As a small-business owner, I have experienced firsthand how difficult it is to run a business on the Central Coast. But the cost of running a business here is only part of the problem. The other problem is how incredibly expensive it is to live on the Central Coast, where few good-paying jobs exist.
Middle-class families are leaving San Luis Obispo County at one of the highest rates in the country. The high cost of living, lack of affordable housing, and few good-paying jobs make it hard for families to stay.
Major employers like Weatherby, Really Right Stuff, and Lockheed Martin are moving out of the county because it is too expensive to operate here. We cannot afford to force more companies out of business—and lose more good-paying jobs.
As a parent, I want my kids to want to come home after college. As a business owner, I need my customers to stay here. The county needs to retain and increase good-paying jobs so that the beautiful place we live, once again, becomes a place of opportunities and hope.
Jason Anderson
Atascadero
This article appears in Oct 11-21, 2018.
I think the plan is for SLO’s demographic to be people who made their money on wall street or silicon valley and downtown stores to be chains or Amazon support, all run by migrants and college students. But hey, as long as it’s vegan it’s cool.
We are officially the playground for the uber wealthy and it has killed the soul of the central coast. People are moving out of SLO county faster than anywhere else in California and its only going to get worse. I am really curious where the workers are supposed to live since the rents in Atascadero and Los Osos (which used to be the cheaper towns to live in) have tripled in the past 10 years.Do the rich expect the white working class to live 3 families to house like our friends from south of the border?