Shandon, Templeton, Santa Margarita, Arroyo Grande, Nipomo... WELCOME TO LOS OSOS!

"After watching this particular RWQCB and staff for 24 years and especially watching their performance for the past two years, I no longer have any confidence in their competence, trusworthiness and/or ethical reliability as a Regulatory Agency in a regulatory structure that is devoid of properly functioning checks and balances."
-- Ann Calhoun, Los Osos writer referring to the Central Coast Water Quality Control Board, March 27, 2008

Ah, the Central Coast Water Quality Control Board -- bless their tiny, little, incompetent hearts. They just increased my contribution base threefold, at least.

You see, this blog, since its inception, has focused on the Los Osos sewer issue, and the problem with that (for me, of course) is that there are only a few hundred people in that town that actually care about the sewer issue, and just a small percentage of them actually care enough about the issue to donate to SewerWatch (and I just can't thank those kind, handsome, intelligent, well-rounded people enough), but now that the CCWQCB is about to turn nearly every non-sewered community in SLO County into Los Ososes, I'm predicting many more contributions from places like Shandon, Templeton, Santa Margarita, rural Arroyo Grande, and Nipomo.

Sweet. (Just click on the PayPal button on the right, guys... 'preciate it.)

On May 9, the local water board will be meeting to discuss, among other things, a "Proposed Amendment to the Water Quality Control Plan, Central Coast Basin," where they are expected to revise the criteria for onsite wastewater systems throughout San Luis Obispo County.

And tucked away (of course), in the little-known (of course) staff report for that soon-to-be-law, is this language:

"The Basin Plan recommends wastewater management plans for the following areas: Shandon, Templeton, Santa Margarita, Los Osos, Arroyo Grande, Nipomo... ."

Sounds harmless enough, right?

However, shortly after that, the staff report reads:

"At a small percentage of undeveloped properties where site conditions are very poor for an onsite system, the property may no longer be suitable for an onsite system and a community sewer connection may be required."

Hey, Shandon, Templeton, Santa Margarita, rural Arroyo Grande, and Nipomo, guess who gets to define things like "very poor," and "small percentage," and, "undeveloped properties," and "no longer suitable for an onsite system?"

Yep -- the incompetent, untrustworthy, ethically unreliable CCWQCB... just ask Los Osos.

Let's take Garden Farms, for example, the idyllic, little, septic-system-based community outside the idyllic, little, septic-system-based community of Santa Margarita.

Garden Farms is tucked right up to the Salinas River, which means there's probably not a whole lot of separation between their septic tanks and the groundwater, and when the residents of Garden Farms see how fast the staff of the CCWQCB can interpret their septic tank/groundwater separation as "very poor" "site conditions," and, therefore, deem the entire community "undeveloped properties" BECAUSE it's not hooked up to "a community sewer connection," and then be "required" to build an expensive sewer system, well, those Garden Farms residents are going to be in for a crash course in Los Ososology.

That's just a hypothetical, but if you've never witnessed the CCWQCB, and its staff, in operation, that's exactly how they operate. Exactly.

Santa Margarita? It's not looking so good for ya.

And, in true CCWQCB fashion, all you residents in the above mentioned communities have about a week to let the Water Board know how you feel about their sweeping plan, that will have a profound impact on your communities. The deadline for public comment on the Plan is April 7!

I can tell already, this isn't going to go well.

Los Osos is made up, largely, of passive hippy-types. But that's not the case up here in the beautiful, rugged North County. Nope. We're a different breed altogether -- fiercely independent (that's why we live out in the country). Gun powder, in some form, is commonplace at nearly every social gathering. The ranch down the road has a "Don't Tread on Me" flag flying out front. For God's sake, if North County voters had their way in the 1996 Presidential race, Bob Dole would have been President!

I guess what I'm saying is this:

MEMO TO THE CCWQCB: North SLO County is NOT Los Osos, hombres.

If there's one crucial piece of advice I, SewerWatch, can pass on to the property owners of Shandon, Templeton, Santa Margarita, Arroyo Grande, and Nipomo (and every other "undeveloped" region of the county, for that matter), it's this: When Roger Briggs, chief staff guy at the CCWQCB (don't worry, you'll soon become very familiar with that name), forces you to build a really expensive sewer system based on no scientific data whatsoever (other than the fact that he has suddenly deemed your "site conditions" to be "very poor"), don't allow an individual from your community to jam a public park in your sewer plant, and then have that park dictate a really expensive, downtown sewer plant location that nobody likes except said individual, on "environmentally sensitive" land... so that residents can easily get to the park... with a "picnic area"... in their downtown sewer plant. [I'm not making that up. That's exactly what the Los Osos CSD spent $20+ million developing, from 2000 - 2005, before they were finally recalled from office... for spending $20+ million developing a downtown "sewer-park." Uhhhhgggg...]

That piece of advice, alone, is worth about $100 million in contributions from each of those communities.

PayPal button's on the right.

Sweet!

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[Quick addition: There's something else that bugs me about the above referenced staff report. Not only is it little-known, but the pages in the pdf file are scanned in. That makes it impossible to copy and paste the text. Scanned pages also make it impossible to electronically search the document.

If that staff report had simply been converted into a pdf file straight from the application that it was created in, presumably, Microsoft Word, it would be 100-percent copy-and-pasteable, and searchable, and that makes it about a thousand times easier to report on. There's a ton of stuff in that document that needs to be reported on, but I don't feel like re-typing the entire thing.

Furthermore, if it was searchable, someone, after reading my story, could simply download the file (by the way, scanned pages also make the size of the pdf file much larger, translating into slower download times) and do a quick search for "very poor," and immediately find the section I refer to in my main piece. (It's on page 5, under the section, "Economic Effects of the Amendment," where it also says, "The proposed amendment will change existing recommendations to requirements, which will further constrain where onsite systems may be used." [I had to type that quote in.])

Now, THAT ought to be a law: Unless absolutely necessary, government agencies should be prohibited from scanning in public documents for their on-line pdf files. Instead, they must convert those documents into pdf files that are copy-and-pasteable, and searchable.

Brilliant.]

A Quick Look at Bruce Gibson's Job Performance, SewerWatch style

Whadaya say we quickly examine Supervisor Bruce Gibson's job performance to date, SewerWatch style?

He began his term in office by immediately re-appointing Pandora Nash-Karner to the SLO County Parks Commission, a seat she has held since 1991, giving her access to influential county officials that none of us get, and, as many know these days, almost exclusively because of SewerWatch, Nash-Karner was the #1 supporter/developer/marketer of the wildly unpopular, illegal, waaaaay unnecessarily expensive, environmentally disastrous, Tri-W Project -- a "sewer" project that had to be located in the middle of Los Osos, on "Environmentally Sensitive" dune habitat, so the town folk could easily get to the public park that Nash-Karner, as LOCSD vice-president, had built into the project, because she couldn't get legitimate park funding for Los Osos through the ballot box. (She tried. It failed, but the fact that Los Ososans didn't want to be taxed for parks at the same time they were staring down a gigantic sewer assessment didn't seem to stop her, so she tucked her park into her sewer plant, and that locked in the illegal, mid-town, Tri-W site.)

Nash-Karner is also now-famous for developing a "strategy" to have the entire town of Los Osos "fined out of existence," because they didn't favor her project.

Then, a few months after re-appointing Nash-Karner to the SLO County Parks Commission -- AFTER she developed a "strategy" to have the entire town of Los Osos "fined out of existence"... a strategy that appears to be working -- when every other official, everywhere, that had anything whatsoever to do with the illegal, "bait and switchy" Tri-W Coastal Development Permit, was essentially saying, "Look, just let the permit expire, for God's sake -- just let it die a pathetic death on the vine," Gibson, at the 11th hour, out of nowhere, drafts a letter that counters EVERYTHING that EVERY OTHER OFFICIAL was saying, and attempts an end-around in a bizarre, completely unexplained effort to have the illegal, "bait and switchy" Tri-W CDP NOT expire. He then drags that letter to an official meeting, and tries to get his fellow Supervisors to play along. They, unlike Gibson, were in no mood to counter EVERYTHING that EVERY staff member was saying, EVERYWHERE.

His letter would flame out miserably, and embarrassingly, at that meeting, prompting Gibson himself to call the letter a "mistake," after outraged public comment types, understandably, threatened a recall effort on the spot.

THEN, just about a month ago, growing tired of that type of public comment, Gibson admits, at a Board of Supervisors' meeting, that he has actually gone so far as to crunch the numbers on which public comment types were saying what, and for how long. (I know it sounds like I'm making that up, but I'm not. He actually broke down tape, like a football coach prepping for a game, and took notes on who was saying what, and for how long.) Gibson's fascist-like number-crunching would play a large role in greatly reducing the amount of public comment on the sewer project.

THEN, just a few weeks ago, after Supervisors that actually care about Los Osos, like Katcho Achadjian and Jim Patterson, directed County staff to draft a resolution intended to show official County support for 45 randomly selected households in Los Osos that have gone through a horrific, health-jeopardizing, two-year-long enforcement action by the local Water Board, only to have County staff, namely, former LOCSD Interim General Manager (hired by Nash-Karner), Paavo Ogren, use that proposed resolution (and therefore use those 45 households) to play the "Los Osos Sewer Train Wreck Blame Game," then, AFTER listening to one CDO holder after another beg the Board to NOT pass Ogren's terribly worded resolution, Gibson couldn't motion fast enough to PASS the hastily written resolution -- a resolution that called the post-recall LOCSD Board a "failure" for NOT building the wildly unpopular, illegal, waaaaay unnecessarily expensive, environmentally disastrous Tri-W Project.

Fortunately for the citizens of Los Osos, there are people like Achadjian and Patterson on the Board of Supervisors, and Ogren's terribly worded resolution -- where he, and Gibson, attempted to use the 45 CDOers to officially play the blame game for the Tri-W disaster -- did not pass.

If you ask me, the worst part about Ogren and Gibson using the 45 CDO households to officially play the blame game (because they favor people like Roger Briggs, lead staff guy at the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and Pandora Nash-Karner, over the citizens of Los Osos) when they popped out that terribly worded resolution a few weeks back -- that was originally intended to support those 45 households -- is that now, BECAUSE they tried to play the blame game with the language in that resolution, those 45 households don't have the official backing of the County today.

To put it another way: If Gibson and Ogren had NOT tried to play the blame game with that resolution, then it would have easily passed, but since they decided to use those 45 households to try and officially blame the post-recall LOCSD Board for the sewer train wreck, by calling them a "failure," (and, of course, that led to yet another barrage of outraged public comment types), those 45 households don't have the County's official support. And that's too bad, because they could sure use that document right around now.

A disgusted Supervisor Achadjian, at that meeting, directed Ogren to bring the resolution back at a later date, "without all of the blame" language.

Just today, I sent Ogren this e-mail:

- - -
Hello Paavo,

What's the status of the proposed resolution intended to support the CDO holders in Los Osos?

Is it being re-worded?

When is it coming before the Supervisors again?

WILL it come before the Supervisors again?

Thank you in advance for your prompt response,
Ron
- - -

I've followed/covered SLO County Government since about 1990, and I've never seen anything like it -- Supervisors OUTSIDE of a District care more about the people in that District than that District's own Supervisor... if ya follow.

After witnessing Gibson's act over the last couple of years, I have to wonder: How did this guy get elected? Was it because of the Cayucos viewshed issue, that he can't even vote on due to a conflict of interests?

Heck of a job, District 2.

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[3/6/08: Quick addition: Oh, how could I forget this -- Nash-Karner is also listed as an "Endorsement" at brucegibsonforsupervisor.org. Next time I'm in SLO, I'll try to swing by the Clerk-Recorder's office to check Gibson's campaign contributions to see if Nash-Karner donated, and, if so, how much. Of course, I'll publish that information here, along with any other newsworthy stuff I might find in those documents.]

[March 11, 2008: UPDATE TO MY UPDATE:

As promised, the last time I was in SLO, I swung by the CCR office.

Is anyone really surprised by this? Nash-Karner donated to Bruce Gibson's campaign. On 5/19/06, she donated $100. Why is that interesting? Because in that same entry, her year-to-date total is "$199.00," and on the "Gibson for Supervisor" site, it reads:

"For donations of $100 or more, providing your occupation and employer is required by law."

and;

"Sorry, we can not accept cash for contributions of $100 or more."

So, as usual, Nash-Karner is up to something sneaky. By donating just one dollar below the $100, like she did, she gets to anonymously contribute as much "cash" as she wants, and apparently, no one, including some smart-ass reporter, can track it. Incidentally, in Gibson's books, nearly every other donator's dollar total ends in a "0," but not Nash-Karner's, of course.

Here are some other interesting "Gibson for Supervisor" contributors:

- Bill Garfinkel: Garfinkel is the chairman of the county's Technical Advisory Committee for the Los Osos project.

- Frank Freiler: Freiler was a former LOCSD Director partly responsible for throwing over $20 million towards the development of the Tri-W project.

- Les Bowker: Bowker is perhaps the "below the radar"-est person in this whole affair. He's been on the RWQCB forever, and his wife, Rose Bowker (now deceased) was an initial LOCSD Director that spent two years chasing the Solution Group's "better, cheaper, faster" ponding system that formed the LOCSD, yet, predictably, failed two years later. Les Bowker was also a member of the Solution Group, according to a Solution Group newsletter.

- Longtime Nash-Karner friend, and previous 2nd District Supervisor, Shirley Bianchi, of course. She gave $500.00 on 12/28/05... merry Christmas, Bruce.

And, I found this interesting: On 4/12/07, Gibson's campaign donated $500.00 to the "Visclosky for Congress" campaign. Pete Visclosky is "an Indiana congressman with heavy sway on whether the Los Osos sewer project gets" millions in Federal funding.

You scratch my back...

And, finally, let the record reflect: SewerWatch has never been above juvenile humor (wait, did that come out right?), as long as it makes me laugh, and this makes me laugh...

Ever since I posted that mug shot of Gibson, at the top of this blog entry, I just can't help but notice the similarity every time I come back to do an update:



I mean, c'mon. Is it just me?

(I'm by no means a Star Wars dork, because I'm not 12, but I must find humor in Star Wars comparisons, because this is the second time I've done it. The first was when I showed how Nash-Karner "Jedi mind-tricks" regulators, politicians, journalists, and voters into doing things they normally wouldn't do.

"These are not the droids you're looking for."

"These are not the droids we're looking for."

Funny, sad, and true.)]