Where's Waldo?
Ok, all you Los Osos Kiddies. While we wait for the voting to begin, take the gum out of your hair and let's go down to the Tri-W site and look at the pretty rendering hanging on the fence. See it? Isn't it nice? I'm not exactly sure when a sewage treatment plant gets to be called a "Resource Park." It probably has something to do with "Spin." I know, let's ask our town's new Public Information Officer, Mike Drake, to 'splain that to us. Mike's promised never to spin anything so he must know all about spin and hokum and phonied-up renderings.
But until we can find Mike, here's the new game. I want everyone to look really, really hard and find the sewage treatment plant in the "artist's rendering." I see lots of bushes and trees and water-color washes of clouds and sky. Very pretty. There's some people and a dog and three vertical lines way in the back that I think is supposed to represent the PG&E towers over in Morro Bay. But, wait, is that it? Is that line peeking out from behind all those huge trees and shrubs supposed to indicate a building of some sort? Or maybe a fog line? A clothes line? A line in the sand? Whaaattt?
See, isn't this fun? And remember, your tax dollars went to pay for this "artist's rendering," a rendering that's supposed to give citizens a realistic and accurate idea of what this site will look like once the project is built.
Now, boys and girls, can you say "hokum?" How about "misleading?" Very good. Now, put the gum back in your hair and go vote.
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Calhoun's Can(n)ons was originally published in 1990 in the (now defunct) Morro Bay, CA, Sun Bulletin, and since 1992 has continued in the various resurrections of the Los Osos, CA. Bay News, Bay Breeze, Bay News, Bay News-Tolosa Press. A few years ago, the Can(n)on was added to the Central Coast NewsMission blogsite. Ann Calhoun lives in Los Osos. You can email her at Churadogs at gmail dot com
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The Little Prince
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Montaigne
Edward R. Murrow
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; the essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Little Prince
No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the misfortune is to do it solemnly.
Montaigne
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2005
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September
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- At the Sewer’s EdgeCalhoun’s Can(n)ons has to be “...
- Decision DayTo be persuasive, we must be believabl...
- Where's Waldo?Ok, all you Los Osos Kiddies. While ...
- OH MY GOD, IT'S THE HIDEOUS 35 FOOT TALL STRIP MAL...
- "Step Away From The Televison Set, Los Osos. CSD G...
- “Put the Spin Machine down, Mr. Drake, and step aw...
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- "Put the phone down, Ms. Tacker, and step away fro...
- Is it Spin or just Bad Information?The Los Osos CS...
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- So, what's it gonna be? Money for our Sewer Tot Lo...
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7 comments:
First, the design might not be "realistic" in every way you would want it to be but it is not that much different than any similar rendering by architect ... it is an attempt to show the approximate size and shape of the facility after plantings have had a chance to grow. If you are telling us the rendering is inaccurate, please explain why it is? I would suggest that this rendering has the dimensions correct (unlike the earlier advert you mentioned) and while the ultimate plant won't look exactly the way the drawing does ... the people will be far less blurry for example ... the scale is right.
If you are complaining about the money spent to create the drawing ... it was part of the package that goes with the design of the building. No architect would design a facility or building without including such a drawing to let the decision makers know what it will look like. If you are complaining about the fact that a sign has been put up ... I would suggest that similar signs typically go on construction walls and fences and that people typically appreciate the signs.
Perhaps your issue is that you don't want the CSD spending money to let us know their intentions and plans. If this is the case I must point out that typical people would want the CSD to spend a small amount of money to let us know what's up.
Huh? You're telling me those few lines are "accurate?" And if the trees are going to be natives, like oaks, can we even guess at the year this rendering is suppose to be "accurate," based on the size of the trees? Like maybe the site will look like that in, what, 2075?
Oh, Please, this rendering is absurd. And as for letting us know what's up, this rendering doesn't even come close.
I am sorry that the architect didn't choose your favorite species and favorite timeperiod after construction for her rendering.
Perhaps the CSD should pay extra so that we can get every set of tree species in every possible location at every possible timeperiod after construction so that you will be satisfied. Oh yeah ... that would cost too much.
Face it, unless you are going to argue that the dimensions of the plant are incorrect, the drawing is a typical architectural rendering. To suggest that it was done intentionally so as to mislead shows that you are trying to pick at nits. The drawing wasn't intended to serve the purpose of campaigning, it was intended to let the CSD know what the architect thought the building would look like after the growth of trees.
Perhaps the recall team would want to hire their own rendering artist to make it look as ugly as possible so that the rest of us can see things the way you want us to. Certainly the CSD who is behing the project is giving us the information they've been given by the architect. If you have a problem with that you can always do your own drawing.
If this is your best reason to vote for the recall ... that the CSD didn't pay extra for an artists rendering of the project site 2 years after completion ... it seems pretty clear that voting down the recall makes more sense than voting for it.
Predictions:
The recall goes through in whole or in part, accompanied by multitudes of meaningless vociferos platitudes from the victors.
By December 15, there will be at least 6 more legal actions filed.
The initiative fails.
The new CSD directors will ask about 4,528 questions of their staff and others, of which very few answers will be to their satisfaction.
Los Osos will secede from the state and union and form the People's Republic of Osos, but unlike the South in the Civil War, nobody outside will really care. First Action will be to repeal any and all water quality laws.
And the Los Osos sewer saga will go on and on and on and ....
As usual, and sadly, Inlet is missing the point.
And as for TimetoVote's idea that apres le deleuge . . a Republic of Los Osos will be formed? Saaaayyyy, now that'd be waaaay cool. We could even print our own money. And stamps. I love it!
I got your point. I just don't think it was a good one.
You seem to be saying that there was deliberate deception on the part of the CSD that would cause one to think the park and plantings would hide most of the treatment plant.
Again, if there was a technical error in the drawing, point it out. Until you do so the issue you raise is nothing more than silly nitpicking.
Dear Inlet, I have an MA in painting and drawing so I am totally familiar with "artistic" license. This line & wash drawing is a wonderful,smiley-faced, deliberately deceptive example of "visual spin" and was meant to make a pig's ear look like a silk purse. (It's the equivalent of the cinamatographer shooting an aging movie star through a vaseline coated lens -- blur and soften all those wrinkles.)
I mean, in your life have you ever seen transparent trees? And the pen few swoopy pen lines that can be seen THROUGH the transparent trees are supposed to represent what, exactly, providing, of course, you can even see them through the green wash.
No, it's artistic hokum meant to put a lovely spin on what the "real" sewer plant will actually look like. In short, it's visual spin intended to manipulate and conceal, not inform and reveal.
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