Paso Robles residents looking for a crash course in civics—and to get more involved in community issues—have an opportunity to do so over the next month. City officials have launched a forum series called “Paso Talks” to help break down local government issues.
The series kicked off September 5, and the next session is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 13.
Paso Robles City Manager Tom Frutchey said the series is not only designed to help inform residents, but to help clear up misinformation.
“We’ve heard from people who say, ‘the city doesn’t have enough water. Why are you allowing anybody to build another house when we don’t have enough water?’ Well, we do have enough water and it’s just a matter of making sure residents have enough information and the right information,” Frutchey said.
For those interested in learning more about Paso Robles water issues, that talk will be held in a couple of weeks. The first "Paso Talk" was on city growth and traffic. This week, the topic will be public safety and disaster preparedness, and everything the city is doing to face threats like wildfires and earthquakes.
“Paso Talks” will be held at least once a week between now and then end of the month. Frutchey said another reason the city’s hosting the talks right now is because of election season. Paso Robles has two councilmember seats and a mayorship on the fall ballot.
“We want to make sure the candidates have the right information, and they have consistent information that the public has, so that the issues during the campaigns can be elevated and educated by that information and we can ensure the real issues are the ones being discussed,” Frutchey said.
Frutchey said the information session should last about an hour, and that will be followed by a half hour feedback and discussion period. Each talk is at a different location; click here to see the line-up.