The Tribune Has Hurt Los Osos with Unforgivably Bad Journalism

Over the next week or two, as I systematically shred the editorial that appeared in The Tribune last Sunday (Osos must go ahead with sewer), I will be pulling out select quotes from that piece, and destroying them.

I want to start with this quote:

"... the ponding system with its "drop dead gorgeous" park-like setting had now morphed into a traditional treatment plant..."

"Morphed?"

Tribune, that word is infuriating.

"Morphed?!!"

Hey Tribune, the ponding system did not "morph" into anything. The ponding system (a.k.a. The Community Plan) was a terrible idea and was never going to work in Los Osos, and so it was dumped completely by the CSD Board, but not before they wasted TWO YEARS chasing it.

Worse, as I reported on this blog (and I'm the only one that has reported on this angle, by the way... nice job, Tribune) the first CSD Board was informed by numerous credible and knowledgeable water quality professionals that the deeply flawed Community Plan was not going to work in Los Osos BEFORE the Board voted to pursue it.

Credible and knowledgeable water quality professionals told former Solution Group member Stan Gustafson that the Community Plan was not going to work in Los Osos.

Credible and knowledgeable water quality professionals told former Solution Group member Gordon Hensley that the Community Plan was not going to work in Los Osos.

Credible and knowledgeable water quality professionals told former Solution Group member Pandora Nash-Karner that the Community Plan was not going to work in Los Osos.

But Nash-Karner, Gustafson and Hensley, all part of the first CSD Board, chose to ignore those credible, skilled and knowledgeable water quality professionals, and voted to pursue the deeply flawed Community Plan, and then futilely chased it FOR TWO YEARS. Then, AFTER TWO YEARS, it finally fell apart for the exact same reasons that all of those skilled, credible and knowledgeable water quality professionals mentioned -- TWO YEARS EARLIER! (Nash-Karner, Gustafson and Hensley wasted TWO YEARS of everyone's time and money chasing their terribly ill-conceived project, but they couldn't wait four weeks before ripping down a beautiful grove of mature trees in the heart of town. Shameful.)

And The Tribune calls that "morphed"? That is a gross and unfair misrepresentation of the bungled history of the project.

It is the opinion of SewerWatch that Gustafson and Hensley should not only be recalled, they, along with Nash-Karner, should also be investigated by the County Grand Jury for their role in pursuing the Community Plan, and, especially, for inexplicably including the park in the project after the deeply flawed Community Plan "morphed" into the current $150 million downtown project. That decision has ripped Los Osos apart.

If that investigation were to take place, and if it focused on the park that is currently adding multi-millions of dollars to the project and is dictating the downtown sewer plant location, I've got $20 bucks that says indictments are a-comin'. Obviously, something fishy happened.

By the way, Tribune, since apparently you are not aware of this, the "park-like setting" is still in the project, and, like I just said, it is adding multi-millions of dollars to the project, as well as dictating the sewer plant's central location. Unfortunately for Los Osos taxpayers, that part of the deeply flawed Community Plan didn't "morph" away with the rest of that awful plan. You guys at The Trib might want to bounce around SewerWatch for a while and read up. Then, you might finally cover that vital part of the story. To date, you have not, and that is unforgivably bad journalism. You have let Los Osos down.

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