Strawberry Fields is Not Threatened by Vote
By Richard Riehl
Caruso Affiliated’s latest glossy mailer features the smiling faces of the five city Council members who voted unanimously to approve the developer’s plan to build a Strawberry Fields mall. Directly below the beaming politicians is the plea, Don’t let outside interests end the Strawberry Fields and take away what’s ours, followed by the command, DON’T SIGN THE PETITION. You’re invited to “get the facts” from a link to Caruso’s corporate marketing campaign.
You’d think our public officials would refer us to the city’s website, where you can find unbiased documents related to the developer’s plan, like Prop D, passed by the voters in 2006, and the entire Agua Hedionda South Shore Specific Plan (AH-SP). So I went to the city’s website, where I found this. “The City of Carlsbad did not sponsor the initiative and, by law, no public resources may be used to advocate for or against an initiative or referendum.”
I’m sure council members got legal advice before climbing aboard Caruso’s campaign train to keep their constituents away from the voting booth. They are merely trumpeting the wisdom of their decision. But how can they explain their opposition to the referendum? The website explains there is no referendum yet filed with the city clerk. Council members might be successfully skirting the law, but next year’s election will allow voters a say in the wisdom of that.
Prop D can be found here. These two sections caught my eye. 3.1.8 The city shall also ensure that… the existing Strawberry Fields are allowed to continue as long as it is economically viable for the landowner to do so.” Despite this promise, the Caruso/City Council mailer claims putting the AH-SP up for a vote will mean the loss of “Jimmy Ukegawa’s iconic Carlsbad Strawberry Company, our strawberry farming heritage and protections for coastal agriculture.”
Because of my guilty conscience about signing an initiative I was told was a citizen’s-led effort to save the Strawberry Fields, I vowed to read the entire 397-page document, which can be found here. It’s titled, Initiative Measure to be Submitted Directly to the Voters, received May 12, 2015. You read that right. No mention of the city council’s authority to rubberstamp it, and a very good reason many of us felt misled.
The “intent” of the AH-SP, according to its introduction, is to “provide for the continuation of coastal agriculture and strawberry farming,” mirroring Prop D. Neither guarantees financial support for the fields. The city’s website claims AH-SP would “guarantee continued agriculture on the site in perpetuity by providing financial support to the top farming operation.” Note the absence of the words “Strawberry Fields.”
You also won’t find those words in the AH-SP’s guarantee of financial support. “The Specific Plan establishes revenue sources from the Specific Plan’s visitor-serving commercial uses, and/or from private funding, to dedicate, improve, restore, operate, and maintain in perpetuity the dedicated open space areas at no tax burden to Carlsbad residents.”
Contrary to the Caruso/city Council mailer, just as signing the petition for the initiative did not guarantee Strawberry Fields forever, refusing to sign the referendum petition will not save them from being plowed under the day after the new Nordstrom’s is open for business. It will only save the land for agriculture, with a vague promise to subsidize growers, with funding from a variety of unnamed sources.
The city Council’s rubber stamp and promotion of the Agua-Hedionda Specific Plan is both irresponsible and unseemly. For elected officials to mount a campaign urging their constituents not to vote is both ironic and politically stupid.
Carlsbad residents have only 13 days left to sign the referendum petition. Signature gatherers are going door-to-door and setting up tables at local parks.
Tues 9/ 15, 4 – 7 PM Stagecoach Park
Wed 9/16, 4 – 7 PM
Thurs 9/17, 4 – 7 PM Calavera Hills Community Park
Fri 9/ 18, 4 – 7 PM Alga Norte Community Park
For more information on signature gathering locations, go here.
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The writer does not understand the mailer.
The city council is not urging the “Do not sign the petition” message. They are not mounting any campaign, as you mistakenly suggest. The builder is.
The Mayor and City Council Members are pictured because of their 5 to 0 vote of support for the 85/15 project.
Clearly, those photos were ripped from some publicly available website.
Really, is that the best you can do? Try to say the writer doesn’t understand?
Richard has been writing about North County politics for decades. Just about anybody –pro or con– looking at the flyer is going to get the implicit endorsement part of its message.
Back at ya.
This entire carefully staged and high cost farce is possible because the City Council knows that present incumbents can hold their seats for as long as they like with no real challengers to their hold on power. It is because they are elected at large which means that you do not have to win a majority vote but simply come up on the top of the results something that is a cinch for incumbents. It permits them to make horrendous decisions about things like a golf course authorized by the voters with information that it would cost about 8 million and that ended costing well over 40 and needing a million dollars year in subsidy, buying a 15 million dollar office building that sits vacant for well over a decade, and approving subdivision after subdivision despite the ongoing crisis in water and infrastructure. The City has been wealthy ever since it incorporated to get the taxes paid by the Power Plant when it was built to service North County. The City has prospered with the Mall Oceanside rejected, the development of a vast auto mall when I-5 was completed, the County put in Palomar Airport, the Mafia and Teamsters built the La Costa Resort and made it part of the city, and Legoland came to town.
Have your reporter look into who contributes to incumbent campaigns for your answer: real estate groups, attorneys, hotels, and developers, most from out of town. Most citizens are new to the area and ignorant of the power plays that rule them. The city services are better than good thanks to its bankroll but games are played all the time and no one really covers them. Try fighting City Hall and see where it gets you.
Wow. Thanks for this. You are so spot on!
The Mayor and City Council have been made aware of the illegal use of their faces and names. They have refused to make any statement on the issue other than to continue to publicly endorse the plan. So what is Tyler smoking? We know where the Mayor and City Council stand. They DO NOT WANT US TO VOTE. How could any reasonably intelligent person come to any other conclusion than to recognize that they were in on this plan all along. It’s almost comical how stupid these people are. It’s not comical how arrogant they are. Pride goeth before a fall. I just want to be around when they all start falling. Doing my part to make sure it happens, one signature at a time and one vote at a time. Tyler, assuming you are 18 or older, American citizen and registered voter…even you can vote, if you want to.
Couldn’t have said it better, Don.
It’s gonna be glorious to watch all those who are opposed to this development realize they are powerless and represent the fringe citizens of Carlsbad.
Here comes Caruso! Get used to it!
Dear Chris,
You may be correct, but some of us would rather die standing than be bent over and ridden. Make your choice. As I told someone the other day, even if we lose, we win…because we are standing up for what is right. The truth matters. Whether you care to accept that or not is your decision. We choose not to be cynical.