Civic disgust

3 September 2008
mb Civic disgust
Hamburger and I went out to dinner on Sunday night. And no, we didn’t go to Lolo’s (that was Friday). When we were out last weekend we had noticed a new Italian restaurant down on the Embarcadero, which is the road that runs along the bay. We were all excited, since we love Italian food and Morro Bay’s Italian options are pizza (Domino’s), pizza (Pizza Port), Sabetta’s (marginal take-out that arrives via slow boat from China (or whereever, it’s definitely not Italy)) and pizza (Round Table).

You know, when it comes to restaurants, we don’t ask for a lot. Luckily, the food was good. The service was not. And it took for-freakin‘-ever to get our food. So much for all our excitement about finding a new go-to restaurant. Morro Bay must have 20 restaurants along the Embarcadero, but they all cater to the tourists…either fish and chips, or fancy seafood dinners. If you’re a local, you don’t go to the Embarcadero. You go to Lolo’s. Or Taco Temple.

As we were driving home, Hamburger once again lamented the lack of a frozen yogurt shop in Morro Bay. I mentioned that maybe the ice cream shop had frozen yogurt. Hamburger didn’t even know we had an ice cream shop (yes, he really is that clueless). However, it was closed. At 6:30 on a Sunday during Labor Day weekend. Have I mentioned Morro Bay is supposed to be a tourist destination?

So we were talking about how hard it is to support your town and its local businesses when, well, your town sucks. Which then reminded me of this article, which states how broke Morro Bay is. Because we have this butt-ugly power plant that barely produces any more, so the city no longer gets tax revenue (or something like that…there’s a reason I didn’t major in business or economics). I read another article a couple of days ago that suggests the city might have to dis-incorporate if it can’t pull its head out of its ass (okay, that’s my interpretation) and fix its budget issues.

Dis-incorporate? I didn’t even know cities could do that.

I know, I know, you’re wondering why we live here. Well, let me just put it this way…
surf Civic disgust
 
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Introducing my home town

10 February 2008

Fig1 3 Introducing my home town

I consider Morro Bay, California to be my home town. My family moved here when I was 8. We moved across the bay to Los Osos 3 years later, but since Los Osos and Morro Bay are both fairly small, they share a junior high and high school. Which means I graduated from Morro Bay High School (go Pirates). MBHS is one of the few high schools in the US that has beach access. How cool is that?

When Hamburger and I moved in together, we chose Morro Bay as our town. Since HB is a surfer, close proximity to the ocean was important. I didn’t want to stay in Los Osos, and Cayucus and Cambria, being further north, were more expensive and a bit too far away from San Luis Obispo, respectively.

Morro Bay has had a population of 10,000 for what seems like forever. The sign said 10,000 when I was 8, and a few weeks ago I noticed it had been bumped up to about 10, 450. There’s really not any room for growth. The ocean is to the west and there are hills to the east. North is hilly, then the even smaller town of Cayucus. And south is still farmland. We are exactly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in San Luis Obispo County. Morro Bay is 12 miles from our county seat, San Luis Obispo, home of Cal Poly State University. The major employers in this neck of the woods are Cal Poly, Cuesta College (a community college), Atascadero State (Mental) Hospital, CMC (a major prison) and the county. Really, though, it’s a lovely place to live. SLO is our biggest town, and it’s not even 50,000 people.

Morro Bay is not so affectionately called the home of the newlywed and the nearly dead. Not very nice, but true. Especially that last part. There are a lot of retired folk in these parts. In fact, we’re almost surrounded on our street. It also has out of control housing prices. When I was a kid, there were two elementary schools in town. Today, only one is open.

Morro Bay is old fishing village. At least that’s what it tells the tourists. We get lots from the valley during the summer, when they come over here to the fog to escape the heat. It really is kind of cute, especially down on the Embarcadero, if you ignore all the touristy shops and restaurants. We have a big rock (Morro Rock). We also have a power plant with some big stacks. At 450 feet, they’re kind of hard to miss.

stan at Tidelands Introducing my home town Umm, yeah. A few years ago I hosted Flat Stanley. He was a great house guest (quiet, didn’t eat much), and the pictures are from his tour of the town.

stanley and stacks Introducing my home town This is the view from our deck. Like I said, the stacks are hard to miss. But you get used to them. The plant is supposed to close. Or be downscaled with smaller stacks. There’s a big debate about what to do. A few months ago there was an absolutely ridiculous opinion piece in the paper about how the stacks are historical and part of Morro Bay history and should be saved. Puh-lease. They’re an eyesore, and they’ve only been around since the 1950s. They used to pump out some corrosive shit, and PG&E would have to pay for paint jobs for resident’s cars.

stan and the bay Introducing my home town Here Stan is in Los Osos, looking out over the bay and the Pacific Ocean. If you could see it, Morro Bay would be at the end of that sand spit.

view from deck Introducing my home town Here’s another view from our deck, this time looking southwest and ignoring the stacks and that big rock.

the stacks Introducing my home town And this is the entrance to the bay. The rock is behind me. Once upon a time, there was no road to the rock. Once upon a time, you could also climb the rock. Not a good idea today. It’s illegal, because there are peregrine falcons who call the top of the rock home. And they’re a protected species.

So that’s just an overview of my little town. Not a whole lot going on around here, but that’s okay. Heck, I once lived in Dufur, OR. That makes Morro Bay look like the big city.

 
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