If it’s broken

Remember when you used to be able to actually slide down the concrete slides at the Pismo Beach pier’s entrance?

In 2020, right after the slides made their debut, they were closed “temporarily” thanks to a series of injuries experienced by adults and children alike. Well, apparently, temporary turned into permanent because the city didn’t fix the slides—even though they still exist. Instead, it put up beautiful gates in front of the slide entrances with signs that say, “permanently closed” “do not enter.”

These ugly-ass gates are right next to the playground. I don’t understand why Pismo didn’t opt to do something else, anything really, to gussy up the error and make that space usable.

It’s an eyesore in an otherwise cool area that the city designed to invigorate and liven up the pier.

Why fix a problem when you don’t have to? If it’s broke, why fix it?

The city’s taking a similar approach to another mistake it made along the pier.

That cool Airstream serving up ice cold adult beverages and savory snacks you can eat pier-side while watching people surf and play on the beach will be gone after October.

Why? Whoopsie-daisy! Pismo Beach, in all its wisdom, screwed up its own zoning somehow. Many years later, city staff finally caught itself. But instead of fixing the issue, the city threw up its hands and said, “Why fix it?”

Meanwhile, the city did put out a request for proposals [RFP] to fill the Airstream on the pier that the Rib Line has operated Sunsets at Pismo out of since 2020, generating almost $200,000 in revenue for the city. Four proposals came in, including one from Rib Line owner Brian Appiano.

“I spent about three weeks working on a 22-page proposal bid to try to get the renewal contract,” Appiano said. “They were looking for more of a long-term partner. So, I was hoping it was going to be more like a five- to 10-year lease.”

While the city did notify Appiano about its RFP process, it didn’t notify him about staff’s big mistake or the fact that the city suddenly decided it didn’t need a partner at all because of its cock-up. The Airstream is leaving the pier, RFPs be damned. He found out because KCBX called him to ask how he felt about the City Council’s decision to stop commercial activity on the pier. Oof. Ouch. WTF, Pismo Beach?

Seems like a shady way for the city to operate. Where are the Debbie Petersons of the world to call out Pismo?

“I would have went to the meeting and spoke,” Appiano said.

Of course he would have. So would the other three businesses that spent time working on proposals for the city.

Now, after finding out about its own mistake, the city has also decided—after specifying the need for a long-term partner to operate out of the Airstream on the pier—that its Airstream won’t work for the long-term after all. Funny how that works!

Councilmember Marcia Guthrie said the city was subsidizing the business operating out of the Airstream because other businesses had to pay for or provide some form of parking. Umm, Sunsets at Pismo has paid the city almost $50,000 a year for the last four years to operate. Who’s doing the subsidizing?

Councilmember Mary Ann Reiss decided the pier is for residents who love walking and fishing there. Last I checked there was plenty of that going on.

The only person who made sense was Mayor Ed Waage, who gets why it’s such a cool attraction: “I do enjoy the current operation there,” he said. “I don’t think it’s been too impactful on our visitors other than they seem to enjoy that operation.”

Duh! It’s hip. Like the slides. But, if it’s broken, why fix it?

Maybe the city will just leave the Airstream out there and put a giant gate up that states, “permanently closed,” so it looks just as nice as the slides. A reminder of what you can’t have.

It’s kind of like what’s happening in Paso Robles—only that city is actually trying to fix the problem. The nightly shelter seekers in North County are out of luck if they’re looking to try their luck at ECHO. The five beds it used to offer for that kind of thing are no longer on the table.

With only five nightly beds and 20 to 25 people vying for them, folks were inevitably disappointed, ECHO CEO Wendy Lewis told the Paso City Council. So, let’s get rid of them!

It wasn’t really working, she said.

Apparently only 10 percent of the nightly shelter seekers eventually find permanent housing. About 60 percent of the folks staying in ECHO’s 90-day temporary housing situation find their way into long-term housing. So, the nonprofit is turning those five beds into 90-day housing instead.

It’s better than what resident Gary Lamb suggested the city do: round up all the loiterers and riverbed campers and lock them up at the former Estrella Juvenile Facility near the airport.

“It’s already got gates,” he said. “Put them in a position where there’s control, where there’s people watching them and making sure that there’s no problems.”

But they’ve got rights, Councilmember Fred Strong said while referring to riverbed residents as the “hobos of yesteryear.” Strong words, amirite?

The Shredder is going trainhopping. Send tips to shredder@newtimesslo.com.

This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 7, 2025.