Cover Story
Steelhead wanted: Conservation groups collaborate to reinvigorate SLO County’s fisheries and improve the quality of its watersheds
Muddy water is puddled in the bottom of what looks like a pond. It hides behind a berm next to neatly trimmed orange trees that mingle with avocado, lemon, and lime groves on a ranch up Santa Rosa Creek Road in Cambria. But it’s not a pond. It doesn’t hold onto water like a pond…
If you could choose one cartoon character to rule the world, who would it be and why?
Tatiana Vine veterinary assistant “Brain from Pinky and the Brain because he would finally get to rule the world.” Unique Shaw-Smith sociology professor at Cal Poly “I would choose Huey from Boondocks because he reminds me a lot of myself and I think I could rule the world.” Nathan Bumgarner cook “I’d go with Rodger…
Open season: With three SLO County supervisor seats up for grabs, the election could change the board’s political makeup
As far as local politics go, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors reigns supreme. Among its many powers, it holds land-use authority over the large unincorporated swaths of the rural county. The current board is working its way down a list of very difficult decisions, with flames fanned by often polarizing politics. Big…
The new frontier: AxonVR introduces immersive virtual reality
“Boldly go where no one has gone before.” This is the lesson that Star Trek has ingrained into the hearts of many fans, including technological innovators like Jake Rubin. Rubin, once a 20-year-old college dropout, wandered into Bob Crockett’s office with something almost too bold to become a reality. “My first thought is that he’s…
Cougars & Mustangs
This will come as no particular surprise, but New Times is full of aspiring writers, living their dreams at least in part through weekly publication. But there are far more folks like us, in places both damp and sunny, nibbling pensively on Cheetos between thoughts deeper than the well Lassie rescues children from. Sometimes, those…
Steve Moss (Sept. 18, 1948–April 24, 2005)
Stephen Donnellan “Steve” Moss loved to argue about everything. If you agreed on a topic, he’d gladly argue the other side just for fun. For Steve, argument was exercise for the mind, which is perhaps why he was a natural newspaperman—intellectually curious, something of a contrarian, but a true believer that journalism was an honorable…
SLO City Council kills election ordinance
After a rough ride, a proposed elections ordinance for the city of San Luis Obispo was sent down river. The “Integrity in our Elections Ordinance,” which the SLO City Council swiftly killed with a 3-2 vote on April 19, would have created a public financing program for City Council and mayoral candidates to opt into,…
SLO County Sheriff will request funds for a ‘cold case’ detective
After county officials rejected his request last year, SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson plans to take a second shot at asking for a detective to work the county’s unsolved homicides. Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla confirmed that Parkinson will once again ask the county to fund a full-time detective to solely concentrate on the department’s…
SLO County Airport submits TCE testing plan
The investigation into how high levels of a toxic chemical solvent showed up in local wells continues, with state investigators looking at the SLO County Regional Airport as a possible source. On April 15, SLO County submitted a detailed plan to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to test whether the airport was…
Paso Robles bans extended RV street parking
If you own a motor home in Paso Robles and like to store it on a city street, you better start looking for a new place to park it. That’s because the Paso Robles City Council voted 5-0 on April 19 to introduce an ordinance that will make it illegal to park recreational vehicles (RVs),…
SLO Brew’s The Rock approved to rock
Live music fans still mourning the popular downtown music venue SLO Brew’s closure can now rejoice a bit: The company’s new venue has been approved to open. Concertgoers who want to celebrate The Rock’s opening will only be offered concerts on Friday and Saturday nights, with no cocktails or shots available to accompany the craft…
Suspended in spring
The Suspended Motion Spring Fling Aerial Showcase took place on April 1 and 2. The aerial arts academy offers classes in aerial silks, lyra (aerial hoop), cord lisse (aerial rope), static trapeze, aerial net, aerial cube, hammock, Spanish web, aerial atom, aerial ladder, and pole. The academy is currently in the process of expanding in…
Guilty Pleasures: Kung Pow! Enter the Fist
2002, PG-13 | Where? DVD There’s something about kung fu movies that is polarizing. It’s one of those you either love it or hate it type of genres. Another genre about as polarizing is a very specific branch of the comedy family tree: the lowbrow films. If you were to create a Venn diagram using…
Photographer Nyla James’ abandoned cityscapes show at SLOMA
When whole cities and towns just up and leave for greener pastures, the buildings they left behind still stand, slowly decaying over time, silently keeping untold stories. Nyla James is a photographer who is fascinated by abandoned buildings. Her exhibit of photos on the subject, Abandoned in America, is on display at the San Luis…
Ryan’s American Dance presents ‘Another Show’
If you thought the kids at Studio @ Ryan’s American Dance could only dance, well you were wrong, so very wrong. The studio’s musical theater company for children is putting on a show, Another Show to be more specific. An unexpected accident leads to the performers and the audience members questioning the future of their…
Halter Ranch’s 2013 CDP and Deovlet’s 2013 Sta. Rita Hills Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Chardonnay
Have you been out to the new Halter Ranch Vineyard tasting room yet? No? Well, you need to get out there, because there is no way that I am going to adequately describe its beauty. Bright, with high ceilings and warm, wooden accents, it feels totally Paso (half “wine country,” half “cowboy”). Here, the tastings…
Whoa!
Pizza Punks: Palo Mesa Pizza won big at the World Pizza Competition last month! Michael Stevens, chef and co-owner, earned the third-place award in the Best Traditional Pizza in the Southwest Region category. Congrats! Try the pie for yourself at their SLO and AG locations (palomesapizza.com) … Paso Robles based Leo Leo Gelato is working…
Sushi, stripped: Sashimi, steak, and exotic seafood bare all at Naked Fish in SLO
There are always “more fish in the sea,” so why stay monogamous with just one familiar tuna or salmon? This is Naked Fish General Manager Danny Cardinale’s hedonistic call to SLO’s sushi set. Get out of your comfort zone! Live a little! Life is too short to order the California roll yet again. “We bring…
Moonshiner Collective plays an album release party on April 22 at Fremont Theater
There’s a real “songs around a campfire” vibe on Moonshiner Collective’s new CD Consequential Campers. Maybe it’s the subject matter: songs about great lovers (“Right Kind”), great friends (”Good Company”), or the great outdoors (“Borderline”). Or maybe it’s because the four collaborators—Dan Curcio (lead vocals, guitar), Vince Cimo (bass, vocals, keys, synth), Daniel Cimo (violin,…
Clubs 4/21/16 – 4/28/16
Goin’ South THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Rd., Shell Beach, 773-5000, cliffsresort.com. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Rd. in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the Pismo Beach location every Fri. and Sat. from 6-9pm. Tennessee Jimmy Harrell and Doc Stoltey play on…
Super Tuesday
While Hillary and The Donald were sweeping the floor with their rivals in New York on their slow Bataan Death March to the White House, here in SLO County the wheels of government were turning their wise little turns, guided by our duly elected leaders. At the SLO City Council meeting, a super brilliant idea…
Don’t tank the tank
If a contractor tells a homeowner in Los Osos that it’s cheaper or safer to get rid of their septic tank, we urge them to get another opinion. Having the tank cleaned, disinfected, and closed back up for future repurposing is the least expensive decommissioning option according to the bids we received—$200 to $500 less…
Pregnancies and population growth
Santa Maria had more teen pregnancies than any city in America when I moved here in 1960. I taught contraception in my biology classes at Allan Hancock College. I started Planned Parenthood, which was very small and controversial at first. Now, it’s a very busy place with about 25 excellent employees. I mention this as…
Hill’s voice is a strong one
On every major issue before the Board of Supervisors, one voice is always clear and strong: that of 3rd District Supervisor Adam Hill. Whether advocating for more funding for homelessness and mental illness or leading the way on such efforts as the Pismo Preserve and desalinated water from Diablo Canyon, I can think of no…
Hey Shredder: There’s no racism in Mads world
Please look in the mirror: It’s you that has the problem. I admit I don’t know you, but if I had to guess, my bet would be that you didn’t vote for Romney or McCain (OK, perhaps you were too young to vote for McCain) in recent presidential elections. In any case your argument in…
What kind of community have we become?
It is absolutely shameful that Nipomoans (or others?) are complicit in discouraging migrant workers on a federal H-2A visa (difficult for farm owners to even obtain) from getting access to temporary, affordable housing locally. It’s maybe one thing that some of these hard-working Mexicans are illegal—driven to come to the U.S. out of poverty—but entirely…
Legacy politics
If you want to know what will happen to Bernie Sanders should he grab the Democratic nomination for president, you should spend a little time examining what happened the last time a socialist got this close to actual political power in the Capitalist States of America. That would be Upton Sinclair, a socialist who, like…
Tangible memories: Getting inked up in Grover Beach
Ever since I was about 12 years old, I really wanted to get a tattoo. So last year, after more than another 12 years of living, I finally got one. In a cursive loopy scrawl far neater than my own, it says “Michael Cooley” on my left ankle, a nod to my dad who died…
Turning homework into art: Cuesta’s annual Juried Student Art Exhibition runs through May 13
In this day and age there isn’t a whole lot that makes a selfie unique—just another person in front of their cellphone that you scroll past in your Facebook feed. Fortunately, these photos don’t have to be a total waste of phone storage. Samuel Tomasello, a studio arts major at Cuesta College, creates etchings of…
Scavenging for inspiration: Digital artist Maggie Taylor brings a vintage take on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to Cambria
Closets and drawers all around the house are secretly filled to the brim with old vintage photographs. Some come from flea markets, antique shops, or collectors, but they all find their way to the house on the outskirts of Gainesville, Fla. Maggie Taylor’s artistic process is a lot like a scavenger hunt, and it starts…
