Adam Hill: Profile of a Tyrant

Is Adam Hill a communist or a Marx brother?

UPDATE (11:00 PM PST): A tipster forwarded to Razor Online an e-mail Mr. Hill sent to his supporters last Friday at 11:45 PM PST. The e-mail, which called the outrage over the impersonation call to Mrs. Blake “silly season,” is available here.

District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill apparently doesn’t make apologies. He offered none during the January 24 Board of Supervisors meeting in San Luis Obispo, even when publicly sought by a concerned fellow supervisor.

Mr. Hill would have preferred to stay silent and dismiss his critics with icy stares and nasal-toned grunts, but District 1 Supervisor Frank Mecham – and many of Mr. Hill’s critics — weren’t going to let it go. Mr. Hill slumped in his chair behind the dais, looking genuinely baffled as his colleague on the board insisted on escalating board discussion pertaining to a bizarre phone call Mr. Hill made to Sheila Blake, a friend of Mr. Hill, who wrote a letter in The Tribune on January 6.

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The Los Osos Sewer Wars: Fought in Cyberspace

Los Osos Internet Troll promotes "healing"

This report is based on research that tracked online activity of Los Osos residents since the 2005 recall elections, which effectively stopped the controversial wastewater project on the Tri-W site. The recall was followed by a handful of lawsuits filed by contractors and a local group run by two of the three recalled district board members. Online, there was outcry from anonymous residents who — for more than five years — have conspired to undermine the “obstructionists” who were in support of recall efforts. Their campaign against the “obstructionists” persists to the present.

“Check this out. This is scary,” wrote former Los Osos Community Services District president Lisa Schicker to supporters in July 2006. Elected in November 2004 as a candidate who fought for an “affordable, environmentally superior sewer project,” Mrs. Schicker provided a link in her e-mail to comments made about her by anonymous pseudonyms on a message board operated by The Tribune.

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Gibson Calls Saving Millions “Irrelevant”

Saltwater intrusion ignored

On December 13, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved a $7.6 million contract to HDR Engineering, a Nebraska-based global firm that would provide construction management services for the Los Osos wastewater project. This came after District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson assailed the project opposition for being “irrelevant” and “in denial” in comments that weren’t directly related to the contract itself.

While the costs continue to rise for the project — despite assurances from County Public Works that they are working within their $174 million budget — the project is once again overshadowed by Gibson’s draconian provocations, and the County’s callous unwillingness to look at the social and environmental impacts that Prohibition Zone homeowners would have to face and ultimately pay to mitigate. The last BOS meeting of the year ended on a note of defiance from the board, with no legitimate reason for them to do so other than to lay down a smokescreen to obscure the many questions and concerns they left unanswered.

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Inside The County Sewer ‘Game’

The evil engineers of division

Razor Online has an exclusive report, detailing a large-scale operation by County officials to discredit Los Osos wastewater project dissent in never-before-seen detail.

When San Luis Obispo County Public Works Director Paavo Ogren attended a town hall meeting on June 19, 2007, he was asked by a resident about working with Dana Ripley of Ripley Pacific Company and the STEP/STEG collection system. He calmly told the resident, “Personally, I’m not a fan of that technology. Besides, [Ripley] and his project is more or less absurd. I don’t want to work with him, and… so what’s the point in complaining, right? We just follow the process. I just do what I’m told.

“It’s part of the game.”

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The Wheel of Misfortune

Your host for disaster.

Welcome to the “Great Seismic Disaster Game,” the only game show in America where you spin the Seismic Wheel of Misfortune and, if you live in Los Osos, you lose your home no matter what!

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‘Ring Paavo’s Doorbell’ — One Year Later

Is anybody home?

On October 13, 2010, I wrote an article titled “Get The Facts: Ring Paavo’s Doorbell,” which was understandably controversial. The controversy reached a fever pitch when I took on local radio host Dave Congalton, who wrote an article about it. Since then, I spent time objectively analyzing the overall job performance of the County, and their responsiveness to concerns surrounding the Los Osos wastewater project.

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Hill’s Homeless Hypocrisy

Adam Napoleon BONE-aparte

District 3 County Supervisor and current Board of Supervisors Chairman Adam Hill has witnessed the fiery downfall of Sunny Acres. Meanwhile, Hill and his colleagues are allowing the controversial Roandoak of God rental facility in Morro Bay to thrive while failing to uphold the same standards that are being applied to Sunny Acres.

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Unaffordibility Assistance Falls Short

Mr. Katchoman Strikes Again

The County doesn’t want you to think about Maria Kelly and Paavo Ogren.

County Public Works unveiled an ace up their sleeve at the SLO County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, August 9. Public Works’ John Waddell told board members during public comment that on August 4 Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 1125. 1125, which was introduced by former BOS supervisor Katcho Achadjian, is a supplement to State Senator Sam Blakeslee’s AB2701 that allows the County to “develop a program that would offset the assessments and charges adopted by the county for very low and low-income households with outside funds, including grants.”

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The Culture of Silence

Shhhhhh!

The County of San Luis Obispo is unlike most counties in California — and across the nation — because of its distinct preference for silence as a general response to public inquiry. Many inquiries and concerns are raised and have been raised by citizens who demand transparency and accountability. However, many of those inquiries and concerns are swept under the rug without recourse. This is the culture of silence, and it’s rudely counter-intuitive to making progress and uncovering the truth about highly questionable governmental practices that have become standard operating procedure in the County.

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The Kelly/Ogren Influence

Don't cry Maria... we're moving in with Paavo!

Former LOCSD director Maria Kelly and current Public Works Director Paavo Ogren have been dating for six months. Some allege that their relationship has lasted for two to three years, and the political circumstances surrounding their relationship are extensive. It’s too early to tell whether a conflict of interest between Ogren and Kelly can be proven. However, there is information that illustrates the appearance of conflict of interest. Razor Online investigates the allegations.

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