Is it just me or is tRump determined to undo every environmental safeguard he can find? From gutting the Environmental Protection Agency to attacks on the Endangered Species Act to expanding fossil fuel extraction, he just can’t seem to leave well enough alone. He’s “unprotected” 86 million acres of public lands and counting.
Of course, what can we expect from a willfully ignorant, chronically mendacious, anti-intellectual who doesn’t believe in climate change even as his Freedom 250 event flopped amid a triple-digit heatwave?
All of tRump’s policy changes affect us, but his newest hits very close to home, especially for outdoor recreationists using Los Padres National Forest. He wants to repeal the “Roadless Rule,” making the wildlands used for hiking, fishing, hunting, camping, and horseback riding susceptible to new road construction and logging. So much for protecting our national forests. I bet this guy goes out of his way to stomp on ants.
According to Ben Pitterle, director of advocacy and field operations for Los Padres ForestWatch, the Roadless Rule is “literally what keeps the character and integrity of these places intact. When people go to national forests, they want a wild or semi-wild experience in nature, and that’s what’s at stake.”
What’s truly jarring is that many of the protections tRump is undoing were created through bipartisan consensus. Today, calling Republicants and MAGAts “conservatives” feels disingenuous in the face of their utter distain for conserving and protecting the environment. What they really want to conserve is power and control to Make America Hate Again. Sigh.
So shh! Everyone be very quiet and don’t let tRump know the city of San Luis Obispo is continuing its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion High Impact Grant Program. We all know how he feels about DEI. We wouldn’t want any DEI “reverse racism” going on when were in the middle of a regular racism renaissance, amirite?
Speaking of getting screwed, Cambria skate rats and their Skate Cambria advocates can’t believe that after all the money they’ve raised and grants they’ve secured over so many years, the planned skate park is stalled due to funding.
According to CSD General Manager Matthew McElhenie, “The skate park remains an important community project, and the district appreciates the significant work that volunteers, donors, grant partners, and community members have invested over the years to advance it. As outlined in the staff report, the current construction bids exceed the funding that is presently available for the project.”
About two years ago, New Times reported that the park was fully funded for the $1.2 million cost, but today, the lowest construction bid is $1,344,000. Much of the cost comes from county requirements including land permits, storm drainage, curbs, and ADA accessible bathrooms. But let’s be honest. These rising construction costs can be directly tied to the tariffs, inflation, and tRump’s economy. Cambria CSD is stuck between a half pipe and a grind rail and is proceeding with an abundance of caution … too much caution according to some. But the CSD is defending itself.
“In addition to the construction contract itself, public agencies must also account for appropriate construction contingencies and other project-related costs to responsibly manage the financial risks associated with a project of this size,” McElhenie said. “Staff’s recommendation is based on the board’s recent policy direction to preserve the district’s limited general fund reserves and exercise restraint with discretionary expenditures.”
Check your couch cushions. Anyone got an extra $200K lying around? Maybe it’s time to DIY this skate park situation.
Speaking of outlandish costs, two citizen watchdogs are demanding an audit and investigation into the costs of a Dec. 13, 2025, party organized by the SLO County Department of Airports at the Oceano Airport.
According to besties Oceano resident April Dury and Los Osos resident Julie Tacker, who formed a group called SLOcal Activists’ Coalition, the event called “Cleared for Cheer” cost a whopping $166,527, and the pair believes the SLO County Board of Supervisors was unaware of the actual cost when they approved a mid-year budget adjustment of $210,000 to support additional community engagement and outreach efforts at Oceano Airport. They’re demanding a thorough review of Airport Director Courtney Johnson and her department.
This complaint is coming from someone who often complains that the county doesn’t pay enough attention to Oceano. Now, Dury—who also attended the event—is complaining that the county spent too much to throw a winter party in the underserved community that often complains that it’s the county’s stepchild.
A hot chocolate bar! Ice! Christmas trees! A velvet couch for Santa! I do declare!
Fourth District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding told New Times he wasn’t aware of the cost and “can see why it may raise some concerns.”
This isn’t Dury and Tacker’s first foray into investigating government expenditures.
“We actually investigated Hamburgergate, we call it. It was a public works celebration in the South County, and like 100 hamburgers cost $1,500 and for a staff of eight,” Tacker said. “The problem with it was that Oceano CSD paid for it. Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, and Oceano Public Works employees benefited from it, but Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach paid the least of the $1,500, they had the most staff … and they RSVP’d early, so they got $5 [discount] on top of it, but we never actually issued that report.”
Bummer. I would have totally shredded Hamburgergate. ∆
The Shredder is suddenly hungry. Talk it off the trough at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in July 9-16, 2026.
Once again, everything is Trump’s fault. The 25 year lag between carbon emissions and heating isn’t real. Today’s global warming, initiated 25 years through carbon emissions, never happened. If a democratic administration took power, it would all just stop. The heating, already baked into the cake, won’t happen. Riiiight. We are about to see an Arctic have it’s first summer with out sea ice. Maybe not this year, maybe not next, buts going to happen real soon. After that, forget it. The albido effect won’t happen. The clash between frigid Arctic air and equatorial air will stop, which in turn destroys the jet stream, which in turn destroys the regular rainfall patterns humanity has relied on top feed itself, which in turn ends industrial agriculture and we all starve to death. As if removing Trump would have any effect on runaway global warming. Lol.
Better catch those rockfish off the Morro Rock Jetty before they’re too polluted to eat. Opening up Los Padres National Forest is just payback for Trump shaking down the oil industry for a billion dollars in 2024.
Perhaps the recent proposal by a Democratic state legislator from LA to reintroduce grizzly bears to the Los Padres National Forest area behind Ventura is just an effort to use a toothy apex predator to discourage development. If homeowners now object to coyotes hauling off Mr Boots the cat, like happens occasionally here, just imagine how they’ll react to a grizzly chowing down on their Pilates group?
Lol
It’s too late to do anything by anyone, as I mentioned before, there is a 25 year lag between the carbon being emitted from smoke stacks and your cars tailpipe, and the warming effect on the atmosphere. Even if ALL carbon emissions stopped today, this means there are still 25 more years of warming baked into the cake from the previous 25 years of emissions. We aren’t going to make it.
When the difference in temperature between formerly frigid Arctic air and the warm equatorial air that clashes with it is moderated or evened out, the jet stream will either stall or break up entirely. When this happens, we will have flooding and drought settle over large areas of this worlds (mid latitudes) farmland, and the moderate regular rainfall that allowed it to produce food at scale, will go away. Industrial agriculture will collapse and we all die.
As the world rapidly warms, it releases more carbon from thawing methane, which in turn, increases global warming. Ergo, runaway global warming.
These are the basic mechanics. It’s not a rising sea level I care about, it’s the end of industrial agriculture facilitated by the collapse of Arctic sea ice. Period. Full stop.
It’s so warm in the Arctic, it’s simply raining. Arctic sea ice reflects up to 80% of solar radiation. Dark open ocean water absorbs 90% of solar heat. We are so toast, so soon .
Look up the term “Blue ocean event” and climatologist Paul Beckwith.
Cue R.E.M.’s “It’s the end of the world and we know it, and I feel fine” as background accoutrement.