"The illusory 'cheaper solution in Los Osos'" clarification, please

Hello Supervisor Gibson,

I'm researching a story, and I was reading your recent editorial, "Paso water basin debate sounds a lot like painful struggle over Los Osos sewer," in the Trib, at this link:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article58857173.html

... and, in it, you write:

"Bargaining is more subtle and challenging to counter: 'OK, I want a solution, but not this one. There's one that costs half as much.' The illusory 'cheaper solution' cost huge amounts of time, effort and money in Los Osos, and it's now being promoted by some in the Paso basin."

If you have a spare minute, I'm hoping you could give me a quick clarification on what you mean by "the illusory 'cheaper solution' in Los Osos."

When you write, "the illusory 'cheaper (sewer) solution' in Los Osos," you're referring to theSolution Group's, 1998, "better, cheaper, faster" (than the County's then-"ready-to-go" sewer project) "alternative" sewer project, that relied on 70-acres of sewage ponds in the middle of Los Osos, and was "the basis" for forming the Los Osos CSD in the first place (in 1998), and solely responsible for stopping the County's then-"ready-to-go" project, yet, that so-called "project" ultimately failed after the newly-formed LOCSD wasted two years (and a lot of money) chasing it, and that I first exposed was on the verge of failing in my July 2000, New Times cover story, archived at this link:

http://archive.newtimesslo.com/archive/2003-09-11/archives/cov_stories_2000/cov_07062000.html

... and, almost immediately after my story was published, "better, cheaper, faster" officially failed. (Although my subsequent reporting would go on to expose that "better, cheaper, faster" actually failed months before my story was published, and that LOCSD officials lied to me, and the editors at New Times, about the status of their disaster in that story.)

Here's a graphic of the cover art for my story:

If you look closely, you'll see that it shows the words "better, cheaper, faster" going down a toilet.

So, again, that's the "the illusory 'cheaper solution' in Los Osos" that you're referring to, right?: The Solution Group's failed, 1998 - 2000, "better, cheaper, faster" non-project, right?

The same "illusory 'cheaper solution'" that then-staff member for the California Coastal Commission, Steve Monowitz,  in October 1998, just one month before the election that would form the Los Osos Community Services District (on the back of the Solution Group alternative), wrote:

"Pursuit of the Solution Group alternative also has the potential to result in significant delays to the implementation of a wastewater treatment project for the Los Osos area."

Wow, Steve nailed it there, huh? That was in 1998, and, here we all are, in 2016, and had the Solution Group, and their so-called "consultants" -- many of whom would go on toprofit off of their fake project (still are, as a matter of fact) -- had simply not proposed their fake project in 1998, the county's then-"ready-to-go" project would have been up and running probably sometime in the year 2000.

Which means that the Solution Group alternative -- a disaster that was predicted, by numerous experts, would never work (and it never did, of course) -- is solely (repeat: solely) responsible for the past 16 years of Los Osos sewer delay, and, shockingly, as I recently (re)exposed at this link:

http://sewerwatch.blogspot.com/2016/01/30-years-of-pooling-human-waste-and.html

... "One million gallons per day of sewage continues to be discharged to the (Los Osos) community's groundwater and seeps to Morro Bay State and National Estuary. (A sewer in Los Osos) will end human waste discharges to Morro Bay, end health hazards of surfacing effluent," according to the local state water board.

So, I'm sure you can understand how important it is for my overall story here, that I get this statement:

"The illusory 'cheaper solution' cost huge amounts of time, effort and money in Los Osos..."

... clarified.

So, again, you're referring to the Solution Group's failed, 1998 - 2000, "better, cheaper, faster" non-project, that the Solution Group/LOCSD wasted two years, and a ton of public money, chasing, right?

If so, then, not only did that disaster "cost huge amounts of time, effort and money," as you so accurately point out, but it is also directly responsible for one the largest (if not THE largest) wo/man-made water pollution events in human history -- over 5 billion gallons: "One million gallons" of water pollution per day, for the past 16 years... and counting, including today, tomorrow, the next day, etc.

So, that's the "illusory 'cheaper solution'" you're referring to, right? The Solution Group's failed, 1998 - 2000, "better, cheaper, faster" disaster, right?

Thank you in advance for your prompt response,

Ron

P.S. This email automatically posted to my blog, SewerWatch, at this link:

http://sewerwatch.blogspot.com/

Thanks again.

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