Cover Story
Lightning strikes twice
These days, music festivals seem to be all about the green. Some are motivated by the green hue of paper made from 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. For others, it’s more about the green of tickets printed on post-consumer waste fibers like straw and…
Global pizza
This article is contributing to global warming. This article is printed on paper, inked on an energy-consuming press, and trucked to locations around the county. Carbon dioxide was burned, and since carbon dioxide is the primary driver of human-made global warming, this article is taking us a small step closer to the end of the…
Nipomo wastewater treatment facility nears capacity
The Nipomo Community Services District recently learned that it must find $11.2 million to pay for the first phase of an upgrade and expansion to its wastewater facility, said Mike Winn, Nipomo Community Services District Board director. The district board received estimates on the cost of a new treatment plant from Boyle Engineering, which provides…
Get out while you still can
I was sitting in traffic the other day, waiting for minute after long minute to get out of San Luis Obispo, and I got to thinking. As much as I like this town, this county, sometimes I just have to get out. Get gone. Hit the road. It’s nothing against my homeland, so don’t take…
On the axis of the arts
The Clark Center for the Performing Arts located across from generations of old farmland in front of Arroyo Grande High School is turning five. Despite its relative youth, the state-of-the-art theater’s history can be traced as far back as three decades, when Mary Lee and Clifford Clark identified a need in their community. The rest,…
Fast facts
Holy special-edition still-in-the-Mylar-bag graphic-adventure, Batman! Captain Nemo is giving away free comics! This is almost as big as the death of Superman, except this happens every year in the first week of May. Still, free is free, and shop owner Raymond Hanson contends that comics are more fun than ever. The free comics are a…
Rolling thunder!
Hide your daughters. Bring your potted plants inside. Keep your lawn ornaments out of sight. Why? Because a swarming locust of rolling two-wheeled thunder comes to SLO Town tonight, Thursday, May 3. Soon, the streets will be filled with the wing-ging-ging of dozens # of two-stroke Italian scooters and the screaming engines of a gang…
Cuesta nursing hopefuls mount campaign
Petitions are circulating around Cuesta campus, calling for a repeal of the April 4 Board of Trustees decision that halted acceptance of new students into the college’s registered nursing program. Would-be nurses hoping to get in have collected more than 200 signatures and planned to make their discontent known during the public comment period of…
Locals discuss the future of Carrizo Plain
“Carrizo you can hear the quiet.” That could be a slogan for the Carrizo Plain National Monument, according to locals who gathered at a recent meeting in San Luis Obispo to talk about their vision for the future of the grassland known as “California’s Serengeti.” # The Bureau of Land Management is collecting public comments…
Corrections
This year’s Best Of issue was in our opinion the best ever, but there were a few mistakes we’d like to clear up from the April 26 issue. Tigerlily, which nabbed Best Place to Get your Hair Done, has a one-word name as written here. It’s also got a second location, at 1453 W. Grand…
Gone fishing
Fresh local wild-caught king salmon is making its way to SLO County dinner tables, courtesy of the Central Coast fishing fleet. With the opening of salmon season May 1, local fishermen are plying nearby coastal waters in search of the silvery delicacy, as efforts gear up onshore to create a healthy fishing industry that’s a…
Accused Tour de France champ rolls into town
If memories of the Tour of California are no longer fresh in the minds of San Luis Obispo residents, a special appearance by Tour de France champ Floyd Landis is bound to bring attention to competitive cycling back into focus or, perhaps the controversy surrounding it, anyway. On May 5, Landis will roll into town…
Have a barrel of fun
I swear I seem to hear this question every day: “Which wineries should I visit in Paso Robles?” And not just from wine geeks like me, I’m hearing it from casual imbibers who don’t know Pinot Noir from Pinot Gris, but they’re eager to go wine tasting in Paso Robles. Paso has become the wunderkind…
Will the greenbelt buckle?
From a room in City Hall’s mostly abandoned basement, Neil Havlik unfurled a City of San Luis Obispo topographic map so large it covered a conference table and spilled off the edges. He carefully traced the outline of the roughly 40,000-acre ring surrounding the city that has been designated the city’s protection-worthy greenbelt. Then he…
Moms need help, too
Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and moms across the country are preparing for a flood of nonspecific, non-offensive greeting cards, spa packages, potted plants, and crowded brunches. While family and friends get ready to rejoice and pay homage to their mothers, many unwary moms and moms-to-be will be reminded that motherhood is not…
Letters
Yes, he’s a young Yoko Glen Starkey has somehow become the New Times’ answer to Paula Abdul. The headline on Starkey’s column about Sean Lennon said, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” I assumed this meant the younger Lennon had inherited his father’s talent. But I realized my mistake as soon as I…
