By TR Robertson
Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce CEO, Bret Schanzenbach, and Government Affairs Chairperson Haley Wonsley, presented a full agenda for the March virtual meeting. First on the agenda was a presentation by Carlsbad City Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Keith Blackburn.
Mayor Pro Tem Blackburn highlighted several hot topics for the city of Carlsbad. He noted that the City Homeless Outreach Program was doing a great job in trying to reach out to as many homeless individuals as possible to evaluate their situations. Blackburn said the homeless population falls into four categories. Those that simply want to be homeless, those that are suffering from some sort of mental illness and are on the streets, those that are drug addicts and remain on the streets and those that have landed on the streets due to some unfortunate situation in their life. He mentioned that the easiest to deal with and assist are those that have ended up homeless due to some situation in their life that drove them to living on the streets. Blackburn said the state has made it harder to deal with the homeless with their Pan Handling Laws, making the policies enacted walls to dealing with homeless issues.
His next hot topic was the ongoing traffic situation in the city. He did point out that the city has allocated a large sum of money to bring in new traffic signal technology which once installed would reduce red light wait time by 30%.
Next covered was the debate over the growth management plan for the city and issues with the state’s requirements. The state has put out a plan, for all communities, for the number of houses and living areas that provide affordable housing. Part of this implementation would mean providing high density housing of large apartment complexes. One possible answer would be a joint venture with the Brookfield Mall, using the west end of the parking area for a large apartment complex. This would be close to transportation and other services. The height limits the city imposes would also have to look at the restrictions and variances. A series of questions to Blackburn led to his concern with the council differences and several of the council members turning to social media to ridicule others about their differences. This especially comes out, he said, on the positions taken on low-income housing in the city. A question about the Palomar Airport led to a response that the airport issues are hard to deal with as the land and the airport is owned and run by the county. Blackburn responded to a question about issues with the police department with his wish to organize an oversight committee that would work with the Carlsbad Police Chief to work out problems or issues.
Next on the agenda was a powerpoint presentation by Assistant Chief of Police for the Carlsbad Police Department, Mickey Williams. Williams gave an update about the crime statistics for Carlsbad since the pandemic began. He pointed out that overall crime is down 2% for the year. Along with this violent crime was up 1% but property crime was down. Auto theft was up 5% and robbery and burglary around business areas continues to be a concern. He commended citizens and businesses that use video surveillance, both interior and exterior, when reporting crimes. This assists in IDing suspects and vehicles involved. Assistant Chief Williams next went over a Crisis Management Program the police department has instituted to provide all officers with tools in dealing with the de-escalation of crisis issues. This program is intended to present avoidable techniques to avoid the escalation of incidents and to improve performance opportunities. This training will establish best practices for crisis management and help officers distinguish between criminal and mental crisis. Williams read an emotional email from a citizen that witnessed the amazing de-escalation of a recent situation involving an individual with drugs and a weapon seen in a parked car and responding officer in a residential area. He pointed out that people in businesses, when dealing with a situation have three choices, flee, or comply or resist. Williams said even these people must consider that a mental issue might be involved in the crisis. He summed up the presentation with a reference to visiting the Southwest Airlines training center where the policy they use for their employees is “Treat employees as you want them to treat customers”. Williams said this is exactly what they are doing with members of the Carlsbad Police Department.
The next speaker was Barb Boswell, CEO of Clean Energy Alliance. The goal of the Clean Energy Alliance is to provide energy, especially for businesses, that would potentially provide 50% renewable energy and would increase to 100% renewable energy by 2023. CEA supports local businesses and local jobs. Customers interested in this program can enroll in May & June. The 10-year outlook they want to achieve is to provide clean energy and provide savings to those that use their program. For those interested in the Clean Energy Alliance you can go to their web site at www.thecleanenergyalliance.org or email Barb at ceo@thecleanenergyalliance.org.
Jason Haber from the City of Carlsbad gave a quick update indicating that the March 9th City Council meeting will deal with several issues like zoning, state requirements and the Clean Energy Alliance. Their goal setting workshop continues March 11th and their key goal for this workshop is to narrow their goals to those that can be dealt with on short term levels and goals that they want to work on for long term goals.
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Kristal Jabara from Supervisor Jim Desmond’s Office reminded everyone that Petco has re-opened for COVID vaccinations, but everything depends on the shipment of vaccine from the east coast. Any concerns for Supervisor Desmond can be directed to her at kristal.jabara@sdcounty.ca.gov.
Matthew Phy from State Senator Patricia Bates Office said the Senator has received an award for her work in environmental issues. He also pointed out that the Senator continues to work on COVID relief issues for businesses and citizens, including SB 87 – Keep California Working Act, SB 74, and SB 265. All these deal with monetary relief and tax relief of some sort due to the COVID pandemic.
Kyle Krahel-Frolander from Congressman Mike Levin’s Office also said the Congressman is working on economic grants for businesses and restaurant revitalization funds all due to the COVID shutdowns. He also said the Congressman is working with the Build Back Better Plan for businesses, this includes the situation involving moving the railroad tracks in Solana Beach due to the erosion of the cliffs and the safety of the railroad track corridor repair and relocation.
Bret Schanzenbach, CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce said the chamber remains active in the Calif. Chamber Legislation Coalitions supporting friendly business legislation. He said the Chamber is hopeful they will be able to hold the Green Business Expo at the Flower Fields in April of this year. Bret pointed out the Carlsbad Awards will be held in the Fall this year.
