This blog will remain readable, although it has been discontinued. All of its contents have been transferred to our improved site, ovnblog.com, searchable by calendar date.
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Shuttle Service Stalling Out
Lack of participation from bars threatens designated driver program
By Sondra Murphy
Lack of merchant participation in the Ojai Valley shuttle service is likely to put the brakes on the program before its first anniversary.
Dutch Van Hemert began the downtown shuttle service last winter with The Village Jester owner Nigel Chisholm after observing that there was no night transportation services for people patronizing local bars or restaurants that serve alcohol. As an airport shuttle driver, Van Hemert had the vehicle and license to provide a weekend shuttle for nightlife patrons and Chisholm contacted other merchants to garner support.
According to Van Hemert, about a dozen merchants got on board and contributed from $25 to $80 per weekend, depending on their operating hours, to cover Van Hemert’s fuel and maintenance. Van Hemert said there was rarely any overage to compensate him for his time.
“I’ve been doing this for 11 months now and every weekend a couple hundred people use it, but all the bars and restaurants have pulled out,” he said. “They say the economy is bad and they can’t afford it, but it’s only going to get worse if I quit.”
Van Hemert said that people call him from every corner of the Ojai Valley and he has even gotten calls from the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa and Ojai Valley Community Hospital. “I have driven many people home from the hospital who got fixed up and needed a ride home,” Van Hemert said. “I work on a gratuity basis. If they don’t give you anything, they don’t give you anything. About 80 percent of the people I drive are cool and about 20 percent are generous. Over the months I’ve learned who is generous and who is cheap.” He estimated that it has cost him nearly $29,000 this year to keep going.
Besides the financial strain, Van Hemert has not had a weekend off since starting the shuttle service. “I think that over the 11 months I’ve been doing this I’ve driven well over 10,000 people,” said Van Hemert. “It works, but doesn’t cover the cost. People tell me, ‘We’re so happy we can drive around town and not get hit by a drunk driver,’ but I haven’t found anyone interested in contributing. I don’t have the money to support it anymore. I need help. There are so many people in Ojai who have so much money that it would be a drop in the bucket. That’s the sad part.”
Hill Top Bar bartender Sonia Miller is one of the merchants who had liked the idea. A previous supporter of the shuttle, Miller is no longer participating. “We stopped it about two months ago,” she said.
“We didn’t have enough customers using it. With the economy slowing, business is so slow we just can’t afford it anymore.”
Chisholm said The Village Jester, The Hub and Feast Bistro were the last of the participating mer-chants who quit in October. With only three businesses participating but all benefiting, their enthusiasm waned.
“I am uncomfortable that there didn’t appear to be enough interest from other businesses to keep the shuttle viable,” said Chisholm. “I think it’s a tremendous loss to the community. Undoubtedly, the shuttle started by Dutch and myself has saved lives and countless dollars that DUI arrests cost.”
Van Hemert is reluctant to charge users for the service or look for possible government assistance for the service. “There’s all kinds of paperwork involved if you charge for the service,” said Van Hemert. “The Department of Transportation, they put you through the wringer.”
Chisholm thinks that tokens sold by participating merchants could be one solution. That system would let businesses pay Van Hemert back for customers who already paid for the service.
If the shuttle stops, Van Hemert does not expect anyone else to be interested in providing the type of service he performs. “I don’t think there are many people who are going to put up with it. People tell me I’m nuts. I had my stepson drive with me one weekend and he said, ‘You’re crazy. You’re absolutely crazy.’ But visitors say the downtown shuttle is the coolest thing ever, that few other communities offer this kind of thing.”
If the lack of funding continues, Van Hemert expects to stop the service at the end of this year. Chisholm is disappointed. “I’m not exactly sure that letting the shuttle die is the right choice for this community,” he said. “I would hope that, in the near future, all local businesses would see fit to support the service for what is a minimal cost.” He pointed out that if all participating merchants helped support the shuttle, the cost would go down.
“How much is one life worth?” asked Chisholm.
By Sondra Murphy
Lack of merchant participation in the Ojai Valley shuttle service is likely to put the brakes on the program before its first anniversary.
Dutch Van Hemert began the downtown shuttle service last winter with The Village Jester owner Nigel Chisholm after observing that there was no night transportation services for people patronizing local bars or restaurants that serve alcohol. As an airport shuttle driver, Van Hemert had the vehicle and license to provide a weekend shuttle for nightlife patrons and Chisholm contacted other merchants to garner support.
According to Van Hemert, about a dozen merchants got on board and contributed from $25 to $80 per weekend, depending on their operating hours, to cover Van Hemert’s fuel and maintenance. Van Hemert said there was rarely any overage to compensate him for his time.
“I’ve been doing this for 11 months now and every weekend a couple hundred people use it, but all the bars and restaurants have pulled out,” he said. “They say the economy is bad and they can’t afford it, but it’s only going to get worse if I quit.”
Van Hemert said that people call him from every corner of the Ojai Valley and he has even gotten calls from the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa and Ojai Valley Community Hospital. “I have driven many people home from the hospital who got fixed up and needed a ride home,” Van Hemert said. “I work on a gratuity basis. If they don’t give you anything, they don’t give you anything. About 80 percent of the people I drive are cool and about 20 percent are generous. Over the months I’ve learned who is generous and who is cheap.” He estimated that it has cost him nearly $29,000 this year to keep going.
Besides the financial strain, Van Hemert has not had a weekend off since starting the shuttle service. “I think that over the 11 months I’ve been doing this I’ve driven well over 10,000 people,” said Van Hemert. “It works, but doesn’t cover the cost. People tell me, ‘We’re so happy we can drive around town and not get hit by a drunk driver,’ but I haven’t found anyone interested in contributing. I don’t have the money to support it anymore. I need help. There are so many people in Ojai who have so much money that it would be a drop in the bucket. That’s the sad part.”
Hill Top Bar bartender Sonia Miller is one of the merchants who had liked the idea. A previous supporter of the shuttle, Miller is no longer participating. “We stopped it about two months ago,” she said.
“We didn’t have enough customers using it. With the economy slowing, business is so slow we just can’t afford it anymore.”
Chisholm said The Village Jester, The Hub and Feast Bistro were the last of the participating mer-chants who quit in October. With only three businesses participating but all benefiting, their enthusiasm waned.
“I am uncomfortable that there didn’t appear to be enough interest from other businesses to keep the shuttle viable,” said Chisholm. “I think it’s a tremendous loss to the community. Undoubtedly, the shuttle started by Dutch and myself has saved lives and countless dollars that DUI arrests cost.”
Van Hemert is reluctant to charge users for the service or look for possible government assistance for the service. “There’s all kinds of paperwork involved if you charge for the service,” said Van Hemert. “The Department of Transportation, they put you through the wringer.”
Chisholm thinks that tokens sold by participating merchants could be one solution. That system would let businesses pay Van Hemert back for customers who already paid for the service.
If the shuttle stops, Van Hemert does not expect anyone else to be interested in providing the type of service he performs. “I don’t think there are many people who are going to put up with it. People tell me I’m nuts. I had my stepson drive with me one weekend and he said, ‘You’re crazy. You’re absolutely crazy.’ But visitors say the downtown shuttle is the coolest thing ever, that few other communities offer this kind of thing.”
If the lack of funding continues, Van Hemert expects to stop the service at the end of this year. Chisholm is disappointed. “I’m not exactly sure that letting the shuttle die is the right choice for this community,” he said. “I would hope that, in the near future, all local businesses would see fit to support the service for what is a minimal cost.” He pointed out that if all participating merchants helped support the shuttle, the cost would go down.
“How much is one life worth?” asked Chisholm.
Long Road Ahead In Gravel Truck Fight
Violations continue to be reported, despite restrictions
By Linda Harmon
Even after a Ventura County court upheld C.U.P. restrictions for the Ozena gravel mines for both north- and south-bound traffic, and re-affirmed the county’s power to apply them, the gravel trucks keep on rolling. And Stop the Trucks Coalition says it must keep on fighting.
“We intend to keep protecting the valley from these interests that would violate their conditional use permits and send more trucks rumbling through our valley,” said Howard Smith, vice chairman of Stop the Trucks.
Stop the Trucks has been actively documenting violations in hopes of either getting county officials to strictly enforce existing governmental controls, or revoke the offending mine’s C.U.P. entirely. At its Oct. 14 meeting, the city of Ojai joined the effort and committed to backing the nonprofit organization with needed funds.
According to Smith, there have been numerous recent violations by gravel trucks traveling along the Highway 33 corridor during forbidden hours. The mine’s C.U.P. allows gravel trucks to travel only between 6 to 7 a.m. and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays.
The group has been in contact with Kim Rodriguez, Ventura County Planning director, and her superiors, requesting all weight tickets from Ozena between Dec. 1, 2007 and Aug. 12, 2008, to gain more evidence of non-compliance and force the withdrawal of Ozena’s C.U.P., which would halt its operations.
“It appears that the enforcement work of the prior weeks with Ozena has been to little avail,” wrote Smith in an e-mail to Rodriguez. “This morning, Dec. 18, 2008, a dark blue, double hopper truck from Pride Trucking passed by Nordhoff High School just as students were arriving, heading north at 7:37 a.m., in apparent violation of the allowed hours of travel through the Ojai Valley.”
That is only one of eight complaints noted in the e-mail sent to Rodriguez by Smith regarding Ozena’s operations in the last two months.
According to Smith, he was pleased by the footnote in County Court Judge Glen Reiser’s Dec. 10 decision rejecting Ozena’s owner Elizabeth Virgilio’s writ petition, saying that the owners should be happy they can continue to operate at all. In a recent e-mail to members, Smith wrote, “It is a huge victory for the Stop the Trucks Coalition, particularly considering a footnote by Judge Reiser, which states: ‘The initial permit allows for a five-year extension if the Planning Director, assuming, ‘all conditions have been continuously complied with’ by petitioners, authorizes such continued use. Since the County has already found permit violations, it might well be an abuse of discretion for the Planning Director to authorize such an extension. This issue however is not before the court.’”
Smith’s e-mail also points out another oversight by county officials who failed to heed warnings about the potential collapse of State Route 33. The road, in fact, collapsed in February of 2008.
According to Smith, in a letter dated Aug. 21, 2006, the Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council warned county officials that “SR-33 has suffered many landslides and slipped roadways in past years. The vibration created by the mine’s trucks on SR-33 may be adding significantly to the problem of road slippage, slumps, and slides. No review of vibration as a potential impact on SR-33 has been included in the Draft MND and vibration from trucks may present a significant adverse impact on the environment.”
According to Smith, a Caltrans District 7 traffic study dated July 2007, concluded that State Route 33 is maintained to provide safe travel for all motorists and is designed to accommodate large trucks. After the collapse, Maria Raptis, spokesperson for Caltrans District 7, said that the study had focused exclusively on the geometric design of the road for safe and orderly movement of vehicles, but not on the effect of the vibrations caused by the heavy trucks.
Stop the Trucks Coalition has repeatedly questioned whether SR-33 should be open to any heavy gravel trucks. Smith questions “why extensive studies of the impact of gravel trucks are being excluded from the EIR review process.”
Truck travel and its regulation are further complicated for area governments as gravel trucks often travel across county boundaries, necessitating that area governments work together.
Stop the Trucks and officials from both Santa Barbara and Ventura counties reached a temporary solution at an earlier hearing for expansion of the Diamond Rock Mine. They decided further escalation of trips into their boundaries was best achieved by cooperation and promised to only grant new, or modifying existing C.U.P.s, for mining operations whose traffic stayed within their own boundaries. The compromise is tenuous, depending on each county to uphold their end of the bargain. No other method has been put forward since for a problem that seems unlikely to go away soon.
The future of this issue is further complicated by what Caltrans sees as an increasing need for materials to maintain state infrastructure. Stop The Trucks and the Ojai Valley may face an uphill battle if the demand for gravel rises with potential funding from the incoming Obama administration, an issue Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett addressed in a recent e-mail.
“The county doesn’t actually expect a windfall of infrastructure funding,” said Bennett, “nor any substantial increase in public works projects in the Ojai Valley. However … if additional state and or federal transportation funding becomes available it would move up the repaving of county roads; i.e. roads would be repaved sooner rather than later.”
By Linda Harmon
Even after a Ventura County court upheld C.U.P. restrictions for the Ozena gravel mines for both north- and south-bound traffic, and re-affirmed the county’s power to apply them, the gravel trucks keep on rolling. And Stop the Trucks Coalition says it must keep on fighting.
“We intend to keep protecting the valley from these interests that would violate their conditional use permits and send more trucks rumbling through our valley,” said Howard Smith, vice chairman of Stop the Trucks.
Stop the Trucks has been actively documenting violations in hopes of either getting county officials to strictly enforce existing governmental controls, or revoke the offending mine’s C.U.P. entirely. At its Oct. 14 meeting, the city of Ojai joined the effort and committed to backing the nonprofit organization with needed funds.
According to Smith, there have been numerous recent violations by gravel trucks traveling along the Highway 33 corridor during forbidden hours. The mine’s C.U.P. allows gravel trucks to travel only between 6 to 7 a.m. and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays.
The group has been in contact with Kim Rodriguez, Ventura County Planning director, and her superiors, requesting all weight tickets from Ozena between Dec. 1, 2007 and Aug. 12, 2008, to gain more evidence of non-compliance and force the withdrawal of Ozena’s C.U.P., which would halt its operations.
“It appears that the enforcement work of the prior weeks with Ozena has been to little avail,” wrote Smith in an e-mail to Rodriguez. “This morning, Dec. 18, 2008, a dark blue, double hopper truck from Pride Trucking passed by Nordhoff High School just as students were arriving, heading north at 7:37 a.m., in apparent violation of the allowed hours of travel through the Ojai Valley.”
That is only one of eight complaints noted in the e-mail sent to Rodriguez by Smith regarding Ozena’s operations in the last two months.
According to Smith, he was pleased by the footnote in County Court Judge Glen Reiser’s Dec. 10 decision rejecting Ozena’s owner Elizabeth Virgilio’s writ petition, saying that the owners should be happy they can continue to operate at all. In a recent e-mail to members, Smith wrote, “It is a huge victory for the Stop the Trucks Coalition, particularly considering a footnote by Judge Reiser, which states: ‘The initial permit allows for a five-year extension if the Planning Director, assuming, ‘all conditions have been continuously complied with’ by petitioners, authorizes such continued use. Since the County has already found permit violations, it might well be an abuse of discretion for the Planning Director to authorize such an extension. This issue however is not before the court.’”
Smith’s e-mail also points out another oversight by county officials who failed to heed warnings about the potential collapse of State Route 33. The road, in fact, collapsed in February of 2008.
According to Smith, in a letter dated Aug. 21, 2006, the Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council warned county officials that “SR-33 has suffered many landslides and slipped roadways in past years. The vibration created by the mine’s trucks on SR-33 may be adding significantly to the problem of road slippage, slumps, and slides. No review of vibration as a potential impact on SR-33 has been included in the Draft MND and vibration from trucks may present a significant adverse impact on the environment.”
According to Smith, a Caltrans District 7 traffic study dated July 2007, concluded that State Route 33 is maintained to provide safe travel for all motorists and is designed to accommodate large trucks. After the collapse, Maria Raptis, spokesperson for Caltrans District 7, said that the study had focused exclusively on the geometric design of the road for safe and orderly movement of vehicles, but not on the effect of the vibrations caused by the heavy trucks.
Stop the Trucks Coalition has repeatedly questioned whether SR-33 should be open to any heavy gravel trucks. Smith questions “why extensive studies of the impact of gravel trucks are being excluded from the EIR review process.”
Truck travel and its regulation are further complicated for area governments as gravel trucks often travel across county boundaries, necessitating that area governments work together.
Stop the Trucks and officials from both Santa Barbara and Ventura counties reached a temporary solution at an earlier hearing for expansion of the Diamond Rock Mine. They decided further escalation of trips into their boundaries was best achieved by cooperation and promised to only grant new, or modifying existing C.U.P.s, for mining operations whose traffic stayed within their own boundaries. The compromise is tenuous, depending on each county to uphold their end of the bargain. No other method has been put forward since for a problem that seems unlikely to go away soon.
The future of this issue is further complicated by what Caltrans sees as an increasing need for materials to maintain state infrastructure. Stop The Trucks and the Ojai Valley may face an uphill battle if the demand for gravel rises with potential funding from the incoming Obama administration, an issue Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett addressed in a recent e-mail.
“The county doesn’t actually expect a windfall of infrastructure funding,” said Bennett, “nor any substantial increase in public works projects in the Ojai Valley. However … if additional state and or federal transportation funding becomes available it would move up the repaving of county roads; i.e. roads would be repaved sooner rather than later.”
Union 76 Owner Seeks Zone Change
Calls made for plan for whole Maricopa area
By Sondra Murphy
A business owner’s desire to expand his gas station near the “Y” prompted the Ojai Planning Commission to discuss the future improvement to that area of Ojai.
Neil Abasi brought to the council a concept review for a zone change from business professional to general commercial in order to allow his Union 76 station on Maricopa Highway to add a mini-mart and drive-through car wash. It was Abasi’s third presentation to the commissioners, who were still unsatisfied with the plan’s accommodation for any increased pedestrian traffic the expansion would invite.
General safety at the three-way intersection was discussed as needing improvement. “I think we could support the changes despite the fact that it’s a huge intensity of use, but the public realm needs to be addressed in order to balance that,” said President Paul Crabtree.
“We are hoping we will have created, over time, a more pedestrian-friendly environment,” said Commissioner Susan Weaver.
“Right now, everyone who walks there puts their lives on the line. We were hoping that we would see something safer and more attractive for pedestrians.”
“Making a zone change is a really big thing for us and I’m not really seeing incentive,” said Commissioner John Mirk.
“Commis-sioner Mirk is absolutely right,” said Commissioner Steven Foster. “A zone change bears a lot of consequence for us and we need substance to justify one. The fact of its location, that it’s at the gateway into Ojai, the aesthetics become very important, but there’s a certain lack of design involvement that needs to be brought up to a higher level.”
The commissioners also hoped for improved style and configuration design for the business that would be more attractive to potential customers. Commissioner Troy Becker suggested to Abasi’s architect, Seven Bovee, that he tighten up the visual design. “It’s really hard to tell what this is going to look like given the drawings,” said Becker. “It looks like it’s going in a Craftsman direction, but you said Western and I think it would help if it went more in one direction or another.”
The commission thought moving the driveways from Maricopa Highway frontage to North Carillo Road frontage would improve some of the safety concerns, but also acknowledged that, with the pumps running parallel to the highway, it creates design challenges for Abasi and Bovee.
“Those driveways would never be allowed in today’s standards,” said Foster.
“And if you’re putting in a convenience store where people may come — pedestrians and young kids and skateboards and cars are pulling in and out and trying to get to the propane tank — that becomes a dangerous environment,” said Weaver.
“It would be nice to have a whole Maricopa plan,” said Carol Smith, City Council liaison. “That 76 lot is huge, there’s a lot of area there and also we have Carillo behind it that has a lot of seniors and a lot of people walking.” She encouraged the commission to take a closer look at the whole area in terms of improving the visual design, as well as functionality.
“I’ve always thought we could do some real work at the ‘Y,’ but it would involve all the property owners,” said city manager Jere Kersnar.
In other planning business, the commission approved two residential design review permits. Hank and Jean Manninen were given the go-ahead on construction of a two-story, single-family residence and detached garage with a second residence on South Montgomery Street, and Chuck Barnett got the green light for an addition to a rental unit on East Aliso Street.
Both sets of property owners have been working with the commission on design requirements and vegetation design that would enhance their neighborhoods.
Barnett’s plan to install native, drought-tolerant plants brought up the issue of the commission’s irrigation requirements. “I’ve had experience with native plants,” said Weaver. “”I don’t think we need to require the irrigation system. I think it would present the risk of overwatering. I support any move we can make toward xeriscaping and we have to rethink what we require people to do in terms of watering.”
The commission waived Barnett’s irrigation requirement with the condition he report back to the city in about one year on the condition of his landscaping.
Smith also reported to the commission that there is council interest in developing an ordinance regarding plastic shopping bags and she has requested that the Ojai Valley Green Coalition look into options such as biodegradable plastic, among other things.
By Sondra Murphy
A business owner’s desire to expand his gas station near the “Y” prompted the Ojai Planning Commission to discuss the future improvement to that area of Ojai.
Neil Abasi brought to the council a concept review for a zone change from business professional to general commercial in order to allow his Union 76 station on Maricopa Highway to add a mini-mart and drive-through car wash. It was Abasi’s third presentation to the commissioners, who were still unsatisfied with the plan’s accommodation for any increased pedestrian traffic the expansion would invite.
General safety at the three-way intersection was discussed as needing improvement. “I think we could support the changes despite the fact that it’s a huge intensity of use, but the public realm needs to be addressed in order to balance that,” said President Paul Crabtree.
“We are hoping we will have created, over time, a more pedestrian-friendly environment,” said Commissioner Susan Weaver.
“Right now, everyone who walks there puts their lives on the line. We were hoping that we would see something safer and more attractive for pedestrians.”
“Making a zone change is a really big thing for us and I’m not really seeing incentive,” said Commissioner John Mirk.
“Commis-sioner Mirk is absolutely right,” said Commissioner Steven Foster. “A zone change bears a lot of consequence for us and we need substance to justify one. The fact of its location, that it’s at the gateway into Ojai, the aesthetics become very important, but there’s a certain lack of design involvement that needs to be brought up to a higher level.”
The commissioners also hoped for improved style and configuration design for the business that would be more attractive to potential customers. Commissioner Troy Becker suggested to Abasi’s architect, Seven Bovee, that he tighten up the visual design. “It’s really hard to tell what this is going to look like given the drawings,” said Becker. “It looks like it’s going in a Craftsman direction, but you said Western and I think it would help if it went more in one direction or another.”
The commission thought moving the driveways from Maricopa Highway frontage to North Carillo Road frontage would improve some of the safety concerns, but also acknowledged that, with the pumps running parallel to the highway, it creates design challenges for Abasi and Bovee.
“Those driveways would never be allowed in today’s standards,” said Foster.
“And if you’re putting in a convenience store where people may come — pedestrians and young kids and skateboards and cars are pulling in and out and trying to get to the propane tank — that becomes a dangerous environment,” said Weaver.
“It would be nice to have a whole Maricopa plan,” said Carol Smith, City Council liaison. “That 76 lot is huge, there’s a lot of area there and also we have Carillo behind it that has a lot of seniors and a lot of people walking.” She encouraged the commission to take a closer look at the whole area in terms of improving the visual design, as well as functionality.
“I’ve always thought we could do some real work at the ‘Y,’ but it would involve all the property owners,” said city manager Jere Kersnar.
In other planning business, the commission approved two residential design review permits. Hank and Jean Manninen were given the go-ahead on construction of a two-story, single-family residence and detached garage with a second residence on South Montgomery Street, and Chuck Barnett got the green light for an addition to a rental unit on East Aliso Street.
Both sets of property owners have been working with the commission on design requirements and vegetation design that would enhance their neighborhoods.
Barnett’s plan to install native, drought-tolerant plants brought up the issue of the commission’s irrigation requirements. “I’ve had experience with native plants,” said Weaver. “”I don’t think we need to require the irrigation system. I think it would present the risk of overwatering. I support any move we can make toward xeriscaping and we have to rethink what we require people to do in terms of watering.”
The commission waived Barnett’s irrigation requirement with the condition he report back to the city in about one year on the condition of his landscaping.
Smith also reported to the commission that there is council interest in developing an ordinance regarding plastic shopping bags and she has requested that the Ojai Valley Green Coalition look into options such as biodegradable plastic, among other things.
MAC Mulls MO Parking Options
Safety issues include recommendations for four-way stop at Alvarado and El Roblar
By Sondra Murphy
In an effort to create a safer traffic situation in Meiners Oaks, the Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council voted Dec. 15 to recommend several changes in the 500 block of El Roblar Drive.
The council recommended to Ventura County that a four-way stop be installed, complete with crosswalks, at Alvarado Avenue and West El Roblar Drive. As part of the joint motion by council members Jerry Kaplan and Russ Baggerly, the council is also recommending that a current bus stop in the 400 block of West El Roblar be moved closer to the corner of Alvarado Avenue, both for safety purposes and to open up parking options in the area. Baggerly also moved to create a loading zone on the south corner of El Roblar Drive near Alvarado Avenue.
It was after much discussion by the council and community that the recommendation was agreed upon. Nazir Lalani Public Works Agency was present to explain the study his agency completed last month regarding creating several “No Parking” zones that concerned local merchants in the burgeoning commercial area.
Those Public Works recommendations discussed by MAC last month were created based on site line visibility at the corners of Poli and Alvarado avenues.
After exploring reducing the speed limit, roadway berms and bike lanes, the council felt that stops signs, which Lalani said cost about $300 each to install, would be most effective in increasing safety in the 25 mile-per-hour neighbor-hood. Lalani said reducing the speed limit would be more expensive.
With the addition of stop signs to the council’s recommendation, Lalani said 40- to 65-foot “No Parking” zones would likely be unnecessary, as stop signs allow drivers to better observe vehicles or pedestrians and he said the agency would reassess if shorter “No Parking” zones, if any, should be called for.
Most of the public attending the meeting seemed satisfied with the MAC’s recommendation, as it allowed for continued merchant parking while addressing the safety concerns that initiated the Public Works study.
Increased Highway Patrol presence was brought up as necessary to prompt drivers into slowing down along the road. “Police are the key to safety,” said resident Laurie Dunn.
“Courteous drivers wouldn’t hurt, either,” said Baggerly.
The further issue about public parking and more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly features in Meiners Oaks proves a greater hurdle to clear, as funding for such a project is lean. Lalani said most county communities rely on very competitive grants to cover the costs.
Council member Florencia Ramirez suggested the council consider some long-term mitigation to the parking concerns. Baggerly asked executive director Steve Offerman to seek possible funding sources.
The Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council usually meets the third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road. The public is always welcome to attend. Agendas and information are posted on 1st District Supervisor Steve Bennett’s web site at countyofventura.org/ovma. For more information, contact Offerman at steve.offerman@ventura.org or call 654-2703.
By Sondra Murphy
In an effort to create a safer traffic situation in Meiners Oaks, the Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council voted Dec. 15 to recommend several changes in the 500 block of El Roblar Drive.
The council recommended to Ventura County that a four-way stop be installed, complete with crosswalks, at Alvarado Avenue and West El Roblar Drive. As part of the joint motion by council members Jerry Kaplan and Russ Baggerly, the council is also recommending that a current bus stop in the 400 block of West El Roblar be moved closer to the corner of Alvarado Avenue, both for safety purposes and to open up parking options in the area. Baggerly also moved to create a loading zone on the south corner of El Roblar Drive near Alvarado Avenue.
It was after much discussion by the council and community that the recommendation was agreed upon. Nazir Lalani Public Works Agency was present to explain the study his agency completed last month regarding creating several “No Parking” zones that concerned local merchants in the burgeoning commercial area.
Those Public Works recommendations discussed by MAC last month were created based on site line visibility at the corners of Poli and Alvarado avenues.
After exploring reducing the speed limit, roadway berms and bike lanes, the council felt that stops signs, which Lalani said cost about $300 each to install, would be most effective in increasing safety in the 25 mile-per-hour neighbor-hood. Lalani said reducing the speed limit would be more expensive.
With the addition of stop signs to the council’s recommendation, Lalani said 40- to 65-foot “No Parking” zones would likely be unnecessary, as stop signs allow drivers to better observe vehicles or pedestrians and he said the agency would reassess if shorter “No Parking” zones, if any, should be called for.
Most of the public attending the meeting seemed satisfied with the MAC’s recommendation, as it allowed for continued merchant parking while addressing the safety concerns that initiated the Public Works study.
Increased Highway Patrol presence was brought up as necessary to prompt drivers into slowing down along the road. “Police are the key to safety,” said resident Laurie Dunn.
“Courteous drivers wouldn’t hurt, either,” said Baggerly.
The further issue about public parking and more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly features in Meiners Oaks proves a greater hurdle to clear, as funding for such a project is lean. Lalani said most county communities rely on very competitive grants to cover the costs.
Council member Florencia Ramirez suggested the council consider some long-term mitigation to the parking concerns. Baggerly asked executive director Steve Offerman to seek possible funding sources.
The Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council usually meets the third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road. The public is always welcome to attend. Agendas and information are posted on 1st District Supervisor Steve Bennett’s web site at countyofventura.org/ovma. For more information, contact Offerman at steve.offerman@ventura.org or call 654-2703.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Ojai Survey Centers On Youth, Greening
Make Ojai Better survey draws nearly 1,000 responses, share of criticism
By Linda Harmon
The Make Ojai Better Survey results are out and the author, Steve Velkei, has made a mark on Ojai. Velkei, a lawyer who splits his time between Ojai and Los Angeles, took out a full-page ad in this newspaper last summer and founded a web site, MakeOjaiBetter.com to get responses to his survey.
According to Velkei he did so “to begin a dialogue about how to effect positive change in Ojai” and “help the community and its leaders prioritize what is most important.”
He approached pretty much anyone who would listen and a few that didn’t.
“I wanted to make it as broad-based as possible,” said Velkei, who had responses from people age 14 to 95.
Not everyone was happy with the survey or with Velkei.
“I had people threaten me about the survey,” added Velkei, who tried not to take it to heart. “I had one guy who said, ‘If your survey says x, y, and z, then you’re my enemy.’ Now what kind of word is that to use about someone in your community?”
Undeterred, Velkei went on to gather more than 998 respondents for his survey, talking with people at churches, shopping centers, the Farmers’ Market, Little House, the Skate Park, Nordhoff High School, and even dinner parties, gathering responses.
He found the top five concerns were increasing youth activities, moving toward becoming a “green” city, increased preservation of public land, increasing affordable housing, and better maintenance of public facilities.
“Once I broke down the data I could see where different groups ranked on each issue,” said Velkei, citing the gender breakdown on the green issue ranking as an example. “Among women going green was the No. 1 issue, with men, No. 4. But on two issues, youth activities and going green, people really seemed to transcend groups and there was a really close battle between the two.”
Velkei’s survey found several trends that he found of interest and concern. According to Velkei, the No. 1 issue for people under 25 was affordable housing, followed by increasing youth activities and going green. In the over 50 and 60 age categories, going green ranked first, ahead of preservation of public land and youth activities, with affordable housing a much lower concern.
“On affordable housing, it looks like the older the respondents were, the lower it ranked,” said Velkei. He added that some older respondents indicated they were afraid of affordable housing’s impact, while data showed affordable housing outranked any other issue in the 25-and-under age category telling.
“This is an experiment in creating a larger awareness and getting people connected so that they can feel a part of the system,” said Velkei. “There are a lot of people who felt totally disconnected. That kept me going.”
Velkei addressed the City Council last week when they voted on whether to approve funding $10,000 for the Ojai Youth Employment Service.
“We do have the ability to make a difference,” said Velkei at the meeting, giving the council members copies of his results. “Given the enthusiastic support reflected in this survey for more youth activities, I am hopeful that this agenda item will pass unanimously.”
Later, after a lengthy presentation by rep-resentatives of the Youth Employment Service, including several student testimonials, the allocation did pass unanimously.
Velkei was pleased.
Velkei was hoping the survey would promote action on other issues as well, and is disappointed that he hasn’t been approached by any members of the council about the results.
“Somehow I get the sense they’re not really interested,” said Velkei. “When Jere Kersnar moved here from Carmel he had talked about doing a survey and yet one of the earlier responses from the city manager office was, ‘We have plenty of events for youth, what are they talking about? What is all this complaining about?’ I really wonder if anyone is going to pay attention.”
Velkei hopes the survey provides issues that will unite the community, bringing it together to find compromises.
“For instance, with an issue like affordable housing, it is a state-mandated issue,” said Velkei. “Let’s not waste energy fighting it. Obviously there are going to be issues with resources and water. Maybe there will be 200 units, not 400, but let’s get together and help solve some of these issues. Make those units a showcase, from a green perspective, and a model for what this community can be.”
He hopes people take the information in the survey and move forward.
“The issue of going green alone could be part of the impetus to get the city to adopt a resolution which says, we are going to be a green city by (specific date) and do the following things to meet that goal.”
Velkei says anyone interested about specific comments made by participants and more detail about the process are welcome to contact him at MakeOjaiBetter.com. For now, he is just glad to get his spare time back.
By Linda Harmon
The Make Ojai Better Survey results are out and the author, Steve Velkei, has made a mark on Ojai. Velkei, a lawyer who splits his time between Ojai and Los Angeles, took out a full-page ad in this newspaper last summer and founded a web site, MakeOjaiBetter.com to get responses to his survey.
According to Velkei he did so “to begin a dialogue about how to effect positive change in Ojai” and “help the community and its leaders prioritize what is most important.”
He approached pretty much anyone who would listen and a few that didn’t.
“I wanted to make it as broad-based as possible,” said Velkei, who had responses from people age 14 to 95.
Not everyone was happy with the survey or with Velkei.
“I had people threaten me about the survey,” added Velkei, who tried not to take it to heart. “I had one guy who said, ‘If your survey says x, y, and z, then you’re my enemy.’ Now what kind of word is that to use about someone in your community?”
Undeterred, Velkei went on to gather more than 998 respondents for his survey, talking with people at churches, shopping centers, the Farmers’ Market, Little House, the Skate Park, Nordhoff High School, and even dinner parties, gathering responses.
He found the top five concerns were increasing youth activities, moving toward becoming a “green” city, increased preservation of public land, increasing affordable housing, and better maintenance of public facilities.
“Once I broke down the data I could see where different groups ranked on each issue,” said Velkei, citing the gender breakdown on the green issue ranking as an example. “Among women going green was the No. 1 issue, with men, No. 4. But on two issues, youth activities and going green, people really seemed to transcend groups and there was a really close battle between the two.”
Velkei’s survey found several trends that he found of interest and concern. According to Velkei, the No. 1 issue for people under 25 was affordable housing, followed by increasing youth activities and going green. In the over 50 and 60 age categories, going green ranked first, ahead of preservation of public land and youth activities, with affordable housing a much lower concern.
“On affordable housing, it looks like the older the respondents were, the lower it ranked,” said Velkei. He added that some older respondents indicated they were afraid of affordable housing’s impact, while data showed affordable housing outranked any other issue in the 25-and-under age category telling.
“This is an experiment in creating a larger awareness and getting people connected so that they can feel a part of the system,” said Velkei. “There are a lot of people who felt totally disconnected. That kept me going.”
Velkei addressed the City Council last week when they voted on whether to approve funding $10,000 for the Ojai Youth Employment Service.
“We do have the ability to make a difference,” said Velkei at the meeting, giving the council members copies of his results. “Given the enthusiastic support reflected in this survey for more youth activities, I am hopeful that this agenda item will pass unanimously.”
Later, after a lengthy presentation by rep-resentatives of the Youth Employment Service, including several student testimonials, the allocation did pass unanimously.
Velkei was pleased.
Velkei was hoping the survey would promote action on other issues as well, and is disappointed that he hasn’t been approached by any members of the council about the results.
“Somehow I get the sense they’re not really interested,” said Velkei. “When Jere Kersnar moved here from Carmel he had talked about doing a survey and yet one of the earlier responses from the city manager office was, ‘We have plenty of events for youth, what are they talking about? What is all this complaining about?’ I really wonder if anyone is going to pay attention.”
Velkei hopes the survey provides issues that will unite the community, bringing it together to find compromises.
“For instance, with an issue like affordable housing, it is a state-mandated issue,” said Velkei. “Let’s not waste energy fighting it. Obviously there are going to be issues with resources and water. Maybe there will be 200 units, not 400, but let’s get together and help solve some of these issues. Make those units a showcase, from a green perspective, and a model for what this community can be.”
He hopes people take the information in the survey and move forward.
“The issue of going green alone could be part of the impetus to get the city to adopt a resolution which says, we are going to be a green city by (specific date) and do the following things to meet that goal.”
Velkei says anyone interested about specific comments made by participants and more detail about the process are welcome to contact him at MakeOjaiBetter.com. For now, he is just glad to get his spare time back.
DUI Takes Toll On Skills, Privileges
Justin Veenhuis fails a sobriety test under the watchful eye of Deputy Mike Harris of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.By Misty Volaski
Drinking and driving don’t mix, as Justin Veenhuis discovered in an OVN drunk-driving simulation Tuesday night.
“The handcuffs are reason enough not to drink and drive!” Veenhuis lamented after about 20 minutes in the steel constraints.
The 6-foot-2-inch, 170-pound Ojai Valley resident drank three cocktails, a beer and a shot, and then was taken to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department-Ojai Substation and put through a mock DUI traffic stop with Deputy Mike Harris.
After asking a series of questions designed to assure that Veenhuis’ suspected drunkenness wasn’t a result of any physical or medical disabilities, Harris administered all the tests as he would on an actual DUI traffic stop: having Veenhuis track the officer’s finger with his eyes without moving his head (failed); tilting Veenhuis’ head back with eyes closed and silently counting out 30 seconds to himself (failed); having Veenhuis walk nine steps, heel to toe, in one direction, then the other (failed); having Veenhuis lift one foot for 30 seconds, then the other for 30 seconds (failed miserably and nearly fell over); and having Veenhuis close his eyes and touch his left and right index fingers to his nose as Harris requested (failed with bravado).
Then came the preliminary alcohol screen, the pre-breath-test test. Harris took two readings, finding that Veenhuis had a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .11 and .12 percent — well over the legal limit of .08 percent for adults over age 21. The real breath test came next, finding similar results and creating a printout of Veenhuis’ BAC.
Veenhuis could have refused the breath test, or requested a blood test (which would have been done at Ventura County Medical Center). Had he attempted and failed one test, then refused the other, he would have been arrested and automat-ically had his license suspended for one year. He would also then be required to give a blood test anyway, even if it had to be forced (and, if convicted, he would face additional penalties for this refusal).
After taking into account all of Veenhuis’ test results (which weren’t pretty), his physical movements and the stench of alcohol on his breath, a very patient Harris had enough evidence to convince him that Veenhuis was drunk.
So away went poor Veenhuis, cuffs and all, to the Ojai Substation’s holding cells. Officer Harris demonstrated the operation of the on-site breath test device, which showed Veenhuis had BAC levels consistent with those found in the field.
Another Ojai Substation officer, Jacob Valenzuela, explained that all of these tests, both in-station and in the field, are designed to give the officers two types of information. One, officers gauge suspects’ “ability to follow our instructions. And two, their ability to carry out the tasks,” said Valenzuela.
To say Veenhuis was intoxicated and failed all his tests — instruction-following included — was clear. Throughout the test, our OVN guinea pig kept reiterating, “I am so, so glad this is not real!”
Had this been an actual DUI stop, Veenhuis would have been taken to the Ventura County Jail and booked, where he’d spend from four to 12 hours before signing an agreement to appear in court and being released. If convicted, Veenhuis would have faced a possible 48-hour jail sentence, three months of alcohol school, three years of probation, court fines of around $2,800 (which does not include traffic school costs or the thousands of dollars he’d pay his lawyer), and the doubling or tripling of his vehicle insurance costs.
And that’s just for a first-time offender with a BAC under .15 percent, no injuries or fatalities involved, and with no children under age 14 in the vehicle at the time of the traffic stop.
Add a couple of those in, and the district attorney can slap you with delightful “special enhancements” that can include years in prison, and 18 months of alcohol school (which will throw an additional $2,400 to your bar tab).
Oh, and you have to buy and install your own Ignition interlock device in your car to prevent you from driving under the influence again (that’s another $730 per year). And for repeat DUI offenders holding a Class A license? Forget it — you’ll never drive a semi again.
According to Harris, the repeat offenders are numerous, and their BACs often startling.
“Once, we had a guy with a .52 BAC,” he said. “Walked right into the station without help.”
“But doesn’t a .40 usually mean you’re, ya know, comatose?” I asked him.
Shockingly, Harris explained that alcoholics can often function at a .30 BAC. Pretty scary for the rest of us on the road. In California alone, an average of 130,000 people are arrested for DUI each year — that’s roughly one drunk driver for every 142 licensed individuals. Add to all of this statistics from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which show an average of only one of every 88 drunk drivers on the road are actually pulled over, and you begin to see the problem.
And the necessity for strict laws and steep fines. The bottom line: not only do drunk drivers kill 12,998 people a year and injure 500,000 more (2007 statistics, National Highway Traffic Safety Admini-stration), they also cost you a ton of money, time and pride.
So get a cab or designated driver. Bribe a buddy with a free dinner. His $50 surf ‘n’ turf is roughly $7,950 less than paying for a DUI. Even Wal-Mart can’t offer you those kinds of savings.
Just a little something to consider before leaving the office Christmas party this weekend.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Feds Seek Review Of Casitas Ruling
Issue at stake is ‘taking’ for fish ladder
By Daryl Kelley
Claiming that a three-judge appeals panel erred, federal lawyers have asked the full U.S. appeals court in Washington to review a September ruling in which the panel found that the federal government had seized Casitas Municipal Water District property by forcing it to provide water for a fish ladder built for the endangered steelhead trout.
That panel decision, if it stands, could potentially be worth tens of millions of dollars for Casitas, the largest water district in the Ojai Valley. Either way, some experts say, the Casitas case could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court as a test of private property rights.
Last week, U.S. environmental lawyers asked the entire 11-justice Washington appeals court to reconsider the case, on which the appeals panel itself split 2-1 in overturning a lower court decision.
The lower court had found that the Bureau of Reclamation had not seized Casitas’ private property when forcing it to provide water without compensation. But the appeals panel decided the water was private property and sent the case back to the trial court to be heard on that basis.
Now, lawyers for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Justice Department have argued consider the case.
The panel “clearly departed from binding precedent of the Supreme Court and this Court” in requiring that the Casitas case be considered under federal law for the taking of private property instead of under law relating to regulatory restrictions on property, the new petition said.
Indeed, federal lawyers even argued that Casitas had not lost a drop of water to the fish ladder that it has been forced to replace, since the Casitas reservoir and dam project is naturally replenished by rainfall.
“The record shows no evidence of loss of use, and the United States’ expert report shows that, under historic weather patterns, the Project has sufficient access to water and storage so that no loss of use is anticipated to occur …,” the petition argues.
But Roger Marzulla, a Washington lawyer representing Casitas, said Tuesday that he thinks reconsideration of the case will be rejected by most of the 11 justices, and the case will be returned to the trial court to be tried as a property taking, with compensation going to Casitas for its loss of water. The full appeals court decides to rehear cases decided by a panel only about once a year out of dozens of petitions, he said.
He said he expects a decision in January.
“The panel was correct,” Marzulla said. “There are three water rights cases (decided by the Supreme Court), and in all the finding was that the plaintiffs should recover.”
Nor does Marzulla think the case should ever reach the Supreme Court, although property rights attorneys said it could set a precedent nationwide.
“I’d just like this case to go back to the trial court, and get it over with,” he said. “I think the Supreme Court law is clear enough. There is not a new issue here that the Supreme Court ought to be addressing.”
But that’s not the way state and federal lawyers have seen the case since it was filed by Casitas in 2005 after the district was required to build a fish ladder on the Ventura River, and to provide water for it.
Casitas sought compensation for both the ladder and the water, but lost the case to reclaim the $9 million for ladder construction. But compensation for the on-going cost of water remains in play.
J. David Breemer, a principal attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights group in Sacramento, said the appeals panel’s Casitas decision “is very important because it says your water can’t be taken without you being paid for it.”
Before that ruling, Breemer said, the presumption was that the government had a right to take water being used by a private party without compensation to satisfy federal environmental law, such as the Endangered Species Act.
“Now the presumption is that they’ve got to pay for that water,” he said.
If the Bureau of Reclamation is forced to pay for water to operate the fish ladder, the bill could total $1 million to $2 million a year, officials said. That compares with Casitas’ annual budget of $15 million.
Casitas estimates that it takes at least 3,200 acre-feet of water a year to guarantee that the steelhead migration can occur.
The district charges farmers $371 an acre-foot for water and residential customers $444. It also estimates that it would cost at least $600 an acre-foot to import water for the fish ladder during a prolonged drought.
That means that the value of the 3,200 acre-feet is at least $1.12 million and as much as $1.92 million, said Casitas representatives. (An acre-foot of water meets the needs of two typical households for a year.)
Lawyer Marzulla said that a water appraiser and broker hired by the district has placed the total value of the water the district could lose for the fish ladder over decades as at least “tens of millions of dollars, and it could go as high as $80 million.”
But Casitas is not counting its money yet.
Indeed, the five elected directors of the water district are split 3 to 2 on whether its a good idea to continue with the suit.
Last year, the board majority voted to press the litigation for a third year despite a steep $500,000 cost and repeated setbacks, while the board minority said the suit was a waste of money and would undercut the Endangered Species Act if Casitas won.
That split has persisted, with Directors Jim Word, Bill Hicks and Pete Kaiser wanting to continue the case, and Directors Russ Baggerly and Richard Handley wanting to end it.
Also fighting against the Casitas case are state and federal lawyers who maintain that the river water Casitas gathers in its reservoir is owned by all of the people of California and not by the water district, and that it can be used by government agencies for the common good without compensation. It fact, that procedure is common when enforcing the Endangered Species Act.
Last year, a federal claims court judge agreed, ruling that a constitutional property right was not involved when the federal government required Casitas to provide water without compensation.
The claims court judge ruled that the Casitas case had to be considered under federal law that deals with the government’s simple regulatory constraint of water use, and not as a “physical taking” of private property. Water agencies have rarely, if ever, won compensation in a case argued under such rules, officials have said.
But after the appeals panel decision, and the new petition opposing it, the case appears wide open again.
The Casitas district provides water for about 65,000 people and nearly 5,700 acres of farmland in the Ojai Valley and Ventura area.
a lower court decision.
The lower court had found that the Bureau of Reclamation had not seized Casitas’ private property when forcing it to provide water without compensation. But the appeals panel decided the water was private property and sent the case back to the trial court to be heard on that basis.
Now, lawyers for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Justice Department have argued to consider the case.
The panel “clearly departed from binding precedent of the Supreme Court and this Court” in requiring that the Casitas case be considered under federal law for the taking of private property instead of under law relating to regulatory restrictions on property, the new petition said.
Indeed, federal lawyers even argued that Casitas had not lost a drop of water to the fish ladder that it has been forced to replace, since the Casitas reservoir and dam project is naturally replenished by rainfall.
But Roger Marzulla, a Washington lawyer rep-resenting Casitas, said Tuesday that he thinks reconsideration of the case will be rejected by most of the 11 justices, and the case will be returned to the trial court to be tried as a property taking, with compensation going to Casitas for its loss of water. The full appeals court decides to rehear cases decided by a panel only about once a year out of dozens of petitions, he said.
He said he expects a decision in January.
“The panel was correct,” Marzulla said. “There are three water rights cases (decided by the Supreme Court), and in all the finding was that the plaintiffs should recover.”
Nor does Marzulla think the case should ever reach the Supreme Court, although property rights attorneys said it could set a precedent nationwide.
“I’d just like this case to go back to the trial court, and get it over with,” he said. “I think the Supreme Court law is clear enough.”
But that’s not the way state and federal lawyers have seen the case since it was filed by Casitas in 2005 after the district was required to build a fish ladder on the Ventura River, and to provide water for it.
Casitas sought com-pensation for both the ladder and the water, but lost the case to reclaim the $9 million for ladder construction.
J. David Breemer, a principal attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights group in Sacramento, said the appeals panel’s Casitas decision “is very important because it says your water can’t be taken without you being paid for it.”
Before that ruling, Breemer said, the presumption was that the government had a right to take water being used by a private party without compensation to satisfy federal environmental law, such as the Endangered Species Act.
“Now the presumption is that they’ve got to pay for that water,” he said.
If the Bureau of Reclamation is forced to pay for water to operate the fish ladder, the bill could total $1 million to $2 million a year, officials said. That compares with Casitas’ annual budget of $15 million.
Casitas estimates that it takes at least 3,200 acre-feet of water a year to guarantee that the steelhead migration can occur. The district charges farmers $371 an acre-foot for water and residential customers $444. It also estimates that it would cost at least $600 an acre-foot to import water for the fish ladder during a prolonged drought.
But Casitas is not counting its money yet.
Indeed, the five elected directors of the water district are split 3-to-2 on whether its a good idea to continue with the suit.
Last year, the board majority voted to press the litigation for a third year despite a steep $500,000 cost and repeated setbacks, while the board minority said the suit was a waste of money and would undercut the Endangered Species Act if Casitas won.
That split has persisted, with Directors Jim Word, Bill Hicks and Pete Kaiser wanting to continue the case, and Directors Russ Baggerly and Richard Handley wanting to end it.
Also fighting against the Casitas case are state and federal lawyers who maintain that the river water Casitas gathers in its reservoir is owned by all of the people of California and not by the water district, and that it can be used by government agencies for the common good without compensation. It fact, that procedure is common when enforcing the Endangered Species Act.
Last year, a federal claims court judge agreed, ruling that a constitutional property right was not involved when the federal government required Casitas to provide water without compensation.
The claims court judge ruled that the Casitas case had to be considered under federal law that deals with the government’s simple regulat-ory constraint of water use, and not as a “physical taking” of private property.
But after the appeals panel decision, and the new petition opposing it, the case appears wide open again.
By Daryl Kelley
Claiming that a three-judge appeals panel erred, federal lawyers have asked the full U.S. appeals court in Washington to review a September ruling in which the panel found that the federal government had seized Casitas Municipal Water District property by forcing it to provide water for a fish ladder built for the endangered steelhead trout.
That panel decision, if it stands, could potentially be worth tens of millions of dollars for Casitas, the largest water district in the Ojai Valley. Either way, some experts say, the Casitas case could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court as a test of private property rights.
Last week, U.S. environmental lawyers asked the entire 11-justice Washington appeals court to reconsider the case, on which the appeals panel itself split 2-1 in overturning a lower court decision.
The lower court had found that the Bureau of Reclamation had not seized Casitas’ private property when forcing it to provide water without compensation. But the appeals panel decided the water was private property and sent the case back to the trial court to be heard on that basis.
Now, lawyers for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Justice Department have argued consider the case.
The panel “clearly departed from binding precedent of the Supreme Court and this Court” in requiring that the Casitas case be considered under federal law for the taking of private property instead of under law relating to regulatory restrictions on property, the new petition said.
Indeed, federal lawyers even argued that Casitas had not lost a drop of water to the fish ladder that it has been forced to replace, since the Casitas reservoir and dam project is naturally replenished by rainfall.
“The record shows no evidence of loss of use, and the United States’ expert report shows that, under historic weather patterns, the Project has sufficient access to water and storage so that no loss of use is anticipated to occur …,” the petition argues.
But Roger Marzulla, a Washington lawyer representing Casitas, said Tuesday that he thinks reconsideration of the case will be rejected by most of the 11 justices, and the case will be returned to the trial court to be tried as a property taking, with compensation going to Casitas for its loss of water. The full appeals court decides to rehear cases decided by a panel only about once a year out of dozens of petitions, he said.
He said he expects a decision in January.
“The panel was correct,” Marzulla said. “There are three water rights cases (decided by the Supreme Court), and in all the finding was that the plaintiffs should recover.”
Nor does Marzulla think the case should ever reach the Supreme Court, although property rights attorneys said it could set a precedent nationwide.
“I’d just like this case to go back to the trial court, and get it over with,” he said. “I think the Supreme Court law is clear enough. There is not a new issue here that the Supreme Court ought to be addressing.”
But that’s not the way state and federal lawyers have seen the case since it was filed by Casitas in 2005 after the district was required to build a fish ladder on the Ventura River, and to provide water for it.
Casitas sought compensation for both the ladder and the water, but lost the case to reclaim the $9 million for ladder construction. But compensation for the on-going cost of water remains in play.
J. David Breemer, a principal attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights group in Sacramento, said the appeals panel’s Casitas decision “is very important because it says your water can’t be taken without you being paid for it.”
Before that ruling, Breemer said, the presumption was that the government had a right to take water being used by a private party without compensation to satisfy federal environmental law, such as the Endangered Species Act.
“Now the presumption is that they’ve got to pay for that water,” he said.
If the Bureau of Reclamation is forced to pay for water to operate the fish ladder, the bill could total $1 million to $2 million a year, officials said. That compares with Casitas’ annual budget of $15 million.
Casitas estimates that it takes at least 3,200 acre-feet of water a year to guarantee that the steelhead migration can occur.
The district charges farmers $371 an acre-foot for water and residential customers $444. It also estimates that it would cost at least $600 an acre-foot to import water for the fish ladder during a prolonged drought.
That means that the value of the 3,200 acre-feet is at least $1.12 million and as much as $1.92 million, said Casitas representatives. (An acre-foot of water meets the needs of two typical households for a year.)
Lawyer Marzulla said that a water appraiser and broker hired by the district has placed the total value of the water the district could lose for the fish ladder over decades as at least “tens of millions of dollars, and it could go as high as $80 million.”
But Casitas is not counting its money yet.
Indeed, the five elected directors of the water district are split 3 to 2 on whether its a good idea to continue with the suit.
Last year, the board majority voted to press the litigation for a third year despite a steep $500,000 cost and repeated setbacks, while the board minority said the suit was a waste of money and would undercut the Endangered Species Act if Casitas won.
That split has persisted, with Directors Jim Word, Bill Hicks and Pete Kaiser wanting to continue the case, and Directors Russ Baggerly and Richard Handley wanting to end it.
Also fighting against the Casitas case are state and federal lawyers who maintain that the river water Casitas gathers in its reservoir is owned by all of the people of California and not by the water district, and that it can be used by government agencies for the common good without compensation. It fact, that procedure is common when enforcing the Endangered Species Act.
Last year, a federal claims court judge agreed, ruling that a constitutional property right was not involved when the federal government required Casitas to provide water without compensation.
The claims court judge ruled that the Casitas case had to be considered under federal law that deals with the government’s simple regulatory constraint of water use, and not as a “physical taking” of private property. Water agencies have rarely, if ever, won compensation in a case argued under such rules, officials have said.
But after the appeals panel decision, and the new petition opposing it, the case appears wide open again.
The Casitas district provides water for about 65,000 people and nearly 5,700 acres of farmland in the Ojai Valley and Ventura area.
a lower court decision.
The lower court had found that the Bureau of Reclamation had not seized Casitas’ private property when forcing it to provide water without compensation. But the appeals panel decided the water was private property and sent the case back to the trial court to be heard on that basis.
Now, lawyers for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Justice Department have argued to consider the case.
The panel “clearly departed from binding precedent of the Supreme Court and this Court” in requiring that the Casitas case be considered under federal law for the taking of private property instead of under law relating to regulatory restrictions on property, the new petition said.
Indeed, federal lawyers even argued that Casitas had not lost a drop of water to the fish ladder that it has been forced to replace, since the Casitas reservoir and dam project is naturally replenished by rainfall.
But Roger Marzulla, a Washington lawyer rep-resenting Casitas, said Tuesday that he thinks reconsideration of the case will be rejected by most of the 11 justices, and the case will be returned to the trial court to be tried as a property taking, with compensation going to Casitas for its loss of water. The full appeals court decides to rehear cases decided by a panel only about once a year out of dozens of petitions, he said.
He said he expects a decision in January.
“The panel was correct,” Marzulla said. “There are three water rights cases (decided by the Supreme Court), and in all the finding was that the plaintiffs should recover.”
Nor does Marzulla think the case should ever reach the Supreme Court, although property rights attorneys said it could set a precedent nationwide.
“I’d just like this case to go back to the trial court, and get it over with,” he said. “I think the Supreme Court law is clear enough.”
But that’s not the way state and federal lawyers have seen the case since it was filed by Casitas in 2005 after the district was required to build a fish ladder on the Ventura River, and to provide water for it.
Casitas sought com-pensation for both the ladder and the water, but lost the case to reclaim the $9 million for ladder construction.
J. David Breemer, a principal attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights group in Sacramento, said the appeals panel’s Casitas decision “is very important because it says your water can’t be taken without you being paid for it.”
Before that ruling, Breemer said, the presumption was that the government had a right to take water being used by a private party without compensation to satisfy federal environmental law, such as the Endangered Species Act.
“Now the presumption is that they’ve got to pay for that water,” he said.
If the Bureau of Reclamation is forced to pay for water to operate the fish ladder, the bill could total $1 million to $2 million a year, officials said. That compares with Casitas’ annual budget of $15 million.
Casitas estimates that it takes at least 3,200 acre-feet of water a year to guarantee that the steelhead migration can occur. The district charges farmers $371 an acre-foot for water and residential customers $444. It also estimates that it would cost at least $600 an acre-foot to import water for the fish ladder during a prolonged drought.
But Casitas is not counting its money yet.
Indeed, the five elected directors of the water district are split 3-to-2 on whether its a good idea to continue with the suit.
Last year, the board majority voted to press the litigation for a third year despite a steep $500,000 cost and repeated setbacks, while the board minority said the suit was a waste of money and would undercut the Endangered Species Act if Casitas won.
That split has persisted, with Directors Jim Word, Bill Hicks and Pete Kaiser wanting to continue the case, and Directors Russ Baggerly and Richard Handley wanting to end it.
Also fighting against the Casitas case are state and federal lawyers who maintain that the river water Casitas gathers in its reservoir is owned by all of the people of California and not by the water district, and that it can be used by government agencies for the common good without compensation. It fact, that procedure is common when enforcing the Endangered Species Act.
Last year, a federal claims court judge agreed, ruling that a constitutional property right was not involved when the federal government required Casitas to provide water without compensation.
The claims court judge ruled that the Casitas case had to be considered under federal law that deals with the government’s simple regulat-ory constraint of water use, and not as a “physical taking” of private property.
But after the appeals panel decision, and the new petition opposing it, the case appears wide open again.
OUSD Plans For Next Round Of Budget Cuts
Schools search for $1.6 million in cuts for next year, $800k for 2010-2011
By Sondra Murphy
The Ojai Unified School District has the dubious distinction of being known as the poster child of declining enrollment of Ventura County schools and the state budget crisis is aggravating the financial fallout from that condition.
“It is in dire straits,” said Ventura County Superin-tendent of Schools Stanley Mantooth. “Declining enrollment has been with us in Ventura County overall now for at least four years, some places more than others. Ojai has had the particular challenges with declining enrollment for a decade or so.
“Every time you lose a student, the district loses in the neighborhood of $9,000 to $10,000. When you lose students it’s not easy to cut back proportionately. OUSD in particular has done an excellent job in preserving its programs and cutting everything they can as far away from the classrooms as they can. It is now looking at its core programs, and that is not unique to Ojai. It is a terrible situation and the economy might be lending a hand there.”
Ojai Unified School district held a special governing board study session Monday to begin early planning for its 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 budgets. Fresh from announcing its first-ever qualified certification last week, board members, administrators, staff and community met to look over preliminary numbers and formulate strategies.
Superintendent Tim Baird and Dannielle Pusatere, assistant superintendent of business and administrative services, submitted draft reports that broke down from which part of the $25 million budget each department’s supporting funds originated. The packet also contained dollar figures associated with programs and schools to aid the board in making $1.6 million in anticipated cuts for next year and $800,000 the following year. The information was intended to get the budget cutting process started and is expected to be continuously updated and fine-tuned as state budget decisions are made known.
“We are not going to solve the budget issue this evening,” said Baird. “We are still in the input stage and will be there really for the course of the rest of the school year.”
Dollar figures were not yet attached to specific positions. Vice president Kathi Smith said the process would be more efficient, “If we could get the dollar amount for each site and each department.
Member Pauline Mercado agreed. “Rather than backtrack, I need to have all the information in front of me. Looking at these FTEs (full-time equivalent job statistics), it’s really hard to be able to determine the cost. We need to have the dollar amount.”
Pusatere explained that it would be difficult to estimate the savings of cutting jobs because of the varying pay rates due to seniority. “It might not be accurate because you might be looking at the cost of a senior position, but bump a less senior position in your cuts,” she said.
“We understand why you didn’t put it in, but we need to know all the prices,” said Smith. “It’s just too abstract.”
“We need total salaries of everyone in the district,” said member Steve Fields.
“The budget numbers are not exact,” said Baird. “The missing component is staff recommendations. We will get the hard numbers for any recommendations and put them on the list for subsequent meetings.”
“I would like to know grade-by-grade class size reductions,” said clerk Rikki Horne.
“Also how many staff would be affected, if we eliminate it,” President Linda Taylor added.
Possible strategy plans presented to the board included one-year, two-year and quick-response plans. Baird said that, at this point, administration is recommending a two-year plan because it would be the least disruptive to the curriculum. “In a one-year plan, you essentially make all the cuts you need to make, but you have nothing left to cut the next year,” he said. “In a two-year plan you say let’s do some nasty cuts, but not all in year one and go into the reserves, knowing we still don’t have the end to the two-year solution, but in case something else could be done. But you have to refill your reserves the next year. Right now, I’m leaning toward the two-year plan because the one-year looks really devastating and you’ve used one-time monies.”
The quick response plan involves negative certifications that bring in the state and help districts qualify for 20-year emergency loans. That method results in loss of board control and, usually, the superintendent, substituting a state manager to make decisions based on financial assets and not necessarily the students’ best interest.
In the information packet, Baird included some sample plans of other California school districts going through similar struggles and that have submitted negative certification budgets this year.
“Some districts are looking at rolling back salary schedules and reductions of work days,” Baird said. OUSD currently has 184 work days and must have at least 180.
Two public speakers were critical of the way OUSD has handled the budgeting process. “I feel you are completely unrealistic to use the governor’s October budget,” said Bill Gilbreth. “If you don’t really look at what is likely to be, you’re likely to make the wrong decision.” Gilbreth pointed to that opinion as why he did not support Measure P in the most recent election. The measure proposed a seven-year tax of $89 per parcel in the OUSD boundaries.
Pusatere said that the district was awaiting an update from the state sometime next month, which is why some of the estimates are unknown.
“If you don’t cut salaries, you’re not showing the public that you’re taking honest cuts,” said Ron Wilson. “I think overall your service is outstanding, but it’s a very, very difficult process for the public to understand.”
“I can appreciate what Bill and Mr. Wilson have to say because we know this is dire,” said Kathleen Smith, “but we have to look at everything.”
“What’s upsetting me is that my kindergartner is not going to get the same education that I received,” said parent Marianne Ratcliff. “Ojai should be ashamed of itself for not passing the parcel tax. Mr. Gilbreth’s letter to the editor made me angry and I wasn’t angry tonight until I just heard it again. I’m dedicated to raising the $7,000 to put another parcel tax on the ballot and swaying Mr. Gilbreth to write another letter to the editor encouraging support.”
Kathleen Smith told the board that local parent organizations are beginning a campaign to get Measure P supporter to donate $89 to OUSD.
“I appreciate your efforts and that you are continuing to work on this,” district employee Chuck Crawford told the board. “I understand categorical funding, but it’s hard to explain that to someone who’s just lost their job. I try watching the budget and it’s hard to have confidence in the process.”
Meiners Oaks teacher John Hook boiled down the emotions associated with the meeting. “What is going to happen to the children, with no support services for students who are struggling?” he asked. “We need to realize what we’ll be losing in human terms.”
“And as we shed employees, it impacts the economy here,” said vice president Smith.
“As a union, I think it’s time to put our differences aside and work together in these difficult times,” said president of the Ojai Federation of Teachers Martha Ditchfield.
“In January, we will find out about our midyear cuts,” said Taylor. “On Jan. 13, we’ll have a continuation of our budget discussion and have more specific numbers. School funding is very complicated with all its categoricals and how it’s spent and how we need to get loans every year because we don’t get the money we’re supposed to. I appreciate people who keep coming to these meetings.”
“I want to thank John Hook and those people who talked about the faces of our employees,” said Horne. “All of these people represent our students and that’s why we’re all here. The thought of obliterating the school district that my daughter still attends is devastating.”
originated. The packet also contained dollar figures associated with programs and schools to aid the board in making $1.6 million in anticipated cuts for next year and $800,000 the following year. The information was intended to get the budget cutting process started and is expected to be continuously updated and fine-tuned as state budget decisions are made known.
“We are not going to solve the budget issue this evening,” said Baird. “We are still in the input stage and will be there really for the course of the rest of the school year.”
Dollar figures were not yet attached to specific positions. Vice president Kathi Smith said the process would be more efficient, “If we could get the dollar amount for each site and each department.
Member Pauline Mercado agreed. “Rather than backtrack, I need to have all the information in front of me. Looking at these FTEs (full-time equivalent job statistics), it’s really hard to be able to determine the cost. We need to have the dollar amount.”
Pusatere explained that it would be difficult to estimate the savings of cutting jobs because of the varying pay rates due to seniority. “It might not be accurate because you might be looking at the cost of a senior position, but bump a less senior position in your cuts,” she said.
“The budget numbers are not exact,” said Baird. “The missing component is staff recommendations. We will get the hard numbers for any recommendations and put them on the list for subsequent meetings.”
“I would like to know grade-by-grade class size reductions,” said clerk Rikki Horne.
“Also how many staff would be affected, if we eliminate it,” President Linda Taylor added.
Possible strategy plans presented to the board included one-year, two-year and quick-response plans. Baird said that, at this point, administration is recom-mending a two-year plan because it would be the least disruptive to the curriculum. “In a one-year plan, you essentially make all the cuts you need to make, but you have nothing left to cut the next year,” he said. “In a two-year plan you say let’s do some nasty cuts, but not all in year one and go into the reserves, knowing we still don’t have the end to the two-year solution, but in case something else could be done. But you have to refill your reserves the next year. Right now, I’m leaning toward the two-year plan because the one-year looks really devastating and you’ve used one-time monies.”
The quick response plan involves negative certifications that bring in the state and help districts qualify for 20-year emergency loans. That method results in loss of board control and, usually, the superintendent, substituting a state manager to make decisions based on financial assets and not necessarily the students’ best interest.
In the information packet, Baird included some sample plans of other California school districts going through similar struggles and that have submitted negative cert-ification budgets this year.
“Some districts are looking at rolling back salary schedules and reductions of work days,” Baird said. OUSD currently has 184 work days and must have at least 180.
Two public speakers were critical of the way OUSD has handled the budgeting process. “I feel you are completely unrealistic to use the governor’s October budget,” said Bill Gilbreth. “If you don’t really look at what is likely to be, you’re likely to make the wrong decision.” Gilbreth pointed to that opinion as why he did not support Measure P in the most recent election. The measure proposed a seven-year tax of $89 per parcel in the OUSD boundaries.
Pusatere said that the district was awaiting an update from the state sometime next month, which is why some of the estimates are unknown.
“If you don’t cut salaries, you’re not showing the public that you’re taking honest cuts,” said Ron Wilson. “I think overall your service is outstanding, but it’s a very, very difficult process for the public to understand.”
“I can appreciate what Bill and Mr. Wilson have to say because we know this is dire,” said Kathleen Smith, “but we have to look at everything.”
“What’s upsetting me is that my kindergartner is not going to get the same education that I received,” said parent Marianne Ratcliff. “Ojai should be ashamed of itself for not passing the parcel tax. Mr. Gilbreth’s letter to the editor made me angry and I wasn’t angry tonight until I just heard it again. I’m dedicated to raising the $7,000 to put another parcel tax on the ballot and swaying Mr. Gilbreth to write another letter to the editor encouraging support.”
“I appreciate your efforts and that you are continuing to work on this,” district employee Chuck Crawford told the board. “I understand categorical funding, but it’s hard to explain that to someone who’s just lost their job.”
Meiners Oaks teacher John Hook boiled down the emotions associated with the meeting. “What is going to happen to the children, with no support services for students who are struggling?” he asked. “We need to realize what we’ll be losing in human terms.”
“And as we shed employees, it impacts the economy here,” said vice president Smith.
“As a union, I think it’s time to put our differences aside and work together in these difficult times,” said Martha Ditchfield, president of the Ojai Federation of Teachers .
“In January, we will find out about our midyear cuts,” said Taylor. “On Jan. 13, we’ll have a continuation of our budget discussion and have more specific numbers. School funding is very complicated with all its categoricals and how it’s spent and how we need to get loans every year because we don’t get the money we’re supposed to. I appreciate people who keep coming to these meetings.”
“I want to thank John Hook and those people who talked about the faces of our employees,” said Horne. “All of these people represent our students and that’s why we’re all here. The thought of obliterating the school district that my daughter still attends is devastating.”
By Sondra Murphy
The Ojai Unified School District has the dubious distinction of being known as the poster child of declining enrollment of Ventura County schools and the state budget crisis is aggravating the financial fallout from that condition.
“It is in dire straits,” said Ventura County Superin-tendent of Schools Stanley Mantooth. “Declining enrollment has been with us in Ventura County overall now for at least four years, some places more than others. Ojai has had the particular challenges with declining enrollment for a decade or so.
“Every time you lose a student, the district loses in the neighborhood of $9,000 to $10,000. When you lose students it’s not easy to cut back proportionately. OUSD in particular has done an excellent job in preserving its programs and cutting everything they can as far away from the classrooms as they can. It is now looking at its core programs, and that is not unique to Ojai. It is a terrible situation and the economy might be lending a hand there.”
Ojai Unified School district held a special governing board study session Monday to begin early planning for its 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 budgets. Fresh from announcing its first-ever qualified certification last week, board members, administrators, staff and community met to look over preliminary numbers and formulate strategies.
Superintendent Tim Baird and Dannielle Pusatere, assistant superintendent of business and administrative services, submitted draft reports that broke down from which part of the $25 million budget each department’s supporting funds originated. The packet also contained dollar figures associated with programs and schools to aid the board in making $1.6 million in anticipated cuts for next year and $800,000 the following year. The information was intended to get the budget cutting process started and is expected to be continuously updated and fine-tuned as state budget decisions are made known.
“We are not going to solve the budget issue this evening,” said Baird. “We are still in the input stage and will be there really for the course of the rest of the school year.”
Dollar figures were not yet attached to specific positions. Vice president Kathi Smith said the process would be more efficient, “If we could get the dollar amount for each site and each department.
Member Pauline Mercado agreed. “Rather than backtrack, I need to have all the information in front of me. Looking at these FTEs (full-time equivalent job statistics), it’s really hard to be able to determine the cost. We need to have the dollar amount.”
Pusatere explained that it would be difficult to estimate the savings of cutting jobs because of the varying pay rates due to seniority. “It might not be accurate because you might be looking at the cost of a senior position, but bump a less senior position in your cuts,” she said.
“We understand why you didn’t put it in, but we need to know all the prices,” said Smith. “It’s just too abstract.”
“We need total salaries of everyone in the district,” said member Steve Fields.
“The budget numbers are not exact,” said Baird. “The missing component is staff recommendations. We will get the hard numbers for any recommendations and put them on the list for subsequent meetings.”
“I would like to know grade-by-grade class size reductions,” said clerk Rikki Horne.
“Also how many staff would be affected, if we eliminate it,” President Linda Taylor added.
Possible strategy plans presented to the board included one-year, two-year and quick-response plans. Baird said that, at this point, administration is recommending a two-year plan because it would be the least disruptive to the curriculum. “In a one-year plan, you essentially make all the cuts you need to make, but you have nothing left to cut the next year,” he said. “In a two-year plan you say let’s do some nasty cuts, but not all in year one and go into the reserves, knowing we still don’t have the end to the two-year solution, but in case something else could be done. But you have to refill your reserves the next year. Right now, I’m leaning toward the two-year plan because the one-year looks really devastating and you’ve used one-time monies.”
The quick response plan involves negative certifications that bring in the state and help districts qualify for 20-year emergency loans. That method results in loss of board control and, usually, the superintendent, substituting a state manager to make decisions based on financial assets and not necessarily the students’ best interest.
In the information packet, Baird included some sample plans of other California school districts going through similar struggles and that have submitted negative certification budgets this year.
“Some districts are looking at rolling back salary schedules and reductions of work days,” Baird said. OUSD currently has 184 work days and must have at least 180.
Two public speakers were critical of the way OUSD has handled the budgeting process. “I feel you are completely unrealistic to use the governor’s October budget,” said Bill Gilbreth. “If you don’t really look at what is likely to be, you’re likely to make the wrong decision.” Gilbreth pointed to that opinion as why he did not support Measure P in the most recent election. The measure proposed a seven-year tax of $89 per parcel in the OUSD boundaries.
Pusatere said that the district was awaiting an update from the state sometime next month, which is why some of the estimates are unknown.
“If you don’t cut salaries, you’re not showing the public that you’re taking honest cuts,” said Ron Wilson. “I think overall your service is outstanding, but it’s a very, very difficult process for the public to understand.”
“I can appreciate what Bill and Mr. Wilson have to say because we know this is dire,” said Kathleen Smith, “but we have to look at everything.”
“What’s upsetting me is that my kindergartner is not going to get the same education that I received,” said parent Marianne Ratcliff. “Ojai should be ashamed of itself for not passing the parcel tax. Mr. Gilbreth’s letter to the editor made me angry and I wasn’t angry tonight until I just heard it again. I’m dedicated to raising the $7,000 to put another parcel tax on the ballot and swaying Mr. Gilbreth to write another letter to the editor encouraging support.”
Kathleen Smith told the board that local parent organizations are beginning a campaign to get Measure P supporter to donate $89 to OUSD.
“I appreciate your efforts and that you are continuing to work on this,” district employee Chuck Crawford told the board. “I understand categorical funding, but it’s hard to explain that to someone who’s just lost their job. I try watching the budget and it’s hard to have confidence in the process.”
Meiners Oaks teacher John Hook boiled down the emotions associated with the meeting. “What is going to happen to the children, with no support services for students who are struggling?” he asked. “We need to realize what we’ll be losing in human terms.”
“And as we shed employees, it impacts the economy here,” said vice president Smith.
“As a union, I think it’s time to put our differences aside and work together in these difficult times,” said president of the Ojai Federation of Teachers Martha Ditchfield.
“In January, we will find out about our midyear cuts,” said Taylor. “On Jan. 13, we’ll have a continuation of our budget discussion and have more specific numbers. School funding is very complicated with all its categoricals and how it’s spent and how we need to get loans every year because we don’t get the money we’re supposed to. I appreciate people who keep coming to these meetings.”
“I want to thank John Hook and those people who talked about the faces of our employees,” said Horne. “All of these people represent our students and that’s why we’re all here. The thought of obliterating the school district that my daughter still attends is devastating.”
originated. The packet also contained dollar figures associated with programs and schools to aid the board in making $1.6 million in anticipated cuts for next year and $800,000 the following year. The information was intended to get the budget cutting process started and is expected to be continuously updated and fine-tuned as state budget decisions are made known.
“We are not going to solve the budget issue this evening,” said Baird. “We are still in the input stage and will be there really for the course of the rest of the school year.”
Dollar figures were not yet attached to specific positions. Vice president Kathi Smith said the process would be more efficient, “If we could get the dollar amount for each site and each department.
Member Pauline Mercado agreed. “Rather than backtrack, I need to have all the information in front of me. Looking at these FTEs (full-time equivalent job statistics), it’s really hard to be able to determine the cost. We need to have the dollar amount.”
Pusatere explained that it would be difficult to estimate the savings of cutting jobs because of the varying pay rates due to seniority. “It might not be accurate because you might be looking at the cost of a senior position, but bump a less senior position in your cuts,” she said.
“The budget numbers are not exact,” said Baird. “The missing component is staff recommendations. We will get the hard numbers for any recommendations and put them on the list for subsequent meetings.”
“I would like to know grade-by-grade class size reductions,” said clerk Rikki Horne.
“Also how many staff would be affected, if we eliminate it,” President Linda Taylor added.
Possible strategy plans presented to the board included one-year, two-year and quick-response plans. Baird said that, at this point, administration is recom-mending a two-year plan because it would be the least disruptive to the curriculum. “In a one-year plan, you essentially make all the cuts you need to make, but you have nothing left to cut the next year,” he said. “In a two-year plan you say let’s do some nasty cuts, but not all in year one and go into the reserves, knowing we still don’t have the end to the two-year solution, but in case something else could be done. But you have to refill your reserves the next year. Right now, I’m leaning toward the two-year plan because the one-year looks really devastating and you’ve used one-time monies.”
The quick response plan involves negative certifications that bring in the state and help districts qualify for 20-year emergency loans. That method results in loss of board control and, usually, the superintendent, substituting a state manager to make decisions based on financial assets and not necessarily the students’ best interest.
In the information packet, Baird included some sample plans of other California school districts going through similar struggles and that have submitted negative cert-ification budgets this year.
“Some districts are looking at rolling back salary schedules and reductions of work days,” Baird said. OUSD currently has 184 work days and must have at least 180.
Two public speakers were critical of the way OUSD has handled the budgeting process. “I feel you are completely unrealistic to use the governor’s October budget,” said Bill Gilbreth. “If you don’t really look at what is likely to be, you’re likely to make the wrong decision.” Gilbreth pointed to that opinion as why he did not support Measure P in the most recent election. The measure proposed a seven-year tax of $89 per parcel in the OUSD boundaries.
Pusatere said that the district was awaiting an update from the state sometime next month, which is why some of the estimates are unknown.
“If you don’t cut salaries, you’re not showing the public that you’re taking honest cuts,” said Ron Wilson. “I think overall your service is outstanding, but it’s a very, very difficult process for the public to understand.”
“I can appreciate what Bill and Mr. Wilson have to say because we know this is dire,” said Kathleen Smith, “but we have to look at everything.”
“What’s upsetting me is that my kindergartner is not going to get the same education that I received,” said parent Marianne Ratcliff. “Ojai should be ashamed of itself for not passing the parcel tax. Mr. Gilbreth’s letter to the editor made me angry and I wasn’t angry tonight until I just heard it again. I’m dedicated to raising the $7,000 to put another parcel tax on the ballot and swaying Mr. Gilbreth to write another letter to the editor encouraging support.”
“I appreciate your efforts and that you are continuing to work on this,” district employee Chuck Crawford told the board. “I understand categorical funding, but it’s hard to explain that to someone who’s just lost their job.”
Meiners Oaks teacher John Hook boiled down the emotions associated with the meeting. “What is going to happen to the children, with no support services for students who are struggling?” he asked. “We need to realize what we’ll be losing in human terms.”
“And as we shed employees, it impacts the economy here,” said vice president Smith.
“As a union, I think it’s time to put our differences aside and work together in these difficult times,” said Martha Ditchfield, president of the Ojai Federation of Teachers .
“In January, we will find out about our midyear cuts,” said Taylor. “On Jan. 13, we’ll have a continuation of our budget discussion and have more specific numbers. School funding is very complicated with all its categoricals and how it’s spent and how we need to get loans every year because we don’t get the money we’re supposed to. I appreciate people who keep coming to these meetings.”
“I want to thank John Hook and those people who talked about the faces of our employees,” said Horne. “All of these people represent our students and that’s why we’re all here. The thought of obliterating the school district that my daughter still attends is devastating.”
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Avary Pleads Not Guilty To Manslaughter
Oscar-winning writer appears in court
By Daryl Kelley
Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary pleaded not guilty Friday to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, resulting from a late-night car crash near Ojai in January in which a man was killed and Avary's wife was injured.
Defense attorney Mark Werksman entered not guilty pleas to three main felony counts and five special circumstances, while a grim 43-year-old Avary, who won an Academy Award for 'Pulp Fiction' in 1994, stood before a Superior Court judge to answer charges that could result in 11 years in prison.
Judge Bruce Clark granted motions to split a blood sample taken from Avary so the defense can confirm – or rebut – prosecution findings that the defendant had a blood-alcohol level of .11 when the tragic accident occurred just near Boardman Road on Ojai Avenue. A blood-alcohol level of .08 or greater constitutes drunken driving in California.
Clark also allowed the defense to examine the 2000 Mercedes sedan Avary was driving when he failed to maneuver a turn shortly after midnight on Jan. 13 and crashed into a telephone pole in front of Ojai Lumber.
Later Friday, a judge left Avary's bail at $50,000, compared with a statutory recommendation of $80,000, because the defendant has appeared at every court date and prosecutors did not object to the lower bail. Avary also will be allowed to travel out of the country within North America while awaiting trial.
In an interview, Werksman declined to elaborate on the his client's defense, or the strength of the case against Avary.
But previously he had said Avary denies being under the influence of alcohol, was not speeding and thinks the crash was caused by a tire blowout.
And Werksman said Friday that Avary wants the case to be resolved promptly.
“We're going to resolve this as soon as we can,” Werksman said. “But we have a duty to do some investigation to resolve the cause of the accident and the validity of the chemical test that was done.”
In charges filed Wednesday, prosecutors maintained that Avary committed several crimes while driving under the influence of alcohol, when his car skidded and crashed, killing a visitor from Italy and seriously injuring the screenwriter's wife.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Lief said in an interview that the case against Avary is solid.
“This is not the kind of case where the deal is going to get better for him as time goes on,” Lief said.
“There were positive results for alcohol and for another controlled substance as well (in toxicological tests).”
Lief would not say what the other drug was that was purportedly detected.
The first felony count against Avary is gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, which carries a basic sentence of 10 years in prison, and one additional year considering the circumstances of this case, Lief said.
Avary is also charged with driving under the influence and causing injury, with a so-called special circumstance of causing “great bodily injury,” which could carry a penalty of three years in prison, plus another three years for the special circumstance.
Thirdly, Avary is charged with causing injury while driving with a blood alcohol level of at least .08 percent, with another great bodily injury special circumstance. This charge also carries a potential six-year sentence.
If convicted of all charges, Avary might serve them at the same time, although a judge could impose the penalties consecutively, lengthening the basic 11-year sentence.
“The bottom line is he's facing up to 10 years in prison,” said Bill Haney, supervising attorney for the felony unit of the District Attorney's Office.
But if Avary has no previous criminal record, a maximum sentence would be unlikely, authorities said.
It took nearly a year for prosecutors to file the charges, Haney said, because the investigation was so thorough, with a crime scene analysis and follow-up questioning of witnesses. An elaborate accident re-construction was part of the investigation, authorities have said.
“We've done extensive follow-up and investigation on this,” Haney said. “This has been very thoroughly researched. The Sheriff's Department has done extensive work and responded to every request we've given them.”
Haney said the thoroughness of the investigation was not determined by Avary's celebrity or the quality of his legal counsel. Werksman, a former federal prosecutor, is a prominent criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles.
“We are very thorough in every case of this nature,” Haney said. “We follow the facts and investigate the case.”
After arraignment, prosecutors must show at a preliminary hearing that they have enough evidence to warrant a trial. A court date was set for February 20 to determine whether the defense was ready to proceed to that evidentiary hearing.
Key evidence in the case, defense lawyer Werksman has said, will be the results of blood samples taken to determine the screenwriter's alcohol level after the crash, and the type of damage to Avary's automobile.
“There are things we can't learn without court orders once the case is filed,'' he said.
In rare cases, new tests of blood alcohol levels in DUI cases have yielded different results in Ventura County, but authorities have said that such historical problems were remedied long ago.
Werksman said in a previous interview that once charges were filed “we can begin to work toward resolution of this case. ... We can't determine the true cause of this accident until ... we have an opportunity to inspect the vehicle and examine the district attorney's evidence.”
Andreas Zini, 34, who was visiting Avary from Italy, died in the single-car crash, apparently from internal injuries, authorities said. His wife, Maria Julia Zini, has returned to Italy, and her representative, attorney Tom Donovan of Santa Monica, said he would have no immediate comment on behalf of the victim's family.
Avary's wife, Gretchen, also suffered serious injuries after being thrown from the car when it crashed in front of Ojai Lumber Co. on East Ojai Avenue. According to police, Avary failed to negotiate a turn in the highway and crashed into a power pole.
Avary was uninjured in the accident, but his 40-year-old wife was found lying in the road next to the couple's sedan. She was transported to Ojai Valley Community Hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. She was released about a week later as she recovered from a ruptured bladder.
Avary, a screenwriter, director and producer, remains free on a $50,000 bail bond.
“This is a tragic case, and Roger is devastated,” Werksman said. “He feels terrible for the Zini family, whose lose is incalculable.”
By Daryl Kelley
Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary pleaded not guilty Friday to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, resulting from a late-night car crash near Ojai in January in which a man was killed and Avary's wife was injured.
Defense attorney Mark Werksman entered not guilty pleas to three main felony counts and five special circumstances, while a grim 43-year-old Avary, who won an Academy Award for 'Pulp Fiction' in 1994, stood before a Superior Court judge to answer charges that could result in 11 years in prison.
Judge Bruce Clark granted motions to split a blood sample taken from Avary so the defense can confirm – or rebut – prosecution findings that the defendant had a blood-alcohol level of .11 when the tragic accident occurred just near Boardman Road on Ojai Avenue. A blood-alcohol level of .08 or greater constitutes drunken driving in California.
Clark also allowed the defense to examine the 2000 Mercedes sedan Avary was driving when he failed to maneuver a turn shortly after midnight on Jan. 13 and crashed into a telephone pole in front of Ojai Lumber.
Later Friday, a judge left Avary's bail at $50,000, compared with a statutory recommendation of $80,000, because the defendant has appeared at every court date and prosecutors did not object to the lower bail. Avary also will be allowed to travel out of the country within North America while awaiting trial.
In an interview, Werksman declined to elaborate on the his client's defense, or the strength of the case against Avary.
But previously he had said Avary denies being under the influence of alcohol, was not speeding and thinks the crash was caused by a tire blowout.
And Werksman said Friday that Avary wants the case to be resolved promptly.
“We're going to resolve this as soon as we can,” Werksman said. “But we have a duty to do some investigation to resolve the cause of the accident and the validity of the chemical test that was done.”
In charges filed Wednesday, prosecutors maintained that Avary committed several crimes while driving under the influence of alcohol, when his car skidded and crashed, killing a visitor from Italy and seriously injuring the screenwriter's wife.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Lief said in an interview that the case against Avary is solid.
“This is not the kind of case where the deal is going to get better for him as time goes on,” Lief said.
“There were positive results for alcohol and for another controlled substance as well (in toxicological tests).”
Lief would not say what the other drug was that was purportedly detected.
The first felony count against Avary is gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, which carries a basic sentence of 10 years in prison, and one additional year considering the circumstances of this case, Lief said.
Avary is also charged with driving under the influence and causing injury, with a so-called special circumstance of causing “great bodily injury,” which could carry a penalty of three years in prison, plus another three years for the special circumstance.
Thirdly, Avary is charged with causing injury while driving with a blood alcohol level of at least .08 percent, with another great bodily injury special circumstance. This charge also carries a potential six-year sentence.
If convicted of all charges, Avary might serve them at the same time, although a judge could impose the penalties consecutively, lengthening the basic 11-year sentence.
“The bottom line is he's facing up to 10 years in prison,” said Bill Haney, supervising attorney for the felony unit of the District Attorney's Office.
But if Avary has no previous criminal record, a maximum sentence would be unlikely, authorities said.
It took nearly a year for prosecutors to file the charges, Haney said, because the investigation was so thorough, with a crime scene analysis and follow-up questioning of witnesses. An elaborate accident re-construction was part of the investigation, authorities have said.
“We've done extensive follow-up and investigation on this,” Haney said. “This has been very thoroughly researched. The Sheriff's Department has done extensive work and responded to every request we've given them.”
Haney said the thoroughness of the investigation was not determined by Avary's celebrity or the quality of his legal counsel. Werksman, a former federal prosecutor, is a prominent criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles.
“We are very thorough in every case of this nature,” Haney said. “We follow the facts and investigate the case.”
After arraignment, prosecutors must show at a preliminary hearing that they have enough evidence to warrant a trial. A court date was set for February 20 to determine whether the defense was ready to proceed to that evidentiary hearing.
Key evidence in the case, defense lawyer Werksman has said, will be the results of blood samples taken to determine the screenwriter's alcohol level after the crash, and the type of damage to Avary's automobile.
“There are things we can't learn without court orders once the case is filed,'' he said.
In rare cases, new tests of blood alcohol levels in DUI cases have yielded different results in Ventura County, but authorities have said that such historical problems were remedied long ago.
Werksman said in a previous interview that once charges were filed “we can begin to work toward resolution of this case. ... We can't determine the true cause of this accident until ... we have an opportunity to inspect the vehicle and examine the district attorney's evidence.”
Andreas Zini, 34, who was visiting Avary from Italy, died in the single-car crash, apparently from internal injuries, authorities said. His wife, Maria Julia Zini, has returned to Italy, and her representative, attorney Tom Donovan of Santa Monica, said he would have no immediate comment on behalf of the victim's family.
Avary's wife, Gretchen, also suffered serious injuries after being thrown from the car when it crashed in front of Ojai Lumber Co. on East Ojai Avenue. According to police, Avary failed to negotiate a turn in the highway and crashed into a power pole.
Avary was uninjured in the accident, but his 40-year-old wife was found lying in the road next to the couple's sedan. She was transported to Ojai Valley Community Hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. She was released about a week later as she recovered from a ruptured bladder.
Avary, a screenwriter, director and producer, remains free on a $50,000 bail bond.
“This is a tragic case, and Roger is devastated,” Werksman said. “He feels terrible for the Zini family, whose lose is incalculable.”
Ojai gavels in new council
Council votes to take over public access TV, while DeVito sworn in for turn as mayor
By Nao Braverman
After returning Councilwoman Sue Horgan, newly elected Councilwoman Betsy Clapp and City Clerk Carlon Strobel were officially welcomed to their positions, and Joe DeVito took the mayor’s seat, the City Council took a somber turn.
Welcoming remarks and congratulations were followed by a series of declamations from concerned citizens about the health hazards of pesticides.
“What really woke me up was that I got a diagnosis of breast cancer,” said Ojai resident Suzanne Freddie. “I have been waking up to these issues and I know that there is some connection between cancer and pesticides.”
Her remarks were followed by another Ojai woman who broke into tears describing a 2-year-old boy in her neighborhood who had also been diagnosed with cancer. She was concerned that pesticides could have been part of the cause.
They were followed by three other speakers from a citizens group advocating for a pesticide-free Ojai. Patty Pagaling said that Fairfax, Calif., had become officially pesticide free and that Ojai had several models to follow if the city were to create an ordinance banning pesticides.
Councilwoman Sue Horgan asked city manager Jere Kersnar to prepare a report on what pesticides are being used in the city.
Later at the meeting council members hesitantly adopted the first reading of an ordinance that would allow the city to collect a 1 percent franchise fee earmarked for public, educational and governmental television programming support.
Time Warner Cable’s decision to franchise with the state will leave public access programming in the hands of the city, starting in January. The 1 percent franchise fee, all the city is entitled to after the expiration of its franchise agreement with Time Warner, comes out to a measly $17,600 annually, not nearly enough to pay for running a public access station. Since the city doesn’t have available funding to continue to provide public access programming, interested residents have rallied together to drum up a way to keep public access television in Ojai. Ojai Valley News reporters Sondra Murphy and Linda Harmon said that the newspaper could provide news content for the station.
“We believe that two things, a well-informed populous and a platform for informing the populous are paramount to open up avenues of growth and potential, strengthening Ojai as a community,” said Harmon. “We see communication as key, and cable as a vastly underutilized tool to achieve that goal.” Nordhoff High School principal Dan Musick suggested that the high school take on this project as part of its educational program.
“We see this as a golden opportunity for our students to have real world opportunities and job skills,” he said. “We would like to get the extra 1 percent from Time Warner and run the program as a business.”
But Public Works director Mike Culver said that the 1 percent funding from Time Warner was restricted for the purchase of equipment only, and could not be used to pay school staff to run the program.
The ordinance adopted Tuesday night was just the first reading, and could be implemented only after the second reading at a future meeting.
Horgan said she was uncomfortable adopting the ordinance without a concrete plan, but voted to do so with the condition that a road map for an Ojai public access program be established before a second reading is brought to the council.
Harmon and Murphy said that they needed the commitment from the city in order to qualify for funds that would enable interested residents to set up a public access program. The first reading of the ordinance was adopted with unanimous support.
To the relief of Franklin Street residents, the council agreed to approve a lien on the longtime eyesore on the corner of Franklin and Montgomery streets in downtown Ojai. The out-of-town property owner, Edward Cheverie, had not responded to requests to clean up the substandard residential duplex after a vehicle crashed into one of the properties, and a tree fell onto one of the rooftops later on. Cheverie owes the city $92,989 in cumulative fines.
Ojai Avenue passersby may stop and rest as they stroll from store to store this holiday season. The City Council approved an amendment to the Arcade design allowing for benches. The resolution supports a new program that will allow business owners to purchase benches and install them in the Arcade Plaza with a bronze plaque that displays the name of the owner. Councilwoman Horgan asked for the program to be open to citizens as well as merchants, so that anyone can install a bench in the arearcade. Interested citizens should contact city staff.
In other council news, the council voted to allocate $10,000 to Youth Employment Services, a referral agency that places Ojai Valley teens in local jobs. Several Ojai teens accompanied the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation’s executive director to petition for the funding.
“This program has helped me pay for things that my parents would otherwise be unable to afford,” said Ojai Valley teen Eryn Johnson. She said that her mother, who was already busy and stressed, was thinking about getting a second job until Johnson was able to help.The program stopped receiving funds from the city during the financial crisis in 2005. Horgan stressed that this was a one-time allocation and suggested that Youth Employment Services find a way to be self-sufficient.
The council also approved recommendations for allocation of $7,000 in Arts Commission art grants, including $1,500 for Got Strings?, a program that provides free violins to Meiners Oaks students to carry with them throughout their schooling.
Council members wavered on their decision to approve a program that starts outside of the city limits, but conceded because of commission members’ testimony that the students would later attend other schools, and that the program would eventually have an effect on the entire community. This is the first time that the city has provided funding for the arts grants since funds were depleted during the city’s financial crisis several years ago.
“This is a pretty gutsy move, especially when you got the arts grants back,” said Horgan, “but I am reluctantly willing to go along with your recommendation tonight.”
Steve Velkey announced results from his Make Ojai Better survey of 998 people at Tuesday night’s meeting. The top issue that concerned survey participants was increasing youth activities. Becoming a green city, preserving public and increasing affordable housing in Ojai trailed closely behind.
By Nao Braverman
After returning Councilwoman Sue Horgan, newly elected Councilwoman Betsy Clapp and City Clerk Carlon Strobel were officially welcomed to their positions, and Joe DeVito took the mayor’s seat, the City Council took a somber turn.
Welcoming remarks and congratulations were followed by a series of declamations from concerned citizens about the health hazards of pesticides.
“What really woke me up was that I got a diagnosis of breast cancer,” said Ojai resident Suzanne Freddie. “I have been waking up to these issues and I know that there is some connection between cancer and pesticides.”
Her remarks were followed by another Ojai woman who broke into tears describing a 2-year-old boy in her neighborhood who had also been diagnosed with cancer. She was concerned that pesticides could have been part of the cause.
They were followed by three other speakers from a citizens group advocating for a pesticide-free Ojai. Patty Pagaling said that Fairfax, Calif., had become officially pesticide free and that Ojai had several models to follow if the city were to create an ordinance banning pesticides.
Councilwoman Sue Horgan asked city manager Jere Kersnar to prepare a report on what pesticides are being used in the city.
Later at the meeting council members hesitantly adopted the first reading of an ordinance that would allow the city to collect a 1 percent franchise fee earmarked for public, educational and governmental television programming support.
Time Warner Cable’s decision to franchise with the state will leave public access programming in the hands of the city, starting in January. The 1 percent franchise fee, all the city is entitled to after the expiration of its franchise agreement with Time Warner, comes out to a measly $17,600 annually, not nearly enough to pay for running a public access station. Since the city doesn’t have available funding to continue to provide public access programming, interested residents have rallied together to drum up a way to keep public access television in Ojai. Ojai Valley News reporters Sondra Murphy and Linda Harmon said that the newspaper could provide news content for the station.
“We believe that two things, a well-informed populous and a platform for informing the populous are paramount to open up avenues of growth and potential, strengthening Ojai as a community,” said Harmon. “We see communication as key, and cable as a vastly underutilized tool to achieve that goal.” Nordhoff High School principal Dan Musick suggested that the high school take on this project as part of its educational program.
“We see this as a golden opportunity for our students to have real world opportunities and job skills,” he said. “We would like to get the extra 1 percent from Time Warner and run the program as a business.”
But Public Works director Mike Culver said that the 1 percent funding from Time Warner was restricted for the purchase of equipment only, and could not be used to pay school staff to run the program.
The ordinance adopted Tuesday night was just the first reading, and could be implemented only after the second reading at a future meeting.
Horgan said she was uncomfortable adopting the ordinance without a concrete plan, but voted to do so with the condition that a road map for an Ojai public access program be established before a second reading is brought to the council.
Harmon and Murphy said that they needed the commitment from the city in order to qualify for funds that would enable interested residents to set up a public access program. The first reading of the ordinance was adopted with unanimous support.
To the relief of Franklin Street residents, the council agreed to approve a lien on the longtime eyesore on the corner of Franklin and Montgomery streets in downtown Ojai. The out-of-town property owner, Edward Cheverie, had not responded to requests to clean up the substandard residential duplex after a vehicle crashed into one of the properties, and a tree fell onto one of the rooftops later on. Cheverie owes the city $92,989 in cumulative fines.
Ojai Avenue passersby may stop and rest as they stroll from store to store this holiday season. The City Council approved an amendment to the Arcade design allowing for benches. The resolution supports a new program that will allow business owners to purchase benches and install them in the Arcade Plaza with a bronze plaque that displays the name of the owner. Councilwoman Horgan asked for the program to be open to citizens as well as merchants, so that anyone can install a bench in the arearcade. Interested citizens should contact city staff.
In other council news, the council voted to allocate $10,000 to Youth Employment Services, a referral agency that places Ojai Valley teens in local jobs. Several Ojai teens accompanied the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation’s executive director to petition for the funding.
“This program has helped me pay for things that my parents would otherwise be unable to afford,” said Ojai Valley teen Eryn Johnson. She said that her mother, who was already busy and stressed, was thinking about getting a second job until Johnson was able to help.The program stopped receiving funds from the city during the financial crisis in 2005. Horgan stressed that this was a one-time allocation and suggested that Youth Employment Services find a way to be self-sufficient.
The council also approved recommendations for allocation of $7,000 in Arts Commission art grants, including $1,500 for Got Strings?, a program that provides free violins to Meiners Oaks students to carry with them throughout their schooling.
Council members wavered on their decision to approve a program that starts outside of the city limits, but conceded because of commission members’ testimony that the students would later attend other schools, and that the program would eventually have an effect on the entire community. This is the first time that the city has provided funding for the arts grants since funds were depleted during the city’s financial crisis several years ago.
“This is a pretty gutsy move, especially when you got the arts grants back,” said Horgan, “but I am reluctantly willing to go along with your recommendation tonight.”
Steve Velkey announced results from his Make Ojai Better survey of 998 people at Tuesday night’s meeting. The top issue that concerned survey participants was increasing youth activities. Becoming a green city, preserving public and increasing affordable housing in Ojai trailed closely behind.
School district sends up warning on dwindling cash
By Sondra Murphy
For the first time in it history, Ojai Unified School District has filed a qualified budget report and is projecting that it may not be able to meet its financial obligations in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years.
In preparing its interim report for the governing board, OUSD assistant superintendent of business and administrative services Dannielle Pusatere has determined that, based on current financial projections from the state of California, the school district may not be able to sustain any more deficits and remain fiscally solvent.
School district administrators are required to submit two reports to the governing board each fiscal year, the first covering the financial and budgetary status of the district for the period ending Oct. 31. Reports are then either certified as positive, qualified or negative. Qualified certifications may pertain to the current year and/or the subsequent two years. In the case of OUSD, its dwindling cash reserves are also impacting the certification status.
“This is the big crisis in Ojai, right here, right now,” said OUSD superintendent Tim Baird during Wednesday’s public forum about the budget. “We qualified because of the magnitude of the state cuts. How can you sustain those reductions and remain solvent? These are some of the things the board is going to have to grapple with. There’s a point where you simply won’t be able to cut anymore. You need someone to clean the classrooms or take phone calls and we’ve been down this road a long time now.”
“It’s a state and national issue of mismanagement, not an Ojai one,” said Pusatere.
About 50 community members and district supporters attended the forum, offering ideas about how to generate revenues for the financially struggling district. The informal setting allowed for dialogue between the public and administrators not possible in the regular school board setting.
Baird gave a short presentation with an overview of how California schools are funded that explained a long history of underfunding. “It’s been an ongoing issue for many years and in Ojai for a long time,” Baird said. Because property taxes fund public schools, more affluent areas were able to offer better academic opportunities for students until laws were passed in the 1970s to try to balance inequities. Later laws that lowered property taxes resulted in fewer revenues for schools, which were never replaced, and schools began to feel the financial strain in the 1980s and 1990s.
The presentation reminded the crowd that schools receive funds based on average daily attendance, a costly and time-consuming process that must be submitted regularly. In Ojai, declining enrollment that began about 10 years ago has further limited its revenues and OUSD has been compensating for that every year since. “One of the reasons Ojai is more vulnerable than other districts is because we’ve been making cuts longer than most other schools,” Baird said. “We provide a stellar education for our students in terms of arts, athletics, performing arts, and so on. We are not a failing district, but we are at risk of losing this. I plead guilty to the fact that we have done a very good job keeping this out of the classrooms, but we need help now.”
Pusatere said that the 2008-2009 fiscal year is most likely to remain balanced if the state does not renege on funding promises, as feared.
“Remember, the state owes you $1.8 million next year,” Baird told the board at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Not to mention $800,000 that they were supposed to give us this year that you’ll never see,” Pusatere tacked on.
The district spent most of last spring whittling at its $25 million budget in order to cut more than $1 million. Now that declining enrollment is impacting other state districts due to lower birth rates and higher housing costs in many California locations, OUSD is competing for relief against educational brethren. Even private schools have reported declines in enrollment.
The board was able to keep all district schools open this year and retain class size reductions in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms, thanks to the Save Ojai Schools campaign efforts of the Ojai Education Foundation and parent organizations last spring. Everything is back on the table for possible cuts for the 2009-2010 school year because of the state budget crisis, including using its mandated 3 percent reserve funds, which would have to be replaced the following year. When the fiscal year’s budget was eventually settled in October, schools received funds that now may be withdrawn in light of the severe situation the state finds itself in. “Any new money we got in October we set aside because it’s likely we’ll have to give that back,” said Baird. “The state has to fix its cash flow problem before we can fix ours.”
“The distressing thing is how hard our staff has worked to try and keep our schools providing a great curriculum,” said Linda Taylor, newly appointed school board president.
“This is how it’s going to affect us, right in the classrooms, and we’ve kept it from the classrooms so far,” said clerk Rikki Horne.
“And this is a game the state is playing to balance their cash,” said member Steve Fields.
With California’s current budget disaster, state lawmakers have hinted at rescinding cost of living increases and categorical funds given in October when they finally haggled through a budget so its public agencies, programs and schools could continue serving the public.
“The big disappointment now is that the parcel tax didn’t pass,” said Baird. “Out of 11,000 votes that were cast, Measure P lost by 77 votes. The way the rules are structured, the minority wins.” A needed two-thirds majority fell less than 1 percent shy of the 66.67 percent margin needed for the measure to have passed. Baird estimated the measure could have generated about $600,000 per year for seven years.
Over the next two years, Pusatere said OUSD expects to need to cut $2.4 million in order to create balanced budgets. Closing schools, cutting arts programs, canceling all sports, eliminating class size reduction, raising class sizes and reducing support staff will not equal that amount. Replacing classified employees with volunteers was brought up as a possible solution to the financial burdens.
Baird said that, like advertisements on school buses, ignoring contracts is illegal and is unlikely to solve the problem anyway. “Last time I checked, none of our employees were overpaid,” he said. “Our staff works very hard for our students and it’s hard to take that away. Teachers and classified employees have been very collaborative in the budget process. Staff always puts the students first.” Salaries and benefits use about 87 percent of OUSD revenues.
The district is in the midst of getting bids for lease development of its downtown district office property. Besides administration, the site houses Chaparral High School and Auditorium, transportation and bus yards and day care facilities. Baird said that about 15 companies have indicated interest and they will know more about those efforts next month when the bidding window closes.
Pusatere said federal sources of OUSD revenues total $1.7 million and lottery funds generate $400,000. Loss of state revenues from sources such as the vehicle license tax, and corporate tax breaks have contributed to the state’s fiscal hardships.
Some community members like Kathy Smith are trying to begin a campaign to encourage voters who supported Measure P to send in an $89 annual donation, the amount per parcel the measure would have allocated to OUSD. Other parents are starting to mobilize fundraising efforts around programs and schools that they have a stake in protecting and thought that they might be able to work with local banks to create a program that may deduct $10 per month from participating customers wanting to donate to OUSD.
Others at the forum raised the possibility of offering community college courses at the high school or finding professional teams that might be interested in using the stadium to help generate revenues. Baird said that some dialogue has been initiated with Ventura College and Santa Barbara City College to bring courses into Ojai, but no agreement has yet been reached.
The possibility of California receiving a federal bailout is circulating among lawmakers and the district hopes that, if it materializes, schools will be one of the beneficiaries, but is not counting on fate when planning its next budgets. Facing possible midyear cuts of more than $1 million would be devastating to OUSD. “Unlike the federal government, unlike California, OUSD has to come up with a balanced budget,” said Baird. “Collectively, state schools are bigger than General Motors. Just in terms of dollar economics, investing in our children, our future, promises bigger dividends than a new car series in 2010.”
Baird acknowledged that in hard financial times, it is challenging to raise support. “Our schools depend a lot on local fund raising and business,” he said. “We’re asking more from people who have less, which is basically what the state is doing to us. Somebody needs to explain to these kids why they don’t deserve the same quality education we got.”
The district is closely watching state school districts, like King City, that filed qualified budgets last year and are now in the middle of state receivership. As part of that process, King City has gotten a local legislator to sponsor a request for an emergency loan. “Schools cannot close,” said Baird. “It is a state mandate that schools must provide free education to students.” He added that with state takeover, the superintendent is normally fired, the school board loses local control and state administrating staff makes all the decisions. “We’ve seen they’re all about the budget and not education,” Baird said.
OUSD encourages the public to continue sending in ideas and has budget information and articles posted on its web site. There is a link people may use to e-mail their ideas to Baird, who said the board will consider all legal suggestions. OUSD’s web site is ojai.k12.ca.us. Baird’s e-mail address is tbaird@ojai.k12.ca.us.
There will be a special budget study session of the OUSD board of education Monday at 4 p.m. in the OUSD office, 414 E. Ojai Ave., Room 1. Public comments will be taken.
For the first time in it history, Ojai Unified School District has filed a qualified budget report and is projecting that it may not be able to meet its financial obligations in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years.
In preparing its interim report for the governing board, OUSD assistant superintendent of business and administrative services Dannielle Pusatere has determined that, based on current financial projections from the state of California, the school district may not be able to sustain any more deficits and remain fiscally solvent.
School district administrators are required to submit two reports to the governing board each fiscal year, the first covering the financial and budgetary status of the district for the period ending Oct. 31. Reports are then either certified as positive, qualified or negative. Qualified certifications may pertain to the current year and/or the subsequent two years. In the case of OUSD, its dwindling cash reserves are also impacting the certification status.
“This is the big crisis in Ojai, right here, right now,” said OUSD superintendent Tim Baird during Wednesday’s public forum about the budget. “We qualified because of the magnitude of the state cuts. How can you sustain those reductions and remain solvent? These are some of the things the board is going to have to grapple with. There’s a point where you simply won’t be able to cut anymore. You need someone to clean the classrooms or take phone calls and we’ve been down this road a long time now.”
“It’s a state and national issue of mismanagement, not an Ojai one,” said Pusatere.
About 50 community members and district supporters attended the forum, offering ideas about how to generate revenues for the financially struggling district. The informal setting allowed for dialogue between the public and administrators not possible in the regular school board setting.
Baird gave a short presentation with an overview of how California schools are funded that explained a long history of underfunding. “It’s been an ongoing issue for many years and in Ojai for a long time,” Baird said. Because property taxes fund public schools, more affluent areas were able to offer better academic opportunities for students until laws were passed in the 1970s to try to balance inequities. Later laws that lowered property taxes resulted in fewer revenues for schools, which were never replaced, and schools began to feel the financial strain in the 1980s and 1990s.
The presentation reminded the crowd that schools receive funds based on average daily attendance, a costly and time-consuming process that must be submitted regularly. In Ojai, declining enrollment that began about 10 years ago has further limited its revenues and OUSD has been compensating for that every year since. “One of the reasons Ojai is more vulnerable than other districts is because we’ve been making cuts longer than most other schools,” Baird said. “We provide a stellar education for our students in terms of arts, athletics, performing arts, and so on. We are not a failing district, but we are at risk of losing this. I plead guilty to the fact that we have done a very good job keeping this out of the classrooms, but we need help now.”
Pusatere said that the 2008-2009 fiscal year is most likely to remain balanced if the state does not renege on funding promises, as feared.
“Remember, the state owes you $1.8 million next year,” Baird told the board at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Not to mention $800,000 that they were supposed to give us this year that you’ll never see,” Pusatere tacked on.
The district spent most of last spring whittling at its $25 million budget in order to cut more than $1 million. Now that declining enrollment is impacting other state districts due to lower birth rates and higher housing costs in many California locations, OUSD is competing for relief against educational brethren. Even private schools have reported declines in enrollment.
The board was able to keep all district schools open this year and retain class size reductions in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms, thanks to the Save Ojai Schools campaign efforts of the Ojai Education Foundation and parent organizations last spring. Everything is back on the table for possible cuts for the 2009-2010 school year because of the state budget crisis, including using its mandated 3 percent reserve funds, which would have to be replaced the following year. When the fiscal year’s budget was eventually settled in October, schools received funds that now may be withdrawn in light of the severe situation the state finds itself in. “Any new money we got in October we set aside because it’s likely we’ll have to give that back,” said Baird. “The state has to fix its cash flow problem before we can fix ours.”
“The distressing thing is how hard our staff has worked to try and keep our schools providing a great curriculum,” said Linda Taylor, newly appointed school board president.
“This is how it’s going to affect us, right in the classrooms, and we’ve kept it from the classrooms so far,” said clerk Rikki Horne.
“And this is a game the state is playing to balance their cash,” said member Steve Fields.
With California’s current budget disaster, state lawmakers have hinted at rescinding cost of living increases and categorical funds given in October when they finally haggled through a budget so its public agencies, programs and schools could continue serving the public.
“The big disappointment now is that the parcel tax didn’t pass,” said Baird. “Out of 11,000 votes that were cast, Measure P lost by 77 votes. The way the rules are structured, the minority wins.” A needed two-thirds majority fell less than 1 percent shy of the 66.67 percent margin needed for the measure to have passed. Baird estimated the measure could have generated about $600,000 per year for seven years.
Over the next two years, Pusatere said OUSD expects to need to cut $2.4 million in order to create balanced budgets. Closing schools, cutting arts programs, canceling all sports, eliminating class size reduction, raising class sizes and reducing support staff will not equal that amount. Replacing classified employees with volunteers was brought up as a possible solution to the financial burdens.
Baird said that, like advertisements on school buses, ignoring contracts is illegal and is unlikely to solve the problem anyway. “Last time I checked, none of our employees were overpaid,” he said. “Our staff works very hard for our students and it’s hard to take that away. Teachers and classified employees have been very collaborative in the budget process. Staff always puts the students first.” Salaries and benefits use about 87 percent of OUSD revenues.
The district is in the midst of getting bids for lease development of its downtown district office property. Besides administration, the site houses Chaparral High School and Auditorium, transportation and bus yards and day care facilities. Baird said that about 15 companies have indicated interest and they will know more about those efforts next month when the bidding window closes.
Pusatere said federal sources of OUSD revenues total $1.7 million and lottery funds generate $400,000. Loss of state revenues from sources such as the vehicle license tax, and corporate tax breaks have contributed to the state’s fiscal hardships.
Some community members like Kathy Smith are trying to begin a campaign to encourage voters who supported Measure P to send in an $89 annual donation, the amount per parcel the measure would have allocated to OUSD. Other parents are starting to mobilize fundraising efforts around programs and schools that they have a stake in protecting and thought that they might be able to work with local banks to create a program that may deduct $10 per month from participating customers wanting to donate to OUSD.
Others at the forum raised the possibility of offering community college courses at the high school or finding professional teams that might be interested in using the stadium to help generate revenues. Baird said that some dialogue has been initiated with Ventura College and Santa Barbara City College to bring courses into Ojai, but no agreement has yet been reached.
The possibility of California receiving a federal bailout is circulating among lawmakers and the district hopes that, if it materializes, schools will be one of the beneficiaries, but is not counting on fate when planning its next budgets. Facing possible midyear cuts of more than $1 million would be devastating to OUSD. “Unlike the federal government, unlike California, OUSD has to come up with a balanced budget,” said Baird. “Collectively, state schools are bigger than General Motors. Just in terms of dollar economics, investing in our children, our future, promises bigger dividends than a new car series in 2010.”
Baird acknowledged that in hard financial times, it is challenging to raise support. “Our schools depend a lot on local fund raising and business,” he said. “We’re asking more from people who have less, which is basically what the state is doing to us. Somebody needs to explain to these kids why they don’t deserve the same quality education we got.”
The district is closely watching state school districts, like King City, that filed qualified budgets last year and are now in the middle of state receivership. As part of that process, King City has gotten a local legislator to sponsor a request for an emergency loan. “Schools cannot close,” said Baird. “It is a state mandate that schools must provide free education to students.” He added that with state takeover, the superintendent is normally fired, the school board loses local control and state administrating staff makes all the decisions. “We’ve seen they’re all about the budget and not education,” Baird said.
OUSD encourages the public to continue sending in ideas and has budget information and articles posted on its web site. There is a link people may use to e-mail their ideas to Baird, who said the board will consider all legal suggestions. OUSD’s web site is ojai.k12.ca.us. Baird’s e-mail address is tbaird@ojai.k12.ca.us.
There will be a special budget study session of the OUSD board of education Monday at 4 p.m. in the OUSD office, 414 E. Ojai Ave., Room 1. Public comments will be taken.
OVN holiday submission deadlines announced
Deadlines will be earlier for the papers coming out the weeks of Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. The deadline for both the Dec. 24 and 26 issues will be Friday, Dec. 19, by noon. The deadline for both the Dec. 31 and Jan. 2 issues will be Friday, Dec. 26, by noon.
Pine Mountain-Reyes Peak Road Closed
The popular Pine Mountain-Reyes Peak Road in the Ventura County portion of Los Padres National Forest is now closed to vehicles for the winter. Ojai District Ranger John Bridgewater said the temporary closure is needed to prevent damage to the road surface during wet weather. The closure may be lifted during periods of dry weather and the road will remain open at all times to foot traffic. Pine Mountain-Reyes Peak Road (Forest Road 6N06) intersects Highway 33 32 miles north of Ojai. It provides access to Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak campgrounds and the Reyes Peak Trailhead.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Caltrans postpones bridge building, again
San Antonio Creek spanned by detour while bridge rebuilding effort expected to be complete in one year
By Nao Braverman
Caltrans has delayed the reconstruction of the San Antonio Creek Bridge, once again. But fortunately for East End commuters, a solid sizable but temporary detour, taking residents through the creek bottom, is now complete.
The reconstruction project, which began in October, was expected to take about six months, said Public Works Director Mike Culver. Now Caltrans spokesperson Maria Raptis says construction of the rebuilt bridge should be complete by December 2009.
Caltrans had obtained a permit to construct the new bridge during the rainy season to expedite the process, but called off winter construction plans when the Department of Fish and Game only offered them a permit that would have to be renewed every 15 days, said Culver.
“They decided it would be too much of a hassle to start up construction if they might have to take it down again” he said. Now demolition of the existing 91-year-old bridge will begin in April.
But if constructing through the raining season was expected to be inconvenient, taking down the detour may be just as cumbersome. Ojai city staff have questioned the efficiency, size, cost, and engineering of what is supposed to be a temporary detour.
“I have previously noted that I felt the detour was dramatically oversized and was misaligned so that downstream bank erosion was very likely in the event of any significant storm,” wrote city engineer Glen Hawks to the Caltrans project manager, Steve Novotny.
Culver said that the detour alone was estimated by city staff to have cost in excess of $1 million.
The full two-lane 28-foot wide detour has concrete culverts in the river and concrete retaining walls.
“If they are just going to be torn down, it’s wasteful in our opinion,” said Culver.
“The retaining walls, besides being costly to construct will be equally costly to remove,” wrote Hawks in his letter to Caltrans. He noted that the city was not given an opportunity to comment on the detour design, and would have been able to save Caltrans some of the cost.
Since it did look sturdy, however, some local residents suggested putting the detour to use and saving the agency the cost of demolition. If it stayed in the river bottom, the detour could be used for bicycle and pedestrian crossing once the bridge is reconstructed, suggested Suza Francina, a member of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition Transportation Board.
But when public works staff wrote to Caltrans asking to keep the detour for bicycles and pedestrians, they were denied. The temporary crossing does not meet 100-year flood standards required for the creek, according to Caltrans, and it would not be allowed remain in place beyond the scope of the project. Raptis added that the detour was constructed on private property and that Caltrans was given a temporary easement by the property owner for construction of the detour.
The new bridge design does look promising for Ojai bicyclists, at least more so than the one that’s being demolished this Spring.
While the existing bridge is 24-feet-wide curb to curb. The new bridge will be 40 feet wide, curb to curb with 12 foot traffic lanes and an eight foot shoulder on either side, plenty room for bicycles. While many bicycle enthusiasts agree, it would have been nice to have a separate lane, the cost of an additional structure would be in excess of $1 million which the city itself would have to pay for, said Culver. It would be an additional expense for which there are no funds available, he said.
The new bridge, which should be constructed by January will not be officially complete until the landscaping has been fully established a year later, said Raptis.
By Nao Braverman
Caltrans has delayed the reconstruction of the San Antonio Creek Bridge, once again. But fortunately for East End commuters, a solid sizable but temporary detour, taking residents through the creek bottom, is now complete.
The reconstruction project, which began in October, was expected to take about six months, said Public Works Director Mike Culver. Now Caltrans spokesperson Maria Raptis says construction of the rebuilt bridge should be complete by December 2009.
Caltrans had obtained a permit to construct the new bridge during the rainy season to expedite the process, but called off winter construction plans when the Department of Fish and Game only offered them a permit that would have to be renewed every 15 days, said Culver.
“They decided it would be too much of a hassle to start up construction if they might have to take it down again” he said. Now demolition of the existing 91-year-old bridge will begin in April.
But if constructing through the raining season was expected to be inconvenient, taking down the detour may be just as cumbersome. Ojai city staff have questioned the efficiency, size, cost, and engineering of what is supposed to be a temporary detour.
“I have previously noted that I felt the detour was dramatically oversized and was misaligned so that downstream bank erosion was very likely in the event of any significant storm,” wrote city engineer Glen Hawks to the Caltrans project manager, Steve Novotny.
Culver said that the detour alone was estimated by city staff to have cost in excess of $1 million.
The full two-lane 28-foot wide detour has concrete culverts in the river and concrete retaining walls.
“If they are just going to be torn down, it’s wasteful in our opinion,” said Culver.
“The retaining walls, besides being costly to construct will be equally costly to remove,” wrote Hawks in his letter to Caltrans. He noted that the city was not given an opportunity to comment on the detour design, and would have been able to save Caltrans some of the cost.
Since it did look sturdy, however, some local residents suggested putting the detour to use and saving the agency the cost of demolition. If it stayed in the river bottom, the detour could be used for bicycle and pedestrian crossing once the bridge is reconstructed, suggested Suza Francina, a member of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition Transportation Board.
But when public works staff wrote to Caltrans asking to keep the detour for bicycles and pedestrians, they were denied. The temporary crossing does not meet 100-year flood standards required for the creek, according to Caltrans, and it would not be allowed remain in place beyond the scope of the project. Raptis added that the detour was constructed on private property and that Caltrans was given a temporary easement by the property owner for construction of the detour.
The new bridge design does look promising for Ojai bicyclists, at least more so than the one that’s being demolished this Spring.
While the existing bridge is 24-feet-wide curb to curb. The new bridge will be 40 feet wide, curb to curb with 12 foot traffic lanes and an eight foot shoulder on either side, plenty room for bicycles. While many bicycle enthusiasts agree, it would have been nice to have a separate lane, the cost of an additional structure would be in excess of $1 million which the city itself would have to pay for, said Culver. It would be an additional expense for which there are no funds available, he said.
The new bridge, which should be constructed by January will not be officially complete until the landscaping has been fully established a year later, said Raptis.
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