Josh Friedman
Writer Josh Friedman may or may not live in San Luis Obispo County.
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Another SLO City clerk departing
By JOSH FRIEDMAN As with finance directors, city clerks have been prone to departing San Luis Obispo after brief stints with the city under the leadership of City Manager Katie Lichtig. Shortly following the resignation of finance director Wayne Padilla, San Luis Obispo City Clerk Anthony Mejia has announced he is resigning. Mejia’s last day […]... (Continue Reading)
Cambria is running out of time and money
By JOSH FRIEDMAN The Cambria Community Services District has just two and a half months before it will begin operating in the red, according to the district’s latest projections. Cambria is currently strapped for cash as it tries to get a $13 million emergency water desalination project operating correctly. The rate payers voted to raise […]... (Continue Reading)
Sanitation board shuffle costing ratepayers
By JOSH FRIEDMAN It is often a mystery who will appear behind the dais at the next South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District board meeting, and the shuffling of representatives is coming at a cost to ratepayers. All three of the regular board members have missed at least one of the past three meetings. […]... (Continue Reading)
SLO County goofs, then threatens the messenger
By JOSH FRIEDMAN The head of the San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services threatened a citizen with prosecution for revealing a privacy breach caused by county workers. Last month, a county social services worker forwarded an email to a group list. The email contained an Arroyo Grande woman’s medical records, as well as […]... (Continue Reading)
Sanitation district wiped away records, audit finds
By JOSH FRIEDMAN Four and a half years of accounting data were wiped away from South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District computers under the leadership of John Wallace, a former IRS investigator alleges. In May, the sanitation district board hired Carl Knudson, a former special agent who investigated city government malfeasance, to pursue a […]... (Continue Reading)
Hill blowing away field in fundraising race
By JOSH FRIEDMAN San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill, who is wooing developers, has nearly 10 times as much cash in his reelection war chest as his District 3 challengers have combined in their campaign accounts. In the first six months of 2015, Hill raised more than $82,000 in cash contributions for the 2016 […]... (Continue Reading)
Gibson’s attack on geologist creates dust up
By JOSH FRIEDMAN San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson has used his sway to possibly jeopardize the job of a state geologist who is critical of the Oceano Dunes dust rule, a move that has drawn rebuke from three of the five sitting supervisors. Three days after Supervisor Adam Hill threatened the employment of […]... (Continue Reading)
Grover Beach hit with $2.3 million defamation claim
By JOSH FRIEDMAN A former Grover Beach police officer filed a $2.3 million defamation claim last week against the city, Chief Jim Copsey and Commander John Peters. Peters is slated to replace Copsey as chief during a swearing in ceremony Monday evening. In his defamation claim, Sonny Lopez, 42, says Copsey and Peters “made statements that […]... (Continue Reading)
APCD board split over Oceano dunes dust rule
By JOSH FRIEDMAN and KAREN VELIE The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District is attempting to rehabilitate its Oceano Dunes dust rule, but in the aftermath of an appellate court ruling against the regulation, some members of the APCD board are calling for the district to find a less litigious plan for dealing […]... (Continue Reading)
Did Steve Gesell game the city to get his settlement?
By JOSH FRIEDMAN and KAREN VELIE San Luis Obispo’s embattled outgoing police chief Steve Gesell had applied for a new job several months prior to City Manager Katie Lichtig placing him on administrative leave, a job he was first in line to get while simultaneously seeking a large settlement from the city under the assertion […]... (Continue Reading)
