Welcome
to the Slo Coast Journal. Published monthly, the Journal brings
you information about California's Central Coast and surrounding area.
The Great Blue Heron Image on Banner by Nan Carder. All Content
Copyright Slo Coast Journal and Individual Writers
Morro Bay Council
Is Historic
by Jack McCurdy
The new Morro Bay City Council, as of last December 8 when members Matt
Makowetski and John Headding were sworn into office, is the first in 35
years with four or more members who are considered to have the Morro
Bay’s interests as a community paramount in
mind—and only the second in city history.
But wait a minute—an all-time record of such Council
membership may be in store. It would tie the unprecedented five-member
Council of 1978-80 that modeled community-minded leadership in Morro
Bay.
The four who are the first since 1980 to reflect community-mindedness
are mayor Jamie Irons, Christine Johnson, Noah Smukler and now
Makowetski. His election last June 3 “made” that
four-member majority on the Council. Headding is considered an
“unknown” as yet until it is learned by his
expressed positions on issues and actual voting whether his political
sentiments add up to another community-minded member of the Council
like his four colleagues.
Headding has said he is “an independent candidate
unaligned” with either the new Council four-member majority
or the outgoing Nancy Johnson and George Leage, who were long aligned
with past Council majorities made up most recently of former mayor Bill
Yates, Carla Borchard, Nancy Johnson and Leage. (See: New Council ).
But if Headding turns out to be like the other four on the Council,
then all five Morro Bay City Council will match the 1978-80 quintet
with a living-record of working on behalf of what is best for the
community and not for special interests. Whether that materializes will
be known in the coming months—and whether it is sustained
will be known down the road.
In that historic period of 1978-80, the Council was composed of mayor
Gene Shelton and Council members Bruce Risley, Tom Harmon, Chuck Reasor
and Tom Cantine.
Shelton provided important background for the perspective on
community-mindedness from the past.
The emergence of the new four-member majority (with a fifth possibly
waiting in wings) comes on the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of
Morro Bay as a city.
The Irons-Christine Johnson-Smukler majority who were elected in 2012
has a set of 2013-2014 goals most recently adopted last year, which
underscore their determination to serve the community’s most
significant interests. They are:
1. Develop a New Water Reclamation Facility (WRF)
2. Improve Streets
3. Update Plans for Current and Future Land Use Needs
4. Maintain Core Public Safety Services
5. Ensure Fiscal Sustainability
6. Support Economic Development
7. Improve City Infrastructure
8. Enhance Quality of Life
9. Boost Community Disaster Preparedness
10. Leverage Outside Resources to Support City’s Goals
Sound too general? See details at
Morro-Bay.ca.us/Document Center |
New Water/Sewage Plant Takes Off
by Jack McCurdy
Just
one
month shy of two years since the California Coastal Commission rejected
the previous Morro Bay City Council’s misguided idea of
replacing the city’s old wastewater treatment plant at the
same site overlooking Estero Bay, the new Council has embarked on an
enterprising plan to build a Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) farther
inland during the next five years. The WRF also would process
wastewater and produce recycled water for a variety of home and
community uses.
The
WRF must
be the most significant and productive capital project in city history,
given the desperate need for water in the community as the ongoing
drought here and elsewhere in the region threatens to extend
indefinitely into the future and place the security of Morro Bay as a
city at risk. The capacity to serve tourism would be seriously
undermined. Morro Bay has come to rely totally on expensive state water
supplies purchased by the city, which are regarded as having an
uncertain future. Read
More
Emergency Safety
Violation at
Diablo Being Explored
by Jack McCurdy
A
possible
safety violation of emergency procedures at the Diablo Canyon nuclear
plant has been discovered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which
has called a meeting with the owner/operator of the plant, Pacific Gas
& Electric—but not here in San Luis Obispo in whose
vicinity the facility is located but in Texas.
Mothers
for
Peace, a leading champion of the long-standing challenge to the public
safety of the plant, strongly objected to the meeting being scheduled
in Texas, branded it “incomprehensible” and
immediately called on the Commission to reschedule the meeting from
Arlington, Texas, to somewhere with a one-hour driving distance of
Diablo Canyon. Numerous meetings of the Commission or its staff in
California have commonly been held in San Luis Obispo.
The
meeting
in Arlington between the Commission and PG&E has been set by
the Commission for Wednesday, Jan. 14, between 1 and 4 p.m. Read
More
* *
* * * * * *
*
And So It Ends . .
.
We are sorry to
announce that
this is our last issue of the
Slo Coast Journal.
The above articles are the last Jack has to offer - for the time being.
As the owner, editor, and person to blame for this glitch, it must all
be laid at the door of my current, on-going health problems.
I love the
Journal, what it has
become, and all of our writers and contributors. For your kind and
generous past responses to my mention of struggles with health
problems, l thank you for your understanding, appreciation, and
support.
If you would like
to receive a
notice when we are back online, please write to me at
JudySullivan@slocoastjournal.com.
You will be added to our "We're Back" list. Hopefully I'll get it
together enough to keep us offline only for a very short time.
|
