GOOD NEWS REAL NEWS HOMETOWN NEWS
SINCE 1889 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CXXXIII, NO. XXXVII
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2023
GOVERNMENT
Downtown Parking Program Approved for Next 90 Days Everyone receives two free hours of parking; $2 an hour following By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
PASO ROBLES — Residents and merchants filled the City Council chambers to express their opinions and concerns over the impending Downtown Parking Program at the Paso Robles City Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 22. Mayor Steve Martin was again absent from the meeting. The parking program appeared on the Tuesday night agenda after being tabled from the Tuesday, Jan. 24, meeting, where Martin was also absent. With the WayToPark app being discontinued on Friday,
Local Student ‘Agvocates’ as Miss United States Agriculture
Feb. 10, council was asked to approve a new parking program with a new app to be used, Flowbird. However, concerns from the public and councilmembers over various details of the parking program led to it being continued to the Feb. 22 meeting. After two meetings of thorough discussion, a 90-day parking program was approved by a 3-1 vote — with Councilmember Fred Strong voting no. The new Flowbird app will be activated with two free hours for everyone and will cost $2 per hour after that. The program will come back to council for review in 90 days. The originally proposed parking program included two controversial changes: • Eliminating free parking hours • Increase from $1 to $2 per hour Again, residents and downtown business owners issued concerns over the removal of free parking. Many businesses echoed each other in that they rely on local residents to sustain their businesses year-long. Removal of the free parking made many residents say they would detour from coming downtown. Donovan Schmidt, the CEO of the Park and Pine Group, which owns popular restaurants like Fish Gaucho and Pappy CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
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El Camino Homeless Organization Celebrates Three Success Stories
Kyle (left) recently celebrated getting an apartment after completing a rehab program, returning to the Central Coast, and finding ECHO. Courtesy Photo
From overcoming hurdles to finding stability, ECHO helps homeless individuals By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
NORTH COUNTY — The El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO) is celebrating the success stories of three clients who have found stability and housing after experienc-
ing homelessness. Christopher, Kyle, and Deborah are just a few of the many individuals who have been helped by ECHO’s outreach and case management programs on the Central Coast of California. Each person has a unique journey, but all have over-
come obstacles and persevered with the support of ECHO’s services. Christopher | Feb. 5 Thank you to everyone for the help with Christopher’s newly housed wish list. He is incredibly thankful, as are all of us at ECHO. Here is his
AGRICULTURE
story — direct from his case manager. Before Christopher came to ECHO, he was living a very nomadic lifestyle. He faced a lot of hurdles early in adulthood and struggled to get his life in order for some time. CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
COUNTY
Supervisors Vote to Rescind the Paso Basin Planting Ordinance
The vote was 3-2 to re-enact and extend the Agricultural Offset Ordinance until 2028 By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@pasoroblespress.com
NORTH COUNTY — At the most recent SLO County Board of Supervisors meeting
held on Tuesday, Feb. 7, the Paso Basin Land Use Management Area (PBLUMA) Planting Oridance was up for discussion. The item was also moved to the first spot of the day’s agenda, and deliberations started at 9 a.m. On Dec. 6, 2022, the board adopted the PBLUMA Planting Ordinance and it was originally scheduled to go into
effect on March 1. However, in a special meeting on Sunday, Jan. 29, the Board of Supervisors moved to rescind the planting ordinance. You can find Paso Robles Press’s story on the move to rescind at pasoroblespress. com/news/supervisors-rescindnewly-approved-paso-basinplanting-ordinance/ CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
EDUCATION
Atascadero FFA president represents agriculture industry in Monterey County
Templeton School Board Passes Public Hearing on the Disclosure of Teachers’ CBA
By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
Trustees acknowledge five certifications NORTH COUNT Y required to submit — One local student is Atascadero High School senior (and Atascadero FFA President) Jewels Ryan represents modernization and promoting the agriculture Monterey County as its Miss United States Agriculture for 2023. Photo by Shauna Terry industry through the Miss new construction United States Agriculture started in 2014 to encourage “Our platform is we are truly funding applications
pageant. Atascadero FFA President Jewels Ryan is representing Monterey County as a 2023 Miss United States Agriculture. The nationwide program
women in agriculture to teach and enhance American agriculture. Since the program’s launch, young women and girls of all ages have been advocating for agriculture with their crown.
a pageant with a purpose and By CHRISTIANNA MARKS that we are giving back through christianna@pasoroblespress.com life-changing experiences. We are a positive advocate for agriTEMPLETON — The culture,” explained Ryan, who Templeton Unified School CONTINUED ON PAGE A15 District (TUSD) met for its
regularly scheduled open-session trustee meeting on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 6:15 p.m. The meeting came after the 5:30 p.m. closed session. The Order of Business was approved unanimously. Jessica Lloyd, the principal of Templeton High School, then gave a presentation to the trustee board on the high school in the 2022-23 year, from the first day of school this
WINE
EDUCATION
NEWS
SECTION
SPORTS
year through what the school is looking forward to, including graduation. “It’s really important to me that there’s some consistency at this school and there’s people who genuinely care about these kids and the staff, and just want to bring this accepted camaraderie, but raise the bar and excellence, and do all these things here,” added Lloyd at CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
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