SLO County Roundup

Pismo Beach

Construction on the final phase of the promenade slated to start Tuesday and should be finished in December.

The $1.4 million project includes construction of a wooden boardwalk between the existing sections at the end of Main Street and Pomeroy Avenue and additional improvements to the pier plaza area, said Dwayne Chisam, Pismo Beach’s public works director/city engineer.

Those improvements include removing and replacing the concrete sidewalk along the existing seawall, removing the existing stairway — which was built in 1910 — and replacing it, adding two showers and reconstructing an existing one, and building new storm drain facilities.

The pier will remain open during construction, he said.

Of the $1.4 million construction cost, $1.1 million came from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Chisam said. The rest came from other federal and state funds, he said.

Goleta-based Cushman Contracting Corporation will complete the work.

— Cynthia Lambert

Cal Poly

Professor Brian P. Lawler has won this year’s Educator of the Year Award for Higher Education from the Electronic Document Systems Foundation, the university announced.

The award is presented to academic professionals who have made significant contributions in the classroom in curriculum development, document management and graphic communications marketplace.

Lawler is a writer, historian, photographer, typographer, entrepreneur and balloonist.

He teaches color management, digital printing, and typography at Cal Poly and has more than 30 years of experience in photography, typography and prepress.

His specialty is color management and the integration of color systems in prepress work flows. He has also taught a humanities course, Values and Technology, for several years.

Prior to his career in academia, Lawler worked as a consultant for Kodak, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Adobe Systems, Epson and Nikon.

He founded Tintype Graphic Arts, later a subsidiary of Blake Printery, and was its president for more than 18 years.

— Nick Wilson

San Luis Obispo

The San Luis Obispo Mass Transportation Committee is holding a public hearing Wednesday at 2:45 p.m. to discuss a proposed transit fare increases.

Proposed changes in rates include charging Cal Poly students and faculty to ride the evening bus, which will drop the cost to $1 for the general public and to 50 cents for seniors.

However, daytime rates will increase by 25 cents to $1.50 and to 75 cents for seniors.

The public hearing will be in the Council Hearing Room, at City Hall, 990 Palm St.

For more information, call Transit Manager John Webster at 781-7121 or e-mail jwebster@slocity.org.

— AnnMarie Cornejo

Templeton

The Tribune is seeking a volunteer weather watcher for Templeton.

If you are keeping track of temperatures and rainfall for your area and wouldn’t mind sharing that information with The Tribune, please call Sharon Morem at 781-7937.

— Tribune staff report