I don’t know what’s worse, a bunch of Cambrians in their seventh year of bickering over an expensive already-built water facility that’s not being used or a bunch of Grover Beachers saying homeless people shouldn’t get to stay at the city park when those same residents pitched a gigantic fit in 2019 over a facility that could have actually provided homeless services.
OK, each is annoying and neither is surprising, amirite?
I’m in shock that the Cambria Community Services District is still talking about the name of the emergency water facility turned permanent pain in the ass that has yet to provide a single drop of water to residents. Is it an emergency drought facility or one that augments Cambria’s water supply on a regular basis?
That, my dear Shredder lovers, depends on who you ask.
Resident Crosby Swartz said the facility is for drought emergencies only. And his wife, Laura Swartz agrees, so they are apparently unanimous in that household that nobody else should be able to build in Cambria. Even if someone has owned an empty lot for 20 years, no house for you!
Get out of our backyard!
It probably would have helped if the CSD didn’t appear to be so shady when it was trying to get the “temporary” permits for the facility during a drought emergency. That temporary permit eventually needed to become permanent, which is what really pissed the Cambria NIMBYs off. The district, by the way, still doesn’t have that permit. Still!
But apparently, a name change could be the magic dust that alters the way Cambria’s residents view the facility! At least District General Manager John Weigold is hopeful—thankfully, he’s also a realist, because let’s be honest, the way the community views the facility is never going to change!
Seven years is a long time to argue over something. People get attached, you know? They like the drama, talking behind people’s backs, shaking their fists at public meetings. Being angry is addictive. What are they going to do if it all goes away? We’ll need to build a facility to help them cope with their withdrawal, which they can then oppose and get angry about, starting the cycle all over again. When will it ever end!?
But we don’t really need to worry about that, because the controversy over that currently useless facility ain’t going nowhere, no how.
So, the CSD made the gigantic decision to rename this facility, again! It was the Emergency Water Supply Project. Then it became the Sustainable Water Facility Project. And now (Are you ready for this?) it’s going to be called the Water Reclamation Facility. Problem solved!
Maybe they should ask Morro Bay how that name worked out for the city’s currently under-construction Water Reclamation Facility. Drama!
“Right idea, wrong location.”
Well, that wasn’t the exact slogan used to fight the new facility in Morro Bay, but it was the exact slogan that Grover Beach residents used to battle against the homeless services and affordable housing project proposed for the Hillside Church in 2019. Neighbors just felt like it was a great concept, but didn’t want it in their neighborhood, you know? It’s much better for the church to just be permanently closed and not used for anything.
NIMBY, NIMBY, NIMBY!
The 5Cities Homeless Coalition, which is one of the only organizations in South County that’s dedicated to helping the area’s homeless population, has been forced to move their winter warming shelter five times in the last five years. NIMBYS took care of that!
Executive Director Janna Nichols said shelter services have been a problem in South County for a long time, which the coalition has been trying to address—”but for one reason or another we have not been successful in finding a location.” The closest shelters are in San Luis Obispo or Santa Maria.
And when there’s nowhere to go, homeless populations often turn to public spaces such as Ramona Park, which Grover Beach residents do not like—like at all. Ramona Park, according to Nichols, has long been a space where homeless people have camped out.
“Please remove all the drug addicts and homeless people who live there,” resident Savanna Ford wrote in an email to the city.
As in, what, Savanna? Put them in garbage bags and haul them to the dump?
Grover Beach City Manager Matt Bronson said without a shelter, the city is limited in what it can do about homeless populations taking up residence in its public spaces. The city, he said, often receives complaints about homeless people camping in Ramona Park, especially near the gazebo! Gasp! The gazebo has to go!
And the city’s doing exactly that, with plans to demo the gazebo.
Maybe that’s the solution for Mitchell Park in San Luis Obispo? The city cleared out homeless camps a few weeks ago due to resident complaints, and guess what? Those tents are popping up again. It must be that gazebo! Let’s get rid of it.
Oh wait, apparently homeless people are also attracted to public restrooms. Maybe we should get rid of those, too. While we’re at it, let’s just get rid of public spaces all together. Then the unhoused will truly have nowhere to go and they will just disappear! Like magic. Δ
The Shredder thinks if we get rid of neighborhoods, NIMBYs will disappear. Send comments to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Apr 1-11, 2021.
It is so much more fun to volunteer other people to endure the crime and craziness of living near the homeless, than having your own front lawn used as a toilet and your own house and car subjected to “nontraditional shopping” incursions. That way, you can feel morally smug about your vicarious sacrifice, while not having to listen to the howls and gibbering of the chemically demented.
I find it odd that the Shredder with a story headlined as NIMBY MAGIC, would transition from a water issue in Cambria to an over 2 year old homeless issue in Grover Beach. You cite only one resident, Savanna Ford, as if the whole town wants to burn down Bethel Church and tear down the gazebo in Ramona Garden Park to spite the homeless.
As I understand it the gazebo was slated to be removed long ago due to liability issues and that part of the park repurposed by the city’s master plan, which includes numerous positive changes to enhance the lives of the citizens of Grover Beach with a make over of the park and other city owned venues.
With respect to the 5 Cities Homeless Coalition Grover Beach is the ONLY city that has done ANYTHING substantial for the homeless and has carried that challenge ALONE for many years.
The Shredder needs to be a little more investigative and a lot more timely as it continually strives, but continually loses the respect that the founder, Steve Moss, garnered from the inception of the New Times.
I also challenge the shredder to name ALL FIVE cities that constitutes the geographical area named as such.
Me thinks the Shredder should be renamed the Pisser… amirite?
IIt’s easy to dismiss complex and serious issues of water, limited resources, fire safety, clear mistakes of civic judgement as “NIMBY” isn’t it? What Cambria faces is in no way simply NIMBY (a rather outdated term). Either dig into the issues and present an intelligent case for, against or not knowing, rather than play to the what you think is the simplicity of your audience by trying to attract attention with banal side remarks, without bothering to engage in an issue.
Yes Shredder!!!!! Put them in trash bags and take them to the dump!!!! The central coast taxpayers and citizenry will NO LONGER tolerate the human WASTE that has befallen our once fair cities. YOU take them into YOUR house, or car, and dump them somewhere. ANYWHERE!!!! I tell these people routinely that they are NOT WELCOME here. They ask for money or food or booze and I tell them NO!! And I usually tell them that in Fresno, they give out free beer and weed. I tell them that BLM rallies give away free 40 oz. if you protest with them. Since the “woke” crowd (HAHA JOKE crowd) loves these human leeches on society so much, YOU take them. YOU pay to house them. YOU deal with their neglected, hungry children. YOU clean up their fecal matter, urine and used needles!!!! Better yet…buy a lot of trash bags and start warming up the truck Shredder, the dump opens early in the morning.
The City of Paso Robles has a homeless facility at the former Motel 6. More homeless than ever in downtown and the river bottom. Build it and more will come.