The Town That Didn t Lock Down Reason.com

Johnson made the decision to defy Newsom’s shutdown order and keep her business open. She wasn’t the only one. 

Across California, the reaction to the governor’s order was swift and negative. Videos of business owners pointing out the absurdities of the new restrictions went viral on social media. Sheriff’s departments across the state, including in Los Angeles and Orange counties, said they wouldn’t enforce the order. Trade associations and local governments readied lawsuits. Nine months into a deadly pandemic that had left hundreds of thousands of people dead nationwide, and everyone else stuck inside their homes away from family, friends, and colleagues, the risk was clearly real, as I would find out myself. But patience for another lockdown had been depleted.

Nowhere was this more evident than Paso Robles, where most of the businesses in town came to the same realization as Johnson: Another shutdown could mean their doom. 

But instead of accepting their fate, they got organized. Through Facebook groups and clandestine in-person meetings, a coalition of business owners decided to defy the state’s latest order and keep their town open.  

It was an exercise in COVID-era civil disobedience. And in many ways, it worked. 

via reason.com

We took 5/6 of the family unit and vacationed in Paso Robles as it turned out shortly before the lockdown. It was really nice. Great food and wine of course. Too much wine. Hills. Wild critters. Great weather. I wish them well.