Here’s a message to those of you who are planning summer vacations: You might want to ignore all the feel-good ads and PR campaigns that attempt to lure visitors to this no-longer-little OR charming beach town. Find somewhere else to spend your money.

There are more and more incidents of violent crime.

This one occurred early Sunday evening where an alleged career criminal was arrested for a road-rage stabbing and assault following a minor traffic crash on the northbound Interstate 5 off-ramp to Tamarack Avenue, (this is near me!) The perpetrator allegedly flew into a violent rage after rear-ending their vehicle. The victims were in their twenties and hospitalized.

What exactly is going on here? Here’s a few more from The Coast News:

Carlsbad photographer Robert Koester gets 40 years for sex crimes

CARLSBAD — A professional photographer previously sentenced in San Diego County to 25 years in state prison for sexually assaulting teenage girls during modeling sessions..

Suspect charged in March stabbing near Carlsbad train tracks

CARLSBAD — A 21-year-old Oceanside man has been charged in connection with a March stabbing that left a victim with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

What will it take for city leaders to have a wake-up call? Hello??? They are head in the sand clueless. Here’s some examples of what council meetings look like while violent crime is on the rise:

-Instead of fixing our crappy roads, the city is asking for ideas about how to decorate a couple of traffic circles and a freeway underpass.

-The city spent I don’t know how many millions for a new park, Veteran’s Park, which. no veteran asked for, because if they were queried, I bet they’d say they preferred the money was used for things like safe housing and FOOD.

–Supervisors are giving away helmets to ebiker kids in Carllsbad. Comments on social media are so apt and awesome, and mostly talk about the reckless driving of these pre/teenagers, and observe (rightly so) that if their parents can easily afford a thousand dollar+ ebike, they can absolutely bear the cost of a helmet, which many of the kids don’t even wear.

These are examples of what our friends and neighbors are concerned about: wasted and misspent money, and the rise in crime. I don’t have any personal complaints about our police force; I think they are doing the best job they can, but the city needs to find a better way to keep us safe.