Shhhhh, Quiet, Insanity is Still At Work
There is a wonderful definition of Insanity – Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results each time.
The Regional Water Quality Control Board has announced – again – that they have postponed – again – the CDO hearings for the persecuted Los Osos 45. Instead of being held on Nov 2 & 9th, now the hearings are going to be held on December 14 & 15 from 8:30 a.m. at the RWQCB headquarters on Aerovista Pl. in SLOTown.
The reason for the delay – again – is that the paperwork and intricate official deadlines apparently weren’t met by the staff and board – again – and CEO Roger Briggs was going to be deposed before leaving town for months and that got muddled and changed around willy-nilly and since this is a complicated “legal” proceeding all the I’s &T’s have to be dotted and crossed just so and so forth, endlessly, endlessly.
There is a reason why these CDO hearings turned into such a mess right out of the box. Several years ago, the RWQCB’s own staff report on the pros and cons of various enforcement options DID NOT recommend using CDOs on thousands of individual citizens for some very, very sound reasons: Too costly, too time consuming, too unnecessarily legally complicated, too endlessly lengthy, & etc, while resulting in too little solid results. In short, a nutty, wasteful way to go.
Alas, the Board didn’t heed their own report and so wasted an entire year with all sorts of paper wrangling and ridiculous huffing and chuffing with the Air Quality Control Board showing up to inform them that their Mad Pumping Scheme wouldn’t fly, the CSD attorneys making the case of prosecution team bias, so the whole case had to be started over with a new Grand Iquisitor brought in, and Dr. Wickham informing the board that their Mad Pumping Scheme would result in an even bigger groundwater mess & etc.
Meanwhile, a simple, immediate actual groundwater remediation alternative was sitting under their noses a year ago:
Instead of CDO’s, the Board only had to send out registered, return-receipt requested letters to the homeowners in the PZ telling them that they needed to Pump/Inspect/Repair their tanks/leachfields and send official copies of the completed work to the staff by such and such a date. Those who did so would go to the bottom of the pile; those who failed to do so would be issued CDOs.
Simple.
And the result? Los Osos could have had a WHOLE YEAR’S WORTH of repaired tanks and replaced old, poorly working leach fields resulting in an immediate beneficial action on the groundwater.
But what did we get instead? A whole year’s worth of paper shuffling and postponed hearings and unfairly targeted and harassed citizens and more postponements and expenditure of countless dollars and wasted time by citizens, the CSD and the RWQCB itself. During which time, not one drop of water has been improved, except by those folks who – on their own dime and under their own steam – have voluntarily pumped/inspected/repaired before even being asked to.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. Non-insanity: Trying something simple that’s actually working now, something that could work much better and faster with clear directions and guidelines from an outfit with the words "Water Quality" in their name, something that will actually benefit WATER, not paperwork.
Instead of announcing that the CDO hearings will be held in abeyance while the Board meets to vote on a change in plans, plans that would actually do something to the groundwater until the new sewer gets built, we get the official notice: The Mad Wasteful CDO Scheme has been continued until Dec 14th, unless there’s yet another muddle over paperwork or missed filing dates, in which case, oh, it’ll probably be postponed some more or there’ll be some legal filings over some miniscule detail and maybe more legal delays and so on and so on unto the end of time.
Meanwhile, the people in this community wait for some simple instructions to start work on something that will actually have a beneficial impact on groundwater while the sewer project moves forward
We wait. And wait. And wait.
Hellloooo, Earth to Regional Board . . . .
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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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47 comments:
Ann,
Suppose that the RWQCB had sent out a letter such as you suggest (which, by the way, may not be something they are legally allowed to do). Essentially you (and everyone in Los Osos) should view this CDO as essentially the same as the letter you suggest ... "get your tank pumped soon if you haven't done so recently and every so often or bad things will happen to you."
Don't you think that many many of the folks who were part of the "no sewer" group and who are now complaining about CDOs would now be complaining about the threat letter?
Oh yeah Shark....you can bet your dorsal fin Ann Calhoun would be leading the chorus against the "threats" of the water board if such a letter went out. And at least 3 or 4 more articles in the Rock about the debilitating, life-altering effects of such threats on the Los Osos proterty owners. (Of which I am one).
Kumbaya my lord, Kumba... ahhh... nevermind.
coupla things:
The RWQCB said:
"... now the hearings are going to be held on December 14 & 15..."
Sorry if I don't hold my breath.
Ann said:
"The Mad Wasteful CDO Scheme has been continued until Dec 14th, unless there’s yet another muddle over paperwork or missed filing dates, in which case, oh, it’ll probably be postponed some more or there’ll be some legal filings over some miniscule detail and maybe more legal delays and so on and so on..."
What should we put those odds at? 3-1? 4-1?
Nice job water "quality" guys... you seem to have a real firm grip on the situation. I can't tell you how much confidence that instills.
One more thing I meant to say:
Awesome report, Ann.
Dear Shark Inlet, Anonymous 12:21, and anyone else who may care to weigh in on the CDO question while having no direct personal experience, and I daresay, no knowledge personally of anyone who has lived every day with a proposed CDO since the end of January,
I, too, am a property owner in Los Osos who happens to be a CDO recipient. Allow me to say to people who couldn't even fathom what I'm talking about that this year has been rather difficult in the personal life department. Imagine being at the beck and call of an agency who, rather than following their own procedures for levels of enforcement, turn immediately to the hammer of CDOs in such timely coincidence with messages from certain Los Osos citizens to the Executive Officer of that board to mete out the most appalling punishment imaginable short of the dunking stool(no pun intended),the pillory, burning at the stake, or the guillotine, and to fine us out of existence, for good measure.
Have you read the new, improved CDO? Have you seen where the new, improved prosecution staff counsel has raised the stakes on the enforcement threat? Did you see where he has included the possibility of imposing an ACL level fine for discharging into the aquifer after January 1, 2010, of $5000/day? Maybe you saw where he threatens to refer us to the Attorney General for civil prosecution?
Now here you may be tempted to say, "Won't happen." I would ask how you know that - maybe you have an "in" at the water board. If so, clue us in and help us out, here. If CDO recipients fail to send in evidence and show up for their defense, they are considered by the board to have forfeited their defense, thereby in effect accepting the CDO. The end. No appeal.
This, despite the fact that those who have pumped voluntarily have already been told by water board staff that they have complied with the requirements. Still the hearings continue, postpone, continue, postpone, continue. Try planning your life around that.
You're probably right, though. We are nothing but a bunch of whiners, who might resort to baseless complaints to The Rock or, saints alive!, even the Tribune about the effects of living with weekly uncertainty about what plans we can make for how far in advance and wondering how long THE POWERS THAT BE can possibly drag this out.
If all goes well on December 14 & 15, the water board will have figured out a truly streamlined method to "process" the rest of the PZ, and you'll have your very own CDOs soon enough. When it's your turn, you can show the rest of us first 45 bellyaching, good-for-nothings how to truly suck it up and take it like a man.
I wish you were around on the first draw, so we could have had your example to follow LATER, when we got our own CDOs. In the meantime, like you right now, we could have been spending time with our families and friends and doing things we like to do without much thought to January 1, 2010, without much thought to those who are plowing the fields with their noses.
Ah yes, and don't forget it's perfectly fair and OK for the doomed 45 to bear the brunt of this sick twisting of justice while certain other residents that begged for this outcome sit idly by.
There is no redeeming value in anyone that supports the CDO's as administerd.
Anyone that dose is below contempt to me.
They at the least need to let the doomed 45 go! they have been "F--Ked" with enough!
To Anon above, you have my sympathy and support.
Right on Anon above. I bet Shark et al. would feel differently if their heads were on the chopping block. The RWQCB wastes so much of our time and money...might be right up there with the LOCSD huh Shark? Ya know what? I don't have a CDO (yet) but if I did I would b pissed off. My septic tank is in good repair and works great. The CSD might be screwed up (have been for lo these many years) but the engineering on my property IS NOT. I say let the County offer us some alternative sites so we can get on with it. I'm content with my septic tank but the powers that be are not. So be it. I sympathize with all CDO recipients. The people have a right to protest, to present their cases, etc. Look we're in this together. Take TRIW out of the mix and all this goes away. Build the facility somewhere else. Forget the CDOs. Please forget Matt Thompson (dweeb of the century). Stand up for the community. The sooner the better. If we delay we pay!!!
Oh ya. Ann great article, THANKS!
The RWQCB took action because the LOCSD stopped the project, not because Pandora, or anybody else, told them to.
They warned the community in early '05 that a change in political will (i.e. a recall) would not change their position about enforcement. Their biggest mistake was not that they targeted 45 PZ property owners, but that they didn't target all 4500 from the get go.
I will agree with Ann (must be a first) that a voluntary pumping and repair program should have been the first course of action, and one can only hope that's where they are headed now, but I will say this again to all who voted for the recall - you should have been more careful about what you wished for. You have nobody to blame for this mess but yourselves.
As for taking Tri-W out of the mix - only after I've been presented with a proven better alternative will I agree to that. If Tri-W is, in fact, the cheapest and most effective place to put it, so be it. Just get on with the process!
How would I feel had I received a CDO last Winter?
Pissed off at both the RWQCB for taking an action which I consider to be a bit too harsh and at the LOCSD board for taking unnecessary actions designed to antagonize the RWQCB.
In fact, like some CDO recipients, I would probably be far more angry with the LOCSD and my neighbors who voted in the group who had a platform which in my opinion was guaranteed to cause chaos and increased costs that at the RWQCB who has been patient for many many years so far, just waiting for us to get our act together.
Assuming that the RWQCB is the problem rather than the LOCSD is quite revealing ... it shows that one isn't willing to deal with the fact that this LOCSD board has made choices which have increased pollution, increased our costs and increased divisiveness in our community. To suggest otherwise is simply odd.
I am not saying that any of the lucky few is a whiner who deserves horrible punishment ... all in the PZ (besides Monarch Grove who has their own sewer system) deserve the same treatment and (in theory) all will get the same treatment.
Now ... back to the issue I raised ... how is the current CDO scheme any different from what Ann suggests would be a good thing (other than what Ann suggests isn't legal and that CDOs would be)?
Sharkey!!!! Don't you get it??
You wrote:
"deserve the same treatment and (in theory) all will get the same treatment."
It to late for "THEORY" They have already punished 45 familys for months!!
If you dont see this as a real problem then WHAT????
Ain't hindsight great? Shoulda - Coulda. I feel sorry for the 45. Murphy has made a strong case.
Who ever canme up with these water laws in the first place? You buy a home with a permitted septic tank by the county, and then the state tells you it is illegal and you are a stinking poluter after they pass a law. Didn't we fight a Revolutionary War over bills of Attainder?
The hell with theory, we need to get our neighbors out of trouble NOW.
Yes, Mike, you are correct! How do we get them out of trouble when the trouble has not started?
Perhaps the 45 have victimized themselves by considering themselves victims. Of course, the LOCSD BOARD and Gail McPherson have had nothing to do with producing this attitude.
This problem of CDOs will pass. If we are not on our way to a sewer system by 2010 better reserve your hunny hut. Or maybe NOT!
Shark Inlet said...
"Assuming that the RWQCB is the problem rather than the LOCSD is quite revealing ..."
I'm also assuming these RWQCB geniuses are the ones who were so carefully watching water quality in the Salinas Valley spinach fields that their diligence resulted in the deaths/illness of hundreds of people around the country. When it comes to water quality, I'm not sure these guys know what they are doing. Their recent track record in Salinas is fairly damning, not to mention the incompetence being displayed in the preparation of the delayed CDO hearings.
Inlet sez:"Essentially you (and everyone in Los Osos) should view this CDO as essentially the same as the letter you suggest ... "get your tank pumped soon if you haven't done so recently and every so often or bad things will happen to you."
No, a CDO is a legal process that puts on your property certain legal restrictions that can have adverse effects. If you had attended any of the PZLDF meetings (you DID attend them all even to help your friends and neighbors, didn't you?) you would have learned that CDOs are very, very different than simply getting a registered letter asking you do x & Y and only if you don't, THEN you'll be getting a CDO. Only a fool or a crazy person moves to DefCon 4 when DefCon 1 gets the job done.
Anonymous sez:"The RWQCB took action because the LOCSD stopped the project, not because Pandora, or anybody else, told them to.
They warned the community in early '05 that a change in political will (i.e. a recall) would not change their position about enforcement. Their biggest mistake was not that they targeted 45 PZ property owners, but that they didn't target all 4500 from the get go."
Interestingly, back when The Solutions Group formed the CSD and despite a clear report telling them that the RWQCB would NOT allow the Ponds of Avalon and the CSD Board went ahead anyway for two years Briggs did nothing, not even an ACL on the new CSD for the firehouse, Bayridge estates, etc. . Asked why, he replied, he was "trying to be helpful." That simply doesn't square with his telling Pandora he was preparing the CDOs even as they were emailing and even before the elction was certified. This is not neutral enforcement based solely on science.
Olso of interest, why didn't they put CDOs on the entire PZ? Well, let me guess: For one, that would have triggered lawyers from Ralphs, Starbucks, British Petroleum & etc to show up enmass to fight this since one "by product" of CDOs is anyone who has them on their property and business is forbidden from entering into business contracts worth more than $5,000 with the Federal Government which would mean ol' Starbucks couldn't sell their coffee on military bases or in commisaries, according to information presented at the various PZLDF meetings, which, Anonymous, you atteneded to help your friends and neighbors, DIDN'T YOU?
Inlet sez:"In fact, like some CDO recipients, I would probably be far more angry with the LOCSD and my neighbors who voted in the group who had a platform which in my opinion was guaranteed to cause chaos and increased costs that at the RWQCB who has been patient for many many years so far, just waiting for us to get our act together."
And now, for the most AMAZING miracle of all. At last night's CSD CAndidate's forum, NOT ONE OF THE GAZILLION CANDIDATES RUNNING STATED ON THE RECORD THAT THEY FAVORED TRI W. NOT ONE. Hello?
Ah, ahem, CDOer here. Excuse me, but I must interject, though I said months ago that my work was done. The comment above from Anonymous 11:51 PM begs a response from me. You, Anonymous 11:51 PM may go to the front of the line of probable proposed CDO recipients. From there I would direct you to: www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast
Then click on the Los Osos enforcement link. Once there you are sentenced to go through the mountains of paperwork that have been submitted by "proposed CDO" recipients in defense of themselves and their property. These documents are only the tip of the iceberg, of course. They do not include strings and strings of email correspondence with staff and board members via post and email. If we had not submitted this mountain of evidence, as you read about in the above message from a CDO recipient, we would have been considered to have agreed with the proposal, accepted it, and been willing to take the consequences. Those documents on file are only representative of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours spent researching RWQCB documents, attending meetings of Defendants (yes, that is our name -we also have a number; you will, too. Of course, you'll have a choice; you could also be called a Designated Party, if you like something a little more genteel.) The documents in themselves also do not include hours of one-on-one meetings between CDO defendants and water board staff, letters to legislators of all sorts, contact with lawyers, investigative journalists, and civil rights groups, along with lots of time spent talking to family, friends, and neighbors to try to drum up a scintilla of interest in the elephant on the table.
Proposed CDOs are the Best Kept Secret in Los Osos, given the time and attention paid to them by the media and the public in proportion to the impact they will have if imposed. The number of Interested Parties who come to our meetings has dwindled to less than a handful. People have lost interest. It's like Iraq. It just isn't a sexy story. But the struggle continues in the background constantly. Soon the evidence due last Friday ought to be posted. Then you'll have a chance to see what we've been up to LATELY.
By saying that "the fault...is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings" excuse me, there I go quoting Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" again when we're talking CDOs. What I meant was that your comments regarding your belief that we have a poor victim attitude and the implication that Gail McPherson has indoctrinated us to feel sorry for ourselves demonstrates an abysmally regrettable ignorance of the world we CDOers live in. I haven't met one CDO recipient who expresses self-pity. WE ARE TRYING TO SURVIVE THIS.
One thing I hear repeatedly from my fellows is that we are glad it's us and not someone less able to defend themselves, and that maybe the work we do will have a positive impact on those who come after us. Even when the water board struck everything from the previous hearing right back to issuance of CDOs many of our group said we would rather they continue with us and not some other group who would have to start from scratch. Of course, we had no worry there, since there was no ceremony about who they were going to prosecute. They simply continued with us, anyway, as though no order had been issued.
But no worry, you will have your chance soon. And if you think the trouble has not already started, you must be checking into this blog from France.
To the two CDO recipients above:
First, both of those posts are riveting.
Second, I can not find the words to express how much sympathy I have for your situation -- the paperwork, the shifting schedules, the uncertainty. That's gotta suck.
CDOer #2 wrote:
"One thing I hear repeatedly from my fellows is that we are glad it's us and not someone less able to defend themselves, and that maybe the work we do will have a positive impact on those who come after us."
That is such a beautiful attitude... sounds like there's hope for the community fabric of Los Osos after all.
To FBLG ...
Are you suggesting that the RWQCB should have tried to stop problems with water quality before they occured?
How do you suggest they do that? Fines and CDOs?
Sounds exactly like what they're doing in Los Osos to prevent water quality problems here yet you're complaining about their actions.
Which is it ... do you want the RWQCB to have power or not?
Ann,
The problem with your suggestion, the send us proof of pumping and we won't give you a CDO is that their is no formal mechanism for the RWQCB to send such a letter. The CDO itself, however, is about the same thing you're requesting.
If you want the RWQCB to have the ability to send legal threats which don't fall into the category broadly classified as CDOs you have to change the state (or federal, not sure) laws that govern the waterboard.
In fact, the CDO most recently proposed is doing the exact same thing you suggest ... but it is a year later than you would have preferred.
About none of the candidates saying that they favored TriW ... did any of the candidates, even a single one, say that they favored higher sewer bills? Not one? I guess that the candidates must all be opposed to out of town as well. Curious.
Ron,
I am annoyed by your crocodile-tears for the CDO recipients.
Don't you remember that for years you've been advocating the LOCSD take an antagonistic position toward the RWQCB? Don't you realize that the RWQCB has been clear for some time about the consequences of switching from TriW to another site? Don't you understand that the recall and Measure B which you supported have caused the CDOs?
Perhaps you don't feel that the recall had anything to do with it. I would suggest you look up the definition of proximate cause. One cannot blame the solutions group and the previous board for all the harm that people in Los Osos face now without also giving out blame to those who campaigned on a platform of stopping TriW and those who voted to stop TriW.
Ron Crawford's sympathy for the CDO recipients is his most shameless BS to date. (and that's saying a lot). CDO's are the best thing that can happen to Crawford, who has been touting antagonism and anarchy for years in Los Osos (safely, I might add once again, from his house in Santa Margurita). What better way to continue to demonize the RWQCB than to feign utter shock and indignity at the board, and insincere "sympathy" for the recipients. As if these people don't have enough to worry about, they have Crawford using their hardship for his own selfish vendettas.
Sharky said:
"Don't you remember that for years you've been advocating the LOCSD take an antagonistic position toward the RWQCB?"
and Anon said:
"What better way to continue to demonize the RWQCB than to feign utter shock and indignity at the board..."
Ahhhh, short-term memory loss... such a sad thing to witness.
Hey Sharky and Anon, back away from the bong and re-read some of my past stuff.
Problems with the Solution (I'll spare you the link) was basically a complete validation of what the RWQCB had been telling the CSD from 1998 - 2000. I was on their side! That's why Sorrel Marks of their office told me it was "one of the best stories" she's ever read on the subject, shortly after its publication.
I've consistently written that Briggs and Co. should have initially taken enforcement action the minute the Solution Group's plan failed in 2000. They didn't. I've also consistently written that Briggs and Co. should have taken enforcement action the minute the words "bait and switchy" came flying out of Commissioner Potter's mouth in 2004. They didn't.
Sharky and Anon, listen carefully. Over the years, I've been more Roger Briggs than Roger Briggs has been Roger Briggs!
Consider the following from my post on Oct. 18, 2005:
- - -
Let's pause for a moment and think about what transpired there, Roger. You tell Pandora and crew that partial sewering is out of the question, then, after wasting a year chasing a plan that you already know isn't going to work, Pandora and crew send you a version of that terrible plan, and it calls for partial sewering.
Talk about a snub!
The moment that first project report/waste-of-paper landed on your desk in 2000, you should have calmly picked up the phone, called Buel, and said, "fines are a-comin'."
Unfortunately, instead of making that phone call to Buel, which could have finally knocked some sense into the initial CSD board, you opted to pop out another softball letter reminding them that partial sewering of the prohibition zone is unacceptable.
That was your second blown opportunity to avert this disaster.
Amazingly, as you know Roger, there was one more.
After reading another softball letter from your office, Pandora, Stan, Gordon and Bruce promptly waste even more precious time chasing their dim plan and then sent you almost the exact same flawed project, that included partial sewering.
Un-friggin-believable.
Roger, when that second project report hit your desk, I have no idea how you resisted the urge to immediately grab a crow bar, drive down Los Osos Valley Road, walk up to the CSD office, pry open the door, ransack the office until you found the petty cash box, hold that box up to the faces of Pandora, Stan, Gordon and Bruce and say something like, "Consider this payment for fine number one-of-many, a--holes!"
- - -
Funny... and that is exactly what he should have done.
As for this line:
"... insincere "sympathy" for the recipients. As if these people don't have enough to worry about, they have Crawford using their hardship for his own selfish vendettas."
That is simply messed up. Selfish vendettas? What does that even mean?
Finally:
"... (safely, I might add once again, from his house in Santa Margurita)..."
Where would you prefer I do it from? Public meetings? I guarantee you, the first time I did that, you would say I was doing it just to get in front of the cameras -- an argument unfairly tossed at past Tri-Dub opponents. So, where should I do it from? A laptop at the Merrimaker? With a bullhorn on the corner of LOVR and SBB? Where? You tell me. (However, I must admit, of those two choices, I prefer the laptop at the Merrimaker.)
So Ron ... it seems that you are saying that because you believe that you are more clearly promoting water quality ... you are allowed to pretend that you have no responsibility to the people who followed your advice and were screwed because of it.
Nice. Sort of like W saying to the folks who voted for him and then lost a son in Iraq "um ... it's Al Qaida's fault ... nothing to do with me." Bullshit.
The folks who advocate a position (like the recall) should have the (effin') balls to at least stand up and take the credit or blame should things go well or poorly.
Don't get me wrong. I like a little sympathy as much as anyone. It's nice to be coddled now and then. My message, and presumably the message that the other CDO holder wrote, however, were not intended to garner sympathy. We can get that from each other and from our friends and families, though the wells are starting to go dry and most people - especially our neighbors - just pretend it's not happening and ask us about things like, how are we going to protect the citrus for the winter? They don't ask us how we're doing. Those who inadvertently blurt out "How are you?" don't actually expect us to tell them.
Though our messages may have been "riveting" for Ron, the fact that the comments have degenerated into sympathetic coos and the familiar screech of water and sewer blame, means that few out there get the point. Both of the most recent notes from CDOland have the same purpose as the message I wrote way back last spring. Giving you through these messages a glimpse of CDOmanship has only one purpose - to WAKE YOU UP.
SLAP!This is what you face,People.
It's been a long time... starting to look like going-on-a-year now, and the support for CDO recipients and interest in CDOs is dwindling, instead of growing. You know how water wears down rocks over eons? The water board understands this.
My messages have been about YOU and about the CDO that you will receive. It's about cluing yourselves in now, so it won't be such a burden when it finally descends and there's no time to lose, because the water board will have finally, by the time it's your turn, figured out how to "process" you efficiently.
Remember Cassandra, the prophet who was cursed to tell the truth that no one would believe? That's what it's like. Don't feel sorry for us. Just believe us.
Fifty years ago my parents and a few others fought a sewer battle in my home town, not because they didn't want a sewer, but because they knew environmental disaster was imminent from the plans the town had to put the sewer line right through a lake, bringing in tons of fill dirt to allow them to dig the trenches by pushing back the water with this dirt. My parents lost, local government prevailed, and the town has lived with the environmental impact of those expedient decisions ever since. The Powers That Be ruined a whole ecosystem, introducing by way of the fill dirt a noxious weed into the lake that spread faster than it could be eradicated. The fish and frogs "left."
Back then, my father wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper to try to wake up the sleepy, comfortable people of our very nice little town before disaster struck. It was the first time I had ever seen the phrase, "fat, dumb, and happy." He asked our neighbors not to settle for being that. But they DID settle for being that.
It's time to dust off that phrase again. Those who laughingly go from the video store to the pizza parlor, who spend their Saturdays sleeping in and going out for champagne brunch or entertaining guests, who figure that if they haven't seen anything about it in the papers since The Rock, then the CDO situation must be all fixed somehow, or maybe even gone away, those who, like Scarlett O'Hara, are simply not going to think about it, enjoy yourselves. But it's later than you think. Soon you won't be able to afford to be fat, dumb, and happy, because CDOs are coming for you. Believe me. And you will wish for those glory days when your lives were your own, when you could make plans.
Some of the CDO "facts" I've seen here in this comments section are amusing. Please don't wait till you get your very own CDO to begin the work of understanding the ramifications and the process. Learn about levels of enforcement; go to the RWQCB web site; communicate with the water board.
Don't feel sorry for me. I have my act together.
It's about you. It's about your life. Get a clue.
cdoer, thank you.
CDOer ... you seem pretty reasonable.
From your understanding, do you believe the TriW plan to be so bad that it is worth the fighting, the delay, the additional costs and additional pollution? In short, do you feel that TriW was so bad that you think the time you put into the CDO work has been worth it?
Shark Inlet sez:"Are you suggesting that the RWQCB should have tried to stop problems with water quality before they occured"
When Resolution 83=13 was passed, so was Resolution 83-12, legally opening the way for a Septic Maintenance District. Neither the County nor the original CSD NOR THE REGIONAL QUALITY CONTROL BOARD ever, EVER, required that be turnkeyed. If they had -- 20++ years ago -- they would have had all septic tanks on regular schedules, been able to discover and repair old, failing leach fields, those that hadn't actually stopped working, but were not working up to par, and so forth, thereby reducing the amount of pollution until a sewer could be built. Citizens for years have asked that all the entities create the Septic management District. Wasn't done. Could have been done. Could have been mandated years ago by the RWQCB. Didn't happen. WHY NOT?
Inlet also sez:"If you want the RWQCB to have the ability to send legal threats which don't fall into the category broadly classified as CDOs you have to change the state (or federal, not sure) laws that govern the waterboard.
In fact, the CDO most recently proposed is doing the exact same thing you suggest ... but it is a year later than you would have preferred."
A letter from RWQCB is no illegal threat. It would be a statement of a vote and a conclusion: That is, the staff reccomends and the Board as a whole meets and votes that they WILL require, as mitigation until the sewer's built, in the form of having every home in the PZ pump, inspect, repair as a requirement AFTER being served with a CDO and being found "guilty." In order to speed the CDO process, the letter merely notices the homeowners that IF they mitigate NOW, and offer proof that it's been done, their name won't go on the CDO list. If they don't, then they'll get a CDO and will have an opportunity to "defend" themselves & so forth, IF THEY CHOOSE TO DO SO. That would get a lot of septics fixed real quick, instead of what they're doing now which is endlessly dragging 45 people thorough hell without getting anything done that actually affects the groundwater.
Or, the RWQCB could -- finally -- insist that the county/and/or CSD turnkey the Septic Management District under their direct authority of 83=12. (Something the new CSD has been working on for over a year, with NO HELP from the RWQCB.)
Inlet also sez:"One cannot blame the solutions group and the previous board for all the harm that people in Los Osos face now without also giving out blame to those who campaigned on a platform of stopping TriW and those who voted to stop TriW."
What you fail to deal with here is the unequal regulatory treatment. When the original CSD stopped the county plan and spent two years working on a plan that the RWQCB had clearly stated BEFORE THE CSD ELECTION they wouldn't approve & etc, they did not issue CDOs or ACLs anything else, because Roger Briggs said he was "trying to be helpful/nice" No, "helpful/nice" for the recalled board though, even though thej enforcement regulations and options had remained UNCHANGED. Geese and ganders at work here with one man deciding, on his own, which gets which sauce? I have a real problem with that and so should you.
CDoer sez:"But it's later than you think. Soon you won't be able to afford to be fat, dumb, and happy, because CDOs are coming for you. Believe me. And you will wish for those glory days when your lives were your own, when you could make plans."
If Inlet had been attending the PZLDF meetings in order to SUPPORT HIS FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS WHO HAVE BEEN UNFAIRLY SINGLED OUT FOR CDOs, he might have been able to educate himself as well. He might be able to understand how dumb and wasteful these CDOs are. It might have occurred to him that he needed to ask himself why no businesses were served with CDOs in the initial 45. Why Ralphs or Vons didn't get a CDO. He might also understand there are far better ways to accomplish mitigation. He might actually have gotten off his duff and instead of wasting time yakking on this blog, could have written letters to the RWQCB, urging them to approach this in a way that would actually result in water mitigation rather than wasting a year shoving paper around. But Inlet apparently doesn't attend meetings, doesn't care to help himself and his neighbors. Nope. Too busy yakking on a blog.
Ohmygod, it's happening again!!! TriW-CDO...TriW-CDO...TriW-CDO
Okay, let me try it this way:
CDO-TriW...CDO-TriW...CDO-TriW
Sorry, Shark Inlet,getting you people ready for the end times and TriW do not go together.
My opinion on the TriW matter certainly doesn't matter in the grand scheme of what is out of my hands. I've learned a lot over this past several months about what is and is not within my control. I don't waste time or breath on the things that are not.
If TriW was the deciding factor in Roger Briggs's decision to lower the boom, oh well. It could have been any number of things along the way that might have made him mad enough to decide to institute enforcement. The water board has had all the choices all along. Please don't tell me how they were FORCED to enforce after the recall election, when they could have enforced at any time.
It's hard for me to get around the idea that "an agency" has lost patience or "an agency" has been forced to... . In this case, of course, it was Roger Briggs, who, for reasons of his own which will never come out, made a decision at a certain point in time, though he had lots of other opportunities to make that decision, had lots of opportunities to enforce the RWQCB's idea of clean water, using a variety of levels of enforcement with a variety of targets.
If it was ROGER who lost patience, why did he wait to lose patience till the recall election in conjunction with emails from certain people telling him to do what he did? That's a rhetorical question, by the way.
I'm not going to tangle myself up in wet knots over that. Roger knows the answer. He isn't telling. You can make TriW the reason, but your endlessly assigning blame to a particular event in time, when it was just one of a number of POSSIBLE triggers does not explain much nor shed much light on the fact that the water board gave passes for ages and chose THAT specifice time with THIS specific enforcement.
Hilariously and tragically, of course, to date the proposed CDOs have had no effect whatsoever on groundwater quality in this Zone.
But please, just go to the RWQCB web site, so you can see all the work it takes. Find out about the four separate schedules for hearing dates, so far, only one of which has actually come to pass. Given these four scheduled hearings, and given that no Designated Party or Defendant (you choose) has had an opportunity to present a defense, given that we are going on a year, given that they originally had scheduled a single day for the hearings and now have upped that total to two days, consider the quality of due process that awaits you and the cakewalk they still think this is going to be. Consider an appeal to the SWRCB, and following that an appeal to a real court. Consider how much of all our lives are going to be tied up in that and for how long. I'm sorry if I don't have time for your pointless TriW conversation. If you did what I have asked you to do, you would not, either.
I have a general question CDoer. Do you know how many of the 45 recipients are taking help from the CSD and McPherson and how many aren't? I was just wondering what the difference in approach is. Thanks.
Ann said:
Briggs said he was "trying to be helpful/nice"
Ann, I've seen you post that quote a few times now, but I don't know where it came from.
Was there some sort of public back-and-forth on that question that I missed? If so, who brought it up? Where was it?
The reason I ask is because, if that is, indeed, what he said, then that is a totally inappropriate response to a very, very important question.
Just trying to be nice? W-w-w-what is that? They knew it wasn't going to work!
"Nice?"
Hey Fred, sure I saw you drowning, but I thought I'd just be nice and not throw you a life vest so you could learn how to swim.
Yea, "nice."
CDOer said:
"My message, and presumably the message that the other CDO holder wrote, however, were not intended to garner sympathy."
I completely understand that, and I think that's a very cool take. However, you guys are going to get my sympathy anyway because, 1) I'm really lazy and that sounds like a lot of work, and 2) I can juggle three balls all day, but I can't juggle four balls for a second, and those CDOs sure do sound a lot like the fourth ball in the juggling act of life... something I think we can all sympathize with. (Well, with the possible exceptions of Shark Inlet, and the people that wrote those letters to Roger.)
CDOer
I appreciate your point of view that TriW doesn't matter because the past is in the past and that all you want is a quick, painless and easy resolution for yourself and for the rest of us.
However, I am unimpressed that with your knowledge level about the whole CDO issue you are unwilling to simply state what we all know ... the had the current LOCSD board not stopped the project, the CDOs would not have happened.
While Ann and Ron may want to argue for years about a variety of things, what it all boils down to from the point of view of the RWQCB is that the LOCSD has been under a mandate to construct a sewer and WWTF and that rather than doing so, they stopped construction, claiming to have a better plan. Without any evidence to show the RWQCB that they did have a plan (remember the ACL hearings), the LOCSD essentially chose to spit in the face of the RWQCB and say "I dare you to do anything to stop me."
Unwise.
As to the issues that Ann and Ron raise, I might be able to get to them later but a quick read suggests they are just issues they've raised in the past and that I've already addressed them and that they disagree with me but then I replied and they replied back and I got back to them but then no response ... so maybe it won't be worth the bother.
Ann,
When you tell us that various groups that could have created a septic tank management district and should have, it should be no surprise that the County didn't do anything with it ... their reason probably was that they were designing a sewer anyways, so why push STM? The LOCSD may have had the same attitude as well.
In any case, what about two years ago when the LOCSD finally got around to voting on forming such a district? Why did Lisa and Julie vote no? If it's such a good thing, it should be worth doing whether the district runs the trucks or the district contracts trucking services out to others.
You can talk all you want about "unequal regulatory treatment" ... unless the CDOs and fines are deemed "arbitrary and capricious" by a judge, you don't have a solid argument here. If the RWQCB has been patient and "kind" for some time now doesn't mean that they have to continue to be patient and "kind". When you consider that before the recall the RWQCB staff told us that a change in board membership and the passage of Measure B wouldn't constitute a reason for delay it is pretty clear that the current board, their hangers on and all those who voted for the recall and Measure B are at least in part to blame for the CDOs. [Don't get me wrong, I also think the RWQCB has been a bit heavy handed, but we certainly shouldn't argue that we were blindsided ... the actions we took as a community by stopping TriW required the RWQCB to act or lose all credibility.]
Three other things, Ann, on your above note.
First, you presume that the RWQCB could send such a letter as you suggest that threatens a CDO unless proof of recent pumping has been offered. You've offered us no proof that you are right. I raised doubts about the legality of the RWQCB sending out such a letter aside from a formal CDO at this point in time. You've not offered us anything that would suggest you have an understanding of the legal restrictions on the board. Even if there were the possability of sending the letter you suggest, I suspect that some would also argue about having to pump their tank at all and some would complain that forcing them to pump even once was unfair or undue burden or some such tripe.
Second, you seem to think that the first 45 have been unfairly targeted. If we'll all get CDOs and the first 45 are just the first ... there is nothing unfair at all. To argue that it isn't fair is to make the suggestion that the rest of us are not going to get CDOs. Not true.
Third, your comment about my not caring about my neighbors is um ... funny. You've been the one who has been advocating the things the LOCSD board has done and now we're up to our eyeballs in a horrible shit-storm. Ann, how can you honestly question my caring about my neighbors when you've been advocating moving the WWTF and thus raising all our bills? Your understanding off what is caring is obviously really biased. From my point of view, a caring person would have voted against the recall and thus no CDOs would have occured.
Oh, for God's sake all of you, get a grip.
Pump your damned septics.
Wait for further instructions.
Why do the citizens of Los Osos STILL think they have a say? They relinquished it when they elected the foolish five, who proceeded to totally p*ss away the entire District.
So, you and your in-denial neighbors should just do as you are told, and wait for the County to come in and make those decisions that the slim majority of you, who voted in the jokers, have allowed to fritter away all your rights. You have no one to blame except yourself.
Los Osos has proven itself to not be capable of governing itself.
Let the nice County take over, kiddies. You have no other choice.
Ron sez:"Ron said...
Ann said:
Briggs said he was "trying to be helpful/nice"
Ann, I've seen you post that quote a few times now, but I don't know where it came from."
It came from testimony from Roger -- under oath -- at either the ACL hearing or the first "official" CDO hearing. Both those were taped. It was an astonishing answer. But did illustrate what some posters seem to be in denial about: Decisions are made by PEOPLE, not by some mechanical, neutral rote. And decisions can be smart or dumb or biased or just plain bad. With no oversight of the Board, no checks and balances in place, you end up with 45 people singled out for an endless round of hell for no good reason, a complete waste of a whole year, an action that has had NO mitigation impact on the groundwater, even though the RWQCB claims that that's the point of the CDOs & etc. It's insane.
Inlet sez:"Even if there were the possability of sending the letter you suggest, I suspect that some would also argue about having to pump their tank at all and some would complain that forcing them to pump even once was unfair or undue burden or some such tripe."
People who wish to ignore the RWQCB's request are free to do so. They can get the first CDOs. Considering that I'd be willing to bet that most people in town would, indeed, pump, inspect, repair, since that's a reasonable thing to do and should have been done via a Septic Management District all along, the number of people left would be small and issuing CDO's on them would be a far easier process.
Inlet also sez:"Second, you seem to think that the first 45 have been unfairly targeted. If we'll all get CDOs and the first 45 are just the first ... there is nothing unfair at all. To argue that it isn't fair is to make the suggestion that the rest of us are not going to get CDOs. Not true."
Because the CDOs were utterly screwed up and so poorly thought out (tht mad pumping scheme was utterly crazy, a result of sloppy planning and zero research) because the CSD's lawyers argued successfully that the case may be in legal jeopardy becasue the "prosecuters" (staff) and the "judges"(Board)were in too close cahoots, thereby creating a natural bias that wouldn't be allowed in a "real" court & etc. the Board dumped the whole original case and started over. BUT, they didn't really start over. They forced the 45 to do everything twice. Unless they plan to make everyone else in town do everything twice, they have indeed unfairly singled out those 45 people.
As for Inlet's "sympathy", how many meetings of the Los Osos 45 did you attend, did you help Shipe and Moylan distribute information packets to the community? Did you donate to the legal fund? Did you do anything to actually help the Los Osos 45? Write a lettter to the Regional Board? State water board? Something? Anything?
It was bound to happen. After so many scheduled CDO hearing dates, they finally set a date that we cannot possibly make. Hanging out on pins and needles (mixed metaphor, I know...if I didn't have a proposed CDO on my mind, I would do better) waiting for the appointed days to descend from the sky, we breathed a sigh of relief when we got the email announcing the November dates. Though they set the hearings a week apart, still no scheduling conflict there, except, of course, the conflict with needing to be at work and having to use some of my Personal Necessity Days to sit yet again for hours and hours at pointless public expense instead of working with my students.
Then they postponed and rescheduled, again. In horror I discovered that this time they had set dates in December that we cannot possibly make. We have a legitimate and irreconcilable scheduling conflict. Having written immediately to Michael Thomas, we got a reply saying he would be out of the office for 30 days, but that our message would be forwarded to the chairman for consideration. To date we have received no word from Mr. Young. Considering that he stated to my husband in May that he knew how we CDO recipients feel, perhaps we can presume that he knows how we feel now and will act in accordance, but I doubt it.
Though I realize that we are down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass and on borrowed time, etc., I still can't help feeling that fist in my stomach, wondering what they will do now.
This is just another day in the life of a CDO recipient. These CDOs impact lives. It will impact your life.
You could be pro-active, though. You have the opportunity we didn't have to head this whole CDO process off at the pass by getting informed at the water board web site, by getting involved in advance of your prosecution. The web site is listed in a CDO post above. There's lots to read. Talk to CDO recipients. Their names and personal contact information are public record - yours will be, too. Many CDO recipients much smarter than I have lots of information to share. What would the water board do with a whole PZ communicating that they know what this board is up to and won't stand for it? What would happen if all the people to be impacted by the outcome of this initial CDO process showed up at the hearings and demanded that the board follow its own procedures of levels of enforcement? No time? We don't have time either. But we have no choice. You won't either. Make a choice to get involved to help yourselves before you have no choice.
The water board targeted a tiny group on purpose. The lack of knowledge and lack of interest by the press and general public proves that this method has been successful. I asked them to send a postcard to everyone in the PZ to inform them that they are on the list, that they are next. It's only fair to the community. The chairman stated at the April 28th hearing that, since news of the PZ has been in the newspapers over the years, the public has been sufficiently informed. He made this statement concurrent with the contention that "reasonable people" agree that you cannot use newspaper accounts as evidence, because they are "unreliable" because they are merely "hearsay."
An uninformed public is an easily controlled, easily frightened, easy target. Get informed. It's your life. You can't put it off forever, hoping we'll fix it for you. The agency that is prosecuting us is also adjudicating. When you find yourself sitting in the the defendants' dock at your hearing it will be too late.
Please don't ask me any questions about Tri W. I don't know anything about cost analysis. Also, please don't ask me about how other CDO recipients feel or think, or how they are proceeding, whether with help or not and how it's going. Ask them yourselves.
Thank you,
Bev. De Witt-Moylan
It was bound to happen. After so many scheduled CDO hearing dates, they finally set a date that we cannot possibly make. Hanging out on pins and needles (mixed metaphor, I know...if I didn't have a proposed CDO on my mind, I would do better) waiting for the appointed days to descend from the sky, we breathed a sigh of relief when we got the email announcing the November dates. Though they set the hearings a week apart, still no scheduling conflict there, except, of course, the conflict with needing to be at work and having to use some of my Personal Necessity Days to sit yet again for hours and hours at pointless public expense instead of working with my students.
Then they postponed and rescheduled, again. In horror I discovered that this time they had set dates in December that we cannot possibly make. We have a legitimate and irreconcilable scheduling conflict. Having written immediately to Michael Thomas, we got a reply saying he would be out of the office for 30 days, but that our message would be forwarded to the chairman for consideration. To date we have received no word from Mr. Young. Considering that he stated to my husband in May that he knew how we CDO recipients feel, perhaps we can presume that he knows how we feel now and will act in accordance, but I doubt it.
Though I realize that we are down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass and on borrowed time, etc., I still can't help feeling that fist in my stomach, wondering what they will do now.
This is just another day in the life of a CDO recipient. These CDOs impact lives. It will impact your life.
You could be pro-active, though. You have the opportunity we didn't have to head this whole CDO process off at the pass by getting informed at the water board web site, by getting involved in advance of your prosecution. The web site is listed in a CDO post above. There's lots to read. Talk to CDO recipients. Their names and personal contact information are public record - yours will be, too. Many CDO recipients much smarter than I have lots of information to share. What would the water board do with a whole PZ communicating that they know what this board is up to and won't stand for it? What would happen if all the people to be impacted by the outcome of this initial CDO process showed up at the hearings and demanded that the board follow its own procedures of levels of enforcement? No time? We don't have time either. But we have no choice. You won't either. Make a choice to get involved to help yourselves before you have no choice.
The water board targeted a tiny group on purpose. The lack of knowledge and lack of interest by the press and general public proves that this method has been successful. I asked them to send a postcard to everyone in the PZ to inform them that they are on the list, that they are next. It's only fair to the community. The chairman stated at the April 28th hearing that, since news of the PZ has been in the newspapers over the years, the public has been sufficiently informed. He made this statement concurrent with the contention that "reasonable people" agree that you cannot use newspaper accounts as evidence, because they are "unreliable" because they are merely "hearsay."
An uninformed public is an easily controlled, easily frightened, easy target. Get informed. It's your life. You can't put it off forever, hoping we'll fix it for you. The agency that is prosecuting us is also adjudicating. When you find yourself sitting in the the defendants' dock at your hearing it will be too late.
Please don't ask me any questions about Tri W. I don't know anything about cost analysis. Also, please don't ask me about how other CDO recipients feel or think, or how they are proceeding, whether with help or not and how it's going. Ask them yourselves.
Thank you,
Bev. De Witt-Moylan
Ann,
Can you verify that it would be legal for the RWQCB to send out CDOs to exactly those who didn't offer up formal proof of recent pumping when it was suggested that they do so?
You see, the RWQCB cannot reqire proof of pumping be offered without a formal process (a CDO would be one such path). But if they can't legally require proof of pumping, to send out CDOs to only those who didn't offer such proof would be arbitrary and capricious and most definitely illegal.
You idea is an interesting one but like I've said a few times, it may have some process problems.
Is your chief complaint about the CDOs that the folks who were selected didn't have their cases dropped and a new group of 50 chosen? Again, it might not be that easy. It might be the case that this would case process problems. We don't know.
Lastly, your presumption that one can best help the CDO recipients by attending meetings or promoting the notion that they fight the RWQCB is iteresting when it is your writings that in part have caused many to believe that the recall was safe and wouldn't result in any harm. Who are you to suggest that I am not sympathetic just because I disagree with you? Sounds like you are stacking the deck a bit. Again, I would suggest it is you who doesn't care about your neighbors because you've downplayed the costs associated with the recall and moving the WWTF location.
Have you ever made it clear to your readers that the recall will be costly and that our sewer bills are going to increase? Have you even hinted that this is a possibility? Have you done anything to alert readers to the reality of our financial situation?
I didn't think so.
Bev,
I do have to say that I agree with Young to some extent. Anyone reading the Tribune with any regularity since the recall (or since the formation of the CSD) should know darn well that the first 45 are just the first and that they are next. Even if newspapers are do not meet the legal standard for evidence in a trial, they do meet the legal standard for informing the public.
I would also suggest that your suggestion that the RWQCB picked 45 just to keep us ignorant and afraid is without evidence. It might be better to ascribe to Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." Simply put, the RWQCB may be using the first 45 just to iron out wrinkles in the process.
They've stated many many times that we'll all get the CDO and that they picked 45 to start with just to get the ball rolling.
What good can come of demonizing the RWQCB and Young? Especially when you have no evidence of any impure motive for the RWQCB actions.
I guess that's why I've wondered how many CDO recipients are working in conjunction with the CSD and Gail McPherson. For although I respect Bev and Bill and do feel badly for their travails in this fiasco,(knowing very m uch I'm next in line), I do notice they are actively aligned with the CSD (campaiging for Senet and Cesena, and I assume voting for the recall) and wonder how much that colors their feelings about the RWQCB and this whole process. And although I've learned quite a bit about the process from them, I'd also like to hear from a recipient who might not be so jaded and accusatory toward the water board; who maybe sees the responsibility of this mess as equally shared between the water board and the current CSD's actions over the past year since the recall.
This does raise an interesting question.
If before the recall, the RWQCB said something to the effect of "if you recall the majority and the new board stops the project we'll view this as intentional delay" and if before the recall the Dreamers say "if you recall the majority and the new board stops the project we'll be fined and bad stuff will happen" and if before the recall, the recall candidates and Ann and Julie say "if you recall the majority and the new board stops the project nothing bad will happen" I find it curious that anyone would complain about the RWQCB actions but not complain about the folks who lied to them (Ann, Julie and the recall candidates).
Odd that Julie and the recall candidates have never owned up to their pre-recall rhetoric and Ann has never admitted that our CSD now has huge debt and that inflation makes projects more expensive.
While I can definitely understand rage toward the RWQCB, they definitely did warn us in advance, those who are angry at only the RWQCB but not at those who lied to to get votes for the recall seem to simply not be paying attention.
Why someone would trust Gail (who didn't aparantly tell the truth) but not the RWQCB (who didn't lie at all) is beyond me.
Damned straight, Shark Inlet.
Those old gals thought everyone has a short memory. Not so.
We ALL remember that these "ladies" endorsed the "soothsayer" crap of, "No fines!! No loss of the SRF loan!!
We have a plan!!" What they failed to add is that they were full of B*llsh*t.
Inlet sez:"Can you verify that it would be legal for the RWQCB to send out CDOs to exactly those who didn't offer up formal proof of recent pumping when it was suggested that they do so?"
Excuse me? Is your dialing or typing finger broken? Call or email Harvy Packard and/or Jeff Young yourself. The Board has a variety of things it can do if it wishes. Roger Briggs started the CDO proceedings. When it became clear that they were running into "real-world" legal trouble, they dumped everything to "start over," but didn't really start over. If you had been watching and getting their info (as a "interested party," you DID sign on as an interested party, DIDN'T you?) you would see that the Board does anything they want and makes stuff up as they go along.
Inlet sez"You idea is an interesting one but like I've said a few times, it may have some process problems."
If you had been looped in you would understand that the Board invents whatever process they wish, then change it at whim. So, they don't HAVE process problems, they MAKE process problems (for others).
Inlet also sez:"Lastly, your presumption that one can best help the CDO recipients by attending meetings or promoting the notion that they fight the RWQCB is iteresting when it is your writings that in part have caused many to believe that the recall was safe and wouldn't result in any harm. Who are you to suggest that I am not sympathetic just because I disagree with you?"
Horse pucky. The community was put at risk the moment the old CSD started pounding gazillions into the ground before the recall and certain people started emailing Roger little billet doux to fine them out of existence & etc, while others started writing letters to the SWB for behind the scenes deals & etc.What I have repeatedly written is that this train wreck dind't have to happen, ever. You need to go back to re-read my columns, the one's constantly titled, "Oh, Lucy, Joooo Gotta Lotta 'Splainin' To Do," each of them a warning bell that things were going wrong. There were critical points, that had the community been even reading my columns, which I doubt they were, they would have heard the bells and could have moved to avert this disaster. You wish to shoot the messenger, but forget the messenger was waving red flags all along.
As for "sympathy," I did not "presume" anything. I ASKED --What did YOU do to help The Los Osos 45? It's clear to me that the answer to that is: Nothing.
Horse pucky. The community was put at risk the moment the new CSD stopped the construction at TriW without first considering what damage it would do to our environment and pocketbooks.
Your suggestion that fighting the idiocy of the current CSD isn't aimed at helping the "Los Osos 45" (or the Los Osos 4500) isn't doing anything just reveals your bias. You're telling us that if we don't all sign on as designated parties fight the CDOs and go to PZLDF meetings that we're not helping. Maybe what Los Osos needs some folks tho can do some financial calculations and consider the question of how to get the most affordable WWTF built the soonest to stop the ongoing pollution of our groundwater instead of just having all of us go to meeting after meeting after meeting and writing blog after article after blog about the evils of the RWQCB.
Along those lines, Ann. What have you done to help our community with the sewer issue? Have you published commentary that questions the wisdom of stopping a sited, permitted and funded project? Have you gone to meetings and demanded the LOCSD directors produce financial statements that show the current state of the books before agreeing to pay BWS and Willdan and Ripley? Have you ever argued that we shouldn't be spending money we don't have but that instead a 218 vote should be taken to raise money to pursue the goal of moving the sewer? If you haven't done these things, I would suggest that in addition to having hurt the "Los Osos 45", you have hurt our community.
Your actions have caused the LOCSD to lose control of the project and to go bankrupt. Your focus on the process of site selection and your dislike of the TriW site have blinded you to the realities here. Our costs have been going up and up and up even while you're arguing that the TriW plan was unaffordable. The continued pollution and saltwater intrusion in our aquifers becuase of the delay in the project are making it more and more likely that we'll have to take state water at great expense.
I used to know a guy who, no matter what you said to him, always responded, "Do you have a white raincoat?" But he had a diagnosis.
Nice try, Bev. I'm cashing in my chips and goin' home, myself. My work here is done - again, and for the last time. When someone actually implies that a CDO recipient who dared to sign her name actually DESERVED it somehow because of her perceived politics, we all might as well hang it up.
Not that I necessarily agree with your politics, but you've got a right to them, whatever they are - and to speaking out about your CDO. Honestogod, it sounded to me as though you were trying to help.
Believing that one of these "participants" might actually have responded with a "You're right. I should look at the water board web site just to try to help myself,let alone try to help everyone else," was really naive. But you sure can't be blamed for giving it a try. Don't feel bad. I didn't get it across, either.
Imagine a real CDO recipient with a real name telling you what actually happens to real people when the water board fakes it and her getting told she's mistaken about their motives. Too bad these people are never going to get to experience the Lori Okun sneer.
Puleez. Splitting hairs over motives is not the point here. But I give up, Bev. You should, too.
It's my experience that people who are confused, weren't paying attention, or didn't understand, tend to respond with either a blank stare or by trying to shift the topic to something they think they know about. That gives them a sense of control. When you're in charge, you know what's going on. When you think you know what's going on, you feel okay.
Au revoir.
Churadogs, Churadogs.
Whatever are we to do with you?
Since WHEN is proceeding with an approved and funded project considered, "the old CSD started pounding gazillions into the ground before the recall"
How about chastizing the NEW Board for hoodwinking 51% of Los Osians by telling them, "We have a plan!! We won't lose the SRF loan!! We won't be fined!!"
This was pure, refined, high-grade, industrial-strength b*llsh*t. You know it, I know it, the entire county of San Luis Obispo knows it, and, deary, the big guns in Sacramento know it also.
So if you want to paint a pretty face on this Board, (Hey, maybe the Red Sewer-Dragon Lady can help you!!) go right ahead, but everybody knows better.
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