We received several reports about a massive amount of littering in the beach parking and across nearby park areas over the weekend. This is as appalling as it is frustrating – hundreds of volunteers have gone out every weekend for the past month to pick up trash.
The City will always do what it can to help reduce littering, but there were bottles dumped within eyesight of trashcans this weekend.
The pioneers who settled the Carlsbad area knew what they were doing. Having the Pecos River run through town gives us miles of beautiful parks and walking areas. We have been working hard to improve on this area by adding volleyball courts, shade structures and other options. The Lake Carlsbad area, as much as our two nearby national parks, is why Carlsbad recently topped Expedia’s list of most scenic cities in the Southwest.
But we don’t get to enjoy our community’s natural beauty if there are piles of trash blocking the view. We will be diverting law enforcement along the beach area more frequently to help reduce the littering, but the best path forward is for people to change their habits. All of the organized cleanups in the world do not matter if people show up and trash our parks by the next day.
More Fall Activities: Carlsbad Rotary is holding a virtual pumpkin carving contest. Submit a photo of your child holding a carved pumpkin and send it to rotary.carlsbad@gmail.com. The deadline for submission is 4 p.m. Oct. 22, and you need to include your name and contact information, your child’s name and your child’s age. Pictures will be uploaded to the Carlsbad Rotary Facebook page, and the picture with the most likes by the evening of Oct. 23 will win. The winner will receive a $75 gift card and a pail full of Halloween candy.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham will be delivering an update to the state on Tuesday afternoon. We do not have any early information about what to expect from today’s conference, but we will provide a review in tomorrow’s report. Due to the uptick in cases across the state and the fact that a conference was held last Thursday, the outlook is not good.
Please be careful when visiting the Lincoln National Forest or other wooded areas. The Lincoln National Forest recently moved its fire danger rating from Moderate to Very High due to continued drought conditions. Members of the public are urged to use extreme caution with fire. Multiple 1,000 acre fires have cropped up over the past week, including the Luna Fire in northern New Mexico and the Horse Fire in Arizona. Fire experts say these conditions are similar to what they were in 2011 and atypical for this late in the year.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway