Calhouns Can(n)ons

Uh, Oh, Don’t Tell Ron

Letter in the Tribune yesterday touting the candidacy of Maria and Marshall for LOCSD and signed by, among others, Pandora Nash-Karner. Plllluuueeeze, nobody tell Ron Crawford of [correction, sorry, it's]: http://www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com/ or else he’s sure to log onto this blog and start in on the long, long list of people he cites as coming to grief by listening to Pandora.

Speaking of Letters

This time in New Times yesterday, a news brief on the new storm water collection standards and rules recently adopted by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Seems that Paso Robles city officials are worried because the standards “. . . will require a truckload of environmental studies and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.” And “city officials worry whether the new rules are even achievable for small governments. ‘We don’t know how to do it and we don’t know how to pay to figure out how to do it,’ Paso Robles City Manager Jim App said.”

“Builders and city officials said they agree with the ends, but the means are tricky.
‘We really believe that the water board is sincere but doesn’t fully understand the ramifications of what its trying to do,’ said Jerry Bunin, public affairs director of the Home Builders Association of the Central Coast.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Ah, Jerry, you have NO IDEA.

As the story goes on, “If the water board doesn’t change the current language, cities within the Central Coast region will have to adhere to the standards or will not receive a stormwater permit and could face daily fines. . . . City managers in the district will meet with the water board and county officials to try and hammer out a compromise in mid-November, but so far board members have stuck to their water guns.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, ah, poor Central Coast Cities. They have no idea, either.

Oh, Thanks so Much Richard

Recalled LOCSD board member, Richard LeGros (or somebody claiming to be him) logged on the blog comment section (of the previous posting) and posted what he gleefully says are tentative agreement numbers determined by the arbiter of the debt that the CSD owes. (If you’ve heard of the term Crocodile Tears, well, Richard’s posting voice in these matters often combines Crocodile Tears with triumphant, overbrimming glee. The overall effect reminds me of the late Heath Ledger’s stunning performance as the Joker in the last Batman movie: Oxymoronically & Creepily amazing.) I can’t attest to the accuracy of the posting since Richard has posted stuff here, then crowed about it only to have to back track and say, oops, sorry, posted the wrong info, heh-heh. So, be warned. But according to Richards latest posting:

The Arbitor has determined that the following debts are owed by the LOCSD for stopping the Tri-W project:Monterey Mechanical: $4,600,000(reduced from $8,876,000)
Barnard Construction: $5,540,314(reduced from 12,000,000)

So, right there, the community may owe over $9,000,000, but please note how Richard describes that as money lost by stopping construction of Tri W. But here’s the puzzle. Wasn’t that money actually lost by STARTING construction of Tri W? Nine mil pounded into the ground, a total, unnecessary waste? He and the other recalled Board members might as well as just had a big bonfire and tossed all those dollars on it. At least the community could have brought weenies and had a party.

According to Richard’s figures, all the various debts owed add up to an average for each homeowner of about $3,880. Hmmm, can that be right? Only $3,880? Well, if so, and if the new project comes in slightly cheaper than TriW (or even slightly cheaper on lower long term OMR costs) then that $3,880 wasted might well wash out. Which would be ironic, since that might end up being the “price” the community was forced to pay to move their sewer plant out of town. I say “forced,” because a good chunk of that cost was totally unnecessary had the recalled three simply waited until after the election to begin work.

Well, if this does turn out to be a wash or a near wash, I know that’d make Richard very, very unhappy. But, we need a shout out to Richard and the other Recalled Two. Hey, Thanks for the parting gift, it’s one that wasn’t needed or wanted and but is sure one that keeps on giving!

Your Saturday Poem

From “Sure Signs," new and selected poems, by Ted Kooser
(Living in sandy Los Osos, on a dirt road, this one’s especially apt)

CARRIE

“There’s never an end to dust
and dusting,” my aunt would say
as her rag, like a thunderhead,
scudded across the yellow oak
of her little house. There she lived
seventy years with a ball
of compulsion closed in her fist,
and an elbow that creaked and popped
like a branch in a storm. Now dust
is her hands and dust her heart.
There’s never an end to it.