ROUND TOWN I always feel like somebody’s watching me... All the news about NSA surveillance worries me. It’s not so much the NSA, it’s what their private sector consultants and tech providers might do with our personal data. Are they leaking my stuff onto Google, or Siri, heaven forbid? “Hi, Mr. Curtis, I hear you’re down 8 pounds, gotta keep that diet going, so how about a skinny latte?” asks my ‘buck barista. “How do you know about my diet?” I ask, but he’s already gone, waiting on the next customer. ‘Your 1998 Camry, VIN #_____ averaged 24.6 mpg on your trip to Santa Barbara; good work, Bruce!’ –reads my gas receipt. I furtively search under my hood for an unrecognized black box, but find nothing. And what’s with the Crown Vic with the Booz Allen logo, next to me? My banker says, “Hi, Mr. Curtis, how are you? Hey, sorry you’re getting audited,” Wait! I’m getting audited? I haven’t heard anything...” “Oh, [coughs], I’m sorry, excuse me...” She flashes a glassy smile and flees to a back office. Fact is, everyone is tracking us, everywhere; your credit card histories, cell phone location, all of it encoded in tiny binary bits which in the hands of the right geek reveal all sorts of intimate stuff about you, your buying habits, social life, income and political preference. The value of your home, for instance, is common knowledge, tracked by the California Realtor’s Association, which says prices have risen faster than anytime in the past 33 years. Fact is, median home prices are up 32% from May, a year ago, as buyers compete for existing homes. And you don’t always have to possess all the facts to deduce even more. For instance, purchasers are fronting bigger down payments to get more stable loans and better interest rates, and we County Perspective can deduce from this that people have more cash than they did at the start of the Great Recession. Websites like Zillow and Trulia track Central Coast housing commerce down to the neighborhood, the “hottest” zones color-coded in yellow and red. Where are prices toastiest? Paso Robles to Templeton, where the average home goes on the market for anywhere from $675,000 to $1.05 million and that’s plenty warm. The main reason for house prices skyrocketing in an economy seen as lukewarm at best? Under-supply. Developers say taxes, fees and assessments add so much to new home prices that they’re waiting until homebuyers are willing to fork over enough extra to cover those costs. Economic recovery is a factor with county jobless rates dropping below 6%, although quality income producing, (read: home-buying wages) lags. Economic forecasters look for double-digit home price inflation this year, tapering down in 2014. Templeton TAAG: The Templeton area advisory group (TAAG) approved People’s Self Help Housing’s proposal for 84 new apartment units, set to be built onto an existing 2-acre apartment property off Las Tablas Road. Five buildings, each with six units will be open to low-income residents, since the rents will be 30% below market. Unfortunately, every program comes with a certain loss of privacy; residents will be income-checked LAW OFFICE of JAMIE M. McMILLAN Jamie M. McMillan - attorney mediator By Bruce Curtis annually, to meet income restrictions of $18,000 to $ 40,000 per year. Templeton’s first hotel, Las Tablas Village, was green-lighted by TAAG. The project proposed for the corner of Las Tablas Road and Bennett Way would bring nearly 182,000 square feet of hotel, retail and residential space to the site. The mixeduse project brings 120 hotel units to the 15-acre site. “...tracked by the California Realtor’s Association, which says prices have risen faster than anytime in the past 33 years...Where are prices toastiest? Paso Robles to Templeton, where the average home goes on the market for anywhere from $675,000 to $1.05 million and that’s plenty warm.” Loss: Nipomo supervisor Paul Teixeira (pronounced teh-share-ah, in case you wondered), surprised everyone by unexpectedly passing away. I realize he was my age, and I shiver. Teixeira passed away at Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria on June 28th of undisclosed causes, leaving a glaring gap and many questions about how the board will lean, now that Teixeira’s pro-growth, conservative presence is gone. On the officially non-partisan board, Paso Robles’ Frank Mecham and Debbie Arnold, next door, are generally seen as more pro-growth than their liberal-leaning counterparts, Bruce Gibson and Adam Hill. To add to the confusion, Democrat Governor Jerry Brown is likely to appoint an interim supervisor – and you can just about bet he or she will not be a conservative – to fill Teixeira’s remaining term, which runs through 2014. What policy changes will the shift in board makeup do? The likely answer is, not many, because Brown is not expected to appoint Teixeira’s successor for at least six months, and that minimizes the time and political capital available to his successor. For now, look for some gridlock, and acrimony, if only symbolic. And why does Jerry Brown get to decide who represents county voters? Taking Sides: Anyone who has tracked groundwater declines along the 101/Hwy 46 corridor knew sides would be drawn. Those sides now have names: Paso Robles Agricultural Alliance for Groundwater Solutions, (PRAAGS), and PRO Water Equity, representing residential property owners. Not surprisingly, PRAAGS wants a fully empowered water management district, and plans to circulate a petition in the Fall. PRO Water Equity believes ag users don’t care about residential users, even as residential wells go dry, victims of greater use by agriculture. PRAAGS Chair Jerry Reaugh responds that ag interests are just as affected by water issues as residents – and ag users are also residents. The bottom line that the aquifer doesn’t respect property lines may be the one thing both sides will agree on, even though PRO Water disagrees with forming a water management district. Dana Merrill, PRAAGS vice-chair, sees a district as the only way to bring powerful interests together to seek a solution. By assessing properties based on acreage, Merrill thinks both ag and residents could bring together the clout needed to move politicians toward real solutions. The immediate need is to stabilize the aquifers, Merrill emphasizes. 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