Marketplace MadnessOne Friday afternoon, I traveled with two other people from my English class to a rather ordinary plot of farmland off Highway 101 and next to the Ride. Out the car window we looked out at a seemingly endless field of cabbage, bordered by at least an acre of black dirt. It seemed strange that the bustling walk ended abruptly on this sea of ​​land. To the left, we could see cars passing on the highway. The field looked like it had been plowed, but it looked like no one had worked there in a while. Weeds grew sporadically on the black earth. His sight revealed half-hearted agricultural efforts and neglect. We decided that a single pass of this field would give everything it had to give visually. However, the controversy surrounding it requires a lot of research to understand. This field is the proposed site for the San Luis Market, a shopping center larger than any construction project in San Luis Obispo's history. Driven by curiosity, I researched the field in hopes that I could learn more about it. I saw it at first glance. The field contains Salinas soils, the most productive soil type in the county. Salinas soils are alluvial and contain nutrients and minerals carried by rainwater from the hillsides. The fertility of the soil makes it a very productive field, yielding crops several times a year. The dark black color of the soil indicates its fertility. This made me think of something my girlfriend's mother said. She works at the El Dorado County Agricultural Department and she came here a few weeks ago. When she passed the Dalidio field, she exclaimed “Wow! Look how black the earth is! » The owner of the property, a farmer named Ernie Dalidio, entered into an agreement in 1992 with developer Bill Bird to build a forty-acre shopping center on the property. Market supporters say the mall will generate a huge amount of sales tax that the city can use to support the community..