Decade

After a steady increase in 1999, home prices in the area suddenly surged skyward in 2000. But the struggle to preserve our quality of life loomed over the fall election, when county voters rejected a measure aimed at curbing growth and protecting farmland.

Armed guards at the airport. Top-secret security measures at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Fund-raising efforts, candlelight vigils and unity rallies. A local woman grieving for her sister. These are the ways in which the terrorist attacks reached across the continent to San Luis Obispo.

Housing prices soared in San Luis Obispo County in 2002, creating instant nest eggs for many homeowners, but at the same time derailing the dreams of families priced out of the market.

County residents could, perhaps, be excused for being a bit blase about the danger of earthquakes. As cities great and small fell, San Luis Obispo County seemed almost immune. That changed at 11:15:56 a.m. Dec. 22.

The conservation plan for the 82,000-acre Hearst Ranch is in escrow, after more than five years of negotiation, debate, public meetings and funding approvals. The deal will keep development off all but a few of the ranch's acres.

Los Osos officials say they will sell the property where a midtown sewer treatment plant would have been built in order to avoid bankruptcy in 2006 — and at the same time attempt to heal a community rift that threatens the existence of the town's government.

The harrowing March shooting rampage at Denny's in Pismo Beach — which left two South County residents and the gunman dead and two others injured — ended in a matter of minutes. But 10 months later the pain and shock live on.

San Luis Obispo County's housing market continued its rough ride in 2007, a year punctuated by slower home sales, falling prices and greater choice for potential buyers as inventories crept up. There will likely be more bumps ahead as the housing market stabilizes, economists say.

For many San Luis Obispo County residents, 2008 didn't end soon enough — with its painful housing market decline, falling stock portfolios, rising unemployment, growing state budget deficit, credit crunch and nervous consumers who curbed spending. But the worst may be yet to come as the county navigates through the most severe recession since the early 1990s.