Cunningham and Laird address water, fires, homelessness and more at SLO ‘State of State’
Democratic Sen. John Laird and Republican Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham addressed a host of issues Thursday at the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the State forum — including water, forest management, homelessness and the unsuccessful recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The event, held virtually and with a live audience at Grace Church, focused on statewide issues affecting the Central Coast, with attendee questions coming at the end of the 90-minute presentation.
The discussion was moderated by KSBY news anchor Nina Lozano.
Some of the takeaways included both local politicians’ interest in:
▪ The addition of an offshore wind industry to the Central Coast (Cunningham noted the infrastructure at Morro Bay and Diablo Canyon represents great economic and environmental opportunities for SLO County);
▪ The benefit of battery storage facilities such as the proposed Morro Bay Energy Storage Project that would be the biggest in California if implemented, and help toward reaching carbon emission reduction targets;
▪ The need for water recycling, conservation and replenishment of groundwater aquifers, and possibility of using the existing desalination plant at Diablo Canyon Power Plant (Cunningham supports the idea of piping the plant’s desalinated water to supply Lake Lopez aquifers);
▪ Addressing the housing demand and affordability strain that has pushed some residents out of state (Laird is supportive of density bonus policy and inclusionary housing while Cunningham urged increasing housing supply while striking the right balance between local government flexibility and control over building policy).
▪ And fire management policy that best plans for year-long fire season conditions (Laird supports beefing up conservation efforts and firefighting forces, as well as climate action measures, saying “there’s a lot of work to be done across the board”).
Responses to questions
Asked about the recall effort of Newsom, Laird said that the governor was the target of lot of public criticism but when faced with the alternative of Republican candidate Larry Elder it clarified the choice for the majority.
Cunningham said that he felt the recall was effective in gaining movement on school and small business re-openings during the pandemic, contending the state wouldn’t have moved as quickly without recall pressure.
As for an attendee question on homelessness, Cunningham said it’s a complex issue that needs to be governed with an appropriate level of complexity.
Cunningham said homeless community members can be drug addicted, mentally ill or intentionally living off the grid, or those who recently lost housing and are seeking resources and government subsidies.
Each group requires different responses and represents varied resource challenges, Cunningham said.
“We’re using our tools in entirely the wrong way and putting a lot of the backs of law enforcement in some circumstances,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham suggested a dedicated response line, similar to 911, where trained mental health or drug abuse professionals could respond to calls they might better handle than police, citing those groups as the most difficult to deal with.
“The solutions would be finding different ways that we can isolate problems and not call it one thing and pretend that $7 billion in the budget is going to fix it,” Cunningham said. “We’ve been spending money on homelessness in every budget and the problem is only getting worse.”
Asked if the unhoused should be included in forming solutions, Laird said he thinks they should.
That’s because those who have lived on the streets have the unique perspective of what can work and what might be ineffective, Laird said.
This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
%20Cropped.jpg)