This week’s edition of Looking Back at the Week features articles, commentaries, columns, toons, and other work by San Diego Free Press regulars, irregulars, columnists, at-large contributors, and sourced writers on: RICOing climate change deniers, Serra’s unworthy Sainthood, Coronado’s bike lane madness, the Interfaith Forum on Climate Justice, Bayard Rustin coming alive, Trump tapping racism, Esco’s continued history of hatred, Nordy’s-On-The-Lagoon, the Pope on climate change and helping the poor, Will Falk on suicide, on another Mission Valley development, Ayotzinapa a year later, refugee families, Bill Gibbs, and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s friendly, neighborhood, all volunteer, community news site.
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No ‘Bird’s Eye View’ of Nordy’s-On-The-Lagoon
By Richard Riehl / The Riehl World
While paid signature gatherers raced through neighborhoods representing themselves as concerned citizens on a mission to save the Strawberry Fields, a glossy mailer appeared in my mailbox titled, A Bird’s Eye View of the Agua Hedionda 85/15 Plan, with a full color sketch of an aerial view of the site.
Birds apparently can’t see shopping centers. The verdant landscape is littered with thumbnail photos of a family at a picnic table, a man picking strawberries, a couple strolling down a path and a guy inexplicably carrying a surfboard, as he walks away from the waveless lagoon behind him. A small amphitheater is nestled amid the lush greenery.
Read the fine print to discover what’s missing from the sketch, the “outdoor retail, shopping, dining…promenade.” After the Carlsbad city council unanimously approved the plan, despite the promise of its title in the document filed with the city clerk on May 12, “INITIATIVE MEASURE TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS” (my emphasis), it’s become clear that birds were not the only ones who failed to see the entire developer’s plan. [Read more…]
Carlsbad City Council Backs Caruso Bogus Claims
Strawberry Fields 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.” [Read more…]
Choosing Real Citizen-Led Advocacy to Preserve Carlsbad’s Open Space
By Richard Riehl / The Riehl World
After vowing never again to sign a petition, my wife and I are headed to Alga Norte Park to sign one. It’s our attempt to make up for foolishly falling for the pitch to support an initiative to “save the strawberry fields.” The man with the clipboard at my door claimed he was a member of a group of concerned citizens, rallying to save them.
A day later I learned how I had been sweet-talked into abandoning my skepticism of California’s bogus initiative campaigns. He was far from the public-spirited do-gooder he represented himself to be. The guy walking away with my signature was paid for its delivery to the developer who was rallying to bring a strip mall to the strawberry fields. [Read more…]
Preserve Carlsbad Open Space the Right Way: Let Us Vote
By Richard Riehl / The Riehl World
When it comes to air pollution, the Carlsbad City Council’s report on the Agua Hedionda Initiative, the “9212 Report,” reads a little like “close enough for guv’ment work.” When it comes to traffic congestion, it’s a developer’s faith-based initiative. But when it comes to the city’s projected $2.6 million a year tax revenue windfall it’s, “Whoopee, we’re gonna be rich!”
City staff took 2 ½ months to write the August 7 report. The Council and general public will have had 17 days to read and think about what’s in its 254 pages, and the 542 additional pages of supporting documents, before next Tuesday, August 25, when the Council will decide whether to approve the plan with no further review, put it on the ballot for voters to decide, or take more time to think it over. [Read more…]
Duped by Signature Campaign for Strawberry Fields Mall in Carlsbad
The perversion of citizen led petition drives by big money
By Richard Riehl
My afternoon nap was disturbed last month by the sound of a man’s cheery voice from behind the screen at my open front door.
“Hello, hello!”
Awakening from a sound sleep, I shuffled to the door to find a man standing there, holding a clipboard. He didn’t introduce himself, just explained, “We’re gathering signatures to save the strawberry fields.” I didn’t recognize him, but his easy way led me to believe he was a fellow resident of our 40-unit condo community.
Despite full knowledge of our HOA ban on door-to-door solicitation and my own vow never to sign a petition without knowing the details of what it meant and who was pushing it, I allowed the phrase, “save our strawberry fields” to cloud my better judgment. [Read more…]