Topic Choice
San Luis Obispo is growing. Growth comes with change. San Luis Obispo might be closing a neighborhood favorite coffee shop in favor of a new apartment complex. For our first topic our group decided to report on the possible closure of BlackHorse Coffee on Foothill Boulevard for the new 790 Foothill apartment complex. When we made the choice to report on this topic we did not realize that there was much more to the topic than we first thought. This was a topic that could provide topics for multiple stories. We decided to cover the story as an overview, but each piece could have been a story on it’s own.
Photo: Taylor Barnet
Roles
For this project I worked on strategy and engagement, Mckenna wrote the article, Taylor worked on interactivity elements and Leanna did video and audio. While we each had our own part of the project, it definitely was a group effort- and I have hundreds of GroupMe messages to prove it.
Challenges
Every story has its own unique set of challenges. This story was no different. Overwhelming it was difficult for everyone to get interviews.
Mckenna Roberson’s, written article, biggest challenge for this project was getting sources to speak on the record. “It was difficult to hut down and find people in general to talk about this project because it is such a big story, but the real frustration come after finding the sources. A lot of people were not okay being on the record.”
Taylor Barnet, interactivity, used the challenges she faced in this story to dictate the interactive element she created. “A lot of the information was dense, which made creating an interactive element a bit of a challenge. I decided to do a timeline because there were so many significant dates in the administrative process that I discovered through research.”
Leanna Newby, audio and video, said for her it came in waves. Newby stated, “I tried to be proactive in my role, but when it came down to it, I had a lot of beautifully edited b-roll, but none of my sources were able to be interviewed.” This created a lot of scrambling the last day and a long night of editing, but she put together a video she is pleased with.
For me the biggest challenge of this project was my health. I was not able to help my group as much as I would have liked or be proactive. It felt like I was trying to play catch-up the whole time.
Photo: Taylor Barnet
BlackHorse
It’s easy to understand why BlackHorse has a loyal customer base. It has a cozy, greenhouse feel with lots of windows, it’s set up for a collaborative work and has plenty of outlets. The owner of BlackHorse does not want to leave. Tom Brown stated, “I plan to stay here until 2022 at the very least,” he said. “I have a lease. I’m there.” He has worked hard to create an environment that the San Luis Obispo community and students enjoy.
Image courtesy of the City of SLO
790 Foothill Apartments
The proposed apartment complex would be comprised of 78 residential unit complexes with 155 parking spaces. The building plan proposes that the building will be 43 feet high, which is 8 feet above the city code. Affordable housing is a problem in San Luis Obispo so it will also include 12 deed-restricted studios that will be rented to residents in the low income category. Dana Leyva, a second-year student at Cuesta supports the decision to remove Black Horse in favor of housing. She noted that there is a severe housing shortage in San Luis Obispo, and plenty of other places to get coffee.
Appeal Decision
The co-signer of the appeal and city council candidate James Lopes stated, “I think what people and San Luis Obispo neighbors would really like to see is some mixed-use project there that is more sensitive to the view. We should try to make this project more self-contained and respectful of the street and neighbors.”
On January 15, 2019 the appeal will be decided by the planning commission.