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From stopping crime to preventing fires, October is all about helping each other stay safe. In this week’s update, I’ll share strategies for remaining out of harm’s way, plus other news of the week:

• 5 ways to prevent the most common cause of fires in your home
• Some traffic delays today for added safety tomorrow
• Protecting yourself online
• Register early for “Shred it” event
• Repair broken items at our Fixit Clinic, with a Halloween twist
• Carlsbad behind the scenes: recognizing water professionals
• Quick takes: artist reception, earthquake drill, dog park maintenance, weekend rail closure
• Get involved: upcoming meetings

5 ways to prevent the most common cause of fires in your home

It’s Fire Prevention Week, and this year’s theme is one we can all relate to – “Cooking safety starts with you!”

Many of us lead busy lives and are always connected, so it’s easy to get distracted when cooking. In fact, according to the National Fire Protection Association, cooking fires are the leading cause of home fires and home injuries. 

Our Fire Department is asking you to follow these five steps:

1. Never leave the kitchen while you have food frying, boiling, grilling or broiling. If you must step away, even for a short period of time like to answer the door, turn off the stove.
2. If you are simmering, baking or roasting food, check it regularly, stay nearby and use a timer.
3. Keep a 3-foot kid-free zone around the stove to prevent burn injuries. This applies to pets too.
4. Keep anything that can catch fire – oven mitts, food packaging, towels or curtains – away from your stovetop.
5. If you’re cooking outdoors, make sure your grill is in a clear area, away from dry brush, patio cushions or anything else that could catch fire.

And, if a fire does break out …

• Always keep a lid nearby when cooking. If a small grease fire starts, slide the lid over the pan and turn off the burner.
• For an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the oven closed.
• Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.

Finally, one additional precaution – never use your stovetop for added counter space.

The city’s fire and life safety team is here to help. Find more fire-prevention tips on our Home Fire Safety webpage. Or, better yet, meet them in person at this Saturday’s Public Safety Open House.

Public Safety Open House

Oct. 14, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

City of Carlsbad Safety Training Center

5750 Orion St.

P.S. We are canceling the public tours and art activity at Fire Station 2 in La Costa, originally planned for this Saturday. Don’t worry, we’ll still have plenty of fun and educational activities planned that day at the Public Safety Open House.

Some delays today for added safety tomorrow

Driving around Carlsbad, you’ve likely come across crews repaving and restriping several of our major east-west roadways.

This work is one way we are making changes to local streets to reduce speeding, which is by far the number one cause of injury collisions in Carlsbad. Here are a few questions we’ve received about this road work:

Why is so much construction happening at the same time?

• We are expediting this work to get it completed as quickly as possible.
• The sooner streets are restriped, the sooner we can expect to see the safety benefits of slower speeds and added room for cyclists.

Why do crews leave and come back to the same areas multiple times?

Repaving and restriping require several steps:

• First the street needs to be prepped by grinding down certain areas and sealing cracks.
• Then, it’s ready to be resurfaced. We try to resurface one lane or one side at a time so traffic can still get through. When one side is done, we switch to the other side.
• The new surface needs a little time before it’s ready for new striping.

Why are you making lanes narrower when that makes it feel less safe to drive?

• Giving drivers a little less room causes them to slow down and pay more attention, which improves safety.
• All of the new lane widths are within state and federal safety standards.

Can’t you just lower the speed limit to slow down traffic?

• Believe it or not, no. The law says we can only set speed limits within a certain percentage of the speed people actually drive on the road.
• That’s why we need to first make changes to the street. This causes drivers to slow down. We then do a speed survey to document that driver behavior has changed, and the average speed has gone down.
• Only then can we establish a lower speed limit that is enforceable.

Why is so much room being given to bikes when most people drive?

• We are working with streets that have already been built. When they were first designed, wider lanes were the norm.
• When we narrow travel lanes for cars, we make use of the extra space to create bike lanes and safety buffers between bike lanes and car lanes.
• When people feel safer, they are more likely to bike, and biking helps people stay healthy and reduces car trips, which are Carlsbad’s number one source of greenhouse gas emissions.

How can I find out where construction is taking place?



• The map below shows the areas affected.
• Look for digital message boards and other signs indicating which portions of these streets are affected on which days.
• Please leave a little extra time to get where you need to go until this work is completed.
• Be on the lookout for crews and drive slowly in construction areas.

We appreciate your patience as we get this important work completed as quickly as possible.

Protecting yourself online

Last week I shared the top things you can do as a Carlsbad resident to protect your valuables from would-be thieves. Continuing in the theme of Crime Prevention Month, today I’ll focus on another common threat – cybercrime.

According to the FBI, victims lost $10.9 billion to internet crimes in 2022, a 49% increase over 2021. And large corporations are not the only targets. Our Police Department is seeing more and more cybercrime affecting our local businesses and residents.

By now you have probably heard the warnings, but just in case:



• Never open an attachment or click a link that seems suspicious. If the sender claims to be someone you know or a service you do business with, it’s always worth the extra time to call the person or business at a verified number to confirm the request is legitimate.
• Choose strong passwords and enable two-step verification when possible.  
• Update your devices, apps and software. Turning on automatic updates makes the process easy.

If you have a small business in Carlsbad, please take advantage of our Cybersecurity-Awareness Program, which is offering a training Wednesday, Oct. 18, from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. If you’re interested in participating, make sure to sign up by the deadline tomorrow.

Prevent identity theft: shred sensitive documents

Criminals don’t need to be computer hackers to steal your identity; you may be providing everything they need in your trash and recycling.

Dispose of documents with personal or financial information securely at our shredding and recycling event on Nov. 18. Even though it’s more than a month away, sign-ups start this Monday at 10 a.m. on the Republic Services website. Reserve your spot early before they’re all taken.

Shred and Recycle It!

Saturday, Nov. 18

9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Carlsbad location provided upon registration

Sign up beginning Oct. 16

The cost of this service is covered through your trash bill already. Plus, ensuring shredded documents are securely recycled supports the city’s environmental sustainability goal outlined in the City Council’s 5-Year Strategic Plan. 

Repair broken items at our Fixit Clinic

Speaking of sustainability, if you have small household items that need to be repaired, learn how to do it at our Fixit Clinic at Dove Library on Oct. 21, which also happens to be International Repair Day.

Our Fixit Clinics have been very popular and a great way to save money while protecting the environment. That’s because repairing or recycling old or broken items keeps them out of the landfill.

Fixit Clinic

Saturday, Oct. 21

10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Dove Library

1775 Dove Lane

Register online

At the Fixit Clinic, you can:

• Repair: Get help fixing small household appliances, electronics, bikes, clothing and more.
• Mend: Repair old Halloween costumes to give them new life.
• Swap: Find a Halloween costume (or costume pieces) to take home, and swap old costumes.
• Create: Use upcycled materials to craft a Halloween mask or headband.
• Donate: Donate clothing and shoes.

These videos show two recent success stories from our last Fixit Clinic.

Carlsbad behind the scenes: recognizing water professionals

It’s Water Professionals Appreciation Week across California, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to shine a light on a group of city workers who otherwise might go unnoticed. All in all, we have about $2 billion worth of water and wastewater infrastructure here in Carlsbad, much of it out of sight, out of mind for the average resident.

• That’s okay, because we have a team of professionals dedicated to making sure water keeps flowing to your taps and wastewater is collected and treated safely.
• This same group is also responsible for providing recycled water to businesses, HOAs and others to use for manufacturing, landscaping and other non-drinking purposes.
• Not only are the maintenance and operations of these systems complex, they are subject to strict state and federal regulations designed to protect public health and the environment.

#TeamCarlsbad takes this responsibility very seriously, and I’d like to thank our dedicated employees who have chosen to focus their careers on this important work on behalf of our community.

Finding savings

Here’s just one recent example of this team in action.

• When those little sticker labels on fruits get washed down the drain, they eventually make their way to our wastewater treatment plant, where they can really gum up the works.
• One solution our team explored would have cost $2 million.
• Instead, we worked with the plant operators at the Encina Wastewater Authority to custom-fabricate screens that catch the labels and prevent them from entering into the treatment facility.
• This solution only costs a few thousand dollars and as you’ll see in the pictures below, it’s working great. 

This is just one small example of the ingenuity of our amazing Utilities staff. They’re also on-call 24/7, including holidays and weekends, to respond quickly to water emergencies and sewer issues. 

We have examples like this across our organization and look forward to sharing more in future editions.

BTW, you can help with the fruit sticker thing by putting them in the trash, never down the drain. Thank you!

Quick takes

We’re getting toward the end of today’s longer-than-normal update, so let me share a quick speed round:

• A week from today is the annual Great California ShakeOut, the world’s largest earthquake safety drill. Life in California means always being ready for an earthquake, so please refresh your memory about the proper steps to take, and make sure your family is ready too. More info
• Meet artists Sijia Chen and Kelsey Overstreet and connect with other Carlsbad art lovers at a reception celebrating the latest exhibit at the city’s Cannon Art Gallery this Saturday. More info
• You can let the big dogs out starting this Friday, Oct. 13, at the Poinsettia Dog Park, where we’ve finished replanting the grass, something that needs to happen every once in a while with this type of surface. Next up is the small dog side, which will be closed for replanting until late November.
• From NCTD, all coastal rail line service will be suspended between the Oceanside Transit Center and Santa Fe Depot in San Diego this weekend for routine maintenance and rail infrastructure work. More info

Get involved: Upcoming meetings

The next City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, Oct. 17, starting at 5 p.m. in the City Council Chamber. A link to the full agenda and staff reports is available on the city’s website. Topics to be considered include:

• An update on how city funds are invested and how those investments are performing 
• Contracts with three professional services firms to support city informational technology projects on an as needed basis 
• Putting a project out to bid to install a special type of speed bumps on Victoria Avenue, Highland Drive, Nueva Castilla Way, Circulo Sequoia and Celinda Drive to address neighborhood safety concerns
• Updating the Carlsbad Municipal Code to comply with a new state law requiring cities to allow medicinal cannabis delivery businesses and establish the city’s zoning, security and safety requirements for these non-storefront businesses 
• How the city will spend its federal Community Development Block Grant funding to help low-income residents find housing in the next fiscal year, and a proposal to have the city’s Housing Commission review and make recommendations on grant funding requests
• The 2024 dates for regular City Council meetings, and whether to begin City Council meetings at 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. starting in 2024
• Updating the City Council’s policy on its official proclamations to clarify how proclamations can be requested and how they are approved and selected to be presented at City Council meetings

The City Council encourages your participation. You can get agendas and staff reports emailed to you directly, and if you want to provide input, you can email council@carlsbadca.gov before the meeting or come in person and fill out a request to speak.

If you want to watch from home, we have three options:

1. Watch the meeting live on the website
2. Watch a recording of the meeting afterwards
3. Watch live or a replay throughout the week on the city’s cable TV channel, Spectrum channel 24 and AT&T U-verse channel 99

Three other public meetings are scheduled next week. Boards and commission meetings are also livestreamed on the city’s website and available to watch afterward:

• Oct. 16, 3 p.m. – Economic Development Subcommittee
• Oct. 16, 5:30 p.m. – Parks & Recreation Commission
• Oct. 18, 5 p.m. – Planning Commission

We’re expecting another warm fall Carlsbad weekend, with the temperature rising into the mid to upper 70s. If you decide to take advantage and get outdoors, please stay safe on the roads and look out for one another. Thank you for making Carlsbad the wonderful community that it is, and I’ll be back next week with more updates.

Scott Chadwick