Senior centers offer recreation and fellowship

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• Paso Robles ponders raising sales tax by half-cent

  Paso Robles ponders raising sales tax by half-cent

  Paso Robles voters in November will decide whether they want a half-cent sales tax increase to raise additional money for road repairs and public safety.

  The City Council on Saturday held its second public study session this year detailing how to rebuild services after years of cuts.

  If the economy recovers as expected, that would add only about $1.3 million total revenue over the next five years, without the tax increase. But the city has cut more than $7 million in annual spending since 2009.

• SLO County may clear the air on smoking regulations

  SLO County may clear the air on smoking regulations

  Communities are asked to help create more understandable rules

• Lawsuit filed over ban on sleeping in cars in San Luis Obispo

  Lawsuit filed over ban on sleeping in cars in San Luis Obispo

  A lawsuit challenging a San Luis Obispo ordinance that prohibits sleeping in vehicles on city streets has been filed on behalf of people who say they have been unfairly targeted by recent police enforcement.

  The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Saro Rizzo and Stewart Jenkins in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Friday, alleges that the law is unconstitutional, vague and results in arbitrary enforcement.

  “Basically, the ordinance criminalizes innocent conduct, sleeping and/or living when either is associated with a recreational vehicle,” the lawsuit argues.

• Safe parking programs would benefit homeless

  Safe parking programs would benefit homeless

  Pinning down the number of homeless people in our county is a near-impossible task; experts point out that the best we can do is provide a “snapshot in time.” The most recent “snapshot” was taken Jan. 26, 2011, when 3,774 homeless individuals were counted in San Luis Obispo County — nearly half of them children.

  Given the economy, that number has almost certainly increased. Yet we have not been able to keep pace by providing more services and facilities — at least not yet. Major efforts are under way to build new facilities in two communities: a homeless campus on Prado Road in San Luis Obispo and a day shelter in the Five Cities area.

  Both projects are years away, and in the meantime, there’s an immediate need to provide at least some form of rudimentary shelter, especially in these cold and wet winter months. Opening “warming stations” on the bitterest nights is a start, but we can do more. One of the easiest and least expensive alternatives is to offer safe, secure parking lots for people living out

• Morro Bay may restrict outdoor smoking

  Morro Bay may restrict outdoor smoking

  Morro Bay is moving ahead with new regulations that would ban smoking in all outdoor public places.

  A divided City Council voted last week to consider a law that would make Morro Bay only the second jurisdiction in the county to comprehensively regulate secondhand smoke. Another ordinance would require permits for tobacco retailers.

  The council voted 3-2 to have City Attorney Rob Schultz draft the regulations for formal consideration. Mayor Bill Yates and Councilman George Leage dissented.