Carlsbad continues to move forward because of the strong relationship that the City of Carlsbad has forged with the business community.
That was the takeaway from the address that Mayor Matt Hall gave to a sold-out audience of more than 440 at the State of the City Luncheon, held Friday, Aug. 22 at the Sheraton Carlsbad Resort & Spa.
Hall said that projects under construction and in the planning stages will infuse $2.7 billion into the community, including $514 million in commercial real estate projects and $1.6 billion in large projects such as the Poseidon Water desalination project. This shows that the city and the business community have a thriving relationship, Hall said.
After his address, Hall added that he wanted to focus his address on collaboration because that's what makes Carlsbad great.
"The difference between our community and most others is that one individual only has so much capacity, but if you go in and multiply it by 10 people or beyond that, it's exponential as to what you can accomplish," he said. "Quite often, it's how you put together different thoughts, different visions different dreams together and in Carlsbad, we found the way to do that.
"I see the Chamber and the business community as the engine, the locomotive that's pulling the train. You have to have a financial resource and they provide that. The minute you can energize that sector, the better you will become."
Hall singled out several projects, all of them from Carlsbad Chamber members, that highlight how the City of Carlsbad is working with businesses to keep Carlsbad on the right track. The projects included:
• ViaSat, The company is currently constructing a new 143,000-square-feet building across the street from its headquarters on El Camino Real. Hall said the city expedited the design review and permitting process to allow the company to meet its construction goals. For example, the permitting process, which usually takes 6-9 months, was conducted in 3-4 months.
"To ViaSat … thank you for investing in Carlsbad," Hall said.
• Westfield Carlsbad, Mayor Hall announced that an Oct. 23 ribbon cutting will be held for the first phase of the shopping center's renovation. He added that the new theater will open on Dec. 12 and that the second phase of construction will start next year and will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016.
• Education, Hall touched on a number of ways that local businesses are assisting and benefiting from boosting education in Carlsbad.
"When we go out to the business community and listen to what is important to (them), one of the things that always comes up is education, from kindergarten all the way to beyond (doctorate degrees)."
Hall noted that Cal State University San Marcos is launching a hospitality and tourism program in the spring of 2015 whose curriculum has been created with the input of several Carlsbad hotels and resorts. The university is also working with ViaSat to develop the first professional science masters degree in cybersecurity.
He also pointed out that the city recently announced that it's working with MiraCosta College to open a Tech Career Institute.
"It think this will be very influential for those of you who have to manufacture a product (and need) someone who will operate the machines that create that product."
• The Carlsbad Energy Center, The mayor said that negotiations with NRG Energy, Inc. and SDG&E, which accomplished in a week what might have otherwise taken months or years, will lead to the closing of the power plant in the near future.
"That power plant is going to come down," Hall said. "Let's start dreaming the dream of what that could look like … we need to start thinking what is 100 acres of shoreline in Carlsbad worth, and what can we do with that."
That was the takeaway from the address that Mayor Matt Hall gave to a sold-out audience of more than 440 at the State of the City Luncheon, held Friday, Aug. 22 at the Sheraton Carlsbad Resort & Spa.
Hall said that projects under construction and in the planning stages will infuse $2.7 billion into the community, including $514 million in commercial real estate projects and $1.6 billion in large projects such as the Poseidon Water desalination project. This shows that the city and the business community have a thriving relationship, Hall said.
After his address, Hall added that he wanted to focus his address on collaboration because that's what makes Carlsbad great.
"The difference between our community and most others is that one individual only has so much capacity, but if you go in and multiply it by 10 people or beyond that, it's exponential as to what you can accomplish," he said. "Quite often, it's how you put together different thoughts, different visions different dreams together and in Carlsbad, we found the way to do that.
"I see the Chamber and the business community as the engine, the locomotive that's pulling the train. You have to have a financial resource and they provide that. The minute you can energize that sector, the better you will become."
Hall singled out several projects, all of them from Carlsbad Chamber members, that highlight how the City of Carlsbad is working with businesses to keep Carlsbad on the right track. The projects included:
• ViaSat, The company is currently constructing a new 143,000-square-feet building across the street from its headquarters on El Camino Real. Hall said the city expedited the design review and permitting process to allow the company to meet its construction goals. For example, the permitting process, which usually takes 6-9 months, was conducted in 3-4 months.
"To ViaSat … thank you for investing in Carlsbad," Hall said.
• Westfield Carlsbad, Mayor Hall announced that an Oct. 23 ribbon cutting will be held for the first phase of the shopping center's renovation. He added that the new theater will open on Dec. 12 and that the second phase of construction will start next year and will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016.
• Education, Hall touched on a number of ways that local businesses are assisting and benefiting from boosting education in Carlsbad.
"When we go out to the business community and listen to what is important to (them), one of the things that always comes up is education, from kindergarten all the way to beyond (doctorate degrees)."
Hall noted that Cal State University San Marcos is launching a hospitality and tourism program in the spring of 2015 whose curriculum has been created with the input of several Carlsbad hotels and resorts. The university is also working with ViaSat to develop the first professional science masters degree in cybersecurity.
He also pointed out that the city recently announced that it's working with MiraCosta College to open a Tech Career Institute.
"It think this will be very influential for those of you who have to manufacture a product (and need) someone who will operate the machines that create that product."
• The Carlsbad Energy Center, The mayor said that negotiations with NRG Energy, Inc. and SDG&E, which accomplished in a week what might have otherwise taken months or years, will lead to the closing of the power plant in the near future.
"That power plant is going to come down," Hall said. "Let's start dreaming the dream of what that could look like … we need to start thinking what is 100 acres of shoreline in Carlsbad worth, and what can we do with that."