Cover Story
Belonging: R.A.C.E. Matters SLO creates a monthlong event celebrating local expressions of black empowerment and possibility
BELONGING Events • Feb. 1 to April 30 Portraits and Perspectives is a combination of portraits captured by photographer Renoda Campbell and oral history excerpts recorded by Courtney Haile. The San Luis Obispo County Library will exhibit the photographs and listening stations where visitors can listen to local lived experiences. • Feb. 12 BELONGING: Black…
Grover Beach residents criticize delays on North Oak Park projects
For years, Grover Beach residents have complained that stretches of North Oak Park Boulevard are confusing and dangerous for both drivers and pedestrians to navigate. And despite a recent fatality at one particularly notorious intersection of the roadway, community members will have to continue their wait for change. Grover Beach City Council voted at a…
Grover Beach Laundromat will have the first Libromat in SLO County
Información El primer “Libromat” del condado de San Luis Obispo tendrá su gran inauguración el sábado 22 de Febrero de 11 a.m. a mediodía. Los niños pueden pedir prestados libros del “Libromat” para leer con sus padres mientras se les lava la ropa. Se llevará a cabo en Cole’s Linen and Laundry se encuentra en…
SLO City Council gives itself big raises
In a move that city leaders argue will help diversify the pool of candidates for public office, the San Luis Obispo City Council voted on Feb. 4 to give their positions significant pay increases starting next year. By unanimous vote, the council raised the monthly salary for the mayor from $1,725 to $2,508 and the…
Morro Bay artist Craig Griswold’s SLOMA exhibit shows his passion for history, his variety of techniques
On display Craig Griswold: 2020 will be on display through Feb. 23 at the SLO Museum of Art, located at 1010 Broad Street, San Luis Obispo. To view Griswold’s full adventure book, Journal of an Expedition to the Gobi Desert And the Great Sandstorm of 1833, visit sloma.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Griswold-Book-.pdf. Walking past Craig Griswold’s home and studio,…
Mountainbrook Church pastor resigns after investigation into allegations of innapropriate behavior
During the Sunday service on Feb. 2 at Mountainbrook Church, church officials announced the resignation of former lead pastor Thom O’Leary and his wife, executive pastor Sherri O’Leary. The announcement comes after the church investigated allegations made against the lead pastor of innappropriate behavior. The all-male church board emailed a resignation statement to the church…
Annual For the Birds exhibit at Art Center Morro Bay celebrates the hundreds of bird species that inhabit the Central Coast
Take flight The For the Birds exhibit, in celebration of the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival, is on display at Art Center Morro Bay until Feb. 17. The Central Coast is home to thousands of indigenous birds, and Morro Bay is particularly dense with diverse bird species, earning the coastal city an “Important Bird Area”…
AG approves Le Point property lease despite mayor’s concerns
The residents of a city of Arroyo Grande-owned property are safe from eviction and any drastic increases in rent for another year. At its meeting on Jan. 28, Arroyo Grande City Council voted to approve a year lease with the longtime residents of an 800-square-foot residence at 202 East Le Point Street, a property surrounded…
Oscars viewing party benefits Morro Bay High School
The Savory Palate in Morro Bay hosts its Oscars Viewing Party on Sunday, Feb. 9, from 5 to 10 p.m. Co-sponsored by the venue and Hooray for Hollywood, this fundraiser will benefit the Morro Bay High School Performing Arts Department. Tickets are $25, and formal attire is encouraged. Admission to the viewing party includes sparkling…
SLO County Sheriff’s Office serves four search warrants in relation to the Kristin Smart investigation
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputies and FBI personnel placed red caution tape with the phrase “Danger Do Not Enter” around the front of Susan Flores’ Arroyo Grande home on Feb. 5. She’s the mother of Paul Flores, the last person to see 19-year-old Cal Poly student Kristin Smart before her disappearance in 1996.…
Fremont Theater presents Banff Mountain Film Festival
As part of its 2019 World Tour, the Banff Mountain Film Festival will screen at the Fremont Theater in downtown SLO on Tuesday, Feb. 25, from 7 to 10 p.m. Award-winning films of varying length centered on mountain culture and sports—curated from hundreds of submissions—will be screened during this touring festival. Tickets to the event…
Park Cinemas hosts Valentine’s Day fundraiser
The Downtown Paso Robles Main Street Association hosts its Valentine’s Day Movie Night at Park Cinemas on Sunday, Feb. 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. The 1964 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown, starring Debbie Reynolds, will be screened during this fundraiser benefiting the association. Helmed by director Charles Walters and based on the 1960 play…
Your tax dollars at work
Newsflash everybody: Nobody believes that housing on the Central Coast is affordable! Wait. I take that back. One person does, according to a survey recently released by the Hourglass Project—a local nonprofit that was “established to find solutions, not merely identify problems,” as Hourglass CEO Melissa James described it. Its “jobs action plan” will be…
The 49ers’ Super Bowl loss ranks high in Bay Area sports collapses; I felt it at the epicenter
I’m one half-quarter away from an epic and triumphant celebration. My high fives are connecting with friends, our excitement and anticipation are mounting. I’m thinking about how fun and rewarding this season has been, how I’m so proud to be a lifelong San Francisco 49ers fan, how I was too young to even be conscious…
Let’s get that marine sanctuary
Thank your congressman Now is the time to thank Rep. Salud Carbajal for supporting the designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. Contact him at 1431 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC, 20515; (202) 225-3601; carbajal.house.gov/contact. For some time now, the Sierra Club, in concert with environmental groups in SLO and Santa Barbara counties, has been…
The latest edition of Emily Post’s Etiquette is out, and heads up, you still shouldn’t talk with your mouth full
Etiquette 101 Children and teen cooking classes at Debbie Duggan’s Central Coast Culinary and Catering include a bit of etiquette, manners, and courtesy in the instruction. The next class, designed for youths ages 6 to 7, Petit Baker Bakes for Valentines will be held Feb. 9 from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at 2078 Parker St.,…
Sound off
New Times readers took to Facebook to share their thoughts on our Jan. 30 Strokes & Plugs story, “A briefer break: Lucia Mar Unified School District board member lobbies to bring schedule in sync with parents.”
Savor the flavor
SLO Provisions is offering an alternative for those who want a special chef-prepared Valentine’s dinner but don’t feel like fighting the crowds: a take-home dinner for two. The complete meal ($80) includes charcuterie for two, Boston bibb lettuce salad with cucumber, shaved radish, goat cheese crumbles, toasted breadcrumbs, and dill vinaigrette; lobster pot pie; and…
Dear New Times Shredder
You slipped from your soapbox on Jan. 23 (“Get off your soapbox”) when, in defense of free speech, you enthusiastically berated the alleged uncaring, ignorant, conspiratorial women of the fraudulently named Central Coast Health Coalition, many of whose vaccine-injured children still suffer daily the side effects of those injectable drugs. Lest you think we are…
Raise a glass
The Paso Robles Wine Industry held its annual dinner Jan. 23, honoring Neil Collins, winemaker and owner of Lone Madrone, proprietor of Bristols Cider, and winemaker and vineyard manager at Tablas Creek Vineyard as the 2019 Wine Industry Person of the Year. The prestigious award praised Collins for his 20-plus years in the wine industry…
Vote no on upcoming school bond measure
An alert to all taxpayers about the upcoming March 3, 2020, election and a ballot initiative entitled Proposition 13, not to be confused with the Proposition 13 passed in 1978 and led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association that protected homeowners and business owners. The March 3, 2020, Proposition 13 is a $27 billion school…
Los Osos Ranch cage-free organic eggs
Did you ever see that Simpsons episode when Homer teaches Bart how to steal Flanders’ eggs from his backyard chicken coop? Why does he do this? Because they taste better! In the end, Homer decides that the reason they taste good is that they’re stolen, not because they are fresh, organic, cage-free eggs … but…
Re-elect Debbie Arnold
I have known Debbie Arnold for many years. She is an excellent SLO County supervisor. She is opposed to the excess taxation of her constituents. She is prudent and stands against wasteful spending of our tax dollars. She supported the Prado Day Center, which provides services for the homeless in San Luis Obispo. She has…
Take your black metal thrashing under Mortiis’ dungeon synth at The Grad
Hieronymus Bosch and his hellish paintings have got nothing on Mortiis’ dungeon synth video for “A Dark Horizon,” which is populated by hideous creatures torturing helpless maidens. The goblin masked Mortiis, born Håvard Ellefsen, is Norway’s reigning master of dungeon synth—a dark, atmospheric sound that pairs well with grotesque, disturbing images. I read online a…
The price of paradise
As a native of San Luis Obispo, I have found it very hard to get by. My work is being threatened by cuts from city funding. Ride-On Transportation is a company that transports handicapped adults to work programs, seniors to doctor’s appointments, and many other places like weddings and tour groups. Ride-On has been in…
The Rhythm Section misses the beat
THE RHYTHM SECTION What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Anna? Stream it What’s it worth, Glen? Stream it Where’s it showing? Galaxy, Stadium 10 Reed Morano (Meadowland, I Think We’re Alone Now) directs Mark Burnell’s script about a revenge-seeking woman (Blake Lively) out to kill those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her…
Bingeable: Outlander
When? 2014 to present Where? Starz What’s it rated? TV-MA It’s taken me a while to get around to Outlander, a period romance-drama about Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), an English combat nurse we meet in 1945 just as World War II has ended. She’s finally able to reunite with her husband, Frank (Tobias Menzies), who…
Fonzi’s fumings
As usual, Al Fonzi’s column on Jan. 30 (“Vets are angry”) spews bitterness and anger at just about everyone. His latest rant is against a 2007 vote by then-Atascadero City Councilmember Ellen Beraud where she wanted to spend money to actually help our veterans get housing, jobs, and other services they really needed, when others…
Film Listings, 2/6/20 – 2/13/20
All theater listings are as of Friday, Feb. 7. BAD BOYS FOR LIFE What’s it rated? R What’s it worth? Matinee Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Park, Stadium 10 Pick Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) team up one more time in this third installment of the popular Jerry Bruckheimer-produced…
It’s citrus season, and while most fruit tree owners are willing to share their abundance, ask before you take
Marcia Coryell doesn’t have much of a green thumb, but when she moved into her house on Southwood Drive in San Luis Obispo about 23 years ago, she was excited to reap the benefits of the lemon tree that had long been planted in her new backyard. She also has an avocado tree, persimmons, oranges,…
Beraud takes the lead in supervisor candidate fundraising—and some flak for it
With mail-in ballots hitting voters’ doors this week ahead of the March 3 primary election, the six candidates for three seats on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors still have hundreds of thousands of dollars on hand to spend in the waning weeks of their campaigns, according to Jan. 18 finance data. In…
