On this week's Issues & Ideas, we hear about the Hourglass Project, a new economic vitality venture aimed at bringing future jobs and industries to San Luis Obispo County. We'll also hear two sides of the ongoing conversation about downtown San Luis Obispo, and what should be done to encourage a wide-range of businesses while nurturing the city's unique characteristics. UCSB neuroscientist Kenneth Kosik talks about studying a genetic mutation that causes early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and our colleagues at KCRW explore what's behind California's current wildflower super bloom, and where you can see carpets of spring flowers. 

At the end of February, when Arroyo Grande city staff floated the idea of leaving the Five Cities Fire Authority (FCFA) in San Luis Obispo County, it threatened the future of fire services for the city, as well as Oceano and Grover Beach. This week, the Arroyo Grande city council decided the fire department shouldn’t disband yet. And now all three communities served by the FCFA—Arroyo Grande, Oceano and Grover Beach—have six months to come up with funding plan all agree on.

As part of a plan to increase affordable housing, this week San Luis Obispo County officials took some first steps: passing higher development fees on new homes and streamlining the environmental permitting process in an effort to get homes built faster. Not everyone was happy about it, but did agree the county needs more housing stock. 

Title IX is a federal law that is part of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. Its goal is to prohibit discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding. One area Title IX presents itself on college campuses is in addressing allegations of sexual misconduct. A recent California court ruling has public universities scrambing to rewrite rules for how these investigations are conducted, but the coming changes have some administrators and students concerned. To learn more, KCBX's Tyler Pratt sat down with San Luis Obispo Tribune reporter Monica Vaughan, who's been covering this issue. 

On Wednesday, March 13, the Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel is hosting a public hearing on the management—over the coming decades—of the spent, radioactive nuclear fuel generated at Diablo Canyon Power Plant. The hearing will take place in board chambers at the downtown SLO government center at 1055 Monterey Street from 6 to 10 p.m. The hearing will also be aired on the SLO-SPAN network.

This month San Luis Obispo will host a housing summit, featuring the state lawmaker behind a push to override local zoning laws and build high-density housing near centers of public transportation and jobs. And recently San Luis Obispo County officials signed an agreement with Central Coast builders and nonprofits dedicating themselves to building a lot more affordable housing in the coming years.

What’s not being talked about is how the planned construction is actually going to get done, when there currently are not enough construction workers to build all those new housing units.