Home » Home » SLO City News » Progressives Target Board of Supervisors
SLO City News

Progressives Target Board of Supervisors

On Feb. 2 Adam Hill, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor for District 3, promised a crowd of approximately 75 protestors that he and District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson would pull a resolution regarding the proposed Chumash Marine Sanctuary off the Board’s Feb. 6 consent agenda. The pair were, he said, “Going to war,” with their fellow supervisors.
The protest, the third in as many weeks in San Luis Obispo, was organized by SLO Progressives, a local group affiliated with the former Bernie Sanders campaign.

Members of the Santa Lucia Sierra Club, San Luis Obispo Chapter of Surfrider Foundation, Northern Chumash Tribal Council, and The Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo all attended the demonstration.

While the group had intended to march through the Thursday Night Downtown Farmers Market, that event was canceled on account of rain.
Instead, several invited speakers, including Hill, a Chumash tribal elder, and tribal administrator Fred Collins, gave talks in the Mission Plaza to raise public awareness around the proposed Sanctuary, and the group twice circled the block around Higuera Street waving signs.
Chumash Tribal Council Vice-Chair Violet Cavanaugh said the reasons for their presence were several fold, with a new politically conservative majority on the Board of Supervisors, members from the inland districts are friendlier to oil development off the Central Coast. That manifest in the resolution drafted to oppose the Marine Sanctuary as well as a friendlier attitude towards expansion of the Phillips 66 Nipomo Mesa refinery.
“They’ve scheduled the hearing about the oil trains to Phillips 66 for March 13,” Cavanaugh said. “They’re hitting us with everything at once.”
Protestor particularly targeted District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton. District 4 encompasses Arroyo Grande and Oceano.


While it’s a matter of local politics to pressure Supervisors to change their stances on development, the proposed Marine Sanctuary is under the auspice of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which, Cavanaugh explained has five years to act after regions the nomination for protected status.
Nick Andre, spokesman for SLO Progressives, said that the Sanctuary would bridge the gap from the Channel Islands in the South to Monterey Bay in the North, effectively stopping any further offshore leases. Rigs in Santa Barbara County are grandfathered in, however those leases will eventually expire.
“The language they’re using to oppose the sanctuary doesn’t stand up to what would actually happen with fishing and other impacts,” Andre said. “Seems like they’re using arguments that don’t hold water.”


Pilulaw Khus, a Chumash ceremonial elder, attended the demonstration in a wheelchair and strained to be heard over the loudspeaker in Mission Plaza.
She said she knew the price of resistance, having been at the occupation of Point Conception to protect it from fossil fuel development in the 1970s, but urged younger people to get involved.
“That’s what’s different now. It’s all grey hair, not many of the Chumash and not so many young people are here,” she said. “When you [do] see young mothers and small children that’s the greatest joy. [It will be] their future.”

Story and photos by Camas Frank

Facebook Comments

Upcoming Events

  1. Golden Dragon Acrobats to perform at the PAC

    January 1, 1970 @ 12:00 am - February 26, 2017 @ 6:00 pm
  2. Volunteer Opportunities for Seniors

    January 12 - February 15
  3. Rarely or Never-seen Photography from the Joe Schwartz Estate on view now through Feb. 26

    January 12 - February 26
  4. A Retrospective of Work by Michael Miller

    January 12 - February 10