CARLSBAD: Candidates meet for first full debate

Responses to questions vary widely

By BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:56 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- From building a saltwater desalination plant to diminishing the size of city government, the six Carlsbad City Council candidates gave widely differing answers Thursday when asked what they wanted their one major accomplishment in office to be.

Their answers came during the city's first full-scale council candidates' forum this election season. The evening event, hosted by the Rotary Club of Carlsbad, was open to all of the candidates. A forum earlier in the week was only open to the Republicans.

There are two seats up for election in November ---- one held by Ann Kulchin, who is making her eighth run for office, and one held by Julie Nygaard, who is not running.

Kulchin told the approximately 60 people at the forum that she hoped her key accomplishment in four years would be seeing Poseidon Resources build its long proposed desalination plant along the south side of Agua Hedionda Lagoon.

"We need water, folks," she said, adding that her second choice would be expanding city library services.

Keith Blackburn, a Carlsbad police officer who also runs a property management business, said he initially wanted to say that his key accomplishment would be improving traffic conditions in town, but decided to go with the more general answer of fiscal stability.

Continuing that city tradition will give Carlsbad the money for many things, he said. Earlier in the night, he had praised the council's management style and said he wanted to see renovations at both Westfield's shopping mall and the Car Country Carlsbad auto mall.

Glenn R. Bernard, who has served in the Marines and worked in real estate, said he wanted to create a town where city government was "de-emphasized."

"I don't like people being elected for life," he said earlier in the evening, mentioning that he wanted to tear down the plaques on city buildings that list the names of people involved in their construction.

Evan Delaney Rodgers, a Cal State San Marcos student, said she wanted a "creatively financed" city that knew how to get private industry to help it accomplish projects such as the proposed Alga Norte Park swim complex.

At age 19, she's easily the youngest candidate in the race, and during her introductory remarks she said she would have "fresh, creative and cost-effective solutions" to the city's problems. The issue that got her involved in politics was the pool complex, she has said.

Thomas K. Arnold, the editor and publisher of Home Media Magazine, said he wanted people to say in four years that he was the sort of guy who "got things done."

He added that he wanted to create "a sense of action, a sense of urgency." Earlier in the evening he had suggested that he would like to see more artists downtown, several renovation efforts, and an expanded pedestrian walkway along Carlsbad's waterfront, among other things.

Farrah Douglas, who co-owns a local print shop and serves on the city's Planning Commission, said she wanted to help the city do a good job of transitioning from growth mode into build-out phase, commenting that the Carlsbad is soon forecast to reach that point where most of the big housing developments are finished.

If the city brings in new businesses and becomes more business friendly, it won't be hurting for revenue at the build-out point when developer fees start to decline, she said.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.