Pull the curtains. Draw the shades. The issue of transparency is no longer playing a part in the Los Osos wastewater project. Why? Is the $165 million sewer, to be paid for by only 4,500 homeowners, not an issue that beckons the need for San Luis Obispo County government to be open, honest and forthcoming with this selected group of homeowners? November 2009 was the last month that included a project update that was publicly considered by your board. December 15th was the last time County Public Works wrote something about the wastewater project on their blog. It would seem like the project has vanished into thin air — as if the issue is over and done with, as least as far as Board of Supervisors Chairman Frank Mecham and his crew are concerned. How is that even possible? By what brand of logic?
According to the board, there is no need to continue their trademarked pledge of transparency. We can pledge allegiance to the flag, but skip the part about “liberty and justice for all.” After spending $7 million plus on rehashing old studies and copy-and-paste EIRs, after pushing through, then prematurely eliminating, a stillborn, tainted, skewed design-build process, the Mecham board has slammed the door on Los Osos.
Bear in mind that there is an underlying issue of entitlement that needs to be met, and not by silence. While it is inevitable that a project will be designed and constructed for Los Osos, there is, at the same time, a concurrent need for homeowners paying for a $300 a month sewer system to have their questions answered in a public forum. These homeowners are investing $100,000 or more in loans over 30 years to build the County’s sewer, and they need to know about their investment. “Prohibition Zone” residents have been forced to become investors — when everyone in Los Osos will benefit from their investment — and these people are entitled to know the details of their family’s future.
We are also entitled to know the extent of the conversations between the County and the Coastal Commission regarding the County’s response to the the upcoming de novo hearing on project details. How will be the substantial issues — raised by the Coastal Commission — be remedied by the County? What is Public Works’ plan, if they have one? Or is the board robotically aligned with Bruce Gibson’s view that the County’s efforts already addressed all the assertions in their initial presentation to the commission?
In response to former LOCSD board member Julie Tacker’s comments about the lack of transparency exhibited by the County, Chairman Mecham advised people — who are looking for updates on the wastewater project — to attend Bruce Gibson’s office hours, which have no transparency at all. Office hours have zero accountability. There are no cameras, no audio broadcast feeds. There’s just a round table in a small room led by Gibson, who often replies to a small number of attendees with a “no comment,” a dismissive flick of the wrist, an ambiguous topical rebuttal or questions are — as of late — deferred to heavily opinionated, non-County employees (private citizens). What is the board’s intent here? Where is government performing the function Mecham’s advises Los Osos residents to use as the alternative to a public forum?
Because the County has been all too eager to dismiss the naysayers and not address the issues they’ve raised, there are now lawsuits in the wings. Interestingly enough, the County makes no mention of these lawsuits. The board hasn’t even bothered to reply with the formulaic “no comment” response. According to closed session as described on the meeting agenda, the board discusses anticipated litigation, but there’s no mention of any pending litigation relevant to the wastewater project. Why is that? Have all legitimate communications and concerns, like the monthly debate, simply turned to vapor?
It seems like yesterday when Bruce Gibson told the Coastal Commission that there have been hundreds of public meetings on the LOWWP and countless hours of public comment dedicated to that issue. According to the board, there has been an unprecedented amount of time dedicated to deliberating over the details, the same details that the Coastal Commission found wanting and that initiated the current but necessary delay. Yet even before the board chooses contractors and votes on accepting the responsibility of designing and constructing the project — which they haven’t done — it has revoked transparency, denying thousands of residents the much-promised opportunity to look at the process alongside your staff and form their own conclusions. After all, these few thousands are paying for the project, not the board of Supervisors, none of which live in Los Osos.
This process of slowly suffocating the public has stripped residents of their dignity. The board’s actions indicate that “Prohibition Zone” homeowners — the County’s most well-known, cash-strapped investors — are no longer privileged to know what’s going on with their investment.
We, the citizens of Los Osos, can now find closure, knowing that our elected government representatives have turned their backs on us, once and for all.
– Aaron Ochs
