Business Interests 1st
By casting the only vote against changing the historic name of Elm Avenue (circa 1886) to hard-sell “Carlsbad Village Drive,” Councilman John Mamaux showed again what a shrewd politician he has become. I predict this street name change will be among the most unpopular decisions this council has made.
Incredibly, the other council members all spoke in favor of spending $143,000 of city funds (property taxes from the redevelopment area) for the stated purpose of attracting more traffic onto Elm--”to help the downtown merchants.”
As anyone who still uses Elm knows, it already violates growth-management traffic standards. And as the council should know, their own traffic studies indicate it will continue to do so after the street-widening project is complete.
If there was ever a doubt this council puts the commercial interests of the business community ahead of the interests of Carlsbad residents, this tacky sellout of honorable old Elm should settle it once and for all.
S.A. STATHAM
Carlsbad
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