Ah, Yes, Well, Indeed . . .
Ron Crawford, over at www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com has posted a "Viewpoint" he submitted to the Tribune, which, to date, the Tribune hasn't printed, not even after a whole series of Waltz Me Around Again Willy emails. Ah, Yes, Well, indeed. . . Ron's called his posting, "The Tribune -- STILL "'worse than Nothing.'" And when you read it you'll see why.
The failure of the Tribune to do anything even close to "investigative reporting" during the whole Hideous Sewer Wars is one of the sad links that keeps popping up when you look at that saga throughout the years. If only, if only. And, of course, in this Era Of No Accountability, Lord knows NOBODY want's to be reminded of so many of those key failures -- especially since the Sewer Train Wreck, so preventable if key points had been caught (and made public, by, oh, let's say, the newspaper of record?), turned out to be so expensive a disaster.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Calhoun’s Can(n)ons, The Bay News, Tolosa Press, for January 17, 08
Poor Lost Osos
What a week for my poor Bangladesh By The Bay: A Dead On Arrival (but very revealing) BOS Resolution, plus our very own “Tacky Chippingate” scandal.
First up was the Board of Supervisors’ proposed resolution asking that the Regional Water Quality Control Board rescind the CDO’s on The Los Osos 45, those hapless citizens who were singled out for nearly two years of jerking around by the RWQCB. What some of the Supervisors had in mind was a simple resolution noting that the RWQCB’s process of individual enforcement was wrong, unfair, pointless and counterproductive, and that in light of the good progress the community and county are making on the wastewater project, ask that the RWQCBoard rescind the CDOs and “stand down.” Simple.
Instead, what arrived on the Supervisor’s dais was an elaborate Selectively Misleading History Of The Sewer Wars (With Really Interesting Parts Left Out) that contained a one-sided request that the CSD and others involved in the Prohibition Zone Legal Defense Fund lawsuit (the one that is now in Superior Court) all agree to drop that lawsuit, with no guarantees from the RWQCB that they, in turn, would stop future individual enforcements on everyone in the PZ.
Worse, the resolution conflated that lawsuit with totally unconnected “derailed” projects, or what “others have stated” and falsely noted that “The Cease and Desist Orders and settlement agreements do not require any burdensome actions now or in the near future.”
That last howler indicated that the county staff members who had written this resolution had not followed the ACL and CDO hearings at all. No mention that the Los Osos 45 had been threatened with daily retroactive fines all the way back to 1988, nor that the RWQCB reserved the right to “revoke and impose” all fines totally on their perception of whether the County was “making progress,” nor that should the county project fail for whatever reason, those 45 people would be forced to leave their homes after 2011, nor any mention of the onerous burden those CDOs put on anyone trying to sell their homes, and certainly no mention that the CDO process itself requires that the recipients file any objections in a “real” court of law before a certain amount of time has elapsed or else they will lose all their rights.
And then, closing the long list of “Whereas’s” was this capper: “The foregoing recitals are true and correct.”
Errrrnnnkkkk, not even close. Add in Supervisor Patterson’s cogent observation that he was not comfortable with an official County resolution that would demand a quid pro quo on a lawsuit he was not familiar with, one that could possibly interfere with a citizen’s constitutional rights, one that wasn’t even supported by the very people who had originally requested it, and this resolution was soon sensibly tabled, for now.
But the citizens of Poor Lost Osos should now be on notice: That resolution, which Supervisor Gibson supported, makes one thing absolutely clear: Protecting the interests of the County and the interests of the RWQCB come first -- NOT protecting the interests of the citizens. You have been warned.
Then adding insult to injury, there was the embarrassing front page Tribune news story about CSD Board officer, Julie Tacker and her boyfriend Jeff Edwards, involved in last November’s community-wide Chipping Day. That day is mandated by and partially paid for out of the community’s solid waste franchise fees, while any budget overruns come out of the fire department fund and/or the CSD’s water fund. In short, the ratepayers pay for this service.
Which is why this particular piece of idiocy warrants a full CSD public hearing since this one involved inappropriate verbal abuse of CSD employees, either misunderstood and/or incorrect procedures used to sign up homeowners, and stupidest of all, clear indications of someone attempting to game the system while sticking the ratepayers with the bill.
Well, if the CSD can devote a whole meeting to consider the censure of a particular private citizen, surely it can spend a meeting to determine who the players were in this game, what reimbursement to the CSD is required, how the system can be fixed to avoid this in the future, and if any Board member was involved in this scam, to consider an appropriate response.
Like poor Lost Osos doesn’t have enough trouble, now we gotta hide the silverware? And the eucalyptus leaves?
Poor Lost Osos
What a week for my poor Bangladesh By The Bay: A Dead On Arrival (but very revealing) BOS Resolution, plus our very own “Tacky Chippingate” scandal.
First up was the Board of Supervisors’ proposed resolution asking that the Regional Water Quality Control Board rescind the CDO’s on The Los Osos 45, those hapless citizens who were singled out for nearly two years of jerking around by the RWQCB. What some of the Supervisors had in mind was a simple resolution noting that the RWQCB’s process of individual enforcement was wrong, unfair, pointless and counterproductive, and that in light of the good progress the community and county are making on the wastewater project, ask that the RWQCBoard rescind the CDOs and “stand down.” Simple.
Instead, what arrived on the Supervisor’s dais was an elaborate Selectively Misleading History Of The Sewer Wars (With Really Interesting Parts Left Out) that contained a one-sided request that the CSD and others involved in the Prohibition Zone Legal Defense Fund lawsuit (the one that is now in Superior Court) all agree to drop that lawsuit, with no guarantees from the RWQCB that they, in turn, would stop future individual enforcements on everyone in the PZ.
Worse, the resolution conflated that lawsuit with totally unconnected “derailed” projects, or what “others have stated” and falsely noted that “The Cease and Desist Orders and settlement agreements do not require any burdensome actions now or in the near future.”
That last howler indicated that the county staff members who had written this resolution had not followed the ACL and CDO hearings at all. No mention that the Los Osos 45 had been threatened with daily retroactive fines all the way back to 1988, nor that the RWQCB reserved the right to “revoke and impose” all fines totally on their perception of whether the County was “making progress,” nor that should the county project fail for whatever reason, those 45 people would be forced to leave their homes after 2011, nor any mention of the onerous burden those CDOs put on anyone trying to sell their homes, and certainly no mention that the CDO process itself requires that the recipients file any objections in a “real” court of law before a certain amount of time has elapsed or else they will lose all their rights.
And then, closing the long list of “Whereas’s” was this capper: “The foregoing recitals are true and correct.”
Errrrnnnkkkk, not even close. Add in Supervisor Patterson’s cogent observation that he was not comfortable with an official County resolution that would demand a quid pro quo on a lawsuit he was not familiar with, one that could possibly interfere with a citizen’s constitutional rights, one that wasn’t even supported by the very people who had originally requested it, and this resolution was soon sensibly tabled, for now.
But the citizens of Poor Lost Osos should now be on notice: That resolution, which Supervisor Gibson supported, makes one thing absolutely clear: Protecting the interests of the County and the interests of the RWQCB come first -- NOT protecting the interests of the citizens. You have been warned.
Then adding insult to injury, there was the embarrassing front page Tribune news story about CSD Board officer, Julie Tacker and her boyfriend Jeff Edwards, involved in last November’s community-wide Chipping Day. That day is mandated by and partially paid for out of the community’s solid waste franchise fees, while any budget overruns come out of the fire department fund and/or the CSD’s water fund. In short, the ratepayers pay for this service.
Which is why this particular piece of idiocy warrants a full CSD public hearing since this one involved inappropriate verbal abuse of CSD employees, either misunderstood and/or incorrect procedures used to sign up homeowners, and stupidest of all, clear indications of someone attempting to game the system while sticking the ratepayers with the bill.
Well, if the CSD can devote a whole meeting to consider the censure of a particular private citizen, surely it can spend a meeting to determine who the players were in this game, what reimbursement to the CSD is required, how the system can be fixed to avoid this in the future, and if any Board member was involved in this scam, to consider an appropriate response.
Like poor Lost Osos doesn’t have enough trouble, now we gotta hide the silverware? And the eucalyptus leaves?
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Gonna Wash That Car Right Out Of My Driveway, but NOT in Los Osos
According to this morning’s Tribune story, the BOS has decided it’s O.K. to wash your car in your driveway, if you live in the unincorported areas of the county. And Mark Hutchinson, the environmental program manager, was asked to get the public information on what kind of soap is best to get your car washed in the driveway without ending up with environmentally unsafe chemicals running down the driveway and into the storm drains and out to sea. In short, everyone’s got to get involved to reduce and/or eliminate bad stuff getting into the groundwater and/or creeks and eventually the ocean.
BUT, if you live in Los Osos, here’s what I learned on my own. Los Osos has hard water, hard enough to require wearing a hard hat when you shower. If you’ve ever rinsed or washed off your car with LO Water, you’ll soon notice the windows end up with crusted-on water spots that won’t wash off no matter what. Windex? Feh. Vinegar? Feh. Steel wool? Feh. a small hand-held nuclear device? Feh. More soap and water? Feh-feh. Ditto for all the crusty spots on the paint as well. Won’t budge. (Some weird petroleum based goo can be rubbed and buffed on the glass that will finally get that calcium/mineral crust off, but, c’mon . . . )
So I asked the official repair/detail guys at Toyota when I took my car in to get serviced and was told: Yep. Those LO hard water spots will crust on and etch both paint and glass and are impossible to get off. If you hose your car down, soap it up and rinse, before you can run around to completely dry it, that calcium/mineral-rich water will dry and ZOT! Crutsy spots that nothing gets off, except more water, which leaves more spots & etc.
So, what to do? Well, here was their advice: 1) always take your car to a carwash using soft-water and a blower that dries it immediately, or 2) use two buckets of water, (soft water, if you’ve got it in your home, though that creates it’s own “pollution” problem eventually,) to wash down and then rinse a small section at a time so you can rinse & wipe it dry immediately; then, when you’re done with the whole car, section by section, dispose of bucket water properly. Voi la! No more hideous, impossible to get off crusty water spots. And, no soapy pollution running down the driveway.
Or, you can always sell your car and get a bicycle. Or a horse.
Meantime, I’m glad the county’s moving on this problem and hopefully, their education outreach on “safe soaps” will enable people (in areas without LO Water) to safely wash and hose off their cars on their lawns (thereby not wasting water) AND not end up dumping long-lasting crud down the drain. Win-win.
According to this morning’s Tribune story, the BOS has decided it’s O.K. to wash your car in your driveway, if you live in the unincorported areas of the county. And Mark Hutchinson, the environmental program manager, was asked to get the public information on what kind of soap is best to get your car washed in the driveway without ending up with environmentally unsafe chemicals running down the driveway and into the storm drains and out to sea. In short, everyone’s got to get involved to reduce and/or eliminate bad stuff getting into the groundwater and/or creeks and eventually the ocean.
BUT, if you live in Los Osos, here’s what I learned on my own. Los Osos has hard water, hard enough to require wearing a hard hat when you shower. If you’ve ever rinsed or washed off your car with LO Water, you’ll soon notice the windows end up with crusted-on water spots that won’t wash off no matter what. Windex? Feh. Vinegar? Feh. Steel wool? Feh. a small hand-held nuclear device? Feh. More soap and water? Feh-feh. Ditto for all the crusty spots on the paint as well. Won’t budge. (Some weird petroleum based goo can be rubbed and buffed on the glass that will finally get that calcium/mineral crust off, but, c’mon . . . )
So I asked the official repair/detail guys at Toyota when I took my car in to get serviced and was told: Yep. Those LO hard water spots will crust on and etch both paint and glass and are impossible to get off. If you hose your car down, soap it up and rinse, before you can run around to completely dry it, that calcium/mineral-rich water will dry and ZOT! Crutsy spots that nothing gets off, except more water, which leaves more spots & etc.
So, what to do? Well, here was their advice: 1) always take your car to a carwash using soft-water and a blower that dries it immediately, or 2) use two buckets of water, (soft water, if you’ve got it in your home, though that creates it’s own “pollution” problem eventually,) to wash down and then rinse a small section at a time so you can rinse & wipe it dry immediately; then, when you’re done with the whole car, section by section, dispose of bucket water properly. Voi la! No more hideous, impossible to get off crusty water spots. And, no soapy pollution running down the driveway.
Or, you can always sell your car and get a bicycle. Or a horse.
Meantime, I’m glad the county’s moving on this problem and hopefully, their education outreach on “safe soaps” will enable people (in areas without LO Water) to safely wash and hose off their cars on their lawns (thereby not wasting water) AND not end up dumping long-lasting crud down the drain. Win-win.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Suicide Run? Or "Oh, Dang! Whatever Shall We Do About Los Osos? "
Well, I see in today's Tribune, that newly elected Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Patterson's heading for a likely bear mauling. He's proposing that the weekly three-hour Tuesday Fest, the "Oh, Dang, Let's Talk About Los Osos" jam session be moved to a monthly "Oh Dang Let's Talk About Los Osos" jam session. The reason given: The Hideous Sewer Project is now heading into the part where things can be studied and decided by various "experts" and the BOS doesn't really need weekly updates and/or public comments and oversight since that can be a real bother and anyway the TAC is back in business and concerned citizens can go speak at the TAC meetings and their concerns will be duly noted and possibly put somewhere in the ginormous report that will eventually be produced and/or they can always email their technical concerns to the various folks in charge of technical concerns and their comments will be duly noted and possibly put somewhere in the ginormous report that will eventually be produced, commented on then ignored in whole or part as the whole Hideous Project steams along under it's own tsunami power, going which ever way it was determined to go anyway -- towards a successful conclusion or over a cliff -- chugga-chugga-chugga.
Well, good luck to Mr. Patterson, I say. The problem with Public Comment has always been The Public. It's like herding crazed cats -- you don't have any control where they're gonna go or what they're gonna say. And Los Osos cats are even more wily than their feral counterparts up in the chapparral eating endangered wild birds. No matter what rules are in place, someone'll figure out a way to sneak a sewer comment in there. And if the rules say Public Comment is for items NOT on the agenda, if you have a one hour morning Public Comment period and a one hour afternoonn Public Comment, you will have at least half of the speakers lined up to talk about The Hideous Los Osos Sewer, no matter what.
And if you pass a new resolution that people can speak on any topic NOT on the Agenda and also NOT about the Hideous Sewer, you'll be threatened with Brown Act Violations and somebody will loudly announce that you're a fascist! And so forth.
Ironically, some of the problems with the "Oh, Dang! Let's Talk About Los Osos" portion of the public comment period come directly from the Blakeslee Compromise and the lack of any working agreement with the Los Osos CSD to "partner" on the Hideous Sewer during this critical input stage. Since the County is 100% in charge, the citizens of Los Osos have no other venue to vent their concerns about the Sewer Project BUT the County, and the only proper public forum are the BOS meetings and the BOS public comment period. Previously, all those run-amok cats would have shown up at the CSD meetings for Public Comment, thereby giving the LOCSD Board vast hedaches as to how to herd them. Now, ironically, the method to proceed forward with a wastewater system (taken over by the county) is the very thing that's channeling all those cats into the BOS chambers to give the Supervisors headaches.
So, how's this for a compromise: Finish that "Partnership" agreement with the CSD, then announce that all public comment on the Hideous Sewer needs to be directed first through the CSD, since that's at the grass roots level, and they in turn will share those concerns directly to the County Sewer Team during their weekly (?) meetings -- partner to partner.
Perhaps then, the new Chairman Patterson won't have to spend time thinking about different ways to divert this stream of Los Osos cats into some proceedure that won't waste so much of the BOS's time, yet will preserve the appearance of "Yes, We Actually Really Do Value Public Comment & Input, Believe It Or Not, Heh-Heh."
So, if Patterson and the Board can come up with some way to herd these cats back to Los Osos for input at a meaningful forum, (you know, one where if some citizen actually shows up with facts and figures showing some calculations are wrong, the information will actually be seriously considered instead of being buried in a pile of paper with the smiling comment, "thank you for sharing, now it's time to move on,") while at the same time getting MORE people from different parts of the County to show up to comment on OTHER County issues, then I say, best of luck to everyone.
Sauce for Goose and Gander?
Wickedly droll L.A. Times columnist, Steve Lopez, wrote a recent column outlining his efforts to call up the three Movers & Shakers behind the recall of Gov. Gray Davis. He quoted extensively from the recall petition -- you remember, all about how the Gov. had driven the state into a financial hole, was bankrupting the place, threatening services, mis-governing, etc. etc. etc. and demanding that when a Gov. does that, he should be recalled-- then asked these three whether they were going to head up another petition to recall The Governator.
Nope. They weren't.
So, a Democratic governor was to be held accountable and tossed out of office by three outraged Republicans, but a Republican governor gets a free pass by those same three guys for the same fiscal disasters.
Ah, just as I thought.
Well, I see in today's Tribune, that newly elected Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Patterson's heading for a likely bear mauling. He's proposing that the weekly three-hour Tuesday Fest, the "Oh, Dang, Let's Talk About Los Osos" jam session be moved to a monthly "Oh Dang Let's Talk About Los Osos" jam session. The reason given: The Hideous Sewer Project is now heading into the part where things can be studied and decided by various "experts" and the BOS doesn't really need weekly updates and/or public comments and oversight since that can be a real bother and anyway the TAC is back in business and concerned citizens can go speak at the TAC meetings and their concerns will be duly noted and possibly put somewhere in the ginormous report that will eventually be produced and/or they can always email their technical concerns to the various folks in charge of technical concerns and their comments will be duly noted and possibly put somewhere in the ginormous report that will eventually be produced, commented on then ignored in whole or part as the whole Hideous Project steams along under it's own tsunami power, going which ever way it was determined to go anyway -- towards a successful conclusion or over a cliff -- chugga-chugga-chugga.
Well, good luck to Mr. Patterson, I say. The problem with Public Comment has always been The Public. It's like herding crazed cats -- you don't have any control where they're gonna go or what they're gonna say. And Los Osos cats are even more wily than their feral counterparts up in the chapparral eating endangered wild birds. No matter what rules are in place, someone'll figure out a way to sneak a sewer comment in there. And if the rules say Public Comment is for items NOT on the agenda, if you have a one hour morning Public Comment period and a one hour afternoonn Public Comment, you will have at least half of the speakers lined up to talk about The Hideous Los Osos Sewer, no matter what.
And if you pass a new resolution that people can speak on any topic NOT on the Agenda and also NOT about the Hideous Sewer, you'll be threatened with Brown Act Violations and somebody will loudly announce that you're a fascist! And so forth.
Ironically, some of the problems with the "Oh, Dang! Let's Talk About Los Osos" portion of the public comment period come directly from the Blakeslee Compromise and the lack of any working agreement with the Los Osos CSD to "partner" on the Hideous Sewer during this critical input stage. Since the County is 100% in charge, the citizens of Los Osos have no other venue to vent their concerns about the Sewer Project BUT the County, and the only proper public forum are the BOS meetings and the BOS public comment period. Previously, all those run-amok cats would have shown up at the CSD meetings for Public Comment, thereby giving the LOCSD Board vast hedaches as to how to herd them. Now, ironically, the method to proceed forward with a wastewater system (taken over by the county) is the very thing that's channeling all those cats into the BOS chambers to give the Supervisors headaches.
So, how's this for a compromise: Finish that "Partnership" agreement with the CSD, then announce that all public comment on the Hideous Sewer needs to be directed first through the CSD, since that's at the grass roots level, and they in turn will share those concerns directly to the County Sewer Team during their weekly (?) meetings -- partner to partner.
Perhaps then, the new Chairman Patterson won't have to spend time thinking about different ways to divert this stream of Los Osos cats into some proceedure that won't waste so much of the BOS's time, yet will preserve the appearance of "Yes, We Actually Really Do Value Public Comment & Input, Believe It Or Not, Heh-Heh."
So, if Patterson and the Board can come up with some way to herd these cats back to Los Osos for input at a meaningful forum, (you know, one where if some citizen actually shows up with facts and figures showing some calculations are wrong, the information will actually be seriously considered instead of being buried in a pile of paper with the smiling comment, "thank you for sharing, now it's time to move on,") while at the same time getting MORE people from different parts of the County to show up to comment on OTHER County issues, then I say, best of luck to everyone.
Sauce for Goose and Gander?
Wickedly droll L.A. Times columnist, Steve Lopez, wrote a recent column outlining his efforts to call up the three Movers & Shakers behind the recall of Gov. Gray Davis. He quoted extensively from the recall petition -- you remember, all about how the Gov. had driven the state into a financial hole, was bankrupting the place, threatening services, mis-governing, etc. etc. etc. and demanding that when a Gov. does that, he should be recalled-- then asked these three whether they were going to head up another petition to recall The Governator.
Nope. They weren't.
So, a Democratic governor was to be held accountable and tossed out of office by three outraged Republicans, but a Republican governor gets a free pass by those same three guys for the same fiscal disasters.
Ah, just as I thought.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Is That More Whereas’s In Your Pocket?
The BOS met yesterday during the “Oh Darn Let’s Discuss Los Osos” portion of the meeting and up on the agenda was the Resolution asking that the RWQCB rescind the CDOs for The Los Osos 45.
The Resolution under discussion was astonishing, but even more astonishing to me was the following:
1. The County Staff and clearly some Supervisors, including Los Osos’ own Bruce Gibson, didn’t have any problem with the language used. Their concern was in placating the RWQCB, NOT placating citizens being injured by the Board’s actions, even though they acknowledged that they felt those actions were wrong, unfair and counterproductive. Nope, citizens weren’t of interest to them. Making another agency happy and officially scratching its back, even with demonstrably slanted and often inappropriate language and incorrect facts and conflations, was.
RWQCB’s backside: 10 – Citizens: 0
2. Several Supervisors and Paavo Ogren made it clear that they didn’t care what was said in this official Resolution. The language didn’t matter, the “facts” didn’t matter, history was important but not, apparently, correct history, and what was said didn’t matter. What was important was to “set a tone,” to “step into their shoes” (the RWQCB’s shoes, not the citizens’ shoes), that if the County is asking another governmental body for something (to rescind what all agree were wrong, unfair, counterproductive individual enforcement actions) then you have to phony up the document to soothe the other guy’s back, kissy-kissy, so he’ll have in writing “evidence” that you agree with his position (even if you don’t) so OFFICIALLY he’ll look good – “See? Even the County supports our [misleading] “history.” It’s all there in their Resolution.” – so it was a case, not of honestly presenting a formal request honestly, it was all about Bureaucratic ass-covering, one scratching back to another.
3. Even more interesting, from Supervisors whose votes create LAWS, was the rather cavalier attitude towards words and their meanings. Surely they, above all folks, know that Official Documents actually become “real” and that language really does count. A wrong word can land you in court. Language and wording are important. That wrong facts enshrined in some Official Document can cause all kinds of mischief later. (Look at the problems set in place by the recalled CSD’s unsupported SOC. That’s where not caring about language and facts can lead.)
4. Not even the folks who originally asked for this Resolution supported it. Not even CSD Board member Joe Sparks. He didn’t spell out exactly why he wasn’t happy with this thing, but it seemed to me to be tied to the CSD’s lawsuit. Perhaps it was the quid pro quo section that didn’t carry with it the quo from the RWQCB that they would not issue individual enforcement actions again, period. (Was there anyone in the room that trusted the RWQCB to actually keep their word, had the Resolution been accepted as written? I think not, not based on past experience with the RWQCB’s actions.)
Mercifully, Sup. Patterson expressed concern that an official county document should be involved with canceling out or tying up or voiding out a lawsuit the county wasn’t familiar with. Plus, he didn’t think the Supervisors should be supporting a Resolution that even the people who asked for it can’t support.
Sup. Lenthall noted, accurately, he admired the intent but this document didn’t hit the mark. He’d like to see it come back.
Sup Ovitt, no surprise there, is heartily sick of all things Los Ososian, didn’t care what the thing said, doesn’t want to spend any more time on it, wouldn’t make any difference, doesn’t care about the history, basically wanted it and Los Osos off the table permanently.
And Supervisor Gibson, true to form, eased his way out of this fiasco by giving his fellow board members an easy out: If there isn’t consensus, let’s table it; if you have any questions or are uncomfortable with any of this, table it. There’s no time schedule to adhere to, can always revisit this later, table it.
So it was tabled. For now.
Practically speaking, Unless both the RWQCB and PZLDF (CSD) both agree not only to drop their lawsuits and the RWQCB also agrees to not issue any future individual enforcement actions against people living in the PZ, and the PZLDF members agree not to sue for damages & etc, then this thing’s likely going nowhere. Each side clearly has too much to lose and absolutely NO TRUST in the other. With good reason for the Los Osos 45. They all have whiplash from Jeffery Young & Co. whipping them 180’ repeatedly for two years. Who in their right mind would trust anything that Board had to say? Not me, that’s for sure.
Meantime, if you want some more Whereas’s, here’s a list read yesterday by CDO recipient Bev Moylan: [posted with permission]
CDO #R3-2006-1041
If you decide to adopt this resolution, I have a few whereas’s of my own for you to consider before you sign off as true and correct the allegations of the CCRWQCB in their unilateral history of the Los Osos wastewater project contained therein:
WHEREAS San Luis Obispo County and the CCRWQCB together bear significant liability for the overdraft and alleged pollution of the Los Osos aquifer by permitting the construction of over 1000 homes within the Prohibition Zone between 1983 and 1988, despite CCRWQCB resolution 83-13, and
WHEREAS the CCRWQCB failed for years to engage in enforcement against San Luis Obispo County and the original Los Osos CSDs for failing to produce a WWTF for Los Osos, and
WHEREAS the CCRWQCB determined to engage in individual enforcement to occur directly following a legally conducted election in Los Osos, and
WHEREAS many of the CCRWQCB enforcement actions in Los Osos were carried out following a series of messages from a small group of citizens encouraging the CCRWQCB to fine their neighbors, in fact, to fine the CSD out of existence, and
WHEREAS the CCRWQCB determined to conduct their prosecution randomly, thereby ensnaring the elderly, the sick, the disabled, the poor, the incompetent, young families, single parents, and families without resources, and
WHEREAS individual prosecutions by the CCRWQCB have resulted in thousands of dollars of fixed and hard-earned incomes and thousands of collective hours of time spent in defense against enforcement actions and spent in protecting due process rights, and spent in doctors' offices, ERs, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and therapists' offices, and
WHEREAS citizens facing enforcement have requested compliance assistance from the CCRWQCB and suggested widely accepted compliance solutions, all of which were rejected by the CCRWQCB, and
WHEREAS the only compliance solutions proposed by the CCRWQCB to date are either to pay the daily fine for alleged violation or “vacate the premises,” and
WHEREAS the CCRWQCB has in effect provided no compliance assistance to Los Osos citizens facing enforcement as required by its own regulations, and
WHEREAS individual prosecutions have resulted in numerous due process and civil rights violations of private citizens, and
WHEREAS citizens facing prosecution were advised by no less than CCRWQCB Chairman Jeffrey Young to look to the courts for redress if they disagree with CCRWQCB enforcement, and whose right to legally challenge the process is endorsed by the Chairman of the CCRWQCB, and
WHEREAS hundreds of Los Osos residents of the Prohibition Zone have suffered for two years substantive harm to their health and welfare, much of that harm significant and some of it irreversible, with no discernible improvement to the waters of the state,
BE IT HERE RESOLVED AND ORDERED that the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors affirms its support for these citizens and respectfully requests that the CCRWQCB with all due haste vacate enforcement orders in Los Osos.
The BOS met yesterday during the “Oh Darn Let’s Discuss Los Osos” portion of the meeting and up on the agenda was the Resolution asking that the RWQCB rescind the CDOs for The Los Osos 45.
The Resolution under discussion was astonishing, but even more astonishing to me was the following:
1. The County Staff and clearly some Supervisors, including Los Osos’ own Bruce Gibson, didn’t have any problem with the language used. Their concern was in placating the RWQCB, NOT placating citizens being injured by the Board’s actions, even though they acknowledged that they felt those actions were wrong, unfair and counterproductive. Nope, citizens weren’t of interest to them. Making another agency happy and officially scratching its back, even with demonstrably slanted and often inappropriate language and incorrect facts and conflations, was.
RWQCB’s backside: 10 – Citizens: 0
2. Several Supervisors and Paavo Ogren made it clear that they didn’t care what was said in this official Resolution. The language didn’t matter, the “facts” didn’t matter, history was important but not, apparently, correct history, and what was said didn’t matter. What was important was to “set a tone,” to “step into their shoes” (the RWQCB’s shoes, not the citizens’ shoes), that if the County is asking another governmental body for something (to rescind what all agree were wrong, unfair, counterproductive individual enforcement actions) then you have to phony up the document to soothe the other guy’s back, kissy-kissy, so he’ll have in writing “evidence” that you agree with his position (even if you don’t) so OFFICIALLY he’ll look good – “See? Even the County supports our [misleading] “history.” It’s all there in their Resolution.” – so it was a case, not of honestly presenting a formal request honestly, it was all about Bureaucratic ass-covering, one scratching back to another.
3. Even more interesting, from Supervisors whose votes create LAWS, was the rather cavalier attitude towards words and their meanings. Surely they, above all folks, know that Official Documents actually become “real” and that language really does count. A wrong word can land you in court. Language and wording are important. That wrong facts enshrined in some Official Document can cause all kinds of mischief later. (Look at the problems set in place by the recalled CSD’s unsupported SOC. That’s where not caring about language and facts can lead.)
4. Not even the folks who originally asked for this Resolution supported it. Not even CSD Board member Joe Sparks. He didn’t spell out exactly why he wasn’t happy with this thing, but it seemed to me to be tied to the CSD’s lawsuit. Perhaps it was the quid pro quo section that didn’t carry with it the quo from the RWQCB that they would not issue individual enforcement actions again, period. (Was there anyone in the room that trusted the RWQCB to actually keep their word, had the Resolution been accepted as written? I think not, not based on past experience with the RWQCB’s actions.)
Mercifully, Sup. Patterson expressed concern that an official county document should be involved with canceling out or tying up or voiding out a lawsuit the county wasn’t familiar with. Plus, he didn’t think the Supervisors should be supporting a Resolution that even the people who asked for it can’t support.
Sup. Lenthall noted, accurately, he admired the intent but this document didn’t hit the mark. He’d like to see it come back.
Sup Ovitt, no surprise there, is heartily sick of all things Los Ososian, didn’t care what the thing said, doesn’t want to spend any more time on it, wouldn’t make any difference, doesn’t care about the history, basically wanted it and Los Osos off the table permanently.
And Supervisor Gibson, true to form, eased his way out of this fiasco by giving his fellow board members an easy out: If there isn’t consensus, let’s table it; if you have any questions or are uncomfortable with any of this, table it. There’s no time schedule to adhere to, can always revisit this later, table it.
So it was tabled. For now.
Practically speaking, Unless both the RWQCB and PZLDF (CSD) both agree not only to drop their lawsuits and the RWQCB also agrees to not issue any future individual enforcement actions against people living in the PZ, and the PZLDF members agree not to sue for damages & etc, then this thing’s likely going nowhere. Each side clearly has too much to lose and absolutely NO TRUST in the other. With good reason for the Los Osos 45. They all have whiplash from Jeffery Young & Co. whipping them 180’ repeatedly for two years. Who in their right mind would trust anything that Board had to say? Not me, that’s for sure.
Meantime, if you want some more Whereas’s, here’s a list read yesterday by CDO recipient Bev Moylan: [posted with permission]
CDO #R3-2006-1041
If you decide to adopt this resolution, I have a few whereas’s of my own for you to consider before you sign off as true and correct the allegations of the CCRWQCB in their unilateral history of the Los Osos wastewater project contained therein:
WHEREAS San Luis Obispo County and the CCRWQCB together bear significant liability for the overdraft and alleged pollution of the Los Osos aquifer by permitting the construction of over 1000 homes within the Prohibition Zone between 1983 and 1988, despite CCRWQCB resolution 83-13, and
WHEREAS the CCRWQCB failed for years to engage in enforcement against San Luis Obispo County and the original Los Osos CSDs for failing to produce a WWTF for Los Osos, and
WHEREAS the CCRWQCB determined to engage in individual enforcement to occur directly following a legally conducted election in Los Osos, and
WHEREAS many of the CCRWQCB enforcement actions in Los Osos were carried out following a series of messages from a small group of citizens encouraging the CCRWQCB to fine their neighbors, in fact, to fine the CSD out of existence, and
WHEREAS the CCRWQCB determined to conduct their prosecution randomly, thereby ensnaring the elderly, the sick, the disabled, the poor, the incompetent, young families, single parents, and families without resources, and
WHEREAS individual prosecutions by the CCRWQCB have resulted in thousands of dollars of fixed and hard-earned incomes and thousands of collective hours of time spent in defense against enforcement actions and spent in protecting due process rights, and spent in doctors' offices, ERs, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and therapists' offices, and
WHEREAS citizens facing enforcement have requested compliance assistance from the CCRWQCB and suggested widely accepted compliance solutions, all of which were rejected by the CCRWQCB, and
WHEREAS the only compliance solutions proposed by the CCRWQCB to date are either to pay the daily fine for alleged violation or “vacate the premises,” and
WHEREAS the CCRWQCB has in effect provided no compliance assistance to Los Osos citizens facing enforcement as required by its own regulations, and
WHEREAS individual prosecutions have resulted in numerous due process and civil rights violations of private citizens, and
WHEREAS citizens facing prosecution were advised by no less than CCRWQCB Chairman Jeffrey Young to look to the courts for redress if they disagree with CCRWQCB enforcement, and whose right to legally challenge the process is endorsed by the Chairman of the CCRWQCB, and
WHEREAS hundreds of Los Osos residents of the Prohibition Zone have suffered for two years substantive harm to their health and welfare, much of that harm significant and some of it irreversible, with no discernible improvement to the waters of the state,
BE IT HERE RESOLVED AND ORDERED that the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors affirms its support for these citizens and respectfully requests that the CCRWQCB with all due haste vacate enforcement orders in Los Osos.
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