PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 24, NO. 5
THISWEEK ble a u l Va pons cou Page on 19 B
MOLDING MINDS
A local artist teams with the Boys & Girls Club to teach budding artists how to craft with B1 clay
INSIDE
TWO SECTIONS, 48 PAGES
Business Directory . . . B15 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . A6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . B16 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . B18 Consumer Reports . . . . . A7 Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A8 Crossword Puzzle . . . . B18 EyeWitness . . . . . . . . . . B4 Eye on the Coast . . . . . . A5 Frugal Living . . . . . . . . A12 Hit the Road . . . . . . . . . A11 Hot Off the Block . . . . . . A3 Legal Notices . . . . . . . . . B6 Lick the Plate . . . . . . . . A16 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Outside Perspective . . . . A4 Pet of the Week . . . . . . A27 Second Opinion . . . . . . A17 Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Taste of Wine . . . . . . . . B4 Who’s News? . . . . . . . . . A8
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.com JAN. 29, 2010
Carlsbad crime at lowest in 8 years
LEGO FOR IT!
By Randy Kalp
CARLSBAD — Despite last year’s economic woes, crime in Carlsbad fell by 15 percent; however, violent crimes were up, the police department reported. Last year, Carlsbad recorded its lowest crime figure since 2001 with 2,195 crimes, down from 2,584 in 2008. Additionally, the city’s index crime rate came in at 21.0, the lowest it has been in more than 20 years. The figures come from Carlsbad’s recently released
Seven-year-old Michelle Posey of Oceanside is all smiles as she participates in the Keebler Kids Marathon Mile on Jan. 23 at Legoland. The noncompetitive, 1-mile run/walk was created for children 12 and younger, but moms, dads and older kids were welcome too.
TURN TO CRIME ON A13
School to stay open, but money woes remain
Photo by Patrice Malloy
By Bianca Kaplanek
Hoteliers push for a Tourism Marketing District By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — City Council accepted a petition to move forward with the creation of a Tourism Marketing District on Jan. 20, that will charge hotels and vacation rentals an extra 1.5 percent tax on their yearly gross revenues. The voluntary district tax will pump funds into marketing Oceanside as a destination location. A petition signed by 82.42 percent of local hoteliers supports the proposed tax. Citywide there are 18 hotels with 30 rooms or more and more than 200 vacation rental
properties that will pay the proposed tax. “If you don’t have a presence in the marketplace your tourism dollars goes down,” Cami Mattson, president and CEO of San Diego North Convention and Visitors Bureau, said.“It’s critical to be competitive. To create the district is a wonderful way to keep Oceanside’s presence in the marketplace.” The tax will give hoteliers greater control of marketing efforts. “The hotel industry is ready to stand up to create its own destiny,” Jane McVey, Oceanside economic and com-
munity development director, said. “We want to show people a good reason to come here and there’s lots of them,” Melinda DiPerna, founder and president of BETTER Vacation Rentals, said. The proposed tax will support the creation of a nonprofit organization, Visit Oceanside, which will direct and execute a yearly sales and marketing plan. The nonprofit will also take over the management and costs of running the Welcome Center from the city. “It’s a win-win for the city of Oceanside and the
California Welcome Center,” David Nydegger, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce which operates the Welcome Center, said. “We would like to help ourselves and help the city out too.” The proposed district and nonprofit organization are scheduled to begin in April 2010 and run for five years. There will be an opportunity for the public to comment on the proposed Tourism Marketing District tax at the next council meeting on Feb. 24. A final decision on the district tax will be made on March 17.
DEL MAR — The Del Mar Union School District board of trustees followed the lead of an advisory committee at a Jan. 20 special meeting by voting unanimously not to close Ashley Falls Elementary School as a means to deal with budget cuts, uneven enrollment and a need to relocate the district offices. Administrators, parents and the trustees themselves had also hoped the board would make a final decision on how best to solve the district’s woes either that night or at the regular meeting one week later. But after reading the advisory committee’s 42-page final summary, trustees had about two dozen additional questions for Superintendent Sharon McClain, who told the five-member board it would take at least two weeks to address all the new concerns. Trustees spent most of TURN TO SCHOOL ON A21
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