Bill Morem: Hey Ernie, it’s time for a smaller idea

By Bill Morem

Dear Ernie, I know you’ve been through years of teeth-gnashing frustration in trying to bring the Marketplace and its various permutations into being.

You’re now well into the second decade of trying to change your ranch into a commercial and retail enterprise. The sheer psychological weight of carrying those projects forward, only to see them dashed, would probably have broken a lesser man. But you’re not a lesser man.

It does seem unfair that while others have been developing their properties, such as the Madonnas on Los Osos Valley Road or the Copelands downtown, you and your projects have been rebuffed.

To your great credit, you’ve tried to incorporate amenities into designs that you’ve diligently changed to fit the public’s mood. You’ve added public spaces, including parks, trails and a farmers market.

You must have asked yourself a thousand times: Just what is the formula that will placate the opposition and win widespread public approval?

It must be bewildering that those who oppose your project on the strength of wanting to keep your property as a functioning farm don’t know the logistics of doing so.

As a person who has lived on the land, your sense of soil is a lot keener than the rest of us can imagine. And that may be the crux of the disconnect between your dreams and the desires of others.

You know firsthand how backbreaking and mind-numbing farming can be. We don’t. There are very, very few of us who can imagine, much less empathize with, your life as a farmer.

We don’t dissect the sweat involved. We don’t know of the uncertainty of living a life dependent on the whims of nature or the generosity of a banker who sees you through lean years.

What we see are neatly carved rows of greenery that give us a moment’s sense of inner rest, a visual feel of satisfaction that we still live in an area that grows food—that’s green and leafy and not paved over.

It may be a selfish satisfaction, but it is as real as the dirt clod you pick up and crumble to determine moisture content.

But it must be said: It’s time to throttle back, Ernie. The county Superior Court has thrown out Measure J. A federal court has indicated it’s going to toss your lawsuit against the foes of your project. It’s unknown how your complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission will fare, but that may only end up as satisfying as psychic wound-licking.

In that light, how about a smaller project, one that’s on a scale that won’t require freeway on-and offramps, overpasses or acres of pavement?

The idea of yet another concept may be galling, but it may be the best and only way to move your vision—and life — forward and out of the courts of legal and public opinion.

Please give it some thought.

Your friend, Bill

Bill Morem can be reached at bmorem@thetribunenews.com .