Cover Story
How the Central Coast weathered the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history
It was nearing noon outside the Internal Revenue Service’s branch office in Santa Maria. After weeks of wet weather, it was sunny again, and the bright light coming from a cloudless sky warmed the cracked black asphalt of the building’s mostly empty parking lot. An American flag hung limply from a tall pole. There was…
Making progress at La Loma
I can report that the La Loma Adobe at 1590 Lizzie St. no longer “sits forlornly” as Allan Cooper described in a commentary on Feb. 7 (“Demolition by neglect”). For a while after the property was dedicated in 1995 to the city, progress was slow, but in 1998 the city commissioned an architectural history report…
Rainn Wilson and Shabnam Mogharabi bring SoulPancake’s philosophy of joy to Cal Poly
Almost all of the seats are filled in the Chumash Auditorium on the Cal Poly campus Feb. 13. The room is buzzing with the talk of students recounting their day, a test they bombed (lingo for didn’t do well on, for those not in the know), or a Snapchat they received from someone they like.…
Oceano needs a safe beach
Last week, State Parks disclosed its proposed new general work plan for the management of Pismo State Beach and the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. Good news: There are plans for a boardwalk on the foredunes to connect Grand Avenue with the Arroyo Grande Creek and a small structured campground next to Oso Flaco…
‘Isn’t It Romantic’ simultaneously makes fun of and celebrates the rom-com genre
ISN’T IT ROMANTIC What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee Where’s it showing? Bay, Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Stadium 10 Todd Struass-Schulson (A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, The Final Girls) directs this fantasy-comedy about Natalie (Rebel Wilson), a woman disenchanted by romance who finds herself living in…
Kindness of strangers
It was 1 a.m., cold, dark, and wet in the parking lot of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Templeton. But that’s when families and individuals began lining up in the rain for free dental, vision, and health screening services. By 6 a.m., every slot for dental care was filled. A friend of mine (call…
Underrated: The Caveman’s Valentine
When? 2001 What’s it rated? R Where? Amazon Prime, Blu-ray, DVD, iTunes In this day and age, when half-priced candy is available the day after Valentine’s Day, is it a sin to review The Caveman’s Valentine a week after the holiday has come and gone? Late or not, there’s no such thing as the wrong…
SLO County High
Navigating politics in San Luis Obispo County—the alleged happy place—is like being a teenager trying to figure out the high school clique you want to hang with. It’s so hard to decide! Do you want to be with the ranting, raving Tea Party peeps of North County, concerned that the liberal cabal of progressives is…
Film Listings, 2/21/19 – 2/28/19
Editor’s note: Listings for Paso Robles’ Park Cinemas were not available. Visit parkcinema.com or call (805) 227-2172 for films and show times. ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth? Matinee Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Stadium 10 Pick Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet Terror) directs Rosa Salazar…
Sound off
New Times readers took to Facebook to share their thoughts on our Feb. 14 news story, “Paso council member asks to repeal rental urgency ordinance.”
SLO plans new building codes, programs to curb emissions
As San Luis Obispo eyes a 2035 target to reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions status, city officials are developing new building codes that will go beyond what the state requires for energy efficiency in new development—while also crafting carbon offset policies and retrofitting programs for the community’s existing building stock. Those policies could include…
Paso repeals emergency short-term rental ordinance
A Paso Robles City Council member’s indirect conflict of interest put the brakes on passing a short-term rental ordinance. At the Feb. 19 City Council meeting, Mayor Steve Martin said the council should halt approval of the ordinance because the community had voiced concerns about fairness and expressed confusion with the policy. “It doesn’t mean…
Fossil Wine Bar in Atascadero is where you can find your next favorite wine
Dinosaur fix Fossil Wine Bar is located at 5992 Entrada Ave. in Atascadero. You can belly up to the concrete bar on Friday and Saturday from 3 to 11 p.m. and Sunday, Monday, and Thursday from 3 to 9 p.m. “People who say they don’t like wine—they’re dead to me,” the Goddess of Wine announced…
Court upholds restitution for man who made threat against school
Correction: This article was changed to correctly identify “ADA” as “average daily attendance”. A man convicted of planning and executing an elaborate threat that shut down San Gabriel Elementary School for two weeks in 2015 will not see a reduction in the hundreds of thousands of dollars he’s required to pay in restitution. A California…
The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. plays the SLO Brew Rock Event Center on Feb. 26
NYC post punk and garage rock act The Strokes were a breath of fresh air when they arrived on the scene in 2001 with their debut full-length album, Is This It. In fact, the band is credited with ushering in the garage punk revival that included acts such as the Killers, Franz Ferdinand, and Arctic…
Local resident harasses Morro Bay council member
Dawn Addis, Morro Bay City Council member and co-founder of Women’s March SLO, said she has been the target of sexism and harassment from a local resident. In a statement during a Feb. 13 council meeting, Addis said she started receiving aggressive and hateful emails the morning of her second City Council meeting. “You have…
Work It
Now hiring: San Luis Obispo is getting a Sprouts Farmers Market, and the grocery store chain has announced several times that its planning on hiring 150 people to staff its new location. They held walk-in interviews on Feb. 20 and are holding another one on Feb. 21 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton at 333…
Peterson resigns from Grover Beach City Council
Grover Beach City Councilmember Debbie Peterson is resigning, citing concerns over alleged corruption in both the city and county. Peterson, who previously served as Grover Beach mayor and a City Council member, was most recently elected to the council in 2016. She announced her resignation effective on Feb. 19 in a letter sent to local…
Growing and growing
Get on the trail: Farmstead Ed is on the SLO County Farm Trail, and the farm trail map is ready for your viewing pleasure at farmsteaded.com. Stepladder Ranch, Hartley Farms, Templeton Valley Farms, Windrose Farm, Harmony Lavender, The Groves on 41, Chaparral Gardens, Giving Tree Family Farm, and Talley Farms Fresh Harvest are waiting for…
Avila Beach Pier could reopen soon
After three years of being closed indefinitely, the Port San Luis Harbor District is working on a plan to get half of the Avila Beach Pier open to the public. Andrea Lueker, harbor manager, said the commission hired the Long Beach-based infrastructure advisory film Moffat & Nichol to do an assessment of the pier. At…
Spam-a-lam
New Times Staff Writer Karen Garcia and I have been talking about Spam a lot lately. Yes, that is the processed meat that comes out of a can. Before you judge us, though, listen up to what we’ve been salivating over. Spam musubi. A thick slice of freshly opened Spam, fried up in teriyaki sauce.…
Lack of public input in Diablo Canyon decommission plan is a worrying sign, SLO County says
As PG&E sweats in the national spotlight after its historic bankruptcy filing last month, the utility giant is also facing questions from San Luis Obispo County attorneys about its latest filing in the Diablo Canyon Power Plant decommissioning process. In a decommissioning document filed with state regulators on Dec. 13, PG&E offered little information about…
Inside Pismo Beach’s plan to revitalize the Santa Maria groundwater basin
The Pismo Beach City Council wants to build a $28 million facility that will purify Pismo Beach and South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District wastewater and inject it into the Santa Maria groundwater basin. If completed, it will prevent salt water from seeping into one of South County’s water sources and provide more water…
Emails From Paris captures local artist’s creative journey
En vue Emails From Paris, an exhibition of encaustic paintings and sculptures by artist S. Kay Burnett, will be on display at the SLO Museum of Art through March 31. Burnett will also give a talk during Art at High Noon on March 7. Visit sloma.org for more information. She was all alone in a…
Eric Jones wants to leave his mark on SLO with True West Tattoo
At 16 years old, Eric Jones had grown up drawing and was placed in art classes, thanks to his parents. At the time, he had some older friends who were interested in tattoos. “[The tattoos were] more based around our faith, who we were, who we identified with, and the heaviness of being a teenager,”…
Veterans’ Voices exhibit celebrates patriots, artists
On view The Veterans’ Voices art exhibit will be on display at Studios on the Park in Paso Robles from Feb. 28 to March 13. Visit studiosonthepark.org for more information. She just needed to get away. So when Lynn Schmidt was 22, she left home and joined the U.S. Navy. “I ran away from home,”…
SLO Children’s Museum announces new exhibits and directors
The San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum is currently fundraising for two large-scale exhibits in the works. The museum hopes to complete the installation of a whimsical mist garden in its outdoor area and a STEM-based Mission to Mars exhibit on its first floor later this year. The museum also announced the addition of two new…
Green dreamin’
Wow! The Democratic Party is taking on a new face: young ambitious faces, many of them women and persons of color, arrayed in new ideas, grand plans, and endowed with a passionate intensity, inspiring a hope we haven’t seen since the early Obama days. (Whatever happened to that anyway?) Some of the recently elected congresspersons,…
Gallery at Marina Square holds reception for new artists
Starting Friday, March 1, Gallery at Marina Square in Morro Bay will be showcasing works by featured artist Hema Sukumar (painting) and guest artist Spencer Caserio (photography). A joint reception to celebrate both openings takes place Friday, March 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. Sukumar’s fine art paintings usually depict coastal scenes and landscapes while…
Don’t fear socialism
It seems the climate change naysayers are starting to come around. They are anxious to bash the Green New Deal as socialism, which forces them to admit that climate change is real. Now the real work begins. The Green New Deal, and those supporting it, are called socialists. It is an overused word meant to…
Fashion show highlights Madonna Inn Boutique
The 32nd annual Share the Love Fashion Show takes place Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, with lunch events from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and dinner events from 5:30 to 10 p.m., at the Alex Madonna Expo Center in SLO. This fashion show highlights the choreography of executive producers Stephen Patrick and Todd…
