Hi! + A Citizens’ Agenda + Upcoming SLO County forums: This week in Outspoken

It is Thursday, Sept. 24, and this is The Tribune’s Outspoken newsletter.

Hello, young SLO County!

Welcome to the first edition of our Outspoken 2020 newsletter! You’re receiving this newsletter because you indicated in our survey that you would like to stay informed on The Tribune’s very special election project, Outspoken, and our efforts to amplify young voter voices this November.

First off, we’d like to thank you. Without your help, we wouldn’t be where we are today — ready to dive into targeted, informational election coverage with one goal: Making your voice heard. More than 200 people from every corner of the county responded to our survey this summer to let us know what you care about, and we could not be more thankful.

We’ve gleaned a lot of information from that survey. From affordable housing to COVID-19 response, we’ve taken note of your priorities and are in the process of diving deeper into those topics to present you and candidates with potential, actionable solutions.

Before we go further, we’ve compiled a general list of your priorities and what we heard you wanted from elected officials, called the Citizens’ Agenda.

This agenda is the framework for our coverage — you might even call it our magna carta. You can read more about the agenda below.

Going forward, we plan to keep you updated weekly on the latest stories out of Outspoken and the reporting happening behind the scenes. And right up through Election Night, we’ll be here listening to and reporting on your directives, young SLO County.

Want to get in contact to chat more? You can email us at kleslie@thetribunenews.com or cgaribay@thetribunenews.com, or you can follow us on Twitter (@kaytyleslie and @CassandraGari) and talk with us there.

And keep an eye on The Tribune’s Instagram and Twitter accounts for info you can easily share with your friends and family (hint, hint).

We can’t wait to hear more from all of you and get this election show on the road!

Best,

Kaytlyn and Cassandra

Affordability, Black Lives Matter and more: What you care about this election

Five major themes popped up in your responses to our survey this summer:

1. Affordability: Look, it’s expensive to live in SLO County. Housing prices are high. Rental prices are high. Wages may be higher than other areas, but not high enough. Your message? We need ways to make SLO County more affordable and accessible to all — and we want candidates who will make that their priority.
2. Black Lives Matter and diversity: For many of you, this is THE issue this election. How can your elected officials make San Luis Obispo County more open and equitable for all? What can they do to address systemic racism? The directive: Let’s see some tangible solutions, candidates.
3. The environment: Being a good steward of the environment was a huge priority, including an interest in local Green New Deal-like policies that could help bring new jobs to the region once Diablo Canyon closes (a way to be green and get the green at the same time). TL;DR: We are worried about the environment. Our candidates should be too.
4. Homelessness: Tied closely with the affordability concerns were worries that San Luis Obispo County is not doing enough to help its homeless population. You asked for easier access to mental health services and a reexamination of strict policies that criminalize being homeless, as well as more programs aimed at long-term housing of SLO County’s un-housed.
5. COVID-19: No surprise here, coronavirus and public health ranked highly on the list of concerns for 2020. Though the opinions varied, the majority of you said you wanted officials to take a firm, science-based approach to regulations as we head back into reopening. Balance is the key here.

Read more about what the survey found.

There were plenty of other topics mentions, so don’t worry if you don’t see something on here that you talked about. We’re delving into a myriad of other sub-issues and more specific topics as we write this. Stay tuned!

OK, candidates: Let’s get in forum-ation

The pandemic hasn’t stopped election campaigns, but it has changed them.

Candidates competing for San Luis Obispo County’s votes are participating in online forums rather than in-person debates due to coronavirus. The upside is, if you couldn’t make it to a forum set for a particular time, many of the virtual forums will have a playback option and nearly all of them are free.

The SLO Tribune compiled a list of virtual forums for election races throughout the county.

This list of how, when and where to watch candidates discuss important issues will be updated as more forums pop up. Did we miss one? Let us know!

What’s coming up next?

You have two opportunities to get involved tonight:

• The League of Women Voters of San Luis Obispo County and the Cambria Lions Club are hosting a forum for Cambria Community Services District candidates Thursday evening at 6 p.m.
  
  
• And the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce is hosting a City Council candidate online forum just one hour later at 7 p.m.

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend, young SLO County!

• • •

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Cassandra Garibay

The Tribune

559-441-6004

Cassandra Garibay reports on housing throughout the San Joaquin Valley with Fresnoland at The Fresno Bee. Cassandra graduated from Cal Poly and was the breaking news and health reporter at The SLO Tribune prior to returning to the valley where she grew up. Cassandra is a two-time McClatchy President’s Award recipient. Send story ideas her way via email at cgaribay@fresnobee.com. Habla Español.

Kaytlyn Leslie

The Tribune

805-781-7928 (voicemails only)

Kaytlyn Leslie writes about business and development for The San Luis Obispo Tribune. Hailing from Nipomo, she also covers city governments and happenings in San Luis Obispo. She joined The Tribune in 2013 after graduating from Cal Poly with her journalism degree.