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Los Osos sewer dispute not over?

March 27, 2011

Bruce Gibson

A divisive, 30-year dispute over a new sewer for Los Osos and the financial cost to residents may soon be a San Luis Obispo County issue if federal funding falls through leaving county residents partially on the hook for funding the more than $200 million project.

A new report by KCCN.tv, “The $cent of Money,” examines myriad financial and emotional challenges facing Los Osos residents as a result of this pricey public works plan. On March 14, San Luis Obispo County supervisors voted unanimously to build a gravity-flow in Los Osos and to place the burden of the proposal on the backs of county taxpayers if anticipated state and federal grants and loans fail to materialize.

Federal officials have warned local governments it is likely Congress will decide not to distribute already approved grants especially for items such as waste water treatment plants.

At numerous San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisor meetings, residents have questioned if the county’s choice of sewer design is the best and the cheapest, the most environmentally-sound. The area’s supervisor, Bruce Gibson, thinks so. The former planning commissioner is an unabashed advocate of the concrete pipe gravity sewer.

Critics of the approved plan have been spurned, even openly criticized, by supervisors who turn a blind eye to more-than-apparent conflicts of interest among county employees, private developers and their consultants, according to KCCN.tv.


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Yet more of the same 30 years long piss parade of vague, unsupported accusations, allegations, whining and attempts to delay delay delay and keep kicking the can further down the road for future generations to deal with by the same nut jobs, malcontents, and wackadoos. Thankfully and finally matters are beyond their reach and the end game is playing out hence the current wailing and thrashing death throes of those who have managed to punt their pollution into the laps of their kids and grandkids.


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Thankfully is right..thankful the local and state government is shoving something else down the peoples throats they don’t want, disagree with or question. Toss in some local corruption from engineering and construction services, a proven corrupt contractor and a few pals looking out for each others back and you have a typical SLO county project in the making.


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Proven corrupt contractor? Where was that “proven?” Lisa’s blizzard of meaningless documents?


Something the people don’t want? The passing of both 218s by a wide margin disproves that theory.


Disagree with or question – why yes, there are some people in town who don’t think we are polluting or don’t care we are polluting because they don’t want to pay for a sewer. They are certainly NOT THE MAJORITY.


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Name-calling is easy when your an anonoymus donor, isn’t it?


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Standup, get a grip! Not ALL of us were here 20 or more years ago, so put YOUR BLAME elsewhere.

Further, the bay is being “polluted” from other sources, so again, your “BLAME” is misplaced. The State, County & Feds need to do their SHARE in cleaning up any “pollution” (if it exists) in the bay. The main “purpose” of the wastewater treatment plant is to CLEAN UP THE WATER…and EVERYONE BENEFITS from THAT.


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I really don’t care how much it costs the residents as they have had chances to do it much cheaper over the years but have objected and complained to the point they are now at. I am sick and tired of them polluting our bay with their human waste. If some lose their homes, then they should have been the ones that should have pushed the project through a long time ago when it was more affordable. Sorry for the harsh words, but this has been a problem since I was in Poly some 20+ years ago and I am really sick and tired of the Los Osos residents polluting Morro Bay which we all own. Maybe the Coastal Commission or the Regional Quality Control Board should start fining each and every homeowner for their continued polluting.


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You have things reversed. The real sources of the pollution in the Bay are the dilapidated sewers in Morro Bay and Cayucos. That has been covered up, and Los Osos has been blamed through the use of bogus reports that purport to show that the problem is Los Osos septic systems. Check out this story: http://www.slocoastjournal.com/docs/archives/2010/June/pages/news6.html or better yet, do a public records access request for video inspections of the Morro Bay and Cayucos lines and watch them. You do not need to be an expert to figure out that the big cracks and holes and the separations of the pipe joints are allowing huge amounts of sewage to leak into the ground. Must-watch inspections are those of the Morro Bay main street trunk line. Horrifying.


Why would Los Oso be blamed for Morro Bay and Cayucos pollution? Simple. Local developers and their government cronies have an agenda – as clearly described in Blackburn’s documentary. Wake up people. You are being lied to by government officials that you should be able to trust.


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An interesting article MB, at a glance it would appear that the argument against the proof by Richard is in the claim that he wasn’t qualified. An activist with information from a scope (Galileo Galilay) many many years ago may had responded “and yet it leaks”.

You could also point out that in ’06 nitrates were found in the wells when the city switched to local, during the state pipe closure. Unfortunately the MB groundwater wells nitrates studies didn’t include the additional testing that could show if the nitrates are farm runoff versus household constituents. Los Osos advocacy based itself more on “STEP is better because the developers don’t want it” than on the actual technical merits of STEP.


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Not to dispute the failed infrastructure of the central coasts collections systems, but wheres the love Standup? While all of us foot the bill for projects like bike lanes to unpollute our roads of bicycles, why shouldn’t EVERYBODY pay for the Los Oso’s sewer project? After all we all share the ocean don’t we, its only fair.


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“why shouldn’t EVERYBODY pay for the Los Oso’s sewer project?”


Gladly, as soon as Los Osos residents pay for the sewers in the rest of the county. They should also chip in for our sewer treatment plants and the Lopez Dam retrofit. Also, didn’t the Blakeslee bill assure the other residents of the county that they would NOT be responsible for the LO sewer tab?


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Jesus, you’re a real sweetie. Lose your job or something?

Here, wanna get fired up over what really happened, here it is, Gengis.


http://www.lososossentinel.com/heroes


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The AL BARROW in The Blackburn Video is described is no Hero according to the “Sentinel”

False in part, False in all. Something here does not add up.

“AL BARROW, a Section 8-certified sociopath, narcissist-thief and con man, has caused more damage to Los Osos than most know. Ever since he arrived in Los Osos he has done nothing but browbeat seniors for money, intrude himself into every positive action to stop the nightmare and done his best to sabotage anything that he wasn’t involved in or was not the center of attention.


Virtually every business in Los Osos has banned him from their premises. He thinks nothing of entering stores, verbally accosting people in parking lots and yelling filthy profanities at anyone, anytime, anywhere.


He needs no reason or provocation to launch into one of his out of control rants. Many seniors are afraid of him and he uses that fear to bully them into giving him money for useless or poorly thought-out causes so he can play messiah. If they try to refuse he launches into another tirade of filthy language and threats until they give in.


He has allegedly been caught skimming money from donations and to this day continues to interfere, con and collect. He also has a reputation for repping different technologies which he attempts to force on people for a salesman’s cut. Using real causes like affordable housing and the plight of the poor and middle class to speak at seemingly every public government meeting, he has used the sewer scam to line his pockets and attempt to raise his stature above the curb.


A few years back someone nicknamed him Al “Wheelie” Barrow because, when you come down to it, “Wheelie” is a con and a thief who has always been only about himself. He is the bipolar poster boy for sewering the town up to the tree tops…. ………saving the town is reserved only for Al Barrow and no one else. Through his unrelenting greed and stupidity he’s made absolutely sure of that.


Today he’s trying to launch yet another poorly conceived suit and is again busy trying to raise money for it. Unfortunately, when “Wheelie” finds a good cause he only sees people’s pockets and it’s the community that pays. Because anything that this rabid salesman is selling is bound to fail.

“The Sentinel”


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Alon, bubbie! The sentinal got it RIGHT about ALL the villians, unfortunately YOU & Joyce Albright were left off the list! Everything written about “Al “Wheelie” Barrow is a FACT. I Don’t recall if your good buddies Lou & Lynette made the list. If not, why not? They certainly deserve to be on the list, talk about mean spirited evil-doers!


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In my opinion, Dan Blackburn has done an outstanding job with this documentary. Finally, some serious attention will be paid to all the abuse that the small Community of Los Osos has suffered at the hands of the very corrupt County of SLO & the CCRWQCB. No where has ther ever been a project this costly thrust upon so few. The math does NOT compute…how are fewer than 5,000 homeowners going to pay for such a costly project? This mess was created by the County. Remember 83-13? There was supposedly a building moratorium, but MY house was built in 1987, fully permitted by the County, with an approved FULLY PERMITTED septic system. Why was that allowed to happen? Clearly, the County created many of the problems we have now. It is completely UNREASONABLE for the County to expect (no demand), fewer than 5,000 property owners pay for the project as well as SUBSIDIZE ALL THE VACANT LOT OWNERS for their share because the County was NEGLIGENT in the way they conducted their “PROP 218” vote. The State Government really needs to look into the corruption regarding this flawed project. I hope Mr. Blackburns documentary will get us the “coverage” we need to get this project done FAIRLY.


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The county robbed Los Osos blind. No “MAYBE” about it. Gibson lied and got caught by the local media. He killed affordability for thousands to grease the skids for his future political ambitions. Where else in the U.S. will so many lose their homes just so a few can get rich? Only in Los Osos. The more people know about it, the better the chances it will yet be stopped. Blackburn should get the Courageous Filmmakers Award for bucking county repression to produce the first video ever of the mind-blowing “Los Osos Sewer Scandal.” It’s only the tip of the iceberg of county corruption, with 4/5th of the berg left to expose. “$cent of Money” is a $$$$ four-dollar-sign must-watch small-screen blockbuster. Not recommended for county lobbyists with pre-existing gravity jaundice. May cause temporary insight blindness resulting from sudden exposure to truthful materials.


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direct quote from above article…


“it is likely Congress will decide not to distribute already APPROVED grants especially for items such as waste water treatment plantsquote from above article”


GOVERNMENT SCREWING GOVERNMENT…


You gotta love it!


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Here is thewhole story:


http://www.lososossentinel.com/heroes


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Justme, loved the link to the Sentinel, but I do believe the Gustafsons moved to Cummings Iowa, NOT Ohio. Stans latest wife is from Iowa, so that would be a “logical” place of escape for him!


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This article is ludicrous. I can’t imagine why the authors didn’t define Castro, Gadhafi, & Hitler as heros. The whole article reeks of “anti establishment”. So I ask, how do the saber rattlers propose that we pay the fines and extra cost of building the sewer plant that should have been finished and functioning by this time? To be fair, I think those who oppose the sewer project need to step up and do the right thing; pay the increased cost out of your pocket, not mine!


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You just answered your own question, WE don’t wanna pay either, duhhhh.


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Well, pat yourself on the back then – thanks to the likes of you – we ALL get to pay MORE!


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Christ, one more time. The whole of the protest read like this: Ready?

We didn’t want a huge expensive sewer of old tech. We pushed and pushed for a cheaper one.

What sewer controversy were you following? Again, Duhhh.


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The “controversy” rests primarily in the heads of those who refuse to understand process, refuse to acknowledge that not everyone holds their derogatory opinions about the current project, and that their idea of “less costly” existed only as a MAYBE with the project costs alone, leaving an enormous remaining cost to the homeowners.


This “news” about the funding being dicey is yet another scare tactic to put fear into those already fearful. The County would NOT have accepted this project if the funding were not nailed down tight.


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They have all been presented (Supes) with more effcient, less costly and more environmental designs. Updated modern designs. But these designs would leave out the contractors, consultants, etc. who are presently in the loop. The county would have to go to work to incorporate these designs and that was asking too much of them apparently. So now the people of Los Osos will be going to work more instead for 30 yrs.

Gibson, Like Bianchi caved in to pressures to keep it status quo.

You don’t put brittle concrete pipe in disturbed dune sand with a verified earthquake on the horizon. It’s called liquifaction at it’s worst. I’t is going to be a mess beyond imagination. For us, not Gibson or the others, so on with construction. Jesus, they must all need sleeping pills.


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