Cover Story
School site shuffle: Parents, teachers push back as the Paso Robles school district talks about closing one school and moving students to another
Living just outside the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) limits, David and his wife are preoccupied with selecting the right school district for their eighth grader to enroll in next year for high school. The Paso school district seems like the obvious choice in terms of location, but its recent spate of controversies…
Dunites’ new tasting room in SLO celebrates Bohemian-inspired wines
Tasting notes Dunites Wine Co. is open Wednesday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and Thursday to Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. For more details, visit duniteswineco.com or follow on Instagram @dunites. In late November, Dunites Wine Co. quietly debuted its tasting room in downtown San Luis Obispo. Situated just off high-energy Higuera…
Dum-dum-dum
Do you smell that, SLO County Republicans? Breathe it in! That’s the “fresh” scent of a conservative power grab that’s going to benefit your tribe for the next decade. The SLO County Board of Supervisors’ three conservative members voted to approve the so-called Patten redistricting map, which offers clear advantages to Republican voters. Also, do…
Local parents are split on the COVID-19 vaccine for their kids as CDC, pediatricians recommend it for those 5 and older
Local clinics Head to centralcoastkids.org/programs/vaccine-clinics to RSVP for a Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mid Central Coast vaccine clinic. The Santa Maria clinics are every Wednesday and Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at 901 N. Railroad Ave. in Santa Maria. The Paso Robles pop-up clinic is from 5 to 7 p.m. on Dec.…
Cambria author Ivy Cayden pens a YA book with an incorporated music playlist
Buy yours now Everything all at Once, by Cambria resident Ivy Cayden, is available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. Or you can support the local economy through buying a copy of Ivy Cayden’s debut novel at STASH Local Goods 815 Main St., suite A, Cambria, and at Smoobage, 591 Embarcadero, Morro Bay. It’s…
Central Coast Queer Archive Project holds video screening, discussion panel at SLOMA
Over the past two years, the Central Coast Queer Archive Project has been producing and compiling video interviews with senior members of the queer community. On Sunday, Dec. 12, the group will screen the final project, Celebrating Our LGBTQI+ Elders: Stories from the Central Coast, at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, from 3…
King Richard examines how Richard Williams made tennis superstars of daughters Venus and Serena
KING RICHARD What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Downtown Center, Galaxy, Park, Stadium 10, HBO Max Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, Joe Bell) helms this sports origin story about the creation of tennis superstars Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton)…
Last chance to see Leonardo E. Marmol’s solo exhibit in Cambria
Tidal, an exhibition of paintings by artist and architect Leonardo E. Marmol, premiered in November and will remain on display through Saturday, Dec. 4, at Patrick Gallery in Cambria. Marmol’s artworks are described as “deceptively simple, yet elegant compositions” that depict his love of the coast, according to press materials. The show features a total…
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
What’s it rated? PG-13 When? 2021 Where’s it showing? Disney Plus Co-writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton (The Glass Castle, Just Mercy) helms this fantasy action-adventure that begins with the story of Xu Wenwu (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung), who a thousand years ago discovered the mystical 10 rings, which grant immortality and deadly powers to the one who…
Kung Fu
What’s it rated? TV-14 When? 2021 Where’s it showing? HBO Max Based on the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, which featured David Carradine as a Shaolin monk wandering the Wild West and righting wrongs, armed only with his martial arts skills, this updated version set in the present centers on Chinese American Nicky Shen (Olivia…
Singer-songwriter extraordinaire Brett Dennen plays Cuesta College’s Performing Arts Center on Dec. 4
Brett Dennen is the singer-songwriter we all need right now. I don’t know a single person who’s not sick to death of this pandemic, sick of its limitations on our lives, sick of the politics its created between us, and sick of not knowing what lies ahead. Dennen’s newest album, See the World, understands those…
Board of Supervisors’ conservative majority picks Patten map for redistricting
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors selected a new supervisorial map for the next decade on Nov. 30 that upends the current county map and sends upwards of 100,000 residents into new districts and election cycles. The Patten map, created by Arroyo Grande resident Richard Patten and backed by the local Republican Party,…
Outrageous bias
I want to thank Quinn Brady for her excellent lesson on SLO redistricting (“In your hands,” Nov. 25). It inspired me to write this letter to the SLO County Board of Supervisors (BOS). It’ll probably go to the trash bin unread, so I’m sending it to New Times too. Here it is: Redistricting! I am…
Another energy storage facility could come to the Central Coast
A new type of energy storage may be coming to the Central Coast in the near future—something the company behind it believes will help fill the void once Diablo Canyon closes. Canadian-based company Hydrostor announced on Nov. 23 its plans to build a long-duration energy storage facility near Morro Bay called the Pecho Energy Storage…
Supervisors did us wrong
In my opinion it is very wrong for just one person, i.e., a county supervisor, to be the deciding vote that completely upends the voting districts in our county. The supervisors adopted the Patten map, which appears to be blatant gerrymandering. I think those in the districts that are adversely affected should file a class…
Avila, Nipomo, and Cayucos will get new crosswalk beacon systems
San Luis Obispo County may be low on streetlights but its Public Works Department will be rejuvenating crosswalks in Avila Beach, Cayucos, and Nipomo with beacon systems. “These are opportunities to improve safety before we get to accidents. These areas were prioritized because of their higher pedestrian use over other areas,” said Ryan Monie, the…
Gerrymandered districts
The Patten proposal is partisan, defective, and fails to meet the California fair redistricting guidelines and requirements: • It disenfranchises voters by deferring and accelerating district elections as well as by cracking and packing districts for partisan Republican advantage. • It grossly divides communities of interest. Communities have been diced and sliced, moved around like…
Atascadero printery moves closer to restoration
Locals have a plan to turn one of Atascadero’s oldest buildings into a thriving community center, and they’re closer than ever to making that goal a reality. The printery was the first civic building built in Atascadero in 1915, originally serving the Women’s National Republic Publishing Company, said Karen McNamara, president of the Printery Foundation…
Parade of Thanks
Among all the great holiday festivities in our county this season, we would like to add the Los Osos/Baywood Park Parade of Thanks. An annual Los Osos tradition, this year’s parade has special meaning as we reach out as a community to say thanks to those who have been essential during the two-year pandemic. Our…
Grover Beach allows food truck hub to become permanent
After a summer of deliberation, Grover Beach approved a permit ordinance amendment on Nov. 22 to allow food trucks to permanently operate on private property. Sparked by a request from Grover Beach-based events coordinator Epic Entertainment to run its 675 W. Grand Ave. food truck hub on a more permanent basis, the city can now…
Kool-Aid map
This whole SLO County redistricting process was a complete fiasco. First, it was unnecessary, as our population has not changed enough to warrant it. Second, the whole idea of even considering the Patten map was ridiculous. The map ignores geography and communities of interest except for the city of SLO. The most laughable comment was…
New Morro Bay exhibit explores the history of the California grizzly bear
Grizzly bears are an enduring symbol of California—their fierce, independent spirits embraced for centuries as a reflection of the state itself. But while Californians loved the idea of the grizzly, we never cared much for the bears themselves. Between the mid-1700s and early 1900s, California’s European and American settlers drove the entire population of brown…
We don’t need partisanship
The Nov. 16, 2021, Tribune Viewpoint by Jim Gardiner and Rick Terborch articulated the urgent need for civic engagement and awareness of what’s at stake with the redistricting process. The recent census revealed minor changes in population in our county. That knowledge tells us that the current district lines remain fully compliant with election laws…
From over here
Editor’s note: Al Fonzi recently relocated to Tennessee, and New Times is looking for a new SLO County-based Rhetoric and Reason contributor who sees things from a moderate to conservative political perspective. Interested? Reach out to the editor at clanham@newtimesslo.com. This year is a bit different for us. We recently left California permanently for the…
