From: Susie
Los Osos
I loved "As Seem From My Couch." Mrs. Beebe's commentary made me howl with laughter, spit out coffee at her audacity, and be thrilled that someone was keeping an eye on "The Barta" and his creepy cohorts.
From: Jim Franks
Morro Bay & Fresno
The nonsense that calls itself the MB City Council for the last 40 years has needed Sandra Beebe watchdogging for the good citizens. What a terrible loss!
From: Les Kleinhammer
Selma, California
I can't believe the letter from Ms. Hyde about the people owning vacant lots and those people in UNLOC. I didn't realize that we . . . the "out-of-towners" were the enemy. In addressing Catherine Ryan Hyde the only thing that comes to my mind is . . . Strikingly Absurd!
Lets see. Property taxes have been paid on these lots since 1927. 83 years. I guess in our way of government, people owning town lots are in some way inferior to those owning lots with houses on them? Yes, we know that we can't vote there (residency requirements) . Greg Sanders [is] an honorable man. President of the CCSD and an attorney, regarding property rights. To think that he is in it for the money is laughable. I agree that some of the things that have been done in past years were not correct and were terribly implimented, but there would be NO San Joaquin Valley.
Agriculture, the most productive agricultural area in the world, were there not dams and water and those dams . . . could not be built today! Now, thanks to the Delta Smelt, 300,000 acres in Westlands Water District on our Valleys Westside is now fallow. Some 40 percent of the mainly farmworkers in the towns of South Dos Palos, Firebaugh, Mendota, San Joaquin, Tranquility, 5 Points and Huron are unemployed. We can thank the same kind of thinking of people, like those in the Sierra Club and the California Coastal Commission for this problem but more specifically Pelosi, Boxer, Miller, (Bay Area) and Costa.
But back to our subject: The historical breakdown of Cambria into lots, some as small as 25 feet wide was obviously poor thinking. But, what can be done NOW to correct the lack of planning of those people of some 83 years ago? The CCSD has a plan and it is supported by UNLOC with the lot buy-out proposal and yes DESAL for emergency purposes and quite restricted growth to make this into a beautiful town.
Where is Hyde's plan? I guess she should be advising the U.S. Navy as they don't seem to realize that desal just doesn't work. My wife and I have owned property in Cambria since 1977 and have subscribed to the Cambrian now for 33 years so we know some of its history. We have paid our portion of the paving of two roads and have in fact been instrumental in combining four vacant lots. Our combined three parcels that we now own in Special District # 2 comprise some 18,500 plus square feet. Large enough to build the single story home of our dreams. Now, because of time and our age, and after 21 years on the water wait list, those dreams are gone but it seems so wrong when we could have improved that small area so much.
Golly, if some of our rights (and now maybe all of them) are being taken from the bundle of sticks theory of private property ownership, shouldn't our property tax be reduced or be totally absolved? Gee, this somehow reminds me of of the year 1776. Something about taxation. But, if Ms. Hyde and others want to take our property, and it certainly appears that that is their goal, shouldn't they be the ones to pay our portion of the property tax or at least pay for the annual weed abatement costs to protect the town and the very homes that they live in?! Is it so very "Pay It Forward" to ask lot owners, those "out-of-towners" to have to pay for a new ambulance by putting it on the property tax as was done a few years ago? I do wonder what the annual contribution in terms of property tax dollars that lot owners put forth for the benefit and comfort of Ms. Hyde, Bentz-Figler, Webb and others in Cambria. Surely, that can be calculated with computers as to what the unimproved properties within the CCSD district lines pay.
I should not be so hard on Ms. Hyde though as she is just one of the latest of a new crop of malcontents that seem to appear every 4 or 5 years. Of course, there is always Art Van Rhyn and his looney tunes newpaper "View Fom The Beach" cartoon. It is surely Mr. Van Rhyn more than Harry Farmer that should take credit for the dismantling of the 1996 desal construction project when he was a director on the CCSD board. Sure, what does a few years matter?
Just like Ms. Hyde says. So much like Los Osos and their sewer. With time, just add millions to the cost of construction and the problem is never solved! Studies upon studies upon studies about Cambria water have been made over the years. Do you remember the uproar from ranchers about pumping water from lake Nacimiento to the headwaters of Santa Rosa Creek so that it could trickle down to the aquifer and well field above Cambria? Oh well, maybe you weren't there yet.
I was recently in contact with one of the employees of the CCSD and then later, Fire Chief Miller called me regarding my concerns about the weed abatement program. It seems that they, like other California cities, are finding it difficult to keep up with their workloads because of furlough days and layoffs.
Cambrians should be thankful. They have some really fine and exceptional people working for them and on their behalf but how much of the expenses of the CCSD are paid for by lot owners?! Oh yes, my Grandfather brought his wife and then three children from Kansas to San Luis in 1906. He was an engineer on the narrow gauge railroad between San Luis and Port Harford. My father was born in San Luis in 1907, so my family has had a presence in SLO County now for 104 years. So much for we "out-of-towners"! Like Greg Sanders though, we are just in it for the money.
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