Cover Story
SLO cleans up: The city of SLO made clearing encampments a priority during the pandemic, contracting with one local company to be on call
San Luis Obispo’s stance on homeless encampments led to dozens of sweeps across town and more than 120 tons of debris—the equivalent weight of 10 large school buses—hauled to the landfill throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a New Times analysis of city records. In almost two years, SLO conducted at least 60 major encampment…
Renovation project at Strother Park’s basketball court includes new mural
A restoration project at Strother Park’s basketball court in Arroyo Grande is set to be completed before the end of March. The project was initiated by local student Noah Pick, who pitched it to the Arroyo Grande City Council as a way “to remedy the lack of suitable outdoor basketball courts in Arroyo Grande to…
Coastal Commission stops drilling off Highway 1
Residents of Canet Road off Highway 1 will no longer be kept up at night by drilling noises, thanks to the California Coastal Commission. Hydrostor, a Canadian-based energy company, was doing some “exploratory drilling” on a parcel of land near the base of Hollister Peak in preparation for their proposed Pecho Energy Storage Center. The…
New pop-up exhibit in Paso Robles showcases symbolic and meditative art
Six artists are participating in a local pop-up exhibit, Acts of Worship: Symbol, Meaning, and Ritual in Contemporary Art, which debuts in Paso Robles on Saturday, March 5. The show will be available by appointment only at a private location, which will be revealed to attendees. Reservations can be made by calling (805) 626-1750 or…
Rescue Plan funds to help save Anderson Hotel
Four major projects to combat homelessness in San Luis Obispo County will get critical funding boosts thanks the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The SLO County Board of Supervisors allocated $5.3 million of its ARPA funds on March 1 to support local efforts to save the Anderson Hotel in downtown SLO, build new affordable units…
Glasshead Studio holds mosaic mirror workshop
Registration is open for an upcoming two-day mosaic mirror workshop, held at Glasshead Studio in Atascadero on Saturday, March 12, from 10 a.m. to noon, and Sunday, March 12, from noon to 1 p.m. Admission is $75, which includes all necessary materials. Early registration is encouraged, as the class is limited to six participants. Call…
Grover Beach chooses district map for election transition
Wedding bells of a different kind will be ringing in Grover Beach, marking the end of its months-long hunt for a City Council district map. At its Feb. 28 meeting, the council approved Plan 901’s “wedding cake” model—named for the layered structure of the four districts. For the first time in city history, the blueprint…
The whole pie
If Diablo Canyon Power Plant is required to suspend operation of the largest supplier of clean energy in California, where will the equivalent power from five Hoover Dams come from? Even though the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) claims the loss of substantial, reliable, emission-free power from Diablo Canyon Power Plant would be replaced by…
Local grocery store workers rally for better wages, staffing
Outside Vons in Grover Beach, rally-goers began to gather in the hot afternoon sun of March 1. Some held picket signs that said “Support grocery workers” and “Fair wages for essential work.” Another man wore a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union T-shirt as he signed attendees in. Just days before their contract is…
One opinion on SLO ‘Rep’
SLO “Rep” should still be a SLO community theater. Community theater. A creative outlet for all citizens far and wide. A repertory theater is, by definition, an exclusive club of limited, privileged performers. When the longest continually running community theater in the country was replaced by Kevin Harris (Managing artistic director? Please.) and his enablers,…
Women’s March SLO rally to show solidarity with Ukraine
For Andrea Chmelik, a Pismo Beach resident and co-executive director of Women’s March San Luis Obispo, watching Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is like “watching history repeat itself.” Born and raised in former Czechoslovakia, Chmelik lived under Soviet Union rule until its fall in 1989. In 1968, she said, the country had a brief moment of…
Get rid of the cigarette ads
You all do a great job keeping readers apprised of events in the county, and many thanks for that. However, I was more than slightly horrified by the two-page cigarette ad in the middle of the Feb. 10 issue. I thought it must be a parody or something, but several perusals show it to be…
A Central Coast Dignity Health nurse raises funds for Cuddle Cots to help families with newborn deaths
After 14 weeks of pregnancy, Ashley Agnitch was told her daughter had trisomy 18 (or Edwards’ syndrome), a genetic abnormality that limited her daughter’s heart from fully developing, and was not expected to survive pregnancy, labor, or delivery, Agnitch recalled. “They had told me that the pregnancy would end in miscarriage, and also offered—and recommended—medical…
Seniors, raise your voices
While it is commendable that the Biden administration has done much to aid families with children and those seeking work with the recently passed infrastructure bill and stimulus checks, that aid did nothing to help the elderly living on Social Security or the disabled who cannot work. Even if the Build Back Better bill is…
Happy birthday, community choice
Twenty years ago, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 117, authorizing “a community choice aggregator to aggregate the electrical load of interested electricity consumers within its boundaries.” Thus began a revolution for local clean energy and against the century-old iron grip of monopoly utilities. On Feb. 8, the Atascadero City Council adopted a resolution to…
‘Om,’ ‘aum,’ or ‘huh?’
By the looks of it, the Heal immersive sound meditation pod is little more than a refrigerator-sized orange box with a padded bench and red curtain—one that will cost $576,180 by the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year—so it’s understandable that a Paso Robles resident said, “I was alive in the ’60s when the transcendental…
At Her Table’s SLO County Women’s Restaurant Week celebrates women in the food and beverage industry
Support and eat At Her Table’s Women’s Restaurant Week will feature events and food specials from March 6 to 13. Learn more at athertable.com. Robin Wolf, owner of newly opened SLO bar and restaurant Highwater, has worked in the bar industry for two decades. In that time, she said a lot has changed for the…
Cyrano is a faithful adaptation with song
CYRANO What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Galaxy, Palm Joe Wright directs the oft-told tale of Cyrano de Bergerac, a real-life 17th century French novelist, playwright, poet, and swordsman whose life was factionalized in Edmond Rostand’s famous 1897 play. Wright adheres to…
Inventing Anna
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2022 Where’s it showing? Netflix I remember hearing about Anna Delvey while her trial was going on, but I had no idea the depths to which her deceptions went. The “this whole story is completely true, except for all the parts that are totally made up” retelling of Delvey’s mysterious…
1883
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2021-present Where’s it showing? Paramount Plus Created by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario, Hell or High Water, Wind River), 1883 is a prequel to the popular TV series Yellowstone, about the Duttons, a ranching family struggling to maintain their hold on a sprawling Montana ranch. In 1883, we follow James (Tim McGraw)…
PCPA’s As You Like It is downright lovable
You will like it The Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) presents its production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It through March 6, at the Marian Theatre, located at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria. Next at PCPA, Mother Road will run March 10 through 27. Visit pcpa.org or facebook.com/pacificconservatorytheatre for tickets, admission policies, and more…
Cal Poly proposes campus-based fee increase to improve financial aid
The most expensive institution in the California State University (CSU) system is about to get a bit more costly for some. In a bid to boost its “inadequate financial aid and underfunded academic mission,” Cal Poly proposed to raise its campus-based fees between $650 and $880 per academic year for students joining this fall. This…
SLO County has a new sound meditation pod that aims to help some members of the justice system, but getting there wasn’t easy
A glimmering pair of golden scissors sliced through a bright green ribbon in front of a dozen people at the San Luis Obispo County Behavioral Health Department on Feb. 25. “Green is the heart chakra,” SLO County 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg said with a laugh as she cut the ribbon. A small crowd watched…
In a bid to secure funds for housing, homeless jazz singer Deborah Gilmore plays the Fremont Theater on March 10
In January 2020, gifted vocalist Deborah Gilmore arrived in San Luis Obispo just in time for the pandemic to extinguish opportunities for her to perform. Concert venues were closing, she didn’t have connections within the local music scene, and worse yet, she was homeless. Now two years later, she’s still looking for a permanent place…
A local wind port may be the key to capturing the economic boost of offshore wind projects—but some are skeptical that it’s feasible
The Central Coast has the green light from the federal government to develop wind energy off the coast of Morro Bay, and lease auctions are opening up this year. But how much the local economy will benefit from such a project is still unclear—and the answer depends on the feasibility of a local port. “Last…
