I was surprised to read in Public Records the resignation of Deborah Carey as a longtime member of the Tidelands Advisory Committee. In addition to her posItion on the committee she has been an employee of SWIA which has historically been the pet project or employment for former Councilwomen Patricia McCoy and Mayda Winter. Deborah and Michael Carey have long been political activists and the real shakers and movers behind the IBCC Political Pack that supported the group that dominated city hall for the last 12 or so years. They also were involved with the I.B. Sun Newspaper along with Steve Haskins and the late Walter Trook. Their entire political schtick was : Limit Height and Density. Get lots of Grants for SWIA and the birds in the Estuary. Print a Faux newspaper just before every local election and trash the opposition candidates at the last minute. That's back-round history. What surprised me in her quote was the statement that now that the Hotel Developer had all of his variances from the Coastal CommiSsion for height and density.................her job was over! I thought the Carey's were spokespersons for limiting height and density and supporting wildlife. So most people know the hotel got several variances. According to the Municipal Code the way it was written back then, each new hotel or condo unit must have two parking spaces. Because of the density of this project a variance was granted to one space per unit. HMMMM. The maximum height limitation was given a variance and somehow got a blessing from the Coastal Commission. God knows how much money and who got greased to make that happen? Then after all of those years of maneuvering, while Pacifica ran a dump hotel and further damaged Imperial Beach's reputation....after they got the variance , Pacific comes back and wants to raise "JUST THE ELEVATOR SHAFTS". I think first it was so they could do maintenance on the roof and then it was a bar and wedding receptions with umbrellas on the roof. Better anchor those down. My kid and I used to fly kites off the penthouse deck at the old hotel. No umbrella is going to stay up there but ok....I'll give them one for imagination. Here's where the issue gets complicated. In a newspaper story they talked about having a wedding reception for up to 75 people on the roof. This roof is now actually an additional floor. It's one story higher than what they portrayed to the Coastal Commission because the plans they saw didn't take the elevator equipment up another 10-12 feet. If two people ride in a car to the Wedding and there is only one space for each hotel room....where are those extra cars going to park without infringing on the locals who want to park down at the beach also. Then comes the parking tickets. New improved...more expensive parking tickets. A city that does it's major construction in the so called tourist zone...TWO YEARS IN A ROW? I hope the new visitors to the new hotel don't get caught in grid lock on Palm Avenue on their way to the new hotel? This so called "traffic calming" was probably invented and designed by the same schmuck at SANDAG who coined the words SMART GROWTH. Yea they want to raises the power bill and ration your water while they still build condos and high-rises. So the new hotel you paid for may open with some fanfare in the not too distant future. They will have a subsidized food and beverage provider with a short term lease. They will hire a "Sacrificial Catering Director who will do a great launch and then get blamed for all the failings. Someone I knew a long time ago had a dream of opening a place near the beach and having music, drink, dancing and food. She didn't have the support of all the Elected Council Members and Port Commissioners. Besides having the City's various departments harass her out of business, she found out that she had no control over the demographics of Imperial Beach. If some crazy or suicidal person/s decide to do crazy stuff in your place of business............what can you do? What I'm trying to say is that she could not pick her clientel and who walked into her place. Will the hotel be too high end for laid back I.B. ? Will the prices be too high? Will all the locals be welcome. Will there be troublemakers or criminal activity in or around the new hotel. How much security will they really need to keep surfers out of their miniature swimming pool. I remember from years ago some surfers would crash the pool and hot tub to rinse all the sand off. $200 per night. The Water has been too full of E-coli since last December to swim safely. Until that issue is resolved, no hotel can be successful. My prediction again is that there will be a traffic and parking hell at first. When the hotel can't make it on their business model they will come back to the Council and ask to change the zoning to Condos or Time Shares. Since the City has all of it's money invested in the hotel...what do you think they will do? DUH...IT WAS PLANNED THAT WAY ALL ALONG. So they will have their big ceremony soon and all the local politicians will get their photo shoot and sound bites. The Port Commissioners will shmooze with the developer and you can figure out some other way to get to the beach than driving or parking your car like you used to. HEY! MAYBE THAT'S WHY THEY TOOK THE AWARD WINNING TSUNAMI EVACUATION ROUTE TRAFFIC LANES AWAY......TO MAKE YOU RIDE A BIKE SO THERE WOULD ACTUALLY BE SOMEONE ON THEIR STUPID BIKE TRAIL. TOLL GATES ON PALM COMING SOON? Who knows what these Morons will do next. How about PUT IT BACK!
