At this week's council meeting many public speakers came to warn the council against allowing Carltas development company to "defer" repayment of their tax advance.
the strange thing about all of this is that they never have opened up the books and given numbers and specific reasons why this needs to happen now. what kind of interest will the city add to the owed money, they keep saying the city will get its money but letting them keep the cities money for free is a rip off to the tax payers and the city. we all know what is gonna happen though because it is an ecke carltas deal, they will get what they want.
Anon 2:21-That lawyer you are referring to is Marco Gonzales. He, and his firm, have done a lot of good for this City, and perhaps in time, others will realize that. Sometimes the lawyers are the good guys, believe it or not.
In this case Marco is the good guy. He smelled a rat, and I smell one too. Chris Calkins is also a lawyer, and a very slick one at that.
For those who weren't at the meeting or didn't watch the webcast, the council didn't approve the suspension of the loan repayment. This is a victory. The city will sit down with Carltas to renegotiate the agreement. This is the scary part. There is no one at the city competent enough to engage Calkins. The city should hire Marco, but it won't.
But the city has no real need to give an inch. Carltas has the obligation to pay, but has a no-recourse clause, so could walk away and only lose its interest in the golf. The city would be left with whatever "serious problems" ERGA has. These are surely financial shortages.
Carltas would face a public relations disaster if it reneged on the agreement. The cozy relationship between Carltas and City would be destroyed. I think Carltas would rather cough up the money, unless there is a much more serious problem at Carltas than we know.
My understanding of the Del Mar / I5 contraversy is that some Del Martians near the fwy complain that the increase of noise will ruin their neighborhood if more lanes are added to the fwy. What I don't understand is why an environmentally minded lawyer would help a few, at the expense of the many. Especially when more efficient traffic circulation is so beneficial to ourselves and our planet.
The city is being worked by Carltas as usual. But Marco is working the whole system as it suits his very labor / liberal focus. Lets hope that our council members can sift through the crap.
The city doesn't own the golf course and the course was not a donation. It was in the interest of the Eckes to build a course so that there wouldn't be a public works yard or a bunch of soccer fields next to their new million dollar mcmansion development. It was all part of a deal that was very favorable to the Eckes. The details were very favorable to the Eckes and James Bond admitted last week that he didn't understand the details when he endorse the deal. The Eckes are good business people and they understood the complex deal that they designed.
The course is losing money and is looking more and more like a liability that the eckes can walk away from and leave to the city to clean up. The deal is designed that way.
The Eeke's used the government to finance their golf course and development. Even they wouldn't have had the bravado to make the taxpayer pay for building the course up front. That is what will happen if they aren't made to pay all their debts.
At this time the city doesn't "own" the golf course. In an incredibly complicated deal, the city and Carltas are members of the authority (ERGA) that borrowed the money to purchase land (from Carltas, of course) and build the course. It is not world class because it was designed to sell houses at a higher price, not to host world class players.
Somehow or other the water district is tied in with a Joint Powers agreement. Is there a financial liability? Teresa asked the question, but was brushed off.
It is clear that the city has no obligation for bond debt repayment. There are two bond issues involved: the Mello Roos bonds, which allow an increase in assessment if necessary, and the revenue bonds, which do not. The revenue bonds, which were refinanced in 2004, are for $11 million. If there is a default on the bonds, the bond holders will end up owning the golf course.
Hindsight shows the the golf course would have been a great site for lighted soccer fields and/or a public works yards, but Carltas wanted neither. It would have devalued the houses they were planning to sell.
Bottom line is that ERGA has no surplus revenue and Carltas is looking for ways to minimize its obligations.
I don't remember any negotiations to have soccer fields or a public works yard on the Encinitas Ranch Golf course land. You are confusing many different deals and parcels. There are fields that Carltas gave to the City down by Target.
Please don't spread rumors that are untrue.
By the way, have you seen the financial statements that says the golf course is in "trouble"?
The city council determined that we badly needed a public works facility and soccer fields. Those types of facilities were not part of the negotiations with Ecke because the negotiations were lopsided in Ecke's favor. Its too bad. We could have a world class sports complex with a great ocean view.
When the city was incorporated in 1986, all the Ecke property was excluded. In the 1990s when Carltas started negotiations with Carlsbad and Encinitas about annexation, it was Encinitas that gave Carltas what it wanted.
A lighted regional sports complex and a new public works yard were never part of the deal, but they should have been. It would have been an ideal, centralized location. All the city got was the small Leo Mullin sport park, and Carltas didn't want lights.
The devil visited a lawyer's office and made him an offer. "I can arrange some things for you, " the devil said. "I'll increase your income five-fold. Your partners will love you; your clients will respect you; you'll have four months of vacation each year and live to be a hundred. All I require in return is that your wife's soul, your children's souls, and their children's souls rot in hell for eternity."
The lawyer thought for a moment, and finally asked, "What's the catch?"
An expensive lawyer, a cheap lawyer and Santa Clause are having a game of poker. The lights go out for a moment. When they come back on, all the money in the pot on the table is gone. Who took it?
Ans. The expensive lawyer. Why? Because there's no such thing as Santa Clause or a cheap lawyer.
What kind of human being would try to stop fireworks on our Independence Day? Only a scum bag lawyer. May he rot in hell for eternity along with all lawyers.
Regarding Del Mar/Carmel Valley and I-5/56, Caltrans has picked the most neighborhood unfriendly alternative for the on-ramp. They are needlessly condemning a large number of homes, and affecting a neighborhood, when there are other ways to route the transition from 5S to 56E. Caltrans Engineers have a standardized way of doing things, and all the Del Mar people want is a different route that does not condemn their houses and affect their neighborhood. Seems "Pro-Environment" to me....
the strange thing about all of this is that they never have opened up the books and given numbers and specific reasons why this needs to happen now. what kind of interest will the city add to the owed money, they keep saying the city will get its money but letting them keep the cities money for free is a rip off to the tax payers and the city.
ReplyDeletewe all know what is gonna happen though because it is an ecke carltas deal, they will get what they want.
I hate lawyers but that guy from Coast Law Group (first speaker) made a lot of sense!!!
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:21-That lawyer you are referring to is Marco Gonzales. He, and his firm, have done a lot of good for this City, and perhaps in time, others will realize that. Sometimes the lawyers are the good guys, believe it or not.
ReplyDeleteMarco is also the lawyer blocking the upgrading of I5 in Del Mar, because a few home owners want to stop the connecting of I5 and Route 56.
ReplyDeleteIn this case Marco is the good guy. He smelled a rat, and I smell one too. Chris Calkins is also a lawyer, and a very slick one at that.
ReplyDeleteFor those who weren't at the meeting or didn't watch the webcast, the council didn't approve the suspension of the loan repayment. This is a victory. The city will sit down with Carltas to renegotiate the agreement. This is the scary part. There is no one at the city competent enough to engage Calkins. The city should hire Marco, but it won't.
But the city has no real need to give an inch. Carltas has the obligation to pay, but has a no-recourse clause, so could walk away and only lose its interest in the golf. The city would be left with whatever "serious problems" ERGA has. These are surely financial shortages.
Carltas would face a public relations disaster if it reneged on the agreement. The cozy relationship between Carltas and City would be destroyed. I think Carltas would rather cough up the money, unless there is a much more serious problem at Carltas than we know.
My understanding of the Del Mar / I5 contraversy is that some Del Martians near the fwy complain that the increase of noise will ruin their neighborhood if more lanes are added to the fwy. What I don't understand is why an environmentally minded lawyer would help a few, at the expense of the many. Especially when more efficient traffic circulation is so beneficial to ourselves and our planet.
ReplyDeleteOur country's strength is that those in the minority are not at the mercy of those in majority.
ReplyDeleteSlimeball vs. Slimeball.
ReplyDeleteThe city is being worked by Carltas as usual. But Marco is working the whole system as it suits his very labor / liberal focus. Lets hope that our council members can sift through the crap.
No good deed goes unpunished. The City did not pay for their world class golf course. Carlsbad paid $70 million for theirs!
ReplyDeleteThe city doesn't own the golf course and the course was not a donation. It was in the interest of the Eckes to build a course so that there wouldn't be a public works yard or a bunch of soccer fields next to their new million dollar mcmansion development. It was all part of a deal that was very favorable to the Eckes. The details were very favorable to the Eckes and James Bond admitted last week that he didn't understand the details when he endorse the deal. The Eckes are good business people and they understood the complex deal that they designed.
ReplyDeleteThe course is losing money and is looking more and more like a liability that the eckes can walk away from and leave to the city to clean up. The deal is designed that way.
The Eeke's used the government to finance their golf course and development. Even they wouldn't have had the bravado to make the taxpayer pay for building the course up front. That is what will happen if they aren't made to pay all their debts.
...turn the course into soccer fields. We don't need another losing venture that the taxpayers have to bail out.
ReplyDeleteThe City will own the golf course. Where did you get the idea that it was golf course vs. Public Works yard?
ReplyDeleteAt this time the city doesn't "own" the golf course. In an incredibly complicated deal, the city and Carltas are members of the authority (ERGA) that borrowed the money to purchase land (from Carltas, of course) and build the course. It is not world class because it was designed to sell houses at a higher price, not to host world class players.
ReplyDeleteSomehow or other the water district is tied in with a Joint Powers agreement. Is there a financial liability? Teresa asked the question, but was brushed off.
It is clear that the city has no obligation for bond debt repayment. There are two bond issues involved: the Mello Roos bonds, which allow an increase in assessment if necessary, and the revenue bonds, which do not. The revenue bonds, which were refinanced in 2004, are for $11 million. If there is a default on the bonds, the bond holders will end up owning the golf course.
Hindsight shows the the golf course would have been a great site for lighted soccer fields and/or a public works yards, but Carltas wanted neither. It would have devalued the houses they were planning to sell.
Bottom line is that ERGA has no surplus revenue and Carltas is looking for ways to minimize its obligations.
I don't remember any negotiations to have soccer fields or a public works yard on the Encinitas Ranch Golf course land. You are confusing many different deals and parcels. There are fields that Carltas gave to the City down by Target.
ReplyDeletePlease don't spread rumors that are untrue.
By the way, have you seen the financial statements that says the golf course is in "trouble"?
If you have to ask what I think about lawyers, you wern't paying attention in 11th grade English!!
ReplyDeleteThe city council determined that we badly needed a public works facility and soccer fields. Those types of facilities were not part of the negotiations with Ecke because the negotiations were lopsided in Ecke's favor. Its too bad. We could have a world class sports complex with a great ocean view.
ReplyDeleteWhen the city was incorporated in 1986, all the Ecke property was excluded. In the 1990s when Carltas started negotiations with Carlsbad and Encinitas about annexation, it was Encinitas that gave Carltas what it wanted.
ReplyDeleteA lighted regional sports complex and a new public works yard were never part of the deal, but they should have been. It would have been an ideal, centralized location. All the city got was the small Leo Mullin sport park, and Carltas didn't want lights.
that was a strolling earthquake
ReplyDeleteThe devil visited a lawyer's office and made him an offer. "I can arrange some things for you, " the devil said. "I'll increase your income five-fold. Your partners will love you; your clients will respect you; you'll have four months of vacation each year and live to be a hundred. All I require in return is that your wife's soul, your children's souls, and their children's souls rot in hell for eternity."
ReplyDeleteThe lawyer thought for a moment, and finally asked, "What's the catch?"
An expensive lawyer, a cheap lawyer and Santa Clause are having a game of poker. The lights go out for a moment. When they come back on, all the money in the pot on the table is gone. Who took it?
ReplyDeleteAns. The expensive lawyer. Why? Because there's no such thing as Santa Clause or a cheap lawyer.
Lawyers SUCK! The quibbling idiots are sucking America dry.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of human being would try to stop fireworks on our Independence Day? Only a scum bag lawyer. May he rot in hell for eternity along with all lawyers.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Del Mar/Carmel Valley and I-5/56, Caltrans has picked the most neighborhood unfriendly alternative for the on-ramp. They are needlessly condemning a large number of homes, and affecting a neighborhood, when there are other ways to route the transition from 5S to 56E. Caltrans Engineers have a standardized way of doing things, and all the Del Mar people want is a different route that does not condemn their houses and affect their neighborhood. Seems "Pro-Environment" to me....
ReplyDelete