Did you know?
Mayor Bud Lewis had a 40-year career in Carlsbad politics, from 1970 to 2010.
24 of those years he was Carlsbad’s Mayor, 1986– 2010
Life in Carlsbad changed a little bit after he entered politics!
The city population jumped from 13, 500 in 1969 to 105,328 in 2010.
We added more schools in the Carlsbad Unified School District which formed 1970 by joining K-8 with grades 9-12.
The city grew geographically, with land annexations, especially when La Costa was added in 1972.
City started building parks, after the 1972 Parkland Bond election.
Car Country Carlsbad opened in 1977 and increased our tax revenue.
The Carlsbad City Triathlon started 1981.
The cornerstone citywide growth management planning project; new development must provide parkland and better roads, passed as Prop E in 1986 .
Carlsbad developed international ties when our Sister City Program began 1988.
Legoland opened in 1999.
Mayor Lewis’s legacy “We have to run the city like we would our home bank account,” Lewis says. “Can we afford it? Pay the bills and have a savings.”
Circa 1985, Bud Lewis with Ann Kulchin and Mayor Mary Cassler