John Ashbaugh’s recent opinion piece (“Don’t throw your votes away in SLO’s municipal election,” Oct. 1) offers a familiar narrative about neighborhood issues in San Luis Obispo, but it mischaracterizes both the history and the role of Residents for Quality Neighborhoods (RQN). As someone who has been involved with RQN for decades and served as its chair for the last 15 years, I want to correct the record.
RQN did not, and has not, “quit” on the city. For more than 35 years, RQN participated consistently and constructively in city processes, including the Student Community Liaison Committee (SCLC). Our volunteers spent thousands of hours working with city staff, elected officials, and Cal Poly representatives to address the impacts of off-campus student housing. The organization stepped away from SCLC only after the committee’s structure and procedures were changed in ways that placed limits on neighborhood participation. When a committee no longer allows discussion of the very issues it was created to address, continued involvement becomes symbolic rather than productive.
It is also important to remember that responsibility for addressing neighborhood impacts ultimately rests with the City Council. Council members—including John Ashbaugh during his eight years in office—are elected to develop policy, set priorities, and ensure that community concerns are addressed. Neighborhood livability is not something residents can fix on their own. It requires leadership, enforcement, and sustained commitment from the city. RQN has always been willing to collaborate, but collaboration only works when the city is equally committed to solving the problems residents experience daily.
Neighborhood livability is not something residents can fix on their own. It requires leadership, enforcement, and sustained commitment from the city.
The grand jury’s 2025 report confirmed what residents had been raising for years: that the city and Cal Poly had not adequately mitigated the impacts of student housing on surrounding neighborhoods. That conclusion was not an RQN opinion. It was the finding of an independent body charged with evaluating public agencies. The report validated the concerns residents had been voicing long before RQN withdrew from SCLC.
Mr. Ashbaugh also suggests that RQN was behind the request for a public hearing regarding the mayor’s disclosure of a confidential draft grand jury report. That is incorrect. RQN did not prepare or file that complaint, did not sign it, and did not participate in its submission. The letter was authored by a sitting council member acting independently. RQN should not be assigned responsibility for actions it did not take.
RQN’s mission has always been straightforward: to advocate for livable, safe, and well maintained neighborhoods throughout San Luis Obispo. That work is nonpartisan and community-based. It has continued through changes in city leadership, university growth, and shifting city and Cal Poly policy priorities. Residents deserve accurate information about the organizations that represent them, and they deserve a clear understanding of how neighborhood issues have evolved over time. ∆
Sandra Rowley is a former chair of Residents for Quality Neighborhoods. Write a response for publication and email it to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 8-15, 2026.
