Holloway's out of Halloween Business

This week's Adobe Press reports that local Nipomo farmers, the Holloway family, have decided not to sell pumpkins this year. While there will be no local shortage of pumpkins as a result, this is nonetheless a loss to our community! I can remember in years past how our family would make the trek down Oakglen to the Holloway farm with our young son in tow to ride the hay wagon out to the fields and pick a great Halloween treat:

Holloway's Christmas Trees of Nipomo will purvey Jack-O-Lanterns no more.

After sub-par figures last year, the Nipomo farmers famous in their community will no longer be offering pumpkins for sale during this Halloween season. Holloway's had arraigned elaborate autumn activities and sold pumpkins starting in late October for the past 15 years.

“Sales were poor last year, so we decided not to do it again,” said co-owner Debbie Holloway.

Why stop selling pumpkins:

Holloway blamed the downturn on larger retail outlets such as Wal-Mart and Vons, which started offering cheaper pumpkins outside their stores.

“Everyone and their brother had pumpkins,” she said. “People still were having a good time at the attractions, but they were leaving without buying a pumpkin.”

This is one of the casualties of local farmers undermined by the larger big box stores, and possibly our local supermarket, Vons. People rail against the big box stores, yet in the final analysis they vote to keep the big box stores healthy by spending their dollars there, rather than at the local market.

Don't we have enough business to spread our dollars to our local growers and also shop at Vons, or even the big box outlet? We all need groceries, and should spend our dollars locally at the corner Vons store. But, why do we need to buy our pumpkins there? Because it is convenient. Because we don't think of the consequences of our actions by voting with our dollars to support a Vons or big box store at the expense of our local Holloways. If we want to keep our community the small rural paradise we moved here to enjoy, it will take just a little bit of effort. We need to support our local businesses. We need to go out of our way to keep our rural charm, or we are going to lose it, piece by piece, and this is the evidence:

In past years, Holloway's has had a hay maze, farm animals and a tractor trailer ride available to the public at their farm.

Ironically, Holloway said last year's sales of Christmas trees were among their best. They plan on keeping their set-up for Christmas more or less the same as last year.

Though Holloway's is not in the pumpkin business this Halloween, they recommend people get their pumpkins from local farmers, who usually sell them by the side of the road.

“If people want to retain the rural flavor of the area, you've got to support the local farms,” said Holloway's husband, Carl.

In a few weeks, Holloways will open up their Christmas Tree farm. And, while there doesn't appear to be any danger of the Christmas Tree farm closing, there was a time we could have said the same thing about the pumpkin patch. This year as you buy your pumpkins at Vons, or even the big box store, think about that hay ride you have missed with your kids, or grand kids. Think about how you'll want to be able to enjoy a local Christmas tree farm in the future, and help support that farm before we lose it!

By the way, if you haven't already made your pumpkin purchase, take Carl Holloway's advice and still buy from a local farmer you might see at the side of the road, or even at Nipomo's own Farmer's Market. When all is said and done, there is one reason we have lost our local pumpkin patch . . . we as a community stopped supporting it.

Gas Prices Are Falling

And, it's about time. Today's cheapest gas in Nipomo (and quite possibly SLO County) is again at the Stop & Buy at Tefft and the 101. Today's price rings it at $2.79. The next thing I expect is to see a sign out front proclaiming a "gas war" and a set of glasses with each fill up. If you know of a cheaper price, please clue us in!

Cheap Gas in Nipomo

Here's a new feature I'm thinking of trying out: Where's the cheapest gas in Nipomo--or the central coast?

If you have a better price--leave me a comment, and help us all find where our best bargain is. This morning, as of about 6:15 a.m. the Stop & Buy gas station at the intersection of Tefft Street and the 101 freeway junction posted prices at $2.81 a gallon.

This was a full .10 cheaper than the Chevron across the street. It is even cheaper than the Vons gas on Tefft Street as well. Vons lowers its prices by .03 a gallon if you are a Vons Club member and use use your Vons card or your linked phone number on each purchase.

Any other less expensive stations--please share!

I Oppose the Miers Nomination

So what? Why is this Central Coast relevant anyay? Well, more so than you would think. Supreme Court justices are appointed for life. Rarely are they impeached. They do not run for reelection, ever! They decide issues that affect our every day life, including but not limited to free speech issues, religious issues, privacy issues, criminal law issues--and the list goes on and on.

I'm not going to re-post all my reasons, analysis, and other posts, where I have gone over these issues more in depth. Rather, I'll just refer you to other posts I have made on my personal blog and you can go read them, here, here, here, here, here and here if you want. There are myriads of other blogs commenting on Miers as well. But, for the record here on the Central Coast, and on all Blogs in which I am a participant I am making my record, and taking a stand against Harriet Miers as the next Supreme Court justice. Do you have an opinion? What is it?

Nipomo's Community Advisory Council

What is it? Well, start here first. They are a diverse and representative group of volunteers working to share information about important issues affecting Nipomo, California. They meet 6:30 pm on the 4th Monday of each month in the Nipomo Community Services District building at 148 S. Wilson in Nipomo. The minutes and agendas of their meetings are on their website.

Their mission statement, also on the website states:

The mission of the Nipomo Community Advisory Council ("NCAC") is to provide a forum for citizen involvement and information on issues which affect the greater part of the Nipomo Community. The NCAC seeks to achieve sound community planning and development of the Nipomo and Nipomo Mesa area through consideration of social, technological, environmental and political impacts and to advocate measures to promote a safe environment for our citizens and visitors.

You can meet these volunteers on there website here. Or, you can meet them in person, and in action Monday evening, 10/24/05, at the NCSD building at 6:30 p.m. The Agenda isn't posted on the website as of this post; however, it will be posted shortly, and you can see it here.

A couple of highlights for Monday's meeting:

A 71 unit three-story motel located on 1.20 acres on Hill Street, directly adjacent to west side of King Ventures Frontage Road project. The Land Use Committee recommends that the project be no higher than two-stories/ impact on traffic be evaluated with recomendation for Hill Street to be four-lane / due to the fact that the national response time for public safety services is 5 minutes, concern that with current traffic congestion these services can not meet time standards and fees need to be collected to provide additional staffing and facilities for fire, police, etc.

This would be the first motel in the downtown area, in fact in any area in Nipomo. Interestingly the NCAC wants the motel no higher than two stories, where the developer apparently envisons three. I'm certain there are reasons for the two story preference; however, what if it is only economically feasible at three rather than two? And, what about the TOT that would inure to the the new city in the future? Wouldn't we want as many rooms as possible in our first little motel? All good issues to explore at the meeting on Monday.

Here's another:

Gray Trust: 3.8 acre parcel located at corner of Grande and Blume; to be divided into 39 lots ranging from 2,600 to 5,280 sq ft, 38 residences, one pocket park; underground retention basin and three on-site streets; NCAC recommended denial of this project in December 2004 due to lack of compliance of 6,000 sq ft lots; Project was denied by Planning Commission on 9/22/05; Appeal to be heard before BOS on 11/8/05

There's clearly a great discrepancy between NCAC and the developer on this one. The NCAC wants the developer to conform to the 6,000 sq. foot lot requirement, and he wants to go as small as 2,600 sq. feet. It's probably a done deal, NCAC will not approve this project; however, the real question is what will the Board of Supervisors do on 11/8/05 when the appeal is heard? Given the Board of Supervisors' record of late (more on that later) who knows where this is headed.

NCAC meetings tend to run on the long side; however, we're much more civilized than our counterparts up in Templeton, who have been desribed as nothing more than hooligans. Stop by, and take up to three minutes to share what's on your mind during the public comment section, and see how our local ad hoc community advisory group works out the details on all things Nipomo.

Titan Launch Update

Here are a few closer photos of the the launch:

Launch of the Titans

No . . .not the Nipomo Titans . . .the Lockheed Martin Titan. In fact its the final launch from Vandenberg Airforce Base of this particular type of Titan. Launch is supposed to be between 11:04 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Check out the story in today's Santa Maria Times. If the sky is clear, you should be able to see, and probably even hear and feel the launch right here in Nipomo. Luck permitting, I'll try and post a photo later.

Update: 11:14 a.m.

The Titan just took off about ten mintues ago. I was able to get a couple of shots . . . nothing very close up; however, it was the view from downtown Nipomo on Wednesday morning. I may be able to get a few better shots from a source I have who was at the launch. If so, I'll post them later as well. Outstanding!

Killer Bees Come to the Central Coast

According to The Tribune, Africanized bees (so called Killer Bees) have come home to roost in the South County. Some folks down here prefer to be called Rural Arroyo Grandites, rather than identify with Nipomo; however, that in and of itself is another post alltogether. The Tribune notes:

An infestation of Africanized bees, a dangerous form of honeybee, has been found in rural Arroyo Grande.

It is the county's first infestation of the bees, which look identical to European bees but are much more aggressive in protecting their hives and will more readily sting people who disturb them.

In cooperation with county officials, the beekeeper of the affected hive has taken steps to eradicate the infestation. Those steps include reducing the hive population, killing the next generation of bees and introducing a European queen bee to the hive.

Unfortunatately, or maybe fortunately, we don't really know exactly where the infestation is. According to the Tribune report, the bee keeper wants to remain anonymous; however, it is uncertain how the bees actually feel about that.

Interestingly, though, the "Killer Bee" isn't really a killer at all--it's just more agressive. The Tribune noted:

The sting of an Africanized bee is no more venomous than that of a European bee, and each bee is capable of stinging only once. But their aggressive defense of the hive makes them much more dangerous.

They guard a larger area around their hives; furthermore, they will swarm faster and in larger numbers than European bees if provoked, and will chase an intruder as far as a quarter of a mile away from the hive, so someone swarmed by Africanized bees is much more likely to be stung repeatedly.

I suspect, though that with enough of repeated stings from enough "killer bees" they may just be killer. Let's hope we don't have to find out from first hand experience on the Central Coast.

These killer bees have migrated from South America, starting in 1956, traveling about 200 miles northward each year. San Luis Obispo County is surrounded by counties with similar infestations, including Santa Barbara and Kern Counties. So, officials are thinking there will be other future infestations here on the central coast.

If killer bees follow demographic patterns like their human counterparts, we can certainly expect the infestation from Southern California to continue for the foreseeable future.

Greetings From Nipomo---Gateway to San Luis Obispo County

Thanks Greg, for setting up this Central Coast Blog, and for adding Nipomo to be a voice in the South County! One of the most critical issues facing Nipomo is its destiny. Who will control that destiny? People who have no attachment to our community; don't shop in our community; don't live in our community? Or, will we have our own, those of us who work, live, and breathe here in Nipomo plan and control that destiny?

Tonight at the Nipomo Library, 6:00 p.m. there will be a meeting of the NCAC Incorporation Committee to further discuss information regarding Nipomo's potential incorporation. Speaking tonight will be representatives of the Cambria Community Services District who will speak and answer questions about their own incorporation drive. This should be an interesting and informative meeting. Hope to see you there!

Covering Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Oceano And Nipomo!

Postings soon from people who live in south SLO county and have something important to say.