Cover Story
What’s the best job you’ve had?
Doug Lintener milk deliveryman “Coaching high-school basketball.” Gail Sears instructor “Librarian in elementary schools because I bonded with so many students.” Scarlett Aguilar unemployed “Barista, because of the interaction with regular customers.” Cambrie Marks advertising representative “My current job as an ad rep, because I’m not behind a desk all day.”
Help redistrict California
California voters passed Proposition 11, the California Voters First Act, in 2008, to establish a redistricting process that is not led by politicians or consultants. Proposition 11 gives community members a major role in the California redistricting process by transferring authority for establishing Assembly, Senate, and Board of Equalization district boundaries to an independent 14-member…
Ivy needs you!
The problem with the suffering of others is it feels like there’s nothing you can do about it, but you try anyway. Maybe you text a $10 pledge to Haiti or give a few bucks to United Way at work—both good things, but it’s hard to see and feel the results, and that’s why when…
Flux fables
Imagine a story told only through a person’s feet or hands. Tales spun through books and paintings are second nature, but what about a five-minute dance routine? Forget everything you know about dance and sink your teeth into Orchesis, (a Greek word meaning the act or art of dance), Cal Poly’s Dance Company and their…
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year celebrates the first day of the first month in the lunar calendar, which falls on Feb. 14 this year. As part of the celebration, people purchase presents, decorations, and food; clean their houses to sweep away ill fortune; and decorate windows with red paper proclamations of wealth, happiness, and longevity. The eve…
Step off the edge
I like the idea of nearly naked, beautiful people being used as canvases for edgy, contemporary artists to temporarily display their work. It’s all so ephemeral! Here today, gone tomorrow. So at 9 p.m. this Thursday, Jan. 28 when the models start strutting down the runway at Native Lounge and you’re one of the select…
What immortal hand or eye
At Big Sky Café chickpea hummus and noodle bowls are paired with sand dunes of Chinese text and flora rising towards a sky textured from former National Geographic pages treated with household cleaners. Fusion food meets mixed media collage paintings, and Sarah Winkler, fine art purveyor, could not be more pleased with the alliance, which…
Gullwings flock to Arroyo Grande
Tucked in the hills south of San Luis Obispo sits a brown, barn-like building filled with some of the most beautiful and expensive cars ever built. Some of them are stately, of pre-WWII vintage; the others are a precious model from the 1950s widely considered the zenith of 20th-century automotive design. Pull the small recessed…
Is desalination damned in Cambria?
Los Osos has its sewer battle, Morro Bay has its controversial smoke stacks, and Cambria has its perpetual dispute over a proposed desalination plant. Residents there have been fighting with the town’s leaders for more than 15 years. Most recently, a proposal to drill testing wells drew loud criticisms from people worried about the environmental…
Clarification
The San Luis Obispo Chess Club meets every Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Carl’s Jr. restaurant 195 N. Santa Rosa Street in San Luis Obispo. For more information see sanluisobispochess.com or call 540-0747.
Garden Street development returns
With the advent of a new year, another large development that will change the look of downtown San Luis Obispo is moving toward eventual construction. Garden Street Terraces, a commercial development, is slowly edging toward what many city-hall observers believe is its inevitable approval. The development, to be located between Broad Street, Garden Street, Marsh…
Ag grading is still confusing
Tentative was the word when SLO County supervisors tackled the county’s agricultural grading rules on Jan. 25. Their vote, meant to clarify a thorny issue, only seemed to further confuse local farmers and ranchers. County Environmental Specialist Murry Wilson said the existing rules on agricultural grading—what triggers the need for a permit, what’s exempt from…
NRC responds to switch mishap
Representatives from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently held a public forum to answer questions related to a recent special inspection of the Diablo Canyon power plant. The meeting, held early in the evening Jan. 26 at the Embassy Suites in San Luis Obispo, specifically addressed an Oct. 23 incident during which plant maintenance workers…
Nipomo just says no to pot
Plans to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Nipomo hit a snag on Jan. 25 when members of the South County Advisory Council unanimously decided they wouldn’t recommend the project’s approval to officials in the San Luis Obispo County Planning and Building Department. The project applicant, Robert D. Brody of Los Angeles, is seeking a…
Accused councilman returns to city hall
Ed Arnold, the Arroyo Grande city councilman accused of assaulting his ex-lover, showed up for work on Jan. 26. It was Arnold’s first appearance at a city council meeting this year and the first since his arrest. Some residents and fellow council members approached Arnold and shook his hand as he entered the council chamber.…
Thrashed
Seven boats were washed ashore near Avila during a torrential storm that ripped crafts from their moorings and sent them rocketing toward the beach. Six boats, including two 32-foot sailboats, were deemed unsalvageable, said Port of San Luis Harbor District Manager Steve McGrath. “The series of storms we had last week was fairly unprecedented,” McGrath…
Visit faraway places on Higuera St.
As you enter Bali Isle Imports in its new downtown SLO location at 587 Higuera St. enticing aromas of exotic incense swirl as upbeat reggae music lays down a positive vibe. This unique store features handcrafted goods from Jamaica, Guam, Guatemala, Morocco, Indonesia, Egypt, Afghanistan, China, Tibet, Nepal, India, and South America. That’s just the…
Homeland Security defies rights
I write to you regarding the letter about an unexplained detention at the border (“Some welcome,” Jan. 21). President George W. Bush decided he could do whatever he wanted and put together a new department called Homeland Security. This department didn’t have to follow any rules because the U.S. was in danger. Whatever the department…
Supreme Court decision should spur action
Politicians spend much time collecting money for their campaigns. Don’t blame them: Without money, they would likely never attain the great honor of representing their fellow Americans. Yet to successfully maintain office, their time and focus are necessarily diverted from doing their job representing the people, to give disproportionate consideration to substantial donors. Hopefully the…
Resume drilling
There was a time when I would have agreed with many concerns about offshore oil drilling and collection but that was long ago. The attacks of 9/11 require re-evaluating the subject. I once worked for commercial fishermen who had their gear run over by seismic survey boats, who could not fish due to displacement, and…
Continuing the work of Dr. King
During the weekend preceding the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, three teams in Atascadero collaborated with Central Coast United for Change (CCUC) and the Food Bank in a food drive to replenish the shelves of county food pantries, which were depleted by the holiday season. Special thanks go to the Community Church of…
There’s plenty of real work to do
Don Grant, who contributed the letter “Build something” (Jan. 21), told us he worked at a think tank in Germany during the 1970s but failed to tell us what he built there. He shocked us by suggesting that after our present recession ends, if it ends, we will have huge numbers of unnecessary, parasitic jobs…
World economies are job deficient
Don Grant, who wrote the letter “Build something” (Jan. 21), deserves a medal for bravery. To briefly quote him: “We have arrived at a time in which the economy does not have any use for a large percentage of our people.” Our people means Americans but his comments apply equally to the whole world. He…
Fund a federal jobs program
Don Grant, in his letter “Build something” (Jan. 21) looks for solutions that would give unemployed people with limited skills the bare necessities. He too quickly discards programs like those of the New Deal, though they would do the most good: namely, provide work of some kind for everyone. The problem is finding the money…
County should pay for the pot
San Luis Obispo should save the taxpayers some money and just pay Kimberley Marshall for the medical marijuana the Sheriff’s Department seized and destroyed without any concern for her status under Proposition 215 (“Patient files claim for confiscated pot,” Jan. 14). The deputies may hate Proposition 215, but their dislike will not carry an iota…
Arguments against a dispensary make no sense
I don’t understand the arguments against a local medical marijuana dispensary. Allow me to paraphrase what I hear: “It’s not that I deny medical marijuana’s validity; it’s that I don’t want it sold in my town,” or “I understand it’s real medicine but I think a storefront will breed crime.” How is that any different…
Morro Bay should enable children’s library
The Morro Bay Friends of the Library built the library building 25 years ago with donations from the community. Back then, half of the building provided enough space for library services, but our community has outgrown that space. Ten years ago, the county approached the City of Morro Bay to dedicate the other half of…
Education works better than jail
Matt Fountain (“Kicking it,” Jan. 21) reported that fewer than half as many 12th graders smoke cigarettes daily now as the number who smoked in 1997. That’s according to the NIDA-funded Monitoring the Future study. I dug into the study myself and found that daily marijuana smoking, by contrast, has changed little. Odd, I thought.…
Ravenswood 2007 Merlot Vintners Blend California
For those seeking an easy-drinking, friendly wine that’s reasonably priced, this is one you can find almost anywhere. It offers tasty cherry and blackberry aromas and flavors highlighted with plums, leather, and smoke. A blend of 77 percent Merlot, 9 percent Petite Sirah, 9 percent Syrah, and 5 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s quaffable alone. It…
Buy wine to provide water
Have you discovered the Paso Wine Centre that opened on Park Street near McLintocks Saloon last summer? This exclusive wine shop and lounge features 48 Paso Robles wines by the glass and at least that many more available by the bottle. Even better, they offer wines from Paso’s artisan producers who make miniscule amounts of…
Clubs
Goin’ South … CAFÉ ANDREINI: 131 E. Branch St., Arroyo Grande, 481-6117. Thurs.: Live music at 6pm. COFFEE BEAN AND TEA LEAF: 750 Five Cities Dr., Pismo Beach, 773-6420. Music Night every Sat., 6:30-8:30pm. DOLPHIN BAY/LIDO: 2727 Shell Beach Rd., Shell Beach, 773-4300 or TheDolphinBay.com. ELMO’S NIPOMO SALOON: 131 South Thompson Road, Nipomo, 929-5362. Karaoke…
Luke and Mitch Gaalswyk, co-owners of Trinity Cyclery
NEW TIMES: How long has Trinity Cyclery been established? GAALSWYK: We’ve been here for four years now as of last November. My brother and I are very passionate about riding, and I happened to stumble across the old shop that was previously located here. I spoke with the previous owner, and we joked around with…
Slow news week grumblings
About a week ago, as the SLO City Council was making serious headway in banning noisiness and associated shenanigans (I think they’re considering fines for public laughter next week), there was some chatter in the audience about an editorial in The Tribune. People were joking about laissez faire media coverage of something or other—I’m not…
