SLO: County Needs Affordable Housing - Part II

Yep - starting another blog page on affordable housing for San Luis Obispo (SLO) county. Think of this as more of a resource page.

No Where To Go: Transitional Food and Shelter.
Post Office Box 4471
Paso Robles, CA 93447
www.NoWhereToGo.com

I got a fund-raising letter from them with no phone number or email address - only the above web site. No further information on them yet. If somebody out there is aware of the efficacy of this organization, please let me know so that I can help support their mission.

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NATION: Fact or Fantasy - You Decide (Toyota)

On 3/25/2014, I was struck by 2 separate articles about the $1,200,000,000 (yes, that's $1.2 Billion) fine by the US Justice Department against Toyota, plus federal oversight for 3 years. Not that I am particularly incensed that the world's best maker of safe cars (statistically) has to pony up $1,200,000,000 for a nonexistent safety flaw in their cars. With our government, these unjust intrusions on private enterprise are increasingly common. This is a chance for those who claim media bias does not exist to defend their position.

One article is filled with facts (those are the things that journalists used to report), and another is filled with inaccurate  and misleading statements. Again, you decide which one!

The Tribune (our local San Luis Obispo paper) ran this article, attributed to an editorial in the Sacramento Bee ("Carmakers will pay high price for hiding flaws"), which you can read by clicking here. 

The Wall Street Journal wrote an article on the same day on the same topic. You can read this editorial ("The Justice Department's Unjust Toyota Fine") by clicking here. I'll let you be the judge. How can we get 2 such diametrically opposing views? Indeed.

Tim's Ten!

Introduction: I just don't have as much time to write on topics as I'd like, so I'm going with quick 1 or 2 sentence summaries of my take on the issues of the day. When I hit 10 separate topics, I will close this blog page and start another one. Here goes! [Okay, I added a photo because this page is so boring!]. Hail the Cheap Jeep crew - locked and loaded!

TEN! - 3/30/2014 SLO: 

Wow! I agree with a Tribune Editorial! "...we support Cal Poly's new dorms"!

Unfortunately, that Sunday morning editorial has not been posted yet, but you can read about some of the proposed new dorm controversy by clicking here. When we moved to SLO in 1992, we soon figured out 2 things: 

1) we wanted to live in SLO (after considering Morro Bay, Los Osos, and Baywood Park first) and 

2) we wanted to live as far away from Cal Poly as possible - the reasons should be obvious: College life was fun for Sue and I, but it was over and we didn't want to re-live it by living close to campus. Period. Yes, we'd pay more for the same home, but it was worth being away from the assumed chaos of college students "just wanting to have fun!".

Fast forward to 2014: Cal Poly built massive new dorms some years back, to the benefit of both the students (on-campus housing) and the SLO residents (less students living among us and lower rents for us non-students). Those who bought next to campus, just like those purchasing a home next to an airport, surely got the "near campus" discount. Houses closer to Cal Poly went for less $$$ for obvious reasons (just like houses near a noisy airport). And just like those owners living near airports, its hard to justify buying nearby and then complaining about the noise AND demanding quieter jets and different runway configurations. I would know: I grew up in El Segundo just feet from one of the busiest airports of them all: LAX! 

Similarly, those who bought in SLO next to Cal Poly knew what they were getting: a lower priced home, and student craziness (more than average number of parties, beer cans on the lawn, noise, burning rubber tires, etc.). I suppose those who never went to college or never saw "Animal House" might be excused for being confused.

Should the dorms built to house 1,475 more Cal Poly be built at the location proposed? Yes. Should the city of SLO and Cal Poly do all they can to mitigate whatever additional "damage" may occur? Yes again.

CALIFORNIA: Waag Bros. to give presentation Tues. March 18, 2014

Welcome to the life of 

Pioneer Photographer A. A. Forbes! 

Visit our website on the life of A. A. Forbes by clicking here. We will be giving a presentation on the life and times of Pioneer Photographer A. A. Forbes at the Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert (HSUMD) in Ridgecrest, Calif. on Tues March 18, 2014, starting at 7pm.

Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert (HSUMD)
Post Office Box 2001
230 W Ridgecrest Blvd. Ridgecrest, CA 93555
(760) 375-8456

Who was A. A. Forbes, and Why Should You Care? Andrew Alexander Forbes was born April 21, 1862, in Ottowa Township, Waukesha County, Wisconsin - son of James McLaren Forbes (from Scotland) and Lucinda Parmelia Sanders (from New York); he was the 5th of 8 children. Forbes grew up in the midwest, and moved frequently with his family.  In the 1870's through the early 1890's, he became a stockman on his family's range, building his horsemanship and cowpunching skills, and developing a ruggedness which became a key to his early success as an itinerant photographer.

SLO: HHH - Hunger, Homelessness and Housing (First Post 2/28/2014, Most Recent Post 4/30/2014)

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Update 4/30/2014: Thanks to SLO City Council member John Ashbaugh, I am now officially on the HSOC Housing Committee, and attended (and contributed) at the April meeting. I will give it a year to see if I can make a difference. I come from the perspective that the problem is political and not economic. In our relatively affluent society, we should be able to provide a clean, dry, warm bed for everyone, as well as a simple, basic healthy meal - period. That is my goal. Affordable housing is a key component of that goal.

Below: posts are boring without a photo. From a recent trip - while exploring a native American shelter in Johnson Canyon, Panamint Mountains, Death Valley, a small group of
Bighorn Sheep appeared about 30 to 40 feet above my head at the top of the cliff! It was getting dark, and the photos weren't great, but this was my best one; following that is the Indian pictograph cave that I was exploring. Click to enlarge - Enjoy!

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Update 3/5/2014: I attended the monthly Homeless Services Oversight Committee (HSOC) meeting today. HSOC is a SLO county advisory board that you can read more about by clicking here. Its about a 2 hour meeting, and I left a little more than an hour into the meeting. My main purpose in attending was to meet Laurel Weir, who is the coordinator of this committee. I enjoyed interacting with her while I was applying for the HSOC committee myself (I was NOT appointed - no surprise). I was hoping to also meet Jerry Rioux, who is executive director of the San Luis Obispo County Housing Trust Fund. I have spoken with Mr. Rioux about homelessness housing issues over the phone, but we had never met before. We didn't meet this time either, because although he was in attendance, nobody could identify who he was before the meeting started.

Although I applied to be on HSOC recently, I was skipped over in favor of others who appeared to have far less experience in dealing with homelessness than I have had. How do I know? I read their applications. Note, however, that no experience with Homeless Issues is required for you to apply, but I would think they application committee would find the experience helpful - apparently not. Also, they interviewed some of the applicants over the phone, but declined to interview me. How do I know? Because I was told by people "in the know" that the other applicants were interviewed, so I didn't even come close to getting on this board. I'm trying to be happy about not being picked, but my ego has gotten in the way a little bit (read below for an explanation). When I was younger, I always got picked for this stuff, but no more. No longer politically connected - no surprise. I'm not trying to be.

JUST FOR FUN! Lee Flat in Death Valley National Park

According to "matmiss" on DeathValley.com talk forum, Panamint Valley Road is now open, but according to the Death Valley Morning Report, the Wildrose Road in lower canyon CLOSED to through traffic. No mention of the status of the Trona-Wildrose Road either:

[The Panamint Valley Road] is in amazingly good shape considering how many places the water crossed the pavement. The part that suffered a bunch from undercutting is actually uphill by Indian Ranch Road and the T intersection - so they removed the broken pavement and lowered the road "to grade" so that next time the water can cross over the road instead of undercutting it. 1.7 mi. of graded (smooth!) gravel, and a detour to use when they pave it - so that road should not be closed again for a while. Some serious equipment parked there. Yeah!!

Some fun photos from the Lee Flat area of Death Valley:

Below: Lee Flat Joshua Tree Forrest in Death Valley National Park at sunset. On the horizon: French Madam Peak and Maturango Peak. Click to enlarge.

Below: Look carefully - very carefully!  Click to enlarge.

Below: Click to enlarge.

Below: Click to enlarge.

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NATION: Why People Become and Stay Homeless

Non-Professional Analysis of the Causes of Homelessness

This article is not done yet - a work in progress.

Above: Petroglyph of an Ancient Homeless Family (Mom, Dad & the kids) in search of shelter (Native American Petroglyph, Valley of Fire, Nevada)

As many of you know, I consider myself to be an unofficial advocate for the homeless and the hungry. Okay, so you didn't know - now you do. I have often pondered the circumstances of homeless individuals and families as I have interacted with them over more than a decade. Many people have difficulty wrapping their minds around homeless people and how they got to that point.