At the Board of Supervisors meeting on May 24, after a presentation and discussion of Oceano flooding issues, supervisor Patterson tells the Oceano residents that were present to solve the flooding problems themselves.

This came after Paavo Ogren, of Public Works, gave a presentation on the Oceano community drainage and flooding issues.

The lack of proper draining of the Meadow Creek Lagoon was the major contributor to last December’s flooding. However, Paavo slanted his report, concentrating on the Arroyo Grande Creek issues. He stated over and over that AG Creek was priority No. 1 and that Meadow Creek Lagoon was priority No. 2.

After many residents gave testimony that the lagoon has been taken over by the growth of reeds and the build up of silt, thus severely limiting the flow of water, and after further testimony that drainage of water from the ditches and streets does not flow into the lagoon, it became clear that the lagoon issues had to be resolved to mitigate future flooding.

Paavo indicated to the supervisor that State Parks owns the lagoon, and when he communicated with them about the flooding, they said that they didn’t want to disturb Mother Nature, and they want nature to take its course.

Supervisor Patterson then said that the residents should form committees to approach all of the various agencies involved to get the flooding problems resolved. He bases this on his own experience in dealing with flooding at Santa Margarita, which took three to four years to resolve.

It isn’t our job to do this! Public Works needs to step forward and grab the reins. With the supervisor’s backing, Public Works should vigorously pursue working with State Parks and solve the issues. Instead of “preparing, evaluating, determining, calculating, pursuing … .” It’s past time for Public Works to now do some real work. We don’t need more studies, charts, expensive presentations, and more drainage of our funds.