathrooms, thus severely increasing water usage, not even considering irrigation usage.
But the politicians don't want to talk about that. All they can think about is tax base. Growth is good for California is what they tell us. Put a house or some other building on every square foot of ground that you can, and leave only a tiny plot of green and call it a "preserve". That "tax base" will not provide more water or electricity, and when we run out you won't be getting any water from it. Nor will the homes be helping the rotating blackouts and brownouts we will be seeing as a result of the excessive load on the electric grids.
San Diego Gas and Electric promised we would have more than adequate power once the Sunrise Power Link ws completed, regardless of the future of the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant. They lied. Once San Onofre went off-line, there started to be talk of shortages, and here we are again in the same quandary with power shortages and the power company whining about lack of generating capacity. Yet they now want to increase fees to a two tier system so the homes in the desert will pay less and those on the coast who use less electric will pay more. The power company says it is only fair as it equalizes costs for all. Sounds like an Obama plan to share the wealth, doesn't it? Take away from those who save, will tolerate 85 degrees at night in their homes when the Santa Ana winds blow and don't use air conditioning, and give it to those who keep their homes nice and cool. What a crock of crap.
Again, about water, I own a small home with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. A postage stamp size personal yard and a few plants my spouse waters infrequently. We use an average of 7 units of water a month, sometimes as low as 5 or 6 units. But using 7 as a reasonable basis. A unit is 768 gallons so that equates to roughly 5,376 gallons or 179 gallons a day. We do a load of wash every day, sometimes two, (front loader ECO machine) drink city water through filters, shower (low flow heads), cook, flush toilets (low flow flush), water for our cats, and an occasional hot bath for a sore back. We take our cars to the $5.00 car wash occasionally so we don't wash them at home anymore. We find from the water company that our use is average for a home of our size in this development, where the community landscape is basically watered by a combination of reclaimed and city water.
If you double the size of the home, bathrooms, occupants, land space, etc, you effectively almost double the water usage. So even if you consider the water usage at 12 units instead of 14, you will be looking at 9,216 gallons per month for a new home that really watches their water usage. Multiply that by tens of thousands and then add in all the industrial and commercial spaces that are going up and we're in much worse shape than the politicians admit.
And, finally, know who will be so screwed by all this? The long time homeowners. Because we will be the first to lose water and electricity as we are on established grids. The new buildouts will simply slow down as we watch our economy and jobs go down the tubes. Our short sighted politicians will blame all this on someone else and run out the door like the rats they are deserting a sinking ship.
Sadly, this is not a prophesy. It's a fact that, unless there is a miracle, will come true. It's already a fact in the Central Valley where we have the New Dust Bowl as a result of decisions made solely by politicians. It's coming our way sooner than anyone thinks.
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