Curtains Up For The RWQCB’s Production of “Torquemada’s Mad Hatter Tea Party & Traveling Auto-de-fe Beheading, Part Uh, I’ve Lost Count, CDO Show Trial” for the last of The Los Osos 45, with over 4,655 Left To Go, Monday, January 22 at 1 pm. at the RWQCB headquarters on Aerovista Place in SLOTown.
Press release from PZLDF (Prohibition Zone Legal Defense Fund)
CONTACTS:
Gail McPherson, Alan Martyn PZLDF
805.459.4535 Mcp@charter.net
The Regional Water Board is continuing enforcement hearings against homeowners
Monday January 22, 2007 begin at 1:00 PM. at 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, San Luis Obispo.
5000 properties are required to stop using their septic tanks or face stiff consequences.
The Water Board targeted the first 45 of 4700 homeowners last year in a regulatory 'test case' after the $163 Million Los Osos sewer project was stopped by voters. The Water Board contends that the use of Septic Tanks in Los Osos has been illegal since 1988.
All homeowners and businesses must stop use of Septic Tanks by hooking up to a wastewater plant or propose alternatives. But there is not plant available, and Individuals who face the enforcement orders say it is wrong to target individuals for government failures. Enforcement action could result in a regulatory taking of property and undermine current actions to deliver a project.
Individuals can't build a project alone. They say they have already done everything possible to comply with the order, including pumping tanks to insure they are working properly, voting and paying for a sewer assessment, and have agreed to hook up when a project becomes available. Enforcement orders can destroy property values, and individuals may have to consider installing individual treatment systems on their own lots, even though the water board as refused to approve them in the past.
Public officials have been asked to testify that enforcement is counter-productive and can undermine the county project. Among representatives requested : Assemblyman Blakeslee who put in place the legislation to move a project forward, Bruce Gibson, supervisor for the area, and Paavo Ogren, the new project coordinator.
The public is encouraged to attend.
-End-
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60 comments:
The heart of the matter is WHY IS THERE NO SEWER for individuals to connect?
Ask Lisa, Julie and the 3
Ask Al
Ask Joey
Ask Keith
WHY IS THERE NO SEWER?
Ask Roger Briggs
Why is there no sewer?
The RWQCB is an ENFORCEMENT agency.
The CSD was building a sewer to prevent the need for enforcement.
Lisa, WHY did YOU stop the sewer?
Well, I'm not Lisa but I imagine her answer would be...because my constituents wanted us to try to do some other kind of sewer project. By the way, placing blame on one individual is really, really lame. It's like blamimg Pandora. She was trying to help as well. Unfortunately she got stuck at TRI W and the rest is history. We'll see if the new board gets as stuck as the "Solutions Group".
Wait a minute. Are you saying that JOEY has the power to stop a sewer? If that's the case then no wonder he hangs around here so much!
Why don't we ask Bruce Buel, Jon Seitz, and the recalled CSD why there's no sewer. They sure know why. The RWQCB should fine them if they want to fine someone. Hey, for that matter, they should be fining themselves or their boss, the State Water Board. NOT HOMEOWNERS!
Besides, there is no PZ. The RWQCB has no right to fine people for something that they have no control over.
Because everyone pays in the "District" I mean EVERYONE, THERE IS NO PZ.
At least Lisa said at the last CSD meeting, that the State & Federal government have to pay too for a wastewater project! It's their bay we're going to pay to clean. EVERYONE PAYS ACCORDING TO BENEFIT!!! That includes the state and federal government.
Some want us to forgive Pandora? We should forgive and forget that she asked the RWQCB to fine the hell out of the people in Los Osos. Yeah, right! Dream On!
Gail said in her press release that the project was stopped by the voters. What is she talking about?
Why is she trying to scare everyone?
If you are scared by Gail McPherson you need to get a life.
Well, change only happens when change happens. So, we forgive Pandora and we forgive Lisa. And we get on with it. See what I'm saying?
Anon @ 6:08PM,
Gail is saying that the RWQCB can take your home in her press release. You don't think that going to scare people? You must be a renter!!
Gail is scarey, she got Los Osos into the mess that we're in by giving the CSD nothing but bad advise. She's worked long and hard, some might say, but what has she accomplished? Scarey.
I don't know if the community can forgive Pandora for what she's done.
As far as Lisa, many of her supporters can't forgive her for her stupid mistakes and spending the CSD out of existence on bad lawyers and consultants. She has lost a lot of support. Take a look at the CSD meetings. Who shows up? The same old few.
We'll see....
I wonder what the Lisa "constituents" would have said to the choice - NO SEWER or $100 for a sewer.
I still believe that many feel we really have no need for a sewer, or that the environment is really not suffering, or they don't care about the environment, or they simply want to continue their free ride.
This is why we have CDO's CAO's - plus, any "citizen group" can initiate lawsuits and stop the sewer project. The "hook-up" documents act as insurance for completing a project.
I have no idea where Gail's poll of "most people want a sewer" came from, and no one has stepped up to clarify where that took place.
It is a sane move to forgive Pandora and Lisa, but that is not where the problem lies.
I've asked this before, but what does the "Gail" group think shoud be done to guarantee that a WWTF will be built?
No matter which twists the sewer saga takes, I'm just glad to see Tacker getting upset and storming out of meetings.
I believe that if the county provides a proper 218 in the right order and picks the right project, a WWTF will be built.
For the RWQCB to fine the people, it shows electioneering for a "yes" 218 vote. There is NO OTHER REASON to fine homeowners. They can't build a sewer. Only the county can.
The county can do the right thing or the wrong thing. It's up to them, not the homeowners of L.O.
I disagree with the last poster. The County will present a menu of options and it is up to the voters to accept or reject that menu. Period. No more excuses.Enough is enough. A whole generation of bitching over a sewer, for God's sake!
To anon above:
I disagree with you! The county will give options AFTER the 218 -- WRONG ORDER -- IT'S TOO LATE AFTER THAT -- IT WILL NOT BE UP TO THE VOTERS!
Once they vote on a 218, the county can put in any project they want. THAT'S ALL THE COUNTY NEEDS, is that "yes" on a 218.
They've made it VERY clear in the past that it WILL BE GRAVITY. The BOS wants Tri-W for Pandora. The State Water Board needs Tri-W to get their $6 million back. The RWQCB wants Tri-W because they've said so all along. The realtors and developers want Tri-W so the bill is so high for homeowners that most have to leave and they can build and develop to their hearts' content.
Yeah, right, the voters will decide... What are you smoking?!?
YOU SAY BITCHING OVER A SEWER -- NO, NO, IT'S PROTECTING OUR HOMES AND TRYING TO KEEP THEM. Sorry you don't think our live's savings is important. I do.
Well anon 9:30, suppose having to acquire property and a new design and new permits makes out of town more expensive than Tri-W. Still want ot out of town?
To Anon above,
It can be done, and cheaper and better. Out of town is much better, any plant that won't spill into the bay is better. Any collection system that's not sure to fail is better. Any WWT that's less expensive is better. Any system that isn't an energy hog is better. Any system that is sustainable is better. Any system that doesn't have obscene O & M costs is better, and on and on.
Still want to force half the town out of their homes?
To Anon above, 11:24 PM, January 21, 2007
We've heard that crap for 2 years and when the CSD had the deck stacked the way they wanted, it turned out that there was NO PLAN. There is no out of town site. There were no cost figures, there was no thoughtout property location.
You really don't know what you are talking about when you talk about costs. If you had a PLAN, then you would have actually presented it to the community. Do you know that ANY treatment plant location could be shown to have a possibility of overflowing into the bay? Do you know every waste water treatment facility within 50 miles of the coast could possibly leak into the ocean? You did not and still do not have a PLAN, only a dream which has caused only delay and a hell of a lot more money to each and every one of us. Tell us, what was your plan, tell us how it was cheaper and better to put it out of town.
But you can not! You only fought a legal battle that did cost us real dollars and now the CSD is BROKE, BUSTED, BANKRUPT.
YOU are forcing us out of our homes by your obstruction and delays! You do not know what you are talking about! All you have is only emotional bleating about cheaper and faster. Thank God that the County and State have taken this away from the LOCSD!
Anonymous said:"Gail said in her press release that the project was stopped by the voters. What is she talking about?
Why is she trying to scare everyone?"
Did "anonymous" miss the Measure B vote and the Recall vote? The measure B vote is particularly interesting. If I understand right, it was voted in and as such, until it is officially certified as being "illegal" by the courts (through the appeals) it remains "law on the books" and as such must be obeyed by elected officials, and, again if I understand right, the CSD is required by law to . . defend the laws against people seeing to overturn them, so they were required to defend Measure B -- never mind that the majority of the newly elected board may have supported Measure B, they were now, as sworn in officials required to legally defend it) . Hence, once B passed, even though it was being contested, it was still a law that the CSD had to abide by. And part of that law said no sewer plant near schools, churches, & etc. So, What to do? Break the law and continue building Tri-W or stop everything until Measure B can be sorted out? If you stop everything until the law can be sorted out, are you "stopping" a project or simply putting everything on hold until the law can be clarified? If you're not stopping but holding, are your contracts not still in force? If they are in force and someone stops legally agreed to payments, are they in breach? If they're in breach and their witholding monies causes a whole cascade of problems, aren't they legally liable for all that? If the CSD had ignored Measure B and moved ahead with Tri W, could they be sued for violating the law? Would a judge have to issue an injunction to stop them from proceeding? If so, then who "stopped" the project, the judge? The CSD? The voters? The State WAter Board? and so forth.
As for "scaring people" Anonymous needs to read the various morphing forms of the CDOs the RWQCB's been working on. Failure to comply includes criminal penalties, including jail time and ginormous fines, (RWQCB Chairman Young has airly dismissed such possibilities, but he has NO AUTHORITY to make such a dismissal; it's in the statutes and can be turn-keyed anytime anyone wishes to turn-key it) Also, the Hobson's Choice the Board has set up means abandonment of your home if by 2011 the county fails to have a project underway or done (and the RWQCB alone determines what "underway" means. That alone should scare everyone to death, giving the likes of Rogetr Briggs the ability to define what he means by "making progress," especially in light of Bruce Buel's testimony that the original Time Schedule Order under which the old project labored was . . . UNREASONABLE . . . and it was that "unreasonable" TSO that helped drive the Tri-W sewer off the tracks.) . If "Anonymous" wants to be "scared," he/she needs to start reading the RWQCB's website, all the posted info there. And pay particular attention to how the RWQCB is manipulting the language. (That alone is reason enough for people to get off their butts and contribute to PZLDF since it's "language" -- legal language and language that morphs from one hearing to the next, the constantly moving target that nobody should believe is "real" until it's put down in unchangeable form and vetted by an attorney, and even then, caveat! -- that will be where the rubber meets the road.
Anonymous sez" Some want us to forgive Pandora? We should forgive and forget that she asked the RWQCB to fine the hell out of the people in Los Osos. Yeah, right! Dream On!"
Well, here's a thought: What was used in South Afica; the Truth & Reconciliation Hearings. A good place to start is Ron Crawford's blogsite to track the path of this project from the beginning. Then, what's needed are some honest answers to some key questions. maybe then the community could see where things began to go wrong and why. I won't hold my breath that that will happen, but one thing people should really keep in mind is this: The SYSTEM is set up to push things in one direction only. That is why the analogy I've used of a train is apt. Once you engineer your end point, exactly where you lay your first line of track is critical. From that point on EVERYTHING consipires to keep you going towards that end point. Unlike a (car) road, you can't quickly and tightly and willy-nilly move train tracks around when you come to large obstacles. Worse, THE SYSTEM conspires to block ANY attempt to change direction or stop to consider options. (Remember the constand headlines of FINES! FINES! FINES! that would shriek out everytime the County or CSD looked like they had run into a problem; remember early on the videotape of the original Board being told by Buel that, yes, they didn't have proper science to choose a disposal site but they had to vote to pick the site that evening or risk FINES! FINES! FINES! from the RWQCB. Wht the hell kind of "system" sets up THAT kind of stupidity -- pick something even though you don't have the science or geology to know if it'll work simply because it fits some made up time schedule? That's a guarantee of failure down the line.)
Meanwhile, everything and everybody (The System) has a gun to your head saying MOVE FORWARD -- even though you're heading for a cliff.
There is a reason Ron Crawford made his droll observation that Regulatory Agencies exist to prevent things like Los Osos from happening. We are dealing here with a SYSTEM failure as well as a human failure, since a series of humans made decisions that had consequences, from the original failure to inform the citizens prior to the CSD formation election that the Ponds of Avalon at $e5 a month would never fly, to dropping the original plan to go back to the community to rethink the whole shebang, to the absolute refusal to stop clinging to the center of town once the Ponds had failed & etc, all the way through the Coastal Commission Bait & Switchy to the emails begging the RWQCB to "fine the CSD out of existence" to Shirley Bianchi's behind-the-scenes letter to the SWB clearly implying that she was standing ready to bypass the duly elected CSD and would help "take the project" away, thereby sending a message that she considered the CSD an illegitimate body that could be secretely bypassed, to the CDO Mad Pumping Scheme that was so scientifically sloppy that it was an embarrassement. The list goes on and on and on.
But if you start making that list and step back you'll see a whole series of interlocked decisions by many players that ensured that this train would go off the cliff. No one player is responsible because no one single decision caused the wreck, BUT all of those decisions linked together ensured a disaster. And, as I've said, THE SYSTEM ensured no breathing room, no change, Move along! Move along! FINES! FINES! FINES! we don't care if you're heading for a cliff. Not our job. Move along.
"The list goes on and on and on."
Funny Ann, but your list never, NEVER contains the incredibly stupid and destructive decisions and actions by the recalled board this past year that have resulted in dire consequences for all Los Osos homeowners in the PZ. Why is that Ann?
Ann, if you and Ron see this so clearly, then why are so may others so blind? I would think you would have the same arguments against the IRS.
No Ann, there was no train wreck until our CSD threw the switch and deliberately ran the train off the tracks just to show that they didn't like the view. You have just been trying to justify that decision with every smoke and mirror diversion that pops up between your ears.
Most of us can see that the Water Boards are there to enforce laws we and our representatives made to protect our water. It has been the obstructionists who have made this a fight most of us do not want. It is you who have made the laws so restrictive as to force the move along direction. Blame yourself for the making of laws that are unbending. You probably don't get it, but in your search for a perfect world, you have helped forge our government to have to be strong on enforcement of laws. Los Osos is now in violation of those laws and the CDO process is now being made strong enough to force us to build the sewer that you and your CSD stopped.
Quit trying to justify that inane decision by trying to hide behind laws you seek to overturn. Measure B was found to be illegal and infact, the CSD could have enacted an ordinance, but chose to appeal, twice so far. Just get on with the sewer. Forget trying to re-write the laws.
An Anon wrote:
"Ann, if you and Ron see this so clearly, then why are so many others so blind?"
Excellent question.
The answer to that question is actually pretty straight forward, very interesting, and it makes perfect sense once you step back and take a look. The answer? Nine years of unrelenting behavior-based marketing, "compelling language," and using the media as "tools."
Ron, that's BS! and you know it!
Just curious Ann. Have you spoken with any of the 45 that have settled? Bev and Bill Moylan have been very appreciated contributors here. Did they settle? Do you think you might want to include some information about the settlements, or does that story lack the showboating "pizzaz" you so often aspire to in your columns?
anon 11:24 said:
"It can be done, and cheaper and better. Out of town is much better, any plant that won't spill into the bay is better. Any collection system that's not sure to fail is better. Any WWT that's less expensive is better. Any system that isn't an energy hog is better. Any system that is sustainable is better. Any system that doesn't have obscene O & M costs is better, and on and on."
OK, prove it. Be specific. Add up the cost of design, land, construction, etc. out of town. This is just emotional babble that you have listed here.
And my question still remains, what if it is cheaper in town?
5:22pm Jan 21:
"We'll see if the new board gets as stuck as the "Solutions Group"."
They won't "get stuck" on anything because they have nothing to say about a new project. There is no joint powers agreement between the County and the District. The District has no power.
The LOCSD is out of the sewer development business - deal with it!
I agree with the previous poster. Whatever happens regarding the sewer, it is not the "CSD's" affair. It is between the County and the people of Los Osos; the property owners on a Prop 218 decision and all residents on the advisory preferred project election. Why does this seem to concern (scare) the CSD Board and other individulas in the community? Is someone afraid that what the majority of the people in Los Osos prefer is not thier ideal project? What if it is not? Isn't that OK?
Los Osos, Los Osos. What ever are we going to do with you? You silly folks think that after all this time, and all the bullshit, that you will ever have any say in this? You have to be kidding. You people have supported the wrong group, you have bitched, and complained and insisted that the WWP be in an area other than CSD-9A. WRONG!!!!!!!
It WILL be placed within the community, and it WILL be something more modern that that stupid step-steg that the crack-pot keeps erupting over.
And, I'll be damned if the rest of San Luis Obispo County will pick up the tab for your procrastination, petulence, and bull-headedness. I for one, am so damned sick and tired of the whiners and complainers, all you bastards calling a little patch of town as "right in the middle of town". You are all spoiled brats, and should pay for the damned thing yourselves.
Forget about tapping into my funds, to support people like Kieth, Al, Julie, Lisa, whomever.
You are on your own. Sink or swim. The "bill" is in YOUR court. Not mine.
I will lobby my supervisor, I will encourage my great number of friends throughout the county, but YOU people will pay for your own damn sewer. Like it or lump it. And, it will be in the community. So, I suggest you turn grandma's picture to the wall, get over yourselves, and pray that doing your sewer does not run your sorry ass out of town.
Just sign me,
Olde-Guard, Many Generation, South County Resident
Just watched today's "hearing." The people of Los Osos can be proud of their friends and neighbors. The RWQCB has no heart and it was apparent today.
Thank you South County, I agree 100% with you!
Guess someone wasn't listening very closely, today's episode of the Los Osos Little Theater was not a "hearing" as in trial and then hang'em. Today was only another panel review. No one has to worry, this will be prolonged into 2099 and there will still be no sewer in the center of our fair city! We really have to respect the Water Board folks, they have to take all that our finest citizery have to offer. We really have a wonderful collection of crazies and kooks in our town. Do you think the quality of the pot is best when grown over the septic tank?
South County:
Ya all are cold-blooded.
The PZ
You have some nerve saying that no one has to worry. Do you have a CDO? My neighbor went blind in one eye from the stress.
P.S. What is citizery?
An anon said,
"I will lobby my supervisor, I will encourage my great number of friends throughout the county, but YOU people will pay for your own damn sewer. Like it or lump it. And, it will be in the community."
And that's why I will lobby my supervisor and encourage my great number of friends throughout the county to support all new proposed big box, mega mall and porn shop development in the south county should that issue be brought to the whole county for a vote ala the Dalidio plan. You can deal with the traffic and exhaust. I don't want it.
It should also make you happy to know that all the sludge from Los Osos will be trucked through south county. A little sludge truck accident in the south county could give a true taste of Los Osos. It's our gift to you for being so supportive.
I thank you for your concern.
Thank you Bev, Bill, and Shaunna.
We Love You
To: South County:
If you owned a home in Los Osos and were going to have to pay for an over-priced, super-sized, megasewer that ends up costing $500 a month, well, I think you'd been singing a different tune.
What a rotten person you are to weigh in on Los Osos when you know it's the county's and recalled CSD's fault that a sewer wasn't put in long ago. You take it out on the people. You're just nasty and ugly.
I guess you're just plain stupid too, because the step is preferred to many experts in the field. The peer review approved of it. Who the hell are you to dismiss what some top experts in California have to say?
Some? Leaves a very large opening for the other "experts" who have said STEP/Seg is a waste of money.
The Tri-W Plant was neither super-sized or over priced, at least it wasn't until Lisa and Julie screwed us all with their less than expert and fat ass egos!
7:16 PM: Damn straight!!
7:10 PM: Look, you asshole, when our community needed a sewer we just got off our butts and built one. All you dispaced, out of work hippies thought you could fart around and get everybody to pay for yours. NOT!! Get off your dead ass, get a job, and get your WWP built. And quityourbitchin'!!!
7:07 PM: Hey, we were sooooooooo stupid, we DIDN'T buy in Los Osos!!! Horray!! We bought where we had a REAL ocean, not some back-water stagnant pissy bay, and we didn't gripe and resist when we had to build what we had to build. UNDERSTAND???? Probably not. YOU are the one drinking your own waste! No wonder you are deranged!
7:00 PM: Cold-blooded? Hell, no. Just realistic. Your community is now being run by a bunch of rejects that we would have run out of town years ago! Put up with the likes of Al, Gail, Kieth? Never. And, what is with this "Ya all" crap?? We aren't in Alabama!!!
6:41 PM: Your welcome!
Just sign me,
Olde-Guard, Many Generation, South County Resident
To Olde-Guard, Many Generation, South County Resident
Have you enjoyed watching your community turn into little Newport? Plastic people with facelifts and liposuction? Is this the real reason why you have so much anger with the people of Los Osos? That we have not sold out to the developers and other cheating scoundrels? I am sorry for your anger. I would also be angry if I lived in South County.
Nothing remains static. Things either progress, or they regress. If my beach community is turning into a little Newport, well, that is what is going to happen. Better that, than Lost Grossest!! Plastic people? NO, just people with enough disposable income to be able to fulfill their dreams. Simple as that. Beautiful people via plastic surgery? NO, folks who have enough money to keep themselves looking as nice outside, as they feel inside.
Sounds like YOU, 8:22 PM, are the one full of anger!!!!The only anger I have for Los Osos, (AND, who appointed you the community shrink???) is that they refuse to acknowledge the facts of life- which means, get a sewer, Jack!! And, quit dinking around! Developers would be hard pressed to find anything of value in your stagnant little pissy bay. YOU, and all the others like you are going to create a pollution zone, that will affect the coast all the way to San Simeon!! You are stagnating in a stagnant community that will become a virulent infection on the North Coast!! Our South Coast will be spared your pollution. We have the cleansing action of an active Ocean! You do not. You are just stalling, but the whole community will pay for actions of those of your ilk have done.
Incidently, FYI, I live in a large, beautiful home, right on the ocean; I get to see whales migrate, sailboats, the works!! Mother Nature as God intended. Not as some selfish bastard as yourself has ordained for his stale community.
Dear 8:44 PM
A bumper sticker on the back of a Cadillac I saw recently:
"Jesus has been very good to me."
These bozos in Los Osos have ruined this community. I am talking about all the move the sewer people. I am sick of them. They have made this town a wreck. We had a sewer being built, but oh no, they couldn't leave it alone. They had to mess it up with more bs. This whole board should go to jail. My home will be lost due to them. I have nothing but hate for this board and their toadies. And Ann, you should be ashamed of yourself. You are one of the worst of the lot. You egged this group on and gave them a website to speak from. You are horrid. I hope everything that all you people have brought on us goes right back to you, in spades. If thats a curse, well yes it is.
How fortunate for you that you, too, have a website to speak from - and to hurl curses from. Lucky you. Now thank the nice lady, dear.
Like I said, ya'all are cold-blooded. We are working with the county to come up with a wastewater program. The 218 vote is next fall. So chill out especially if you don't live here.
Sounds like quite a few people have had enough of all this and are ready to go with the best of the options that the County developes for us. I have, and will.
I agree with anon 10:51. Most in Los Osos feel the same, I think. The extremists (on both ends) hardly tell the story of how most of us feel. Everyone I know says they are going to vote for the 218 if the county offers us anything remotely reasonable. After all, what choice do we now have? We've blown it big time and need to get something going.
To anon above:
You say "everyone I know says they are going to vote for the 218 if the county offers us anything remotely reasonable.." But the county has stated there will be "no caps" on their public works project. Besides that, the 218 comes before a project is selected!
People have to vote "NO" unless a project is selected first and with a price to be assessed for.
Maybe I'll wait for AB885 and put in my own system rather than hook up to the horrible TRI-W gravity sewer.
I'd rather have my own approved system (required on AB885) then spend over $100,000 for a sewer that can break and have my home condemned.
To: Anon 12:47 PM
Re: Putting in your own personal sewer system.
That will really help your future property value. Good luck doing that and ever being able to sell for anything reasonable.
To anon above,
That will help my property value. I'll still be able to live in my home and you may very well not be able to live in yours.
What if I plan to stay in my home and not sell? Hey, I'd save $80,000.00 too!
Don't you get the fact that if we get our town sewered and deal with the water problem in the process, we will be able to get our roads fixed, and perhaps some curbs and gutter, and in five years our property values will be up, say, $250,000? Meanwhile, you think that you would be happy saving maybe $15,000 in assessments before writing off $5,000 of that on your taxes, for a net cost of $10,000 and having no property value appreciation because you have a freak sewer.
Yes the monthly payment would be high (about as much as a modest car payment). But in the long run, it is a huge investment in our property values. For most people, that is their primary life investment, and has to be preserved. Would you cut off your nose to spite your face?
To anon above:
Your math is not only fuzzy, it's ditzy. No wonder you people think that you're math geniuses -- you all live either outside the PZ or outside Los Osos and have no idea what the real net gain is in the exchange between a gravity sewer and an on-site system. By the way, if the state approves of an on-site alternative to hooking up it is because they see the value in it, if I can use your own logic.
You are greatly under estimating the costs of the Tri-W project. Homeowners should not be fooled.
Aren't people underestimating the cost of a system out of town also? I just recall the collective gasp when the peer review was presented to the public at a CSD meeting. Acres would have to be bought or leased to spray the treated effluent. (Yes, it would have to be not only sanitized but denitrified somewhat.) If you purple pipe a further cleaned up effluent back into town - you are looking at a fortune. These costly facts are somehow lost in the "cheaper" step/steg hoopla.
To: Anon 9:58 PM, Jan 23--
My comments are not about any particular community sewer system, just a community system vs. an individual system, as you were suggesting would be better for you. Yes, if one could be built and used, although I have no idea what one would cost to build and maintain, I suggest that such monthly savings vs. a community sewer assessment does not take into account the most powerful economic issue at stake-our property values.
Look at a 5 year window. Under the scenario of a community sewer system, our monthly might be $250 ($300 cost minus hopeful grant offset of $50). $250/mo x 60 months= $15,000. This will come on our property tax bills and people will, right or wrong, write off the cost of the assessment and O and M, resulting in a savings to them in income taxes of say $3,000 to $6,000 over the five year window.
With the community sewer, we will be able to have our roads upgraded and maintained again, and we may get some positive help with our water issues. The result is that for a net cost of about $10,000 over five years out of pocket, our town will be whole and our property values will increase significantly--$250,000 in my previous example). Perhaps 25 times our out of pocket expense.
In scenario 2, where certain homeowners build a private sewer system, perhaps their out of pocket cost would be $2,000 (I have now idea), nor do I know what the maintenance cost would be.
Assume that you save $7,000 over the five year window period, but what has happened to our property values, and general quality of life? Right now our values are significantly below market for a town like ours, in this County near the ocean. With the continued cloud of polution, CDOs, roads in need of maintenance and growing water isses, we will not see our property values appreciate.
Even if our cost was $400 per month, while that is huge for a sewer bill, in our extremely unique situation, I believe it is our best course to take for both economic and quality of life reasons. We could not make a better investment in stocks, CD's, or anything else.
This is my "ditzy" math.
The county is suppose to be maintaining our roads, regardless of the sewer situation. That is why we pay taxes. This cost should not be included in the sewer costs. My road has not been maintained in 15 years. The county owes us.
Obviously, 3:45 PM, you did not attend the County Town Hall meeting just before Christmas, to hear what they discussed about rebuilding the roads after the streets are torn up for the sewer project. Or, you were there and just didn't listen.
Anonymous sez:"Just curious Ann. Have you spoken with any of the 45 that have settled? Bev and Bill Moylan have been very appreciated contributors here. Did they settle? Do you think you might want to include some information about the settlements, or does that story lack the showboating "pizzaz" you so often aspire to in your columns?"
The Moylans didn't settle. As to why they didn't, why they felt the CAO (disguised as a Settlement) was worse than a CDO, I suggest you call them and ask them yourself. Bill's been actively involved with this whole process and, so far as I know, is, along with others, filing an appeal.
as for the comments from whoever is posting from South County. It's always fascinating to read posts that contain so much ugliness in them. Very strange. Think the "Anonymooness" of posting on a blog site removes every shred of decency since the poster feels that nobody can identify him or her and so can behave in such a way while having absolutely no accountability. Who the heck said that Character is what you are alone in the dark. Anonymous blogging sure does bring out one's "character." Often NOT a pretty sight.
I guess the focus has moved on from this comment thread, but there is Ann, tearing up South County as ugly. South County is not ugly, Ms. Calhoun. South County is just giving you a nice and non-profane outline of how silly and self-destructive our community appears to others. Who can blame South County for being tired of the infighting and drain on resources and newsprint space that our sewer war has been? You've been a leader in mucking up the view with all sorts of anti-authority writing. Some of us do not want our homes and home values to be held hostage to a rag-tag band of move the sewer zealots who steal elections, write Constitutionally-flawed Measure B junk to muddy the process, and in general demonsrate that a horse or a municipal wastewater scheme planned by public debate and committee is a DISASTER.
Time to build something conventional, with conventional minds (aka SLO County) and let us LO residents all recriminate each other and shout across the market parking lots from our entrenched belief sets until something freezes over. The sewer is coming, it's going to be at Tri-W, and probably makes the best sense there. Ciao.
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