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Parent’s of deceased Cal Poly student call off picket of Laetitia Winery

May 14, 2019

Supporters of making changes to the deadly El Campo Road and Highway 101 intersections

The family of the Cal Poly student who was killed in a crash at a dangerous South County intersection has called off plans to picket outside Laetitia Winery this week, yet a boycott of the wine tasting destination is ongoing. [Cal Coast Times]

Vintage Wine Estates, the owner of Laetitia Winery, filed a lawsuit last week over Caltrans’ plans to block left-turn access to and from Highway 101 at four points between Arroyo Grande and Nipomo. The Caltrans work was scheduled to begin Monday night, but a Sacramento County judge ordered a halt to the construction because of the lawsuit.

In response to the lawsuit, the father of Jordan Grant, James Grant, called for a boycott of Laetitia Winery and announced plans to picket outside the business on Friday. However, James Grant announced a change in his stance after Vintage Wine Estates released an open letter apologizing to the community and saying the company does not intend to take lightly the death of Jordan Grant or public safety.

“The lawsuit was intended to focus Sacramento on the urgent issue and not settle for a stop gap or years-down-the-road solution,” Vintage Wine Estates said in the open letter. “We are continuing to work hard towards this goal. We fell short of our responsibility to explore and communicate this to the community and for that we apologize.”

James Grant then said in an opinion piece sent to local media that the lawsuit was an “unexpected and crushing disappointment,” but he has been in contact with Vintage Wine Estate executives and has been building a relationship with them. James Grant said he believes Vintage Wine Estate CEO Pat Roney and other executives are honorable, well meaning people.

“Given what Vintage has told us we have moderated many of our proposed activities, pending the results from meetings being worked on with Caltrans,” James Grant wrote.

But, a petition written by James Grant calling for a boycott of Laetitia Winery is still circulating on Change.org and has received more than 2,250 signatures, as of Tuesday morning.

James Grant says he blames Caltrans and the old Laetitia Winery ownership for the delays in resolving traffic safety issues along Highway 101 and for contributing to his son Jordan’s death.

Jordan Grant, 18, was riding his motorcycle southbound on Highway 101 near El Campo Road on Oct. 6, 2018. A man living in the Falcon Ridge Estates on the west side of Highway 101 attempted to make a left turn onto the highway and pulled in front of Grant’s motorcycle, killing the Cal Poly student.

James Grant is now demanding Vintage Wine Estates quickly settle its litigation with Caltrans.


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Forget the overpass. Too expensive and will drain money from other projects. Falcon Crest residents need to drive into AG via Valley Road and Fair Oaks Ave. and get on/off the freeway at established interchanges. No personal $30 million interchange for a few hundred new residents or the new greedy, whiny, winery that didn’t pay s**t towards it when they developed their properties. We all have to deal with traffic congestion that did not exist 10 years ago. SLOCOG monies need to be spent efficaciously, not politically.


5

They can build a pass over for almost half that. I find it more dangerous turning south with no merge lane than crossing and getting over to the North merge lane. The traffic there is not heavy all day. I posted more but calcoastnews keeps deleting.


1

Mr Grant, some clarification and fact checking here. Caltrans attempted to close El Campo more than once but was met with fierce opposition from local elected officials and the SLOCOG Board. Just a fact, check it out.


At Laetitia a similar story, largely brought about by the proposed development of large, custom homes, on winery property. As I understand from the BOS meetings, the developer and their reps could not guarantee to the satisfaction of Caltrans that the wine tasting driveway that connects directly to US101, would not be used by homeowners. So, your blame is misplaced. It is the BOS and the SLOCOG Board that shoulders this, not Caltrans. Again, do your research and don’t listen to the wine folks for an objective view of how we got here. They are primarily motivated by profits.


5

Well money given and promised to Gov. Officials to close is affecting this too.


0

Folks,


I SUPPORT the boycott of Laetitia Winery.


Their wine isn’t very good, and I’m sick of these corporate billionaires putting profits before people.


Just saying.


-6

Go away Mr. Grant. If your home state of Texas is so great just stay there and let our “horrible California” figure itself out. (Mr. Grant isn’t even a resident here.)


6

Unfortunately the winery workers have been harassed with hateful phone calls that when their names are looked up. They are not members.


2