Cover Story
Two sides to COVID-19: Central Coast residents are split on the coronavirus, its impacts, and the state and local governments’ response
It started on March 2 with a slight tickle in Susan Robinson’s throat. Six days later, both she and her husband, Dave Robinson, started to feel sick. Their symptoms included fatigue, loss of appetite, muscle aches, and rough coughing, and Susan said she had abdominal pain. Susan, a retired gynecologist, had a pulse oximeter in…
Santa Maria resident’s upside-down flag protest bothers neighbors
As protestors gather in the streets of cities throughout the country following the death of Minnesota resident George Floyd, who died after a police officer pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck for almost 9 minutes, at least one local resident is choosing to protest from inside his own home. But his method of doing so…
SLO Police Chief defends use of tear gas on June 1 protesters
A mostly peaceful and hours-long protest ended in turmoil on June 1 after the San Luis Obispo Police Department used pepper ball rounds and tear gas to disperse a crowd of protestors who allegedly refused to move along, a move that police and city leaders say was a necessary last resort. At a press conference…
Santa Maria mayor sets city curfew after night of unrest
Peaceful protesters in Santa Maria joined cities on the Central Coast and nationwide over the weekend to protest the murder of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground on May 25. But after the sun went down on Sunday, May 31, a different scene unfolded near city hall.…
Hundreds gather in SLO to protest police violence against people of color
On May 31, R.A.C.E. Matters SLO County organized a local Act Now for Justice rally in Mitchell Park as part of the national movement against police brutality and outrage at the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested Floyd, 46, after a deli employee accused him using a counterfeit…
SLO and Santa Barbara counties roll out new COVID-19 testing pop-up clinics
Residents of Guadalupe, Cambria, and Los Osos will soon have a chance to be tested for COVID-19 without leaving their hometowns. A push to expand free COVID-19 testing opportunities to underserved communities begins in the city of Guadalupe on May 30 and 31. The pop-up clinic, which will be run by Community Health Centers, is…
Santa Barbara County eases regulations, provides pathway for wineries to reopen
Wineries and wine tasting rooms in Santa Barbara County can begin reopening as long as they serve food or contract with a vendor that does, such as a restaurant or food truck. On May 25, County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato declared an emergency rule that temporarily suspends certain zoning regulations, permit restrictions, and development standards…
Give Oceano a chance
During the last two months, the long and wide Oceano Beach has allowed hundreds of people to avoid the dangerously crowded Pismo and Avila beaches and still enjoy the beach while keeping the recommended social distance. On Memorial Day weekend, hundreds ofpeople walked, rode their horses or bikes, played Frisbee and bocce, built castles, and…
Netflix’ documentary Have a Good Trip offers an insider’s look at psychedelics
HAVE A GOOD TRIP: ADVENTURES IN PSYCHEDELICS What’s it rated? TV-MAWhen? 2020 Where’s it showing? Netflix Mixing humor and science, writer-director Donick Cary helms this documentary about both the potential therapeutic and recreational use of psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin, DMT, and peyote. It explores the pros and cons, as well as the cultural impacts…
Do we really need to promote tourism?
How does everyone feel about promoting tourism in SLO County? It seems that our Board of Supervisors thinks it’s a grand idea. So much so that they even renewed a tourism tax on lodging businesses, the purpose of which is “to promote San Luis Obispo County as a tourism destination … .” Maybe I am…
The End of the F***Ing World
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2017-2019 Where’s it showing? Netflix In its first season, this inky black British comedy pulls off the neat trick of exploring real issues of attachment, abandonment, narcissism, adolescence, insecurity, and homicidal urges while disguised as a mere amusement. Based on a graphic novel of the same name by Charles Forsman,…
A quantum leap
Last summer, the California Coastal Commission finally said the obvious thing about the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (ODSVRA). It happened in the staff report for the Commission’s July 11, 2019, meeting in SLO. Here are several relevant passages that sum up the matter: • “In 1982, and because San Luis Obispo County at…
Homecoming
What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2018-present Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime Micah Bloomberg, Eli Horowitz, and Sam Esmail (who also directed the first season) created this mystery thriller about the secretive Geist Group, a company that purportedly helps soldiers transition to civilian life. The first season revolves around counselor Heidi Bergman (Julia Roberts), who’s also…
Tribes of American
Respiratory droplets. They’re the little globs of moisture our mouths and noses expel when we’re breathing, talking, singing, coughing, sneezing, wheezing, and in the case of most politicians, bloviating. Six feet social of distancing? Probably not enough! A sneeze can be expelled at 100 miles per hour and create 100,000 respiratory droplets. A cough: 50…
Tune into Big Big SLO when it hosts Together SLO, a live streaming event to support small business on May 31
Now that we’re in Phase 2 (Was there a Phase 1? If so, I must have missed it), the possibility of live music is getting tantalizingly closer, but we’re not there yet. Who knows? Three incubating weeks from now we might find ourselves in another COVID-19 uptick after the out-of-town Memorial Day throngs wiped their…
Feds seized COVID-19 mass test machine from SLO County
In March, a consortium of local governments and hospitals convened to tackle one of the most critical aspects of confronting the incoming COVID-19 pandemic: building test capacity. Working with Dignity Health, Tenet Health, Santa Barbara County, and the state Department of Public Health, San Luis Obispo County health officials placed an order for a high-capacity…
Should you get tested for COVID-19? That’s up to you, but it’s now free and relatively easy
Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a two-part account of getting tested for COVID-19. “That’s it?” I ask the nurse administering my COVID-19 test, right after she withdraws a 6-inch swab from my right nostril. “That’s it,” she replies, and puts the swab in a test tube with my name on it, ready…
Gino’s Pizza in SLO brings back carhop drive-in service
Go back in time Gino’s Pizza now offers carhop service in addition to delivery and pickup. Open daily, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., the neighborhood family pizzeria will set vintage-style trays on your car windows, and bring your order to you. Guests may order online at ginospizzaslo.com or call (805) 752-1333 when you pull up.…
New coalition calls for CDBG funds to be used for rent relief
Throughout most of her adult life, San Luis Obispo resident Dona Hare Price has been active in advocacy and social justice work. So when COVID-19 hit and so many Californians, including Price, found themselves under a stay-at-home order in March, Price decided to tackle California’s housing problem, an issue made all the more visible now…
Retail businesses in SLO County reopen
In line with the second stage of California’s Resilience Roadmap, retail businesses are able to open their doors but are responsible to implement whatever safety measures they feel are necessary. General Store Paso Robles in downtown Paso welcomed customers at 11 a.m. on May 27. Owner Joeli Yaguda said reopening the brick-and-mortar to the public…
The Paso Robles Children’s Museum and the SLO Museum of Art help keep kids occupied during the pandemic
Soon online K-12 classes will come to a close and summer will begin … a summer usually filled with beach and pool days, blockbuster matinees, games in the park, and summer lessons. Hopefully some of that will still happen, but in the meantime, two local organizations will help keep your kids engaged in some fun…
SLO County weighs fallowing program for Paso basin farmers
Paso Robles has an oversupply of wine grapes, according to growers and winemakers. That’s an existing problem that’s been exacerbated by COVID-19. “We clearly have an overplanting of grapes in that area. … COVID is only the latest thing to come along,” said Jerry Lohr, owner of J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines. “Let’s say the…
Left Field Gallery’s June exhibition showcases works by Cal Poly Associate Professor Sara J. Frantz
The Left Field Gallery in Los Osos recently announced San Luis Obispo-based multimedia artist Sara J. Frantz as the gallery’s next featured artist. The new exhibition, titled Safety in the Shade, will showcase various works by Frantz and will premiere on June 6. Frantz is an associate professor at Cal Poly, where she teaches studio…
Disheartened and dismayed
Over the years, Americans determined that smoking in public spaces is unsafe for people who don’t smoke. As a result, smoking in shared public space is generally not allowed because the public has achieved consensus about smoking as a danger to public health. However, should one wish to endanger one’s own health by smoking in…
Avila Pier project gets $1.25 million grant
The Port San Luis Harbor District has more than half of the funding it needs to reopen the Avila Pier after receiving a $1.25 million Wildlife Conservation Board grant. District Facilities Manager Chris Munson said the grant is just one of several that the district applied for to fix the pier, which has been closed…
People don’t get it
As I ventured out to see if it seemed safe. I was surprised to see how many people were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. Even at retail stores, the sales people wore no masks. It looked like many think everything is OK. One women told me she took vitamin C and believed in…
Oceano Beach Community Association holds new sand castle building competition
The Oceano Beach Community Association (OBCA) is hosting its inaugural Oceano Beach Sand Castle Building Contest. Children and adults are welcome to participate in the competition by building sand castles and other sand sculptures along the beach (anywhere between the Grand Avenue entrance and the Arroyo Grande Creek). Competitors are advised to maintain social-distancing practices…
Heroes or victims
I was tuned into a weekly technology podcast about everything new from Zoom-bombing to what technology Walmart’s buying, and the conversation turned to face masks and how we were grateful that there are people out there still stocking shelves and running the checkouts. These people are real heroes. One of the participants, someone who obviously…
Commencing in quarantine: Arroyo Grande High’s class of 2020 gets city-wide salute
When SLO County’s public schools first closed in mid-March, Arroyo Grande Mayor Caren Ray Russom knew they might stay that way for the remainder of the school year. As a high school teacher and the mother of a senior at Arroyo Grande High School, she knew what that could mean for the graduating class of…
