Cover Story
It’s hard work being the best.
It’s not luck, it’s not chance, and it’s not easy. It takes rolling up your sleeves and getting a little dirty. It takes energy, time, money, and sometimes blood. It takes drive, commitment, focus, and passion. It takes belief. It takes talent. And it takes support.The businesses, organizations, and people who appear in the pages…
Spence to speak
Famed trial attorney Gerry Spence will discuss public interest law on May 13 in San Luis Obispo at an event sponsored by the Central Coast Trial Lawyers Association. His extemporaneous talk is open to the public and questions are encouraged. Instantly recognizable for his baritone voice, shoulder-length silver mane, and signature fringed buckskin jacket, the…
If you were a “Best Of”, how would you be best?
Marti Moreno office clerk “Probably making tacos!” Billy Holtz retired military “I’m the best Raiders fan.” Beth Mott Youth education coordinator “Coordinating the youth education program at the Arts Center.” Courtney Swidler retail “I’d totally be the best at smart-ass remarks.”
Citizen’s Alert 05.7.09
Monday, Nov. 12 Happy Veterans’ Day! Tuesday, Nov. 13 Grover Beach Planning Commission meets in the Council Chambers, Grover Beach City Hall, 154 South Eighth St. at 6:30 p.m. Info: 489-9657. Arroyo Grande City Council meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 215 E. Branch St. Info: 473-5404. Watch it live on Arroyo Grande Charter…
Abandon ship!
It’s called print journalism or traditional media or even old media; call it what you want, it’s old news, according to some people. Newspapers are going the way of the 8-track, soon to be nothing but an archaic heap of pulped trees slathered in ink, according to Anthony Circosta, a Cal Poly public relations graduating…
Y this and not that?
New trashcans and magazine racks downtown. The repainting of light posts. Tearing out and replacing sidewalk-lifting trees in the “urban forest” downtown. All of those projects, collectively aimed at further beautifying San Luis Obispo’s vaunted downtown, are in line to receive scarce dollars in the next budget cycle, to be finalized in June, as other…
Firefighters make concessions in tough budget
SLO city firefighters voluntarily deferred raises due them in July and agreed to forego pay raises in their next contract, which begins Jan. 1. Several more city unions have pledged to do the same, according to City Manager Ken Hampian. The city hopes to save $1.5 million over the next two years by postponing raises…
Parking fees will rise in SLO
The cost of a parking ticket will rise $10 dollars in SLO, but city officials say the city won’t see a dime. The City Council grudgingly approved the fine increase at the May 5 council meeting, saying if they didn’t do it, they would be on the hook to pay back the state-imposed fee. Despite…
McKinney vs. Tracey: KO
Atascadero City Manager Wade McKinney asked permission to cut city employees and patch the budget deficit. With permission granted, less than 24 hours later eight city employees were told they no longer had a job—and one of them was Marty Tracey. “You know I’ve said that this is one of those circumstances where McKinney is…
If only there were more smoke stacks
When it comes to air pollution there’s good news and bad news. Good news: There’s not much industrial pollution in SLO County. Bad news: Cars are causing most of the pollution and it will be hard to get people to stop driving. According to early greenhouse gas studies in SLO County, about 67 percent of…
Ban or tax considered for plastic bags
Citing litter and marine pollution, local officials at the Integrated Waste Management Authority are considering a countywide ban or a tax on carry-out plastic bags. The issue is due to be discussed at a May 13 meeting of the agency, which is made up of representatives from the SLO County Board of Supervisors and from…
W.R. hearts grass
New Times Why did you write Hearst’s San Simeon: The Gardens and the Land? Victoria Kastner The castle has always fascinated people and it’s a tremendous asset for the Central Coast, the nation, and the world. It is a remarkable world-class art museum in a magnificent setting. I realized I hadn’t written about the most…
Third time’s a charm
Nearly a year and a half after the Pewter Plough Playhouse announced that Love Town had won its first playwright competition, the Cambria-based theater is finally staging the comedy. After two previous failed attempts to mount the production—sabotaged by the out-of-the- way theater’s customary casting difficulties—it looked as though the production might not happen. In…
Pedaling art and fashion
If Willy Wonka had a bicycle-mad cousin the result would not be unlike the assembly of two-wheeled geriatric contraptions, sculptural wonders, and colorful canvases temporarily in residence at 1060 Osos St. in San Luis Obispo. Passersby, heroically bypassing the lingering aroma of pizza from next door, have to duck to catch a glimpse of the…
Healthy fare at Terraza Creekside Grille; no friars allowed
When two local business partners who’re former Cal Poly students began scouting locations for a their new restaurant, little did they know they would be serving up Spanish cuisine in the same spot where the friars left the mission to fetch water from the creek more than 300 years ago. The Terraza Creekside Grille and…
Reduced funding hurts students
As I read Susannah Robert’s excellent letter (“Stop teacher layoffs,” April 23) I felt compelled to share my story of how school budget cuts can ultimately affect a student later in life. I moved to San Luis Obispo in the middle of my junior year of high school (Oct. 2001) from a very small town…
Resign, Mr. President
I’m a World War II veteran with many years of living in all matters, so I believe I can speak on an important matter that affects the people of our United States. I believe President Obama should abdicate his position as president. He’s just making too many mistakes. In plain terms, he just doesn’t have…
Torture can be excused
A Los Angeles Times editorial (“Taking on torture,” April 27) presses the politicization of the torture issue. There is no surprise here considering the Times consistent anti-Bush editorial stance. But is the truth served by politicizing the matter? Not if the Democrats manage the debate. What the Bush administration did was correctly conceived and performed to protect this nation…
Prosecute torturers
One of the truths lost in the “debate” over whether or not the Bush administration’s treatment of its prisoners constituted torture is the reality that in the wake of 9/11 our leaders turned into frightened irrational little children, bent foremost on revenge and swift, if uncertain, justice. Decisions were made in anxious haste, with only…
Read about finance
The time is deliciously ripe for genuine political unity and perhaps even a shot at reasonable equity for the tattered, beleaguered, ever-shrinking, working middle class. First, the large segment of the populace that has apparently been living in monastic seclusion on an eight-year camping trip in remote Absurdistan needs to be welcomed back into the…
Democrats should emulate FDR
As a small business owner in California since 1996, I have seen my business evaporate over the last year but what worries me most is the loss of business since the election. I understand that a CPA firm in our area is estimating 30 percent of local businesses will close this year. That is a very…
Scientists, please reply
I would like to submit four questions to the debate on global warming: 1. What caused the global warming that ended the last ice age approximately 12,000 years ago? 2. What caused the short global warming episode less than a thousand years ago when the Norsemen grew crops in Greenland, which later became…
Stand up for Dan DeVaul
For the life of me, I can’t understand why the community is not in an uproar about what is happening at Sunny Acres. A 65-year-old man is continuing to care for 39 people (most of whom are our own citizens) while county administrators harass him for having too many “things” on his own land (which his family…
Yoga Centre empowers women
Regarding the letter “Pole dancing debases yoga,” (April 30) in response to Kylie Mendonca’s article about the Yoga Centre (“Move your body,” April 16), Mendonca reported that yoga was being made more accessible, not by offering pole dancing, but through the Yoga Centre’s new Yoga Therapy programs, as people with chronic pain, illness, disease, and…
On Phoebe’s side
Regarding Phoebe Hearst Cooke, I am on her side. What a rotten twin brother [George] turned out to be. … Of course she’s frustrated and at times paranoid having just lost her husband in September and her own daughter turning against her and joining the twin brother. … She needs help and understanding. I lost…
Robert Hall 2008 Rosé de Robles Hall Ranch
This delicious blend of 47 percent Grenache, 41 percent Syrah, 6 percent Cinsaut and 6 percent Mourvedre, is gorgeous in its forward fruit flavors. Aromas and flavors of strawberry, cranberry, raspberry, and citrus notes are both sweet and zesty in this dry pink wine that drinks so deliciously on its own. It’s a great choice…
Liberty School 2007 Syrah Central Coast
This Syrah is classic Rhone with its earthy nose of herbs, spice, and mushrooms, all deliciously woven together with briary blackberry and black- cherry notes. It’s a good choice for leg of lamb, ribeye steak, and game birds. A very good value at $14 retail, it’s available at the tasting room in Paso Robles, and…
New mosquito abatement district will sting you
There is a ballot being sent to property owners to create a new bureaucracy called the Mosquito Abatement and Vector Control District. When property owners get the mail-in ballot a “NO” vote is called for, both because we don’t need this new bureaucracy and also to send a clear message to county officials of citizen…
John Warren
New Times: Your Web site (sloballoon.com) says you are accident-free in flying, but have you had any close calls? Warren: If somebody’s going to get hurt, it’s going to be when we’re landing, not during the flight. I tend be pretty conservative. I’ve had some hard landings, but they were four years ago. New Times:…
Blowing it
Here’s news that shouldn’t surprise anybody who’s read reports about the bomb squad responding to suspicious electric toothbrushes: Nobody has been keeping good track of whether the federal money that’s flowed to counties to prevent terrorism has been spent in ways that might actually prevent terrorism. A new report from the Department of Homeland Security’s…
Gourmet burgers, martinis, and a toast to pets
When people find spare money tough to come by, entrepreneurs quickly become creative at finding ways to make you decide you can spare a little change. And indeed they have at the Park Restaurant, Rosa’s Italian Restaurant, and Shadow Canyon Cellars, all of which are offering excellent reasons for going out for a great time.…
The Devil’s in the details
Holy crap, is Devil Makes Three good! Telling you their new album Do Wrong Right is number one on Billboard’s Bluegrass Charts will probably give you the wrong idea about this band, because bluegrass is only one small element of their Gypsy jazz, Piedmont blues, country rock-a-swing-abilly sound. Every time I see them I lose…
