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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Who Dunnit?

Sue McGinty, who wrote the mystery novel, "Murder in Los Lobos," involving dead people and sewers (heh-heh) has another novel out, "Murder at Cuyamaca Beach," with any resemblance between Cuyamaca and Cayucos being purely intentional. (Don't know if an expensive joint-cities sewer upgrade will be involved in the plot.)  She'll be having a book-signing party from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Nov 21 at Coalesce Bookstore in Morrow Bay, at 845 Main St.  You can check out her website http://www.suemcginty.com%20/

Who's Doinit Too 

Remember, Nov. 29, Monday, starting at 6 pm. there will be a Rates & Charges Workshop at the Los Osos Junior High auditorium.  From 6-7 staff members will be there to answer questions and from 7 pm. it's likely that we'll have a soothing PaavoTalk, probably followed by selected written questions.  You have until Dec 14 to file any protest votes.(Tuesday, Dec 14, 9 a.m. the BOS will officially have counted the ballots and will vote to accept the rates and charges.)

And How Could I Forget?

Sunday, Nov. 28, at the beautiful Congregation Beth David on Los Osos Valley Road (near Foothill Blvd.), the fabulous Cafe Musique! The performance starts at 3 pm.  Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 at the door.  Call 544-0760 for ticket.  And visit their website at www.cafemusique.org. 

This is such a fabulous group. And the venue couldn't be more beautiful (the temple is a stunning "green building" that's just a joy to be in.)  The group has a new CD and will be performing some of their new numbers.  Perfect ending to the Turkey Day holiday.

34 comments:

TCG said...

Soothing PaavoTalks are good if you are really interested in listening.

Anne R. Allen said...

Sue McGinty is a wonderful mystery writer. She also puts on a great party. I'll be there!

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

Yes, her first party was a blast! I'll be there at this one too! I LOVED her second book - it was such a fun read - and the characters are as engaging as ever!! Some unexpected mischief from one of them and you are on the edge of your seat to the end!

GetRealOsos said...

Soothing PaavoTalks?

There's never been one truth told by him. He ONLY knows how to lie.

TCG, do you like to listen to the one who is robbing you of everything you have?

...Or are you one making money off the circle of friends who keep passing on the no bid contract work? MWH, Cleath, Cannon, Wallace, etc. etc.

On and on it goes....this can only happen in SLO County. This DA has to be exposed so some investigation can finally take place.

alabamasue said...

"robbing you of everything you have?" Seriously, people, did you not know a pretty expensive sewer was coming, or did you believe when that idiot Tacker said"There will be a sewer in Los Osos over my dead body"
Malibu is looking at $500 a month charge for a sewer system to replace their septic tanks. Buena suerte!ditr

FOGSWAMP said...

alabamasue ....... Re Malibu and the $500 a month flush.

Yes, in Sept of this year the SWRCB voted 5-0 in favor of a central sewer system in Malibu, which effectively changes the way Malibu handles the effluent of the affluent.

There is a very great difference in the socio-economic make-up in Malibu, as compared to Los Osos. Malibu is a rich little town, not so Los Osos.

According to Malibus' surfer Mayor Jefferson Wagner (Zuma Jay), in an article on Jun 10 2010 when he spoke to LA Weekly, he stated he thought that about 9 out of 10 residents could afford the $500 per month.

That's a far cry from the predicament many of our old time poor home owners and renters alike are forcefully facing in the near future.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

FOGSWAMP, who then should pay to clean up the mess we make? Or if we are poor it is OK to pollute? What do you see as a solution here -- and I sure don't mean Step, as that is as pipey a dream as the Ponds of Avalon. When it was $39 the sewer was too expensive for us.

I too am concerned with people having to move, and I am looking forward to seeing the financial aid solutions that will emerge for at least some. At the very least, those of us strong enough to dig can help neighbors who can't by creating the trench from the outfall to the street.

This is an example of masking problems (not wanting growth that a sewer would bring - or perhaps just plain cheapness), then kicking those problems down the road and now we have found ourselves facing the brick wall of a huge bill (and due to waste of our foundation resource - water) but not the revenue from those extra homes to help spread out the cost.

There is a free ride at the beach for just so long.

FOGSWAMP said...

Sewertoons ....... Your sudden bubbling compassion for the PZ folk is overwhelming.

You ask "who should pay"?

Well, most would agree that the "problem" you refer to, is in fact a basin-wide problem. Not simply a problem within the knee-jerked gerrymandered lines drawn in the sand by the pissed-off wster board.

Therefore, every dwelling with a septic system within the defined parameters of the basin should contribute an equal share.

Some reference to the aforementioned was written on the County blog but didn't seem to happen.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

FS, I have written those words in the past regarding those in financial danger, perhaps you did not see them.

Basin-wide, we are talking about two issues, pollution and water use. People living on an acre or more are dealing with their waste in an appropriate way. They simply do not do to the environment what 8 to 12+ houses on an acre do. Their water use, if in the URL, can be monitored if they do not have their own well and rely on a water purveyor. And California water law PROTECTS farmers and their water use.

The PZ is 83% of the population here in Los Osos. I would be curious to see what percentage out of the remaining 17% are on an acre or more. They would need to be subtracted out. Then yes, those remaining on less than an acre should be included. But they weren't and dealing with the Water Board on that issue should have been done long ago, but wasn't.

So -- who should pay? And how do you propose to make them? What law will include those not included? If that can't be addressed, should that mean none of us should pay and we continue on our brainless way of pollution and lack of water conservation? Fairness is not what we are talking about here, but responsibility for what we are doing now.

M said...

How long have septic tanks been around? If too many on an acre is an issue, wouldn't that have been common knowledge? Apparently too many septic tanks was not the problem when 8313 came into being because the County allowed 1100+more septic tanks to be added to the prohibition zone after 8313.
Sewertoons, I have saved your mention of helping to dig the trench for connection to the sewer. When that time comes, I will be calling on you.
By the way, what's up with the repaving on LOVR? That stretch of road is already about the best we have in town. Turn right onto South Bay Blvd. and that needs to be repaved.
Sincerely, M

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

M,
Fred Dellagatta on LOCAC is the person to talk to with road issues.

M, are you old, infirm and/or poor? Are you in worse shape than I? If you are, I will gladly bring a shovel and help. If not, you are just goading me. If you call, I guess I'll get to find out who you are then, won't I?

The idea (granted, a bad one) behind allowing the 1,100+ homes to be built was to have a broader funding base for the sewer. I don't know when County code was written to allow 1 tank per acre, but it is common knowledge out in the rest of the world.

Well, how much would we save now if we didn't have those homes in place? The collection system is the main cost and it might be closely the same depending on where those extra homes were built. Do you know? I don't.

FOGSWAMP said...

Toons , I fully agree with you when you stated "Then yes, those remaining on less than an acre should be included".

Cabrillo Heights comes to mind with 200 plus high-end homes with many bathrooms, on far less than an acre. Their effluent (and maybe polluted storm-water) flows northwest to the two water wells that show the highest nitrate level in the basin.

Many homes just over the road from the crazy Prison Zone line in the sand, along Willow Creek are on an acre or more, but their leach fields are underwater a great part of the year.

Hmmmm, so using your logic that is "appropriate".

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

Did anyone take these complaints to the Water Board back when? It's a little late to do anything about it now. I agree, it was badly drawn, but the time to fix it was in what, 1987? PZLDF hasn't done too well on that case of theirs to break up the zone.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

Oh, and speaking of collection systems, we wouldn't want to add in Cabrillo. We don't like what we are paying now, we'd like it a lot less to have their tiny monetary contribution towards the giant cost of putting pipes in those streets. Let the Water Board worry about them.

Churadogs said...

Toonces sez:"Did anyone take these complaints to the Water Board back when? "

Bwa-hahahah. That's wonderful.

FOGSWAMP said...

Toons, Yes someone asked Briggs (Mr Taylor) why the many effluent Cabrillo Heights folk were not within the arbitrarily drawn lines.

Briggs outright lied when he replied that Cabrillo leaches west whilst knowing full well it flows North-west, right into our only two water supply wells with any significant nitrate threat.

So, I suppose our wise-water-board authoritarians will function as usual and let them pass until even they cannot afford to stop polluting.

I have spoken to a few with homes in Cabrillo and also the Martin track whom would agree to hook into the collection system. One in Cabrillo has even put in the outline to the roadway.

FOGSWAMP said...

Toons, I meant "affluent" Cabrillo Heights folk.

Like Malibu, how should the water-board handle the effluent from the affluent Cabrillo Height polluters?

Perhaps another PZ is in order immediately, if not sooner.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

OK, let's do the math. Cabrillo has what, about 200 homes? Los Osos, the rest in the PZ has about 4,700? So we want to add MANY MILLIONS to the cost of the project to include 4.26% of the population who will only pay the same cost that the rest of us on the easy-to-access streets pay?

Fine, Briggs "lied," THANK GOD!

Really people - I thought that you were concerned about COST here!

And on a pollution note - 200 homes worth of pollution vs. 4700 homes worth of pollution? If you have 2 people living in a 4 bathroom house - I mean really, just how much can they pee every day?

M said...

Ah but are 4700 homes polluting?
Sincerely, M

Unknown said...

Hi 'toons.... You're standing too close.... this blog is actually funny to read once you back away... it doesn't have to make sense, it's only a game...

You (nor I) will never change the minds of those who don't want a sewer... Cost has never been an issue... They simply do not want a sewer at any cost...!!!!!

My advice is to relax and treat this silly blog as just what it is... an anti-sewer, cheerleading dog-waker/poop-picker's forum with much ado-doo about nothing...

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

M,
Do YOU really want to PAY for lysimeters under every home? No? Well you should if you want the definitive answer to that question! Really, do you? That seems to be what you are saying!

Oh but Mike - I'm having way too much fun!

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

M, maybe I did forget about the magic sand. I'll mention that next time.

On another topic and a far more relevant and important one, I got my brochure from the County today. I expect Ann will have a column about it soon.

FOGSWAMP said...

Toons, where did you get the idea that anyone is proposing Cabrillo should be added to the Los Osos wastewater project?

You seemingly are like Mike and make-up things in your mind, then go into spin mode.

You ask "just how much can they pee every day"?

Depends on how much beer they drink, eh?

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

Ha-ha! Good point! Yeah, a lotta volume in a brewski, that's for sure -- drink up two or three ---well, you know! Wouldn't it be a riot if the next well reports say hops residues have been found in the water supply?

Well, the idea that Cabrillo is not paying its fair share has been floated out on the blogs many times. It has always been in the context of making them pay for part of the wastewater project as that is where the water clean-up is largely addressed. But as we all know they are in the Golden State water area, so clean-up will be paid from by water rates as well.

I guess the point then would be to complain to the Water Board. I wonder how important 200 homes is though in the grand scheme of California's coastline protection? How's San Diego doing, Oceanside, Laguna Beach?

GetRealOsos said...

Lynette,

You ask, "FOGSWAMP, who then should pay to clean up the mess we make?"

Lynette, I've asked you over and over, where is the proof of pollution from septic tanks? It was required by law to provide proof. Never happened!

You can not say that Bruce Payne is polluting and the home behind him just a few feet away is not and doesn't have to pay for the sewer. Or what about the horse farm? Or shit doesn't run downhill in Cabrillo?

Hey, what about the State Water Board (recently) declaring that nitrate problems are from farm runoff?

If the septic tanks are polluting the bay (which only Pandora is) then the US Government should help pay for the benefit under the 218 law and the State as a matter of fact. But your wonderful pal Paavo didn't want to ask them to.

How about the entire district pay their fair share for clean water?

Who is really polluting Lynette? Morro Bay with it's MWH gravity sewer pollutes like crazy with their broken pipes.

I'm sure if you checked all towns with gravity systems (that you love so much) have much more pollution in their ground water than Los Osos could ever have.

Besides Lynette, again, all the experts including our own Rob Miller prefers Step, Vacuum, or keeping (and testing) our very own septic tanks. Why do you keep insisting that you know more than the experts?

Why do you refuse to look at the truth?

Cal Poly biscuits?

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

More tired GRO t#rd& of "wisdom." I was hoping for a rejoinder more unique or sparkling on revisiting my laptop. Sigh…

GetRealOsos said...

Lynette,

Only a person with an IQ of 57 (you Lynette) would beg for an environmental disaster.

GetRealOsos said...

Check out what just happened to the Morro Bay (MWH) plan. Finally someone gets it at the CC.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

Been reading the SLO Coast Journal again I see. Well, GRO, you ought to know by now that it isn't over until the fat lady sings.

FOGSWAMP said...

Toons, Yah - what's a mere 200 more polluters in such a large basin going to harm?

Ignore the 14th Amendment, give that group of 200 or so a break and treat them differently as others in the same situation. I'm almost certain the State can find the rational somewhere or somehow eh?

Ignore them for they dwell under a different classification, in the eyes of the State, than the lowlanders.

After all it's costly for them to set up their own system as others below them have done.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

FOG, when was life ever fair? Are you going to find some political body to tackle that one?

Doing the "right" thing would be for all of us to clean up our mess. Now, really, here in the real world, if we didn't have the Water Board to make us, would any of us be doing anything at all about the pollution?

Can you acknowledge that to have added Cabrillo in, we all would be PAYING MORE than we already are? You could look at it as the silver lining if you choose.

FOGSWAMP said...

Toons, Again, No One is Suggesting, or has suggested that Cabrillo be added to our wastewater system.

How can I state that more clearly, for you to comprehend?

My point being is that Cabrillo can easily install their own system, but like you said, will not do so until they are gerrymandered into a Prison Zone with a cease and desist order, as the water board has issued to the lowlanders.

The Fourteenth Amendment was enacted to make life fair. We have the duty to see that it happens.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

I comprehend it fine FOG. I am referring to earlier times when that WAS suggested. No, I cannot recall where that was - perhaps on an old Trib blog? We just remember it differently I guess.

No one is stopping anyone from lobbying the Water Board about making Cabrillo into its own little PZ. I am guessing that you have not yet done so? You might find some help from the Ochs, or perhaps the Goldins? They were so helpful about dictating remedies for we in the PZ.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

You know, if you though that having a PZ just plain wrong or was such a cruel and horrible thing for we lowlanders, you might want to shelve that idea about lobbying the Water Board about Cabrillo. They are people too without lysimeters, yet they have feelings and lives, etc..