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Good News Real News Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CXXX, NO. XXXVIII
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020
pasoroblespress.com • $1.00 • WEEKLY
LOCAL
EDUCATION
Roblans Honored at Chamber Gala
PRJUSD CUTS MOST BUS ROUTES
Mark Perry, Paso Housing Authority receive awards
Routes for special education, high school will remain By MARK DIAZ mark@pasoroblespress.com
Roblan of the Year, Mark Perry, delivers his acceptance speech at the Paso Robles Chamber Gala Saturday. Photo by Nicholas Mattson
By MARK DIAZ mark@pasoroblespress.com PASO ROBLES — On Saturday, Feb. 29, the City of Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 100th anniversary with the backdrop of Rava Wines Vineyard at its annual gala, hosted by Chamber President and CEO Gina Fitzpatrick and Paso Robles Wine Alliance CEO Joel Peterson. The Chamber named Mark Perry Roblan of the Year for his lifetime of dedication to the betterment of the community. Perry currently works as a liaison for the Downtown Paso Robles Main Street Association. He is a Paso Robles Rotary
Club member and co-chairman of the Pioneer Day Old Timers BBQ Luncheon committee. He has served on the Winemakers BBQ and the Rotary Golf Tournament committees. For the past ten years, Perry has served as a volunteer judge for the annual Paso Robles Christmas Parade. “I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who made this happen, this is a special night for all of us, ” Perry said in his acceptance speech. “This is an honor — the highest honor, so I thank you.” Paso Robles Housing Authority Executive Director David Cooke and Chairman Wes Willhoit accepted this
year’s Beautification Award on behalf of the housing authority for its work in the redevelopment of Oak Park Community. The Oak Park Community project is a large complex that was initially built in 1942 for military families from Camp Roberts during World War II. The original compound featured 148 units but now includes over 300 affordable housing units for qualified families. The renovation project, sponsored by private and public investors, has been broken into four phases. The final stage is set to be completed this Spring. Families are occupying the finished apartments, and there is a waiting list for future available units.
CITY
PRPD Welcomes New Officer
Elizabeth Place looking forward to interfacing with the community By MARK DIAZ mark@pasoroblespress.com
Says goodbye to Barth, Donaldson
PASO ROBLES — On Mar. 1, the Paso Robles Planning Commission held a public meeting to say goodbye to exiting commissioners Doug Barth and John Donaldson and to welcome new appointees Ty Christensen and Field Gibson. Paso Robles Development Director Warren Frace thanked the team for their hard work and the many hours spent tackling complex issues such as short term rentals. He also looked ahead to development work on the horizon, such as the Beechwood housing development coming to fruition as well as the Gateway Annexation project. “It’s an exciting time, I think these projects are going to define the future of Paso Robles,” Frace pasoroblespress.com
said. “The Council in 2003 made out the General Plan Subdivision of how the community was going to grow — it wasn’t a question of if we were going to grow, really that was decided a long time ago. Now, the question before us is, how are we going to grow, and how is it going to look? How are we going to maintain the character and the small-town feel of Paso Robles, while at the same time allow for that necessary growth that has to happen? Finding that balance is key, and that’s really what the Planning Commission is the most important part of, finding that fit that works really well with the community.” John Donaldson, who could not attend the meeting, spent six years on the commission. CONTINUED ON PAGE A10
LOCAL NEWS
CONTINUED ON PAGE A10
CITY
Paso Planning Commission Welcomes New Members
By MARK DIAZ mark@pasoroblespress.com
PASO ROBLES — In the face of a lack of bus drivers and a budget deficit due to stagnant enrollment numbers, the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District voted last week to cut a majority of general education school bus routes for next year. In trying to balance the budget, PRJUSD staff presented several options to the Board that revolved around cutting the District’s transportation program for general education students. The cuts do not affect funding transportation for students with special needs, which schools are mandated by the federal government to provide. The entire busing program relies on a $1.9 million budget with special education comprising $1.2 million of the total. The general education route costs approximately $60,000 per route and the special education routes cost approximately $110,000 per route. “One of the things that we need to take away from this whole discussion is that at the end of tonight, whatever option we choose, we will continue to provide transportation with students with disabilities,” Chief Business Officer Brad Pawlowski said. At the Feb. 25 meeting, the Board reviewed options and finally came to a 6-1 decision with Board member Christopher Arend dissenting to
approve cutting eight of the 12 existing general education bus routes with stipulations. Arend’s motion to approve the option that would eliminate all general education transportation and save the District approximately $270,000 failed to pass with a vote of 1-6. The decision removes eight of the general education bus routes and only provides transportation for high school students. Almost 900 children will be affected by the cuts that trim off approximately $90,000 from the District’s budget. To save money and time, one bus would be parked in the Heritage Ranch area. It would provide general education transportation for 56 students with an option to pick up additional kids at the 17th and Vine stop when not at full capacity. The plan keeps the two San Miguel High School busses and adds a “portal-to-portal” bus for Virginia Peterson, Cuesta College, Flamson Middle School, and Paso Robles High School. The stipulation added to the option was that additional portal-to-portal routes would be added as drivers become available. The district agreed to consult with the bus drivers to work out the most cost-effective routes possible. Bus drivers have raised concerns about overburdening the schoolyards, saying that parents would be forced to drop their kids off early before driving to work.
PASO ROBLES — The Paso Robles Police Department added to their ranks in February by hiring Officer Elizabeth Place. Commander Caleb Davis of the PRPD said that the department is very happy to have her on board. “She is bilingual and she took a lot of time and effort to do a lot of community involvement in her last agency, those are key things that we like,” Davis said. Born and raised in Southern California, Place said that she was familiar with the Central Coast and has camped in Paso Robles in the past. Her husband, Officer Jerrod Place, recently joined the Morro Bay Police Department, which led to her applying for employment in the area. “It’s a good environment, and my family loves it here, so that’s why I choose to come out here and apply,” Place said. For more than four years, Placed worked as an officer in Tehachapi. The small mountain city has a population of 12,630, compared to Paso Robles, which boasts more than 31,000 people. Asked if it is intimidating to move to a bigger city, Place said that she is looking forward to the growing opportunity that working in
AGRICULTURE
New Paso Robles police officer Elizabeth Place is sworn in for duty last week. Photo courtesy of the Paso Robles Police Department
a larger city will bring but acknowledged the big change. “I think it’s not so intimidating, it’s just the ability to learn more and grow more,” Place said “I come from that environment where you know the locals, you know who you are dealing with, to a bigger city, a lot of tourism and meeting a lot of different people.” Place said that she enjoys the public outreach part of the job. At her former department, she participated in the “Shop with a Cop” program. Each year, several elementary school students were chosen
SPORTS
to accompany a police officer for the day, meet Santa Claus, and go on a $100 shopping spree at a participating retail store with money raised by the community. “You get to shop with them, some of them would pick items for themselves or for their family,” Place said, “and they just have a whole day to themselves that they get to feel special that day.” The program allowed Place to interact with kids and educate them on the aspects of police work. The program allowed her CONTINUED ON PAGE A10
ENTERTAINMENT
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KANSAS to bring classic rock tunes to the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center | B3
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