Calhouns Can(n)ons

SEWERVILLE RULES

In his January 18 letter, Baywood Park resident Doug Morin uses the word “Orwellian” to describe a recent Trib. essay by CSD Director Julie Tacker. He then goes on to state the “simple truth” that the previous project “. . . was approved by the overwhelming majority of property owners in the prohibition zone.”

EERRRNNKKKKK! People, people, we need to talk. First off, Orwell is the wrong author to use as an example. When it comes to Los Osos, the right book is Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass.

Second, here in Sewerville, the words “overwhelming majority” cannot be used at all. The only vote ever taken on the Hideous Sewer was a mail-in ballot assessment of property owners within the prohibition zone and was required to raise a small amount of money to start the design work. Nearly 37% of those ballots were never returned. So the “overwhelming” vote was actually decided by about 60% of the eligible voters, 79.7% of whom approved of the preliminary assessment, 15.8% of whom did not. Seventy-nine percent of sixty percent does not constitute “overwhelming.”

Plus, there never was another vote held once the final costs were known. That lack of a vote was one of the lawsuits that, to my knowledge, still has not been settled. So who knows what kind of “overwhelming” approval that vote would engender.

Worse yet, in the recent recall/Measure B election, about 40% didn’t bother to vote either (though that did include the entire group of registered voters, not just property owners.) Maybe there’s something in the water that puts 40% of Los Ososians out to lunch?

And finally, while sewer projects are not rocket science, the words “simple truth” simply can’t be used to describe the Hideous Los Osos Sewer Project. It is impossible to say anything “simple” about our various projects without trailing carloads of footnotes and addenda. “Simple” it ain’t and has never been.

So, we need to park those words. Pleeeeeze.