Dear Editor,

From:  Anne Sidaris-Reeves
Morro Bay

While watching the kids from the Tot Lot pitch wild balls with their imaginary friends over the plate on the "Letters Page"- has been mildly amusing, it comes at a cost in that the people of Morro Bay are being deprived of information necessary  to cast  an intelligent, thoughtful vote in our November election.

The major issue:

Morro Bay citizens, aka "the ratepayers," are being pushed into a potential sewer of debt. Mayor Peters, Councilman Grantham,  and Councilwoman Borchard, along with staff, are determined to ram through an expensive and inadequate plan for the new Water Treatment Plant even though a number of citizens have expressed concerns about the project, from the RFP handling to the recent hiring of a Project Manager.

The JPA has consistently ceded to all things MWH, a company that the New Orleans I.G. Report claimed  "overbilled  on a number of occasions and requested and recieved reimbursements for gifts for city employess or elected offcials". MWH was also cited for billing on Katrina repair work not performed. Was MHW chosen
because it submitted the best bid? Or was it cronyism?

It's curious that it has taken repeated pressure from the public to get the JPA to consent to take a look at a
presentation from another company which would 1) reduce the plant footprint 2) cost millions of dollars less to build, 3) Guarantee a completion cost much lower than MWH's none-guaranteed estimates and 4) put an end to the City's years of flushing wastewater into our precious Bay. Bonus: A treatment plant that costs less to build usually translates in lower water bills. That deserves your consideration, doesn't it?

(Continued in Next Column)

Photo by Marlin Harms:
Night Painting

Photo by Judy Sullivan:
Morro Rock Morning

Photo by Marlin Harms:  
Marina Sunrise with Heron

Photo by Kevin Cole:    
 Setting sun in Baywood Park

Photo by Mark Williamson:
Gull at Sunset

(Continued)

To me, this fiasco is clearly a matter of having elected the wrong people in the past. Instead of schooling themselves on the multitude of issues involved in developing a major municipal improvement like a Water Teatment Plant, we see a troika basically confessing they're  out of their league. They're either in over their heads or they're holding a private party. I at least want a Mayor and Council who know what Google is and how to use it to inform themselves. I want a Mayor and Council who have the wisdom to know what they don't know and seek the best advice & scholarship outside the boundaries of staff, not settle for easy, simplistic conclusions or sweetheart deals.It'd be nice if they listened to the citizens - sans the patronizing condescension -too.

What I do not want is another series of recycled friends of friends. I want someone who really gives a damn about Morro Bay, the town and it's people. Someone who can envision keeping the best of this town intact while shaping its future in a changing world. Someone who can do that within a faltering economy by following an informed and sensible fiscal policy.

That would be Betty Winholtz.

From:  Christie Reyes
Town not listed

My mom is always trying to get me to read regular newspapers. We made a deal that the Slo Coast Journal counts since it is about local stuff. I like Best Friends because it has a lot of good dog and cat pictures, the Great Shots one because I have a camera and want to take pictures like that. And I like the surfing page. I don't surf, but maybe someday I will. Oh and my mom says to say I read Medical Myths and the poetry page too.

Photo by Howard Ignatius:
Dredging Operations by Moonlight #2