Stories from surrounding communities, closest first.
New Times · Pismo Beach, CA
Nearby: Pismo Beach, CAPismo Beach City Councilmember Scott Newton is the frontrunner to be the city’s next mayor, according to the latest vote counts in San Luis Obispo County’s election. A supporter of the Central Coast Blue project, Newton’s served on the City Council since 2020. As of Nov. 10, he’d won almost 68 percent of the vote share, widening the margin between himself and his most vocal challenger, Cynthia Replogle. Replogle earned 27 percent of the votes, while the third candidate, Shelby Bowen, won 5 percent. Newton didn’t respond to New Times by press time. On Facebook, he celebrated his early lead hours after polls closed on Nov. 3. “Thank you to the voters of Pismo Beach, the early results are looking extremely promising,” his Nov. 4 post read. He’s endorsed by Mayor Ed Waage, fellow Councilmembers Mary Ann Reiss and Marcia Guthrie, and the Republican Party of SLO County.
Santa Maria Sun · Lompoc, CA
Nearby: Lompoc, CAAfter five years as a Lompoc City Council member, it looks like Jeremy Ball will serve his town as mayor. “It’s just really great that a lot of people have put their trust in a new direction,” Ball told the Sun. He had 61 percent of votes counted as of Nov. 10. Sitting Mayor Jim Mosby had accumulated 38.3 percent. The margin was 2,018 votes. Running on a “laser focused” goal to make Lompoc “a little bit more attractive,” Ball said his campaign resonated with voters without necessarily being politically charged. He thinks residents want to take more pride in their city. “I think a lot of people share that understanding that Lompoc has so much potential but at the same time just watching nothing happen,” Ball said. “I think a lot of people just want to see what happens if we shoot for the stars and get halfway there. What might that look like?
Santa Maria Sun · Lompoc, CA
Nearby: Lompoc, CAAndrew Velikanje and the group he created have removed around 700,000 pounds of trash from the Central Coast in the past six years. “Most of that is ocean-bound waterways, too,” Velikanje told the Sun. “It’s amazing to think how much trash that would look like if it was above ground, … how big it looks underwater.” Collective cleanups To learn more about Heal the Ocean’s and Earthcomb’s missions and ongoing projects throughout the Central Coast, visit healtheocean.org and earthcomb.org. For him and the small team at Earthcomb, every day that they increase the total number is a good day. In October, the organization removed nearly 37,000 pounds of trash and hazardous materials from Lompoc’s Santa Ynez Riverbed thanks to financial support from Heal the Ocean. Some of the help came from two unhoused individuals. Velikanje was homeless from 2017 to 2020, he said, and he remembered being embarrassed after moving into an encampment on a beach that was littered with trash.
Santa Maria Sun · Lompoc, CA
Nearby: Lompoc, CAThere is a pungent odor in Lompoc, and it isn’t from the broccoli fields after they have been mowed and before they are plowed under to enrich the soil. Several months ago, one of the City Council members was charged with multiple felonies related to his applications for utility rebates. Then the council was informed that there had been other errors in the rebate program. Following these charges, the Santa Maria Times reports that “the city hired RSG under a contract of up to $38,895” at the City Council’s direction to conduct an impartial review (“Lompoc utility rebate review finds recordkeeping deficiencies, urges tighter oversight,” Oct. 20). The innocent explanation is that they were exercising their oversight responsibilities and simply wanted to know how many other applications were defective, since an in-house review had already identified about a dozen erroneous submittals.
Pacific Coast Business Times · San Luis Obispo, CA
Nearby: San Luis Obispo, CABy Stephen Ellison Special to the Business Times Economic growth in San Luis Obispo County has slowed compared with growth in neighboring counties, as well as statewide, and lack of housing is a key reason, according to economists at the Central Coast Economic Forecast event Nov. 6 in San Luis Obispo. While there have been positives in recent years – rising household incomes, gains in tourism and continued operations at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant – SLO County’s gross domestic product (GDP) has lagged since around the mid-2010s, according to data presented at the event. Before that divergence, the county’s GDP was on the same gradual trajectory as California’s. Some of the bad news includes a shrinking labor force, stalled population growth and declining small businesses, according to Niree Kodaverdian, a research manager with Beacon Economics. Kodaverdian and her colleagues agreed there is potential for greater economic growth in the years to come if more housing is built.
New Times · Paso Robles, CA
Nearby: Paso Robles, CANobody wants to need an ambulance, but when you do, you sure as hell expect it to be there for you. San Luis Ambulance (SLA) has enjoyed an 80-year monopoly as the SLO County service provider, but there’s been a cacophony of complaints about response times from fire chiefs, mayors, city managers, and community members. So, what’s the solution? The current idea on the table is a proposed “public-private partnership” model led by Paso Robles that “allows a county board of supervisors to contract with a fire agency, which then subcontracts with a qualified private ambulance provider to support the delivery of emergency medical services,” Paso Robles City Manager Chris Huot told New Times. “This is not based on a predetermined conclusion that one provider is best.
