A heaping and long-overdue tablespoon of justice was served up this week when the California Supreme Court effectively told the opponents of Ernie Dalidio to shut their pie holes already.
That’s my interpretation of the succinct decision by the court not to hear an appeal of Measure J, the shopping center ballot initiative endorsed by nearly two-thirds of voters in 2006.
Succinct as in the court had no comment, meaning the case was so stupid the justices didn’t even waste two minutes of their breath on a response.
I’m sure the decision leaves the appellants — Citizens for Planning Responsibly and the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County — scratching their heads and wondering what kind of legal trickery they may still have up their sleeves.
Here’s hoping no matter how far they reach — even if it’s up to their armpits — that they come up with nothing more than a handful of Right Guard.
This may or may not finally convince them to give up the fight, as we are speaking about about a bunch of stubborn and selfish zealots to whom “knowing when to quit” is a foreign concept.
Looking back now, the greatest injustice has proven to be their one courtroom victory, which was handed over by local Judge Roger Picquet, whose legal reasoning has now received a back-of-the-hand by not one, but two state courts.
Frankly, the amount of time, money and energy these people have caused to be wasted through their years of filibustering simply boggles the mind. All they have effectively managed to do is delay a project and make it less desirable than it could have been.
Remember the wonderful renderings of the Marketplace, which was so much more than just shopping, complete with soccer fields and open space and a permanent farmers market, back when Dalidio worked so diligently with the city, county and his critics to develop a plan everyone could be satisfied with?
Back before the economy took a swan dive.
And Target signed with the Madonnas.
And mid-sized national retailers started going belly-up all around town.
This is where I can now imagine CRP and ECOSLO — despite their latest setback — still rubbing their hands together and cackling with modicum of glee.
It didn’t all go according to their dastardly plan, but there’s no denying economic fates have in some way conspired to help them, heaping additional damage to Dalidio’s progress.
Be that as it may, the fact today is, opponents of a retail development on the Dalidio property have no legal ground left to stand on (not that they ever did), and their tiresome arguments have finally, at long last been beaten down, so that maybe we can move forward with a productive project, economy-willing.
Because it makes sense for San Luis Obispo to annex the property.
It makes sense to get a tax-generating use out of a prime piece of highway-fronting acreage that has been agriculturally fallow for years.
It makes sense to build an interchange at Prado Road.
It makes sense to once again take out the pads and pencils and work up some sketches.
Here’s hoping Ernie Dalidio is still willing and able take it on, once again.
<br /> <a href=”http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2127072/”>Should Ernie Dalidio revive his plans to develop his property?</a><span style=”font-size:9px;”>(<a href=”http://answers.polldaddy.com”>opinion</a>)</span><br />
I was really looking forward to the butterfly sanctuary, myself.
Joe must be one of Ernie and Christie Dalidio’s drinking buddies or something. Just because The City needs the money is no reason to build yet another mall.
The reason the land is lying fallow is because Dalidio deliberately took it out of production at the same time Measure J was going on the ballot! He obviously did that so that his crony cheerleaders, like Joe here, could claim that the land wasn’t being used in order to drum up support for his unneeded strip mall. That doesn’t make yet another retail mail needed.
Sorry, but there is no shortage of retail space in San Luis Obispo and I do not feel sorry for Ernie and Christie Dalidio, nor the Texas-based real estate conglomerates who are providing them with the financial backing to override the wishes of the San Luis Obispo voters who voted three times, on Measures A, B and C to not build yet another unnecessary mall in the Laguna Lake area.
Look around, there are all kinds of malls in town that are substantially empty. The Marigold center has all kinds of vacancies. The mail on the Irish Hills area has several big-box locations lying unused. Making Ernie Dalidio out to be some kind of ersatz hero and the people who brought the lawsuit out to be villains doesn’t change the facts, Joe!
Cheerleader, yes. Crony, no. Marigold probably has vacancies because it’s a neighborhood shopping center that serves a narrow geographic area. Irish Hills was happily full until the worst recession since the 1930s arrived. I’m sure it will fill up again soon. And referring to “several big-box locations,” I think you mean two, as in Circuit City and Linens N Things. That’s barely multiple, much less several.
I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for Ernie Dalidio. Just be fair. The fact is, the landowner, who is a longtime farmer, is no longer farming the land and no longer sees a profitable enough use for it that way. The adjacent SLO Promenade and Madonna Plaza are consistently full and never have trouble filling their spaced, which is a testament to its desirable location. The Dalidio land would have this same desirability.
As for Measures A, B and C, that property is not city land, so San Luis Obispo voters have no say in its use unless it’s to be annexed, but the city’s not going to annex a bunch of empty land for nothing.
I graduated from Cal Poly in the 1970s and still like the central coast. I visit often but seldom go to SLO. SLO is nothing short of an outdated theme park. It is more crowded than West LA on a week-end and can be as crowded as Disneyland in the summer. Traffic is awful, parking is hard to find and the shopping is ho hum. There is nothing special about downtown SLO that makes me want to visit or spend money there. I feel sorry for the local people that don’t drive that are forced to shop there. Unless you are looking for a meal or decorative art/ junk for your home there is no real shopping in downtown SLO. I do not know Brahma (cute name) but I have noticed that whenever somebody wants to make things better for everyone, there is always some bully that pushes them around. Brahma, I do not know what motivates you but get a life and leave the rest of us alone.
Joe,
What makes you think SLO can attract Macy’s again? The reason we didn’t get a Macy’s store is because we don’t have enough population to support one. Forever 21 took over the less populated stores for good reasons. SLO is more Dillards or JCPenneys bound. Personally, I think Dalidio should not have any department stores. I think SLO is ready for a lifestyle center with their medium family income of $74,970. Dalidio’s tenets are already that of a lifestyle center-Whole Foods, the upscale resturaunts in the food court, and the couple clothing stores he had set up. Lifestyle centers are being built even in this bad economy. With a small or a large lifestyle center there might be a chance we don’t need an interchange.
Anyways there’s food for thought,
David Pecci