I have been following the Citizens Initiative and voting on Proposition A and want to congratulate the voters of that city for defeating that proposition.
A developer wanted to turn a parcel of land into an upscale shopping center while wowing the citizens with how much would be saved as agriculture and open space. The current owner/lessee of the strawberry fields was all for this new development and of course, I and so many others, believe it was all about money to him. His appearance on commercials for the developer were pitiful where he recalled his child in college and how this legacy would not be passed on if the citizens did not pass this indicative. WTF? If this kid was smart enough to finish college, and they were not going to an agricultural college, wouldn't you think they just might aspire to something other than to farm strawberries for the rest of their life. Nothing wrong with farming in any way, but there seemed to be too much cash incentive to think otherwise.
The city council and many people didn't care about the quality of life for so many Carlsbad citizens, only their own pocketbooks and the fat taxes this would bring in. In fact, one of the reasons this was fast-tracked, avoiding environmental review was because the city fathers saw about 650,000 dollars in tax revenue from allowing the project to start early. Traffic congestion and the people be damned, just let the developers have their way. Just as they have done for the thousands of new homes recently built or being built with a failing infrastructure to support them. One citizen stated they are being asked to cut back on electricity and water while new construction takes away what could be used for the rest of the current population. And what amount of water and electricity the proposed shopping center would have used is just outrageous in this time of energy and water crisis. As one person put it...the City of Carlsbad never saw a development or developer it didn't like.
So congratulations, Carlsbad voters for sending the developer back to Los Angeles licking his almost 11 million dollar campaign spending wound. And whatever he wasted on wooing the city to approve his project. Hope that next time whoever wants to develop your city does so openly and with voter approval.
Maybe it is time for an initiative to require citizen approval for new housing and industrial developments? After all, if you are being asked to suffer the shortages associated with unbridled development, shouldn't you have a say?
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