More about our local water situation – an excerpt from nytimes.com:
LAKESIDE, Calif. — In many parts of California, reminders abound that the American West is running out of water. “Bathtub rings” mark the shrinking of the state’s biggest reservoirs to some of their lowest recorded levels. Fields lie fallow, as farmers grapple with an uncertain future. A bed-and-breakfast owner spends $5 whenever a tourist showers.
But not in San Diego County.
In this coastal desert metropolis, life has stayed mostly the same for residents already accustomed to conserving what they have long treated as a precious resource.
On a recent afternoon, boats sped over the silvery surface of San Vicente Reservoir, a key water storage site for the county about 25 miles northeast of downtown San Diego. It was about as full as usual, cutting a sharp contrast with the desiccated lake beds where state officials have appeared in recent months, pleading with Californians to save water. The San Diego County Water Authority estimated that it would have sustainable water supplies through 2045, even if dry conditions persisted for years.
Now, with San Diego facing the prospect of orders to use even less water, its relative water plenty has become a case study in the uneven ways that the Western drought is affecting the nation’s most populous state. And the county’s try-everything approach to getting water has emerged as a model for cities — including Denver and Albuquerque — where leaders are dealing with one of climate change’s most dire effects.
We’ve all heard about how home prices in San Diego have never been higher, and that demand is so great that homes for sale typically get multiple bids and wind up selling for more than the list price — in some cases, significantly more. What we haven’t heard much about is what’s triggering this boom.
Local realtors say one of the most significant factors is the arrival of home buyers from the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, where the tech explosion years ago sent home prices skyrocketing. Covid-19 forced many businesses to send their workers home, while the Delta variant squashed what many had expected would be a mass return to the office. As a result, many tech firms — including Google, Twitter, and Facebook, all headquartered up north — now offer telecommuting as a regular option.
Over the last few months, “we have had a huge influx of Bay Area people moving down for the ‘lower’ prices,” says Devonee Alfrey, a realtor who focuses on North County. With Covid-19 and remote working, she says, “being present in Silicon Valley is no longer necessary to do the job.”
The median sales price of a single-family home in San Diego County was $860,000 in July, according to the California Association of Realtors — compared to $1.3 million in the San Francisco Bay Area. The median sales price in the city of San Francisco was nearly $1.9 million and, in San Mateo, $2.1 million. Meanwhile, Zillow Research in mid-August reported that as of July, list prices of homes for sale in San Francisco over the last year have dropped 4.9 percent year over year, while the number of homes for sale has nearly doubled.
Last year, 16-year old Jack Munday was tragically killed in a car accident in Carlsbad.
Between June and August 2021, Carlsbad based artist Bryan Snyder worked with the Munday family to design and create a public art memorial bench for Jack Munday. The bench was installed on the shore of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad, CA on August 7, 2021.
The ticket sales for the U.S. Open couldn’t have been managed more poorly.
They sold all the tickets well in advance – but during the Covid-19 era so they knew the restrictions. Then they cancelled all the tickets and executed refunds to every purchaser.
I had bought tickets for contest winners here, only to have them get refunded. Then when they did go to re-sell tickets, they limited the amount due to covid-19 – which they knew was happening when they sold the first round. As a result, I only got two tickets, and went with wifey yesterday.
Sorry contest winners!
Phil has complained about fans making noise with their cameras, but no harm was done here. My camera has a button to turn off the noises.
We saw Rory chip in on #12, and we were in the highlight clip – as his ball is heading for the pin, look for Donna (in blue top and white pants):
CARLSBAD, Calif. – It’s been dubbed the Silicon Valley of golf and compared to Detroit for the auto industry or to Akron, Ohio, the rubber capital of the world. Over the last 30 years, Carlsbad, this sleepy little beach town and agricultural community located 35 miles north of San Diego, has exploded into the golf equipment epicenter. And not surprisingly, a haven for golfers too.
Carlsbad rises from ocean to hills. A pioneering speculator dug a well there in 1883, discovered mineral water believed to restore health and earned the city its name after the spa town of Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) in the Czech Republic. Health seekers and sun worshipers have been coming in droves ever since for the fine, uncrowded beaches, and, of course, the water.
