Morro Bay History: Imaginary Brand

by Jack McCurdy

Summary: Morro Bay's history, posted on the Landmark and Legacy website, is supposed to mark the city's 50th anniversary of becoming a municipality, but it ranges from being misleading to extremely political by selectively describing such momentous events as opening stores and fishing enterprises while failing to mention things like the closure of the power plant, the struggle to build a new wastewater treatment plant (with the city's water supply at stake) and failed attempts to launch developments that would have changed Morro Bay  negatively and forever as the unique community it is.

It's billed as "LANDMARK & LEGACY: A History of the Morro Bay Citizens & Businesses by Decade." But it should read, "Morro Bay Citizens IN Businesses VERY SELECTIVELY CHOSEN. AND NO MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENTS."

As billed and composed, it is a corrupt, grossly misleading, embarrassing, and extremely political piece of Morro Bay's hiistory that doesn't deserve to be called history because the Landmark & Legacy version did not exist as a representative account of the significant events of the past half century.  

It pales by comparison to "Morro Bay's Yesterdays," co-authored by Jane Baily, the widely-recognized founder of the Morro Bay Library as it now stands, who isn't even given credit for her monumental accomplishment in bringing Morro Bay its first self-owned permanent library site and building. She is just described as "author and dedicated library supporter." She was not a supporter, but a leader.

The "history" posted on the Morro Bay 50th web site makes no mention of history in the web name, even though that is what is being celebrated this year." And it ignores a whole range of important issues, developments and people that stand out in our history, and without them, understanding our community is impossible.

While at the same time, it ignores:

The power plant and the controversies over the harm it did to the Morro Bay National Estuary and people (from particulate matter in its smokestack emissions) and the most important development: its closure last February.

The uncertainty over Morro Bay's water supplies, going back 10 years, leading to the import of state water, and now the crisis, shortage and cutbacks that Morro Bay is experiencing.

The struggle to build a new sewer/wastewater/water reclamation plant as ordered by the state to stop polluting the ocean with wastewater, develop a crucially-needed new source of water and open up the Estero Bay shore area for visitor-serving development, as the California Coastal Act requires. And the current leadup to a decision on where that plant will be located.

The historical fights that citizen groups have waged to protect Morro Bay as the incomparably small, beautiful community it is against such threats as a proposed oil tanker port at the city's northern boundary, pro-growth policies by city councils, the proposed development of a whole new shopping center north of the intersection of Highway 1 and Morro Bay Boulevard that would have rendered the downtown shopping area superfluous, and the development of a new and much larger power plant that would have posed an even bigger threat to human health and aquatic life in the estuary than the present one did.

Landmark & Legacy claims that the "PG&E power plant (built by PG&E) provided economic base for town and in part was responsible for Morro Bay's incorporation in 1964." The basis of that assertion is puzzling.

The "businesses" that the history dwells on are mostly salmon fishing, general sport fishing, and oyster harvesting, and in the tourism realm, whale watching and boating.

Most anyone who opened a store gets a mention from Joe & Kathryn Limon building "the new Rexall drugstore" to Bill Pierce opening a "1 Hour Photo" (except his name is spelled Peirce).

Morro Elementary is called "truly the center of town" and then the new library is called "Morro Elementary, truly the center of town." Whatever happened to  Morro Bay Boulevard and Main Street, who most people would regard as the center of town?

And the history lays a heavy political hand on Morro Bay, by selectively citing these two from what it terms "A Colorful Political Scene": former mayor Janice Peters and local newspaper reporter Neil Farrell, both out of the pro-business barrel.

Peters is made to sound like such a noble former City Council member "dedicated to public service." No mention is made about her advocacy for a city redevelopment plan that would have allowed a home to be condemned for nothing more than an old car parked in the driveway, a broken window, or a fence that needs fixing. Her plan failed in a 3-2 Council vote before a standing-room only audience.

She claimed that such redevelopment is popular around the state but later it was banished by the state because it was so unpopular.

Farrell reported for the San Luis Obispo Tribune in the 1990s when Duke Energy, new owner of the Power Plant, launched an effort to replace it will a new and larger plant. Farrell's reporting on that move was heavily biased in favor of Duke despite strong opposition among Morro Bay residents.

Now he reports for the Tolosa Press and was honored by the Morro Bay Chamber for his reporting, despite (for?) his signing of a petition to recall mayor Jamie Irons — a signature of bias.

How did such distorted history get written? It was released under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce but reportedly was the work of Joan Solu, former Council candidate; Carla Wixom, a former Council member and now mayoral candidate in the June 3 primary, and Council member Nancy Johnson, who is the city's representative in the Chamber with Council member George Leage. Johnson and Leage obviously were not holding the history writers to task--or were they? Solu, Wixom and Johnson are all avid business supporters (and Solu and Wixom are business owners).

If long-time Morro Bay residents don't recognize all this as the history they have lived through in their community, it's no wonder.