County Roundup: Kathy Smith and Andrea Miller file letters of intent to run for SLO City Council

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• Viewpoint: SLO’s homeless need real solutions

  Viewpoint: SLO’s homeless need real solutions

  So Becky Jorgenson blathers, and James Duenow blathers right back (Viewpoint, Sept. 12). Now, we are close to a homeless circus here in our county. If Oprah were to visit now … what would she think?

  I am a nobody. I don’t hold any positions within the county that qualify me to be an expert on anything but teenage behavior as a high school teacher. Being on leave currently, I have time on my hands.

  So … I want spend some time on homeless issues. Why? For the same reasons many of us do: a sense of guilt mixed in with the desire to do things that make me feel as if I’m part of the solution. Like many, I wish for anyone who doesn’t want to be homeless to get his or her life going, and the best place to start is to have one’s own place to sleep at night. This place needs to be warm and safe.

• SLO officials need plan for dilapidated hilltop building

  SLO officials need plan for dilapidated hilltop building

  The San Luis Obispo City Council will decide the fate today of a long vacant and dilapidated building that was once an orphanage and later a county-run juvenile detention center.

  The two-story brick building, known as Sunny Acres, sits on the hilltop above the former General Hospital off Johnson Avenue. It is known for its unique Romanesque architecture — the only of its kind in the county.

  The building is within city limits but owned by the county of San Luis Obispo. It has been empty since 1974, and the site has been rife with vandalism and other nuisances since.

• Historic SLO site on the market: Sunny Acres may see sunnier days ahead

  Historic SLO site on the market: Sunny Acres may see sunnier days ahead

  The county received a green light Tuesday night to proceed with its plans to sell the historic Sunny Acres building so that it can be converted into a bluff-top home.

  The San Luis Obispo City Council agreed with a 4-0 vote that the county’s proposal to sell the property for residential use would be allowed under the city’s land-use law. Councilman Dan Carpenter recused himself from the discussion because he lives in the area.

  The dilapidated two-story brick building that was once an orphanage and later a county-run juvenile detention center, has been vacant for 37 years. It sits on the hilltop above the former San Luis Obispo General Hospital off Johnson Avenue, affording a view of the city that some say is unparalleled.

• Pay cut for top SLO managers

  Pay cut for top SLO managers

  A proposed pay cut to the city’s top earners narrowly passed Tuesday night —drawing a clear line between the San Luis Obispo City Council members who feel that the city is doing enough to cut expenses and those who don’t.

  A 3-2 vote, with Councilwoman Kathy Smith and Councilman Dan Carpenter dissenting, passed the $807,000 cut in annual pay and benefits to the city’s top managers and unrepresented employees.

  Smith chastised City Manager Katie Lichtig, whose total compensation was reduced by $39,500, for not doing enough.

• Tourism holds strong in SLO County

  Tourism holds strong in SLO County

  Tourism, one of the county’s top economic drivers, fared well this past summer — a sign that it’s helping to lead the local economic recovery, experts said.

  Several cities — including San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande and Morro Bay — reported year-over-year increases in transient occupancy tax revenues (bed taxes), which were welcome news to hoteliers.

  “Tourism is doing well and consumer spending overall has been coming back, and I don’t think San Luis Obispo County has been any exception,” said Jordan G. Levine, an economist and director of economic research for Beacon Economics, a Southern California-based forecasting firm that presents the county’s annual economic forecast.