In 2017, when it was announced that Mike Zappas planned to develop the west side of El Camino Real between West Mall and Traffic Way, I immediately hit Facebook with a vote for him as the Citizen of the Year in Atascadero. Of all the fighting for Walmart, schemes to move dentists away from Sunken Gardens, attempts to secure more downtown parking, or bridges here and there — nothing can match the real and positive impact that a useful, massive, thoughtful development would have in the heart of the Colony District.