The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce is hosting two candidates’ forums in the coming months to give members a chance to better understand where our potential elected leaders stand on key business and community issues.

Attendees will hear first-hand from the candidates in a forum devoted primarily to audience questions.

The Mayoral Candidates’ Forum will be co-hosted with Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo on Sept. 8 from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Mayoral candidates include former Councilman Paul Brown, nonprofit volunteer Andrew Farrell, artisan Donald Hedrick and Councilwoman Jan Howell Marx.

Next year’s Chamber trip takes members and friends on a 10-day journey across the Emerald Isle, a land renowned for its “forty shades of green,” filled with rolling hills, warm people, stately castles and rollicking fun.

San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce members will travel to Ireland with friends and associates from San Luis Obispo and build relationships that last a lifetime.

On the trip, guests will

• enjoy an evening of fun with traditional Irish entertainment,
• travel the Ring of Kerry, one of the world’s most beautiful coastal routes,
• meet an Irish family during a visit to a working Irish farm, and have coffee and scones while they explain their everyday life,
• behold the spectacular beauty of the Cliffs of Moher, and
• stay overnight on the grounds of a castle and experience old Ireland at its finest.

The San Luis Obispo City Council will hold a meeting next month to discuss a proposed fare increase for city transit.

Potential increases include raising the 31-day pass from $12.50 to $15 and the adult trolley fare by a quarter to 50 cents. The free trolley fare for seniors and transfer fees would cost a quarter and 75 cents respectively with the proposed increase.

Reports for this meeting will be available for review in the City Clerk’s Office and online at www.slocity.org on Sept. 1.

The public hearing is on Sept. 7, and will be televised on channel 20. Call 781-7100 for more information.

A new study says the federal government’s total policy response to the Great Recession “probably averted what could have been called Great Depression 2.0.”

The report, titled "How the Great Recession was Brought to an End," paints a grim picture of what the country would look like today if the government had not taken the actions that it did.

"The U.S. government’s response to the financial crisis and ensuing Great Recession included some of the most aggressive fiscal and monetary policies in history," the study states. "The response was multifaceted and bipartisan, involving the Federal Reserve, Congress, and two administrations. Yet almost every one of these policy initiatives remain controversial to this day, with critics calling them misguided, ineffective or both."

Longtime city council member and former Mayor Allen Settle has decided not to run for mayor this year.

Settle told the e-Insider today that he has decided not to run for mayor because his constituency is similar to Jan Marx’s and that if he ran, he could have become a spoiler in what likely would have been a three-way race that includes Paul Brown.

Settle is throwing his support to Marx. Except for a two-year break, Settle has been on the San Luis Obispo City Council for 30 years. He cannot run for council this year because of term limits.

A broad-based committee of youth sports advocates, environmentalists, neighborhood activists and business interest supporters (including the SLO Chamber) has been formed to fight Measure H, the November ballot measure that, if passed, would forever prevent the extension of Prado Road to Broad Street.

The “No on Measure H Committee” will be led by three highly respected community leaders. One of the two co-chairs is Youth Sports Association leader, long-time school board and AYSO board member John Spatafore. The other co-chair is teacher, architect and environmental leader Stacey White. The treasurer is Softec chair and CASA President Hillary Trout.

The City of San Luis Obispo Public Works’ Tree Division is sponsoring a woodchip and firewood giveaway at 25 Prado Road, City of San Luis Obispo Corporation Yard, on July 24 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until wood chips are gone.

The wood rounds and rough wood chips are generated from various tree trimming activities within the City of San Luis Obispo. This green waste recycling program is for residential use only — please, no contractors or retailers.

City staff will be on site to assist with loading of pickup trucks and small trailers. Residents are encouraged to bring smaller containers to fill themselves and are asked to follow the directional signs at 25 Prado Road to the loading area.  

Donations will be accepted to help cover future Arbor Day activities and tree plantings within San Luis Obispo’s Urban Forest.

For more information, contact Urban Forester, Ron Combs at (805) 781-7023 or Maintenance Supervisor, Keith Pellemeier at (805) 781-7022.

The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors voted to oppose an initiative that seeks to prevent the planned extension of Prado Road.

The initiative, which will be discussed at the San Luis Obispo City Council tonight, is expected to be placed on the November ballot for voters to decide.

The Chamber believes that the initiative – if passed – will have significant adverse effects on traffic circulation, neighborhood safety, areas already zoned for affordable housing, and local businesses.

“This type of ballot box governance not only provides no alternative solution to the extension of Prado Road, but it creates many foreseeable problems, including increased traffic congestion at Tank Farm Road and South Street, creating unnecessary hazards for the existing neighborhoods on those roads,” said John Ewan, chairman of the SLO Chamber’s Board of Directors. “The last thing San Luis Obispo needs now is another road to nowhere.”

Vallejo residents recently went to the polls and revoked the city’s binding arbitration out of its charter – 40 years after the city had become the first California city to let arbitrators settle pay and benefit disputes with its unionized work force.

The closely watched Measure A narrowly passed with about 51 percent of the vote despite heavy opposition from police and firefighter groups around the state, which reportedly outspent the measures’ backers 10-1. One county and 22 cities in California – including San Luis Obispo – still have binding arbitration.

Vallejo city officials had previously tried twice to remove binding arbitration from its books but it apparently took the city’s 2008 bankruptcy filing and public scrutiny of pay and benefits to change voters’ minds.