IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT. WOULD YOU LIKE VINTAGE CARS OR TANGO FOR TWO HUNDRED?

(I will be heading out of town early tomorrow so please consider this my Saturday post, very early.) When I moved here 10 years ago, it was the beginning of Cruisin' Grand. We went a couple of times with friends and enjoyed ourselves. I had a wonderful 5 minutes one afternoon last year when I happened to be walking down 3rd or 4th and a long line of pristine Packards pulled up, getting organized for their moments of glory on Grand. I still take a look sometimes if I happen to be on my way somewhere on foot on Friday, but I have to admit I'm just not a big car person. I was telling a visitor about the fact we have this for 26 Fridays and he said "Doesn't that get a little boring?" I just kind of shrugged, but in my heart of hearts I do wish Cruisin' was not the whole summer. I'm not sure what, but I like to think there is some other activity that would draw good numbers of people. I found an article in the NC Times from Feb 2008 that says the DBA spends between 5 and 10 thousand dollars each Friday. If that's true, the DBA spends somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 on Cruisin' Grand. What if that was spilt in half and there was $100,000 for 13 weeks of something else? What about portable dance floors, teachers and music? Tango one week, swing the next? I've seen that done in other cities and it has been popular. Well, just food for thought, I'll see you on Sunday, after pancakes and papers.

OF WINDFALLS AND PARASOLS.

Of course I am excited by what I read in the NC Times today about hotel funds. David Garrick reports that redevelopment dollars long in limbo may become a windfall for the city. Dollars would have to be used for redevelopment which Abed has said could be the hotel. I assume the mayor would support this idea, the rest of the council has mixed comments. We shall have to wait and see how this develops, but for me hope springs eternal.

Today, I'm thinking about parasols. The tiny ones in fruity drinks can be nice. but my favorites are the ones that let us city outside in the shade or walk around town without sweltering. It's the Latinas of this city who showed me that rain umbrellas can just as easily become parasols. (When we moved out here decades ago, my mother told us Californians called rain "liquid sunshine." I liked the thought then and still like it now.) So with plenty of hot and sunny days ahead, I suggest we all create out own little piece of shade and enjoy the summer. See you tomorrow.

HOW DO WE CREATE WEBSITES THAT DO THE CITY PROUD?

I have a folder in my bookmarks labeled Escondido. It gets me to the library along with a number of sites I go to for other info. When I want info on city government I go the city's official site. When I want to know about events downtown, I try the DBA site. When I'm looking for CCAE events, I go to the California Center for the Arts site. And when I want to find out what would be great for visitors, I've been told to go to Escondido Experience. My experience at these sites varies, and I've lately wondered if fewer sites with better administration might not be the way to go now that we have budget restraints across the board.(From what I understand, updating and adding material to these sites has been pushed aside lately because with less staff and resources not everything that needs to get done actually does get done.) Escondido Experience has a great look, but it makes it difficult for visitors to move offsite. The DBA, well that site is not something that will attract visitors. And CCAE, well it keeps saying "COMING SOON" and I would guess that's because of lack of money/staff to get the site updated. What if we could find a way to create a single site to be used by the DBA, CCAE and EE? I'm sure there would be bureaucratic hurdles, but couldn't they be dealt with if it was better for everybody? Maybe fewer sites could mean having enough staff to create and keep updated an exciting interactive site that would be helpful to residents but also enticing to visitors. I'd love to see what one site could become with the support to make it a star. See you tomorrow.

THE FARMERS' MARKET IS BUSIER THAN EVER. CITY COUNCIL MEETING AT 4, QUESTIONS ABOUT SHOOTING RANGE TODAY?

This is the first year I have consistently gone to the Farmers' Market on Tuesday. And now that decent tomatoes are appearing I will be there for sure. This nice tray of produce was what we bought this week, all for about $15. The cauliflower was beautiful, the arugla and basil fresh and the tomatoes the first heirlooms of the season. We were hoping for red peppers but could only find the little yellow ones which made for a different flavor when we used them last night. But I've learned the market makes you flexible and that's part of the fun of shopping there and cooking later.
Well, this afternoon is another City Council meeting. And though it will not be on the agenda, it will be interesting if someone brings up the cost of the Escondido shooting range in the NC Times article by Coleen Mensching. Seems we let other cities, other agencies, all sorts of folk use it FOR FREE. Last year we spent $1.6 million of our budget improving it, and everyone else still uses it FOR FREE, including Carlsbad. I'd love to know how much money we have spent over the course of time--not sure when this started--so others could come here and use it FOR FREE. Hopefully this will change right away since the article quotes outside groups as saying they'd be willing to pay. There has been discussion by some council members on making sure our fees are where they should be, but hard to determine that when fees never existed. See you tomorrow.

SO HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT MAKES A GOOD DEAL AND WHAT MAKES A BAD ONE? ALSO, FARMERS' MARKET IS TODAY.

Read the news and you know that cities regularly subsidize big projects. Sports stadiums seem to be very popular because lots of people like sports and they understand why a stadium would bring in many people--often forgetting the fact that the team owners may already be very wealthy people. A number of large malls have been subsidized, including a big one in Providence that has been very successful (even as its owner right now face bancruptcy because of the economic downturn and plummeting sales at other malls). This was a mall many people were opposed to it and said it would fail. So, how do we, citizens of Escondido, know when and if we should say yes to a developers request for help. Right now, we don't. But it might be helpful if there was a discussion of the subject that stayed on the subject. I do not believe The Library and The Hotel are mutually exclusive. I do not believe it helps the conversation to call every deveoper "greedy." What I do think would be very helpful would be a series of articles on subsidies for economic development and what worked, what didn't and why. Of course, it would also be wonderful if we could have the details on last months meeting with the developer, but then that was in private session. Do we have no right to know? UPDATE: Turns out we don't have the right to know about this kind of meeting, Property Negotiations -- Only to discuss, with an agency's identified bargaining agent, price or payment terms. The parcel, negotiators and the prospective seller or purchaser must be on the agenda. (§ 54956.8) Final price and payment terms must be disclosed when the actual lease or contract is discussed for approval. (§ 54957.1(a)), which can be held in a closed session. That's one of the provisions of the Brown Act, which is discussed on this site that I quoted above. See you tomorrow.

WE WENT THERE NEARLY FIFTEEN YEARS AGO AND IT WAS THE MOST RELAXING PLACE I'VE EVER STAYED.

It was late winter when we flew out of Boston, eventually landing in Key West, Florida. When we got to The Hotel Marquesa we were delighted. A few blocks from the main tourist area, but with no views of the ocean, it was this beautiful haven of calm and quiet. We were lucky enough to have picked one of the "cottages" with its own bedroom, luxurious bath, sitting room and front porch big enough for lounges and a table for 2. (Back then it was $150 a night during high season. Now it goes for $450 and up.) Breakast of fresh OJ, coffee and warm croissants was delivered every morning. I spent most days just reading on the porch, taking a dip in the small pool a few times, while my husband took walks around the historic neighborhood and even went to the local library book sale. Dinners at great restaurants were all within walking distance and the variety was wonderful. We found the town a little too touristy and a little too loud, but the time at the hotel was beyond wonderful. The Hotel Marquesa was a very early version of a boutique hotel. With fewer than 30 rooms and an amazing atention to detail, it was a destination in itself. Sure, it is part of a resort town, but the best part of it was you felt pampered and looked out for. Something like this could happen right here in Escondido by creating an enclosed courtyard for the hotel, making it an oasis in the city. It takes vision, perseverance and of course, money. Tomorrow, I'd like to talk about why hotel deals do or don't happen and what we should know about the process. See you then.

NO MATTER WHAT DAVID GARRICK WRITES, MY DREAM FOR THE DOWNTOWN ISN'T DYING.

As anyone who has read this blog knows, I am strongly in favor of a hotel downtown. I've also said that maybe we could start with a boutique hotel and have written about that too. Have I started something with that? (Turns out this boutique hotel idea is something Richard Barron has been discussing for a good while. I hope he will come and post about it here.) I see in today's front page article in the NC Times that Olga Diaz "argues that a small boutique hotel could provide the lodging support needed by the arts center." So let's start with that and make it happen. But she and I part ways-- if she is quoted accurately in the article--when she says "I think the city's vision of success has been affluence, but I don't think that has to be the vision," she said. "Downtown will be just fine without a luxury hotel."

I disagree completely. People like to visit Escondido and they want a nice place to stay, nice places to eat and interesting shops. Empty windows on every block of Grand will only get filled if there are people to buy things and a nice transfusion of tourist dollars could make a huge difference. When performers come to the CCA, I bet they don't stay in Escondido. That means RB or Carlsbad gets the hotel dollars and restaurant dollars and shopping dollars. Voting against a hotel based upon today's occupancy rates is ludicrous. This is the worst economy since the Depression so it tells us nothing about where things will be in a few years.

I've been a strong supporter of Olga and I'm glad she's on the council. I'll send this post along to her and hope we can discuss the issue further.(UPDATE Olga sent me a great email and let me know she still supported a hotel downtown. Hopefully she will write or talk about that in more detail.) But I will not back down from my belief that if a luxury hotel is built, it will transform downtown. I will be blogging about this issue for the next few days so please stop by again. Tomorrow, I will show and tell about my favorite hotel..See you then.