Downtown Atascadero: Plans for creek coming into focus

Similar stories:

• Loss of funds will hurt Atascadero

  Loss of funds will hurt Atascadero

  Stakes in the ground at the front entrance to the Historical Society’s Colony House delineate where pathways will meander and then line up with a pedestrian bridge joining Colony Square with historic Sunken Gardens. Those walking paths would have passed through a small plaza consisting of landscaping, benches and maybe even a bronze statue of Atascadero’s founder, E.G. Lewis.

  But that project, along with a few others for the city, came to a screeching halt as a result of the state Supreme Court’s decision Thursday ruling that Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers have the right to abolish redevelopment agencies throughout the state. The governor wants to use the money to help the state with education funding. That certainly isn’t a bad thing. But you know the state is likely to reduce its funding for schools by the amount it gets from those redevelopment agency bucks.

  Over the past decade, redevelopment monies, generated here in Atascadero, have helped bring about downtown improvements, spruce up the front of

• Six native trees could be cut back or removed for new Atascadero pedestrian bridge

  Six native trees could be cut back or removed for new Atascadero pedestrian bridge

  Six native trees around Atascadero Creek could be cut back or removed to make way for the city’s new pedestrian bridge project slated to begin construction next year.

  The Planning Commission is slated to hear the city’s tree-cutting request at Tuesday’s meeting.

  Two sycamores, two black walnut trees, one 4-inch live oak and one dead cottonwood or sycamore are among the trees affected. Planners aren’t sure of the last tree’s species because of its physical condition, they say.

• Closely watched streets in Arroyo Grande Village

  Closely watched streets in Arroyo Grande Village

  Arroyo Grande police have used federal grant money to buy surveillance cameras to monitor specific areas of the downtown Village in an effort to prevent vandalism, graffiti and other crimes.

  Ten video surveillance systems were recently installed in various locations on public and private property: along East Branch Street, in Olohan Alley, near Heritage Square Park and close to South County Historical Society properties, including the Heritage House Museum, Santa Manuela Schoolhouse and Barn Museum.

  The system will go live online in February. It will allow dispatchers to watch real-time activity on three monitors at the Arroyo Grande police station, and the recordings can be downloaded later if needed and stored for at least a year. Each “pod” system contains four cameras, a digital video recorder and a wireless broadband router.

• Joetopia: As agencies crumble, so does future

  Joetopia: As agencies crumble, so does future

  This stinks.

  That’s my two-word assessment of the state Supreme Court’s decision to ax hundreds of redevelopment agencies across California, including several in San Luis Obispo County.

  The court upheld a state law passed last summer to abolish the agencies — a ruling that would allow their funding to be rerouted to schools and special districts.

• Redevelopment agency ruling tests cities' funds

  Redevelopment agency ruling tests cities' funds

  As the Feb. 1 deadline nears for the dissolution of redevelopment agencies in California, local officials are trying to figure out how to move forward without the hundreds of thousands of dollars they came to depend on for community projects in blighted areas.

  Most of the cities with redevelopment agencies — Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Grover Beach, Paso Robles and Pismo Beach — will face increased budget deficits as a result of the elimination of their redevelopment agencies.

  Many local projects are also in jeopardy, and officials are still figuring out which projects may proceed and which have been brought to a halt.