The Razor Online

The ROCK: Gibson Under-Estimating Sewer Bills to Win Los Osos Votes

Posted on 03. Jun, 2010 by Aaron.

By ED OCHS

If it’s Tuesday and you happen to be visiting Los Osos from out of the area, perhaps thinking about moving there, and want to know more about the future of this nature-lover’s seaside paradise, you may want to sit in on a rare Los Osos Update or weekly public comment at a San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors’ meeting in charming downtown San Luis Obispo. There you can hear Los Osos residents ask question after question about the County’s proposed $165 million – now $180 million – Los Osos Wastewater Project. And, if you hang around long enough, you can catch Los Osos’ County representative to the board, Supervisor Bruce Gibson, administer frontier justice by turning his blowtorch on Los Osos speakers complaining about having to pay $250 a month to flush their toilets with the most expensive sewer project a disadvantaged community’s dwindling dollars can buy in a desperate economy. You’ll find what’s in store for Los Osos and more at weekly County Board of Supervisors’ meetings, but it comes with a stern warning: they aren’t for the thin-skinned, faint of heart or short of breath.

Click here to read the article.

Post your comments about the article here on Razor Online.

Continue Reading

McPherson’s Misleading Endorsement

Posted on 31. May, 2010 by Aaron.

Self-proclaimed Los Osos sewer expert Gail McPherson has thrown her hat into the political arena by endorsing Los Osos Community Services District President Marshall Ochylski for District 2 Supervisor over incumbent Bruce Gibson. In an e-mail sent on Memorial Day, McPherson urged residents to pass her message to “District 3″ voters (rather than Ochylski’s District 2) who care about Los Osos. “I’m coming after you, Adam Hill!”

Here is the e-mail in its entirety with commentary below:

[...]

Continue Reading

YOUR VOICE: Celebrate Los Osos With Sincerity, Not Press Releases

Posted on 17. May, 2010 by Aaron.

This is the first Razor Online guest column. If you want to write a column for us, please send us an e-mail. We accept all viewpoints.

By Julie Tacker

The recent hullabaloo around “Celebrate Los Osos,” the newly reinvented Bear Committee/Los Osos Community Organization and its search for “positive,” “visible projects” has many of us scratching our heads.  Celebrating Los Osos occurs on a regular basis. It doesn’t take a marketing campaign or slick tricks to ask for and receive a helpful hand.  Volunteer jobs are being done all around this great community with no fanfare, kudos, banners, websites, press releases, photo ops or slick material promoting the good works of many citizens who pitch in however and wherever they can.  Whether its muscle or money, Los Ososan’s historically come to the aid of others to fundraise, lift their hammers, shovels or paint brushes to spruce up, repair or build whatever, whenever.  The best example is the Annual Maxine Lewis Homeless Shelter Fundraiser (held each December at the South Bay Community Center), organized by Jerri Walsh and Richard Margetson year after year with no self promoting brouhaha.

[...]

Continue Reading

Let’s Celebrate Accountability

Posted on 11. May, 2010 by Aaron.

UPDATE (4:36 PM): Dave Duggan posted some great quotes that give a lot of insight into what Celebrate Los Osos is all about.

On May 22, Celebrate Los Osos (CLO) is sponsoring the Back Bay Music Festival, which will have BBQ, beer, wine and free music — all for supposedly a good cause. Proceeds from the event will go toward beautification projects in Los Osos and Baywood Park. Months ago, I wrote an article about this volunteer organization and how the people involved have done more harm than good for people living in the Prohibition Zone. I’ve personally asked the founders of this volunteer organization to set up a fund for residents who would be unable to afford the upcoming sewer. There was no response. However, there was a response by founder Pandora Nash-Karner, which included public relations-inspired expressions like “spirit of volunteerism” and lines like, “Volunteering is the most fundamental act of citizenship and philanthropy in our society.”

[...]

Continue Reading

Due Diligence and County Mistakes

Posted on 04. May, 2010 by Aaron.

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved their staff’s recommendations for the Los Osos wastewater project last Tuesday. Since the County provided their first wastewater project update for this year, many Los Osos residents were left bewildered about the details. One of the bigger issues that County Public Works Director Paavo Ogren talked about was the due diligence review. Here’s a breakdown of what that is.

[...]

Continue Reading

Tribune Endorses Gibson Too Early

Posted on 24. Apr, 2010 by Aaron.

Last Sunday, The Tribune endorsed Bruce Gibson for supervisor, the incumbent for San Luis Obispo County’s 2nd District. Though it’s not surprising that Gibson was endorsed by a newspaper that has Gibson on their speed dial, the timeliness of the endorsement was.

Both LOCSD President Marshall Ochylski and Gibson have yet to square off in a debate. Neither candidate has made an effort to detail their positions enough for voters to compare and look for differences. Neither candidate has unveiled their campaign strategies. By endorsing Gibson so early in the campaign, The Tribune has shown their readers and subscribers unprecedented bias as they value loyalty over competency.

[...]

Continue Reading

Substantial Fear and Loathing in Los Osos

Posted on 16. Apr, 2010 by Aaron.

UPDATE (7/24/10, 11:48 PM PST): The Jan. 21 Formal Complaint Against Alon Perlman is now available to download (You must have Adobe Acrobat 6.0 or newer to view the PDF).

UPDATE (6/6/10, 4:55 PM PST): The Office of the Patient Advocate reviewed comments made by Mr. Perlman and they’ve determined that the comments were “expressed in a satirical manner,” but the comments were also “tasteless and juvenile,” just like his previous comments and character attacks.

This week, several Los Osos residents are reading and analyzing San Luis Obispo County’s 1,000-page response to the California Coastal Commission’s concerns over substantial issues raised on January 14. However, there are some longstanding substantial issues for which there is no de novo hearing scheduled any time soon. While LO residents were victorious in pursuing transparency, some County supporters criticized their most vocal opponents of “whining” and trying to stop the sewer without discussing the merits of their opponents’ (and Coastal Commissioners’) arguments. Instead, they talk about parenting skills and cursing on live television at board meetings. Apparently, discussing the issues point by point in a civil tone is difficult for some people. Now it’s become an issue inside of an issue.

[...]

Continue Reading

UPDATE: Transparency is Easy

Posted on 08. Apr, 2010 by Aaron.

UPDATE (4/12, 12:19 AM PST): All the binders are now available online: Binder #1, Binder #2 and Binder #3. In the event that the information is taken down or the site is unavailable, a download mirror will be provided so that the documents will always be available.

UPDATE 2 (10:47 PM PST): After “probably a couple of hours,” the LOWWP site remains unchanged with no related documents available.

UPDATE 1: Thanks to local activists and The Razor, the County’s response to the Coastal Commission will be up in “probably a couple of hours,” according to the County Clerk-Recorder Julie Rodewald. The response will be posted on The Razor as soon as it appears on the LOWWP web site.

Bob Cuddy’s Tribune article on Apr. 8 (“County gets more strife over Los Osos sewer project”) leans on the premise that the SLO County’s 1,000-page response to the CA Coastal Commission is difficult to reproduce because it would Public Works staff cost time and money. Not quite. Most County materials have been produced by word processing software that allows files to be converted to a popular, readable electronic format (PDF). This amazingly simple “point, click and convert” process is not time-consuming or costly, but spending more than $7 million over faulty wastewater plans for a $165-million sewer is.

The County has proven to Los Osos that they won’t embrace innovation and convenient solutions for the wastewater project. In a time when our nation is looking for unique, different approaches to solving complex issues, the County has remained stagnant by precluding current, alternative technology and thinking.  Despite what some County supporters feel, obstructionism doesn’t come from the people. It comes from the inability to govern openly.

– Aaron Ochs

Continue Reading

Vengeful LeGros Is April Fool

Posted on 05. Apr, 2010 by Aaron.

Former Los Osos Community Services District Director Richard LeGros’ stinging press release on Thursday, April 1, announcing the Taxpayers Watch settlement was peculiar. It was peculiar because LeGros misinterpreted the terms of his own settlement. Unsurprisingly, LeGros’ vitriol toward the “CSD5″ overwhelms any substance that might be found in this incomplete agreement.

LeGros claimed that the settlement recovered $1,310,301.52 that had been “misappropriated” by the “CSD5,” when it doesn’t actually say that at all.

[...]

Continue Reading

Taxpayers Watch Settles Suit Against LOCSD

Posted on 02. Apr, 2010 by Aaron.

Taxpayers Watch (TW) has settled its 2006 lawsuit with the Los Osos Community Services District (LOCSD), removing a key obstacle to resolving the District’s financial woes, presently knotted in bankruptcy.

[...]

Continue Reading