TIMELINE

The three iconic 450-foot Morro Bay smokestacks constructed in the 1950’s were officially shut down. At its peak production the facility served nearly one million customers on the Central Coast and in the Central Valley while burning 500,000 gallons of oil per day. In the wake of the closure, Dynegy, the plant’s Houston-based owner, applied with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to create an offshore wave farm. Officials at Dynegy estimate that it would create 650 megawatts of electricity and would provide the City of Morro Bay with an estimated $1 million in annual revenue. A group of Nipomo Mesa residents banned together to sue the County and the State Park Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division, operator of the Oceano Dunes. Citing research indicating that the off-road vehicles at the Dunes are creating unhealthy living conditions on the Mesa, the frustrated residents’ lawsuit claims that the “protection of public health” has been disregarded.

Lady Gaga shot a music video at Hearst Castle, which prompted the suspension of Nicholas Franco, the State Parks executive who oversees the castle. Two weeks later Franco was reinstated and the record was set straight: Gaga donated $250,000 to the Hearst Castle Preservation Fund; reimbursed all costs, including the castle’s $22,100 special fee; underwrote a $25,000 water supply study; and, most importantly of all, in light of the drought, no water was wasted in the process. Gaga and her crew dropped in at the Cambria Ale House when shooting ended to celebrate.

After a five-year struggle to reaffirm its good standing with the Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Cuesta College President Gil Stork announced that the college is no longer in sanctions. The next round of self-evaluation is due to the commission in June, and Stork stated that the college already has “2,000 pieces of evidence to support the 2014 evaluation.” Cuesta College also launched a website to make the evaluation process “more open and transparent to the community.” Amid strong opposition from its neighbors, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District chose to abandon its plans to build an 88-unit residential complex on Johnson Avenue. However, the district vowed to press on with plans to build a smaller development on the 4.4-acre hillside property as way to resupply its cash-strapped general fund.

The Cal Poly men’s basketball team completed a magical run to cap their season and earn the school’s first ever birth at the NCAA Tournament. In an improbable three-night stretch the team played as underdogs yet continued to win. With time running out, Mustang freshman point guard, Ridge Shipley, stopped at the top of the key for a jumper that rattled around the rim before falling to secure a dramatic one-point victory over Cal State Northridge and a trip to The Big Dance in Dayton, Ohio for a chance to compete for a national title. After winning the first round, the Mustangs were eliminated from contention by Wichita State in St. Louis. The City of San Luis Obispo was told by a state administrative law judge to restore binding arbitration as a means to negotiate wages and benefits for its police and fire unions. The overturn of Measure B, which 73% of voters supported in August, 2011, came as result of a claim filed by the San Luis Obispo Police Officers Association in October of that same year. Following the announcement, the city council voted unanimously to appeal the judge’s ruling setting up an unprecedented legal battle.

The Board of Supervisors officially declared the County to be in a state of drought emergency. The US Drought Monitor classified SLO County with its most severe designation, describing it as experiencing an “exceptional” drought. Against this backdrop, the County gave a green light for exemptions to its planting moratorium allowing 21 vineyards to plant an additional 1,500 acres in the North County, which will use water from the Paso Robles groundwater basin as its irrigation source. By a 5-0 vote, the Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) board of directors terminated its general manager, Lonnie Curtis, who was just five months into his tenure at the trouble-plagued agency. It is the third consecutive GM to have been fired at OCSD, but at least the board was able to cut the cord before being required to kick in $63,000 in severance pay. Curtis, who was recruited from the Los Angeles area for the $126,000 per year job, reportedly “flipped off” a bystander as he drove out of the parking lot in his SUV for the last time.