Does the world seem like it’s stopped making sense? I just learned, for instance, that the Cambria CSD has hired Grace Environmental Services to install 3,500 new water meters even though the company is owned by Charles Grace, who was banned from working with the San Simeon CSD for a conflict of interest and violating public trust. Hm. How’s that “fool me once” line go again?
I know I wrote that I wouldn’t have former 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold to kick around anymore, but she’s the gift that keeps on giving. Her no vote on using eminent domain to acquire property to complete the Bob Jones Trail “increased the project cost by millions of dollars,” according to 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding, who didn’t mention Arnold by name. In fact, her name didn’t come up at all as the current board discussed how to quickly spend grant money that’s set to expire while also voting to move $5 million from a capital projects fund to the trail project. Thank$, Debbie.
Last week New Times published “Grover Beach citizens are heroes, not drama queens,” an opinion piece by Arroyo Grande resident Cheryl Storton, and thanks to her opinion, I learned Grover H20, which squashed the Central Coast Blue water reclamation project, is actually full of female heroes (not drama queens) and any criticism of them is tantamount to misogyny. That’s right! Women are completely off limits! Our words and actions must not be questioned! I also learned, thanks to the comments posted on the commentary online, that according to commenter Elizabeth Doukas, her fellow commenters Aaron Ochs and Jill Stegman are “‘paid’ trolls”:
“Stegman and Ochs are ‘paid’ trolls to promulgating misinformation, misleading information, for reasons that are not clear. They simply do not like opposition to city actions in any form, be it male or female, despite experts in their fields, and despite citizens having an obligation and duty to be involved in local government … they want to silence and disparage anyone not going along to get along like so many already do … so, please know they have ulterior motives to any and all of their comments … follow the money, power and influence behind any of their comments.”
Follow the money? Shit! Really? You can get paid for that? Judging from the comments thread, new Grover Beach Mayor Kassi Dee is going to stay busy dealing with all these not-drama queens. Thanks, Cheryl.
Does the SLO County Coalition of Labor Agriculture and Business (COLAB) have no shame? Like Donald J. Trump, Elon Musk, and other hatemongers, they’re victim-blaming over the devastating LA fires. On the cover page of its most recent newsletter, COLAB published a painting of poolside revelers partying away as the hillsides behind them burn.
“FOR DECADES THE PALISADES, MALIBU, BRENTWOOD & SANTA MONICA HAVE VOTED 70% FOR LEFTIST UNACCOUNTABLE REGIMES AND CANDIDATES—NO FIRE BREAKS, NO BRUSH CONTROL, NO SALT WATER CISTERNS CONNECTED TO HIGH VOLUME MARINE PUMPS—INSTEAD ANTI-NUCLEAR, PRO MARINE SANCTURY, CLIMATIST, DEI EXTOLLING, MASS TRANSIT LOVING (BUT NOT FOR THEM), HIGH CO2 FOOTPRINT ELITES,” the newsletter screamed in all caps.
“YOU CAN FLEE THE NEXT FIRE IN THE DARK IN YOUR MANDATORY UNCHARGED ELECTRIC PRIUS,” COLAB concluded.
I guess having empathy for fellow Californians isn’t part of COLAB’s mission statement. Hey COLAB, do you realize the homes of laborers, businesses, and agricultural operations have burned? People have lost everything, including their lives. You should be ashamed and apologize, but pettiness and petulance are all we’ve come to expect from you and your ilk. By the way, the Prius is a hybrid, not all-electric. Thanks, COLAB.
Did anyone happen to see the 2004 film A Day Without a Mexican? A mysterious pink fog envelopes California and all the Mexican residents disappear. It was no bueno for California, amigos. The economy was in chaos. Yes, the movie was a satirical fantasy, but could it happen?
On Jan. 10, Cal Matters reported on a Border Patrol raid in Bakersfield that’s sent shock waves through the community: “A surprising immigration raid in Kern County foreshadows what awaits farmworkers and businesses,” the headline read.
“The Border Patrol conducted unannounced raids throughout Bakersfield on Tuesday, descending on businesses where day laborers and field workers gather,” Cal Matters reported. “Agents in unmarked SUVs rounded up people in vans outside a Home Depot and gas station that serves a breakfast popular with field workers.”
Now these workers are not going to work! Crops are going unpicked. Rumors are circulating on the Facebook group Central Coast Chisme that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may be poised to do the same thing here.
SLO County’s 2023 Crop Report (the most recent available) noted a record high production value of over $1.1 billion. Agriculture is a huge part of our economy. The Community Foundation of San Luis Obispo County reports, “Our agricultural workforce is overwhelmingly comprised of immigrant Latinos, mostly from Mexico. Nearly half (49 percent) are undocumented immigrants.”
What will happen to these workers and this industry when Trump takes office on Jan. 20 and enacts his promised “mass deportations”?
“If this is the new normal,” the article quoted Cal State-Bakersfield econ professor Richard S. Gearhart, “this is absolute economic devastation.”
Thanks, Trump. Δ
The Shredder is strapping in for a rough four years. Assuage its fears at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 16-26, 2025.
Waiting in morbid curiosity to see what will be blamed for high grocery prices now that Dem leadership is on its way out at the federal level. Maybe in some strange turn of events we will see action against the obvious price gouging that happens at every step of the food production journey, but even that would likely not be enough to counter the effects of increased labor costs that would occur under the proposed plans for mass deportation.