I publish guest blog entries from my readers. Here is the latest on the Ventura County Tea Party's opposition to parking meters:

(Photo Credit: Joseph A Garcia, VCStar -- http://www.vcstar.com/photos/2010/sep/04/106020/)

Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded - Yogi Berra

Is there a better way to sum up the parking meters in Downtown Ventura ("Parking Meter Opponents Change Measure Language", 3 Mar 2011)?
The so-called "Tea Party Activist" Carla Bonney says they are symbolic of too much government intrusion. And downtown merchant Gary Parker is apparently whining because he lost his free parking spot in front of his place of business.

Boo hoo.

As far as I can tell, the pay parking spots are frequently used. Isn't that the free market speaking, Ms. Bonney? And though there were some initial difficulties with the meters, they're easier to use than an ATM machine. We had friends from Orange County visit recently who were quite impressed at the convenience of adding time from any meter and the bargain price of parking in a bustling downtown steps from the beach. Moreover, I've rarely had a problem finding free parking. On other days, my family and I jump on a bike and cruise to downtown - there are plenty of ways to get there safely from just about anywhere in Ventura. We find that when we take the bikes, we end up spending more time and money patronizing the shops.

If folks have a problem paying for parking, ride a bike or use one of the free lots. Yes, both are less convenient (you get what you pay for) but the alternatives also yield some exercise and possibly some extra time in downtown. Everybody wins.

The money has already been spent for the meters and the program will eventually fund itself.

Now, can we focus on something of real importance, like funding our libraries and fire department or bringing more jobs to the City?

John Buccola is a Ventura resident

(Odd sign to be outside The Ronald Reagan Library!)

The Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley has been dramatically remodeled including a massive new Cold War Exhibit. If you haven't been to the Reagan Library it is worth it regardless of your political ideology. If you have been I strongly suggest going to experience the new Cold War Exhibit.

I have been to two Presidential libraries. Before this recent remodel I thought the Carter Library was much better. Now both libraries are great ways of passing on the stories and challenges of previous generations.

I have mixed feelings on the Reagan Presidency. He wasn't as bad as his critics would like us to believe and I don't idolize him like some of his supporters who act like they joined a cult either.

Enjoy an afternoon at the Reagan Library. Bring some young people with you.

Have you been to the Reagan Library? What did you think? You can post a comment here or share your photos on the Facebook Page for my blog. You don't have to register to comment, but keep it classy.

I was sent me this email with questions for my other readers:

Hey Brian,

I am a teacher in Ventura and I am just sick about what is happening in our schools and the state budget crisis. My question is, how can I start a campaign to recall Tony Strickland? I would like to start something on Facebook, but does something already exist? Am I the only one who feels this way?

Thank you in advance for your time. I need to do something and if this is possible it may change things.

Sincerely,

Steve

I don't support a recall of State Senator Tony Strickland. He campaigned on a platform and has stayed true to it since he was elected for the most part. Sure, he clearly overstated his interest and support of environmental causes but his pledges to not compromise on tax increases or tax extensions have been kept.

That doesn't mean I support his policies or his opposition to compromise. In fact, I believe his opposition to compromise is bad for California and bad for his party. To get the tax extensions on the ballot there was many reforms with broad appeal including reforming teacher tenure. Instead we might get a cuts only budget without important reforms.

Tony Strickland is a product of our system including term limits, the way we fund campaigns, and our old primary system.

Tony Strickland is a career politician. That's not an insult nor should it be. I don't know why we want to ridicule people for public service. He was termed out of the State Assembly and if he runs again he could be termed out of the State Senate. I expect he will keep running for office and he needs a voting record that will help him with Republican activists.

If he compromises with Jerry Brown it will be hard for him to raise money or get other support from activist Republicans. Our politics are so polarized that Mike Huckabee was attacked for supporting Michelle Obama's campaign to increase physical fitness. When I was young the Presidential Fitness Award was an honor. Now Glenn Beck wants to label things like that some form of totalitarianism. If Mike Huckabee was attacked for supporting the First Lady imagine what Republican Party leaders would do if Tony Strickland worked with Jerry Brown to reform public schools!

He knows if he votes for compromises he would have a tough time in a primary for a future office. I'm not sure how are new primary system will increase incentives for compromise but maybe it will help.

If Tony Strickland was revealed to have a character flaw that voters did not have a chance to evaluate or if he campaigned as a bipartisan deal maker that could bring people together I would support a recall.

I don't support a recall but I do support compromise.

I am glad that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both released videos to gay youth telling them that if their lives are filled with harassment that it gets better. The It Gets Better Campaign has enlisted the help of musicians, actors, and politicians to share their message.

It is great that DADT has been repealed.

The public supported allowing patriotic gay Americans to serve openly.

Republican presidential candidates are pandering to the extremes of their party when they claim to support putting the ban in place again. Besides being impractical to allow gay people to openly serve and then banning those same service members from continuing to serve it won't be supported by most Americans.

Progress has been made and it needs to continue. To the young people going through major problems life can get much better. Do not allow people to create distance between you and the God that created you. Among many people, it was a gay man that brought me closer to the Gospels. I won't forget his example or that lesson.

What caucuses does Rep. Elton Gallegly belong to in Congress? His website doesn't include a list. He previously mentioned he was considering joining a Tea Party Caucus but I haven't seen an update.

His website is not exactly very modern in appearance or functionality. Remember Geocities websites? Reminds me of that era.

The other Members of the House from this region list their caucuses in an easy to find place including Democrat Rep. Lois Capps, Republican Rep. Buck McKeon, and Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman ( his website mentions a few that he belongs to I don't see a list).

So why not Rep. Elton Gallegly? It is bad enough that this area doesn't get to have townhall forums with our elected Representative in Congress but his staff could at least update his website.

If the new district lines draw McKeon and Gallegly together I think looking at their websites will quickly show who is ready for a tough campaign.

I'd like to see Rep. Gallegly post which caucuses he belongs to on his website. Post a comment on this blog entry if you agree. You don't need to register to post but keep it classy.

I publish guest blog entries from my readers occasionally but this time I have a guest blog entry on the website Stuff Nathan Likes.

I like bees. They make honey and pollinate plants. Go check out my guest blog entry.

Send me an email if you want to write a guest blog entry.

If you haven't seen them before go to Ojaipost.com to read their stuff. Our communities need more blogs. Post a link to other Ventura County Blogs of interest.

In response to my criticism of a blogger for their part in making a post on Heirloom tomatoes into a personal attack thread he posted this:

By Nostra-Dum-Dum

You're quite welcome, Brian. I often turn some of your more boring threads into more germaine political discussions. "Waiting for Superman," "Rebecca Black," and "Which Political Candidate Has the Cutest Dog?" are just a few recent ones that come to mind.

I'll defend the second as funny enough to share. The third topic was among my most popular series of posts. But the criticism of the first was really odd. An entry that brought together liberals and conservatives to discuss school reforms was included in a list of cute animal pictures?

Enjoy your award.

You don't need to register or use your real name to post a comment, but keep it classy.

Lakers Star Kobe Bryant apologized and accepted responsibility for yelling an anti-gay slur at a referee. He should serve as a role model for the commenter on my blog that constantly like to call each other gay.

The Democratic Party's Annual Spring Fling is the largest yearly gathering of party activists and candidates. I strongly suggest going if you are thinking of running for office or working on a campaign.

Join Us at the Annual Spring Fling!

A salute to hard-working Democratic leaders who have dedicated their lives to making a difference on some of our most important issues. And a celebration of those folks who are working to elect more!

Join the Ventura County Democratic Party, electeds, community leaders and friends for a day of great BBQ, fun and conversation. Live and silent auction plus more!

Sunday, May 15, 2011
, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Rosenmund Ranch, 2816 S. Rice Road, Oxnard

Advance Tickets: $40 ($50 at door); $15 students or Young Democratic Club 
members ($20 at door). Special rates for limited income. Children 10 and under free. (All advance tickets held at door. Advance deadline: midnight on May 14.)

Click on continue reading for more details.

I was a little surprised to see former Democratic Party Chair Hank Lacayo on the list so soon after endorsing Republicans Mark Lunn and Bob Huber. Tea Party supporter Mark Lunn ran against Democrat Jim Dantona to be the Clerk-Recorder. In the race for mayor of Simi Valley he endorsed Bob Huber before the filing deadline. For Republicans trying to claim bipartisan support having Hank Lacayo's endorsement is helpful. My very well-connected readers can help me add to the list with the names of Democrats running last year he helped.

Hank Lacayo has a long history of supporting organized labor and as a fundraiser for many charities he is an asset to Ventura County. Because of his long support for Democratic causes he is a central figure in Ventura County Democratic politics.

Send me an email if you would like to write a guest blog entry. Here is Doug Crosse on sewer rates:

Sanitation Rate Hike, it's like deja vu all over again

The Simi Valley City Council/ Sanitation Board wants to raise our rates over 19% making us pay an additional $7 million over the next five years. This is to pay for repair of the aging sanitation infrastructure to the tune of $36 million, so it's obvious we'll pay lots more after that.

This is a grievous example of poor planning. Even my small homeowners association has to put away money for future deferred maintenance requirements. Didn't the city know that this work would have to be done eventually? The writing was on the wall, couldn't they see it? Or were they speculating on "new connect fees" to help cover the costs and somehow are now somehow surprised by the drop revenue because no one's connecting anymore due to the four year old housing meltdown? Mayor pro tem Sojka called this rate increase scheme "pro-active". Excuse me? If this isn't reactive bad planning what is?

The only way to stop this by law is for over half the effected customers to write that they object, emails and calls don't count, before the June 20th hearing. That's not even enough time to mount a successful petition drive, especially since we cant identify the 44,000 customers. Our exceptional "new" Mayor Bob Huber was the only councilmember to object. He truly "gets it" and is really committed to the best interests of the people, so he called for a May 9 hearing. He believes that us folks ought to be allowed to vote on this in the June election.

Folks it's time to write city hall and protest in big numbers on 5/9. Perhaps we can convince the other four, who are singing the Wizard of Oz Scarecrow's song, to grant us permission to vote. Otherwise we just may have to remind them of a 1979 organization called CROC (Citizens for the Recall OF Councilpersons). It's like deja vu all over again.

Doug Crosse

I don't need to agree with your opinion to post it. That said, what questions do you have for Doug Crosse? You don't need to register to post a comment.

This looks much more interesting than the typical party meetings. What political films have you seen that you would like to recommend to others? I liked Waiting For Superman and Street Fight.

A friend of mine has created a great new blog that includes Falcons, Trucks, Michelle Obama's Garden, Swiss Army Knives, and Pet Hyenas.

REMINDER: This film discussion group is only open to people that sent me a message requesting to join. If you want in send me a message. I removed some comments that weren't answering the questions I posted, not because I agreed or disagreed with them. If you want to join send me a message. I'm waiting on posts from a few other members then I'll post the next questions.

In reaction to the film Waiting for Superman I chose to create a film discussion group on my blog.

I started by posting an open invite to participants. I was pleased to read the responses from elected officials, community leaders, business leaders, and educators. Many of the participants are also parents too.

The format is fairly simple. After giving the participants a month to watch the film I am going to post a few questions a day over the next week. My goal isn't to start a debate but instead to understand each other and inspire action. I'm not sure exactly where this will take us but I am interested to get started.

Many of the panelists might choose a screen name or to use only their first names because of their jobs. That includes an elected official, teachers, and others. They will reveal as much personal information as they choose.

The list of participants for this particular group is full but I will post a call for more people when we are done and move on to the next film.

With that here are my first two questions:

1. Please introduce yourself. What made you interested enough in this topic to join our discussion group? Give as many details as you feel comfortable doing so but what is your experience in education.

2. The creator of the film, David Guggenheim, also created the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Do you think that added credibility to his work? Do you think that helped him to broaden his audience?

3. Please share a favorite middle school teacher.

Click on continue reading to answer the questions. You don't need to register or use your real name to comment, but as a reminder this group is limited to the people that responded to my earlier call for participants.

Next Question:

#4. After seeing the film are you more likely to support charter schools in your school district?

Sean McDermott has been giving me a hard time on my Facebook page for my blog. The advantages of commenting there include being able to fix typos and knowing who you are discussing issues with.

I don't agree with many of his views but I cannot accuse him of not being well-read. This guest blog entry is on bounded rationality. If you would like to write a guest blog entry send me an email.

Bounded Rationality By Sean McDermott

Bounded rationality is the economic theory, first posited by F. A. Hayek that society is made up of individuals, each with incomplete knowledge about everything. Specifically he is talking about an economic context of a market. These individuals with incomplete knowledge form a coherent price system that functions to transmit information quite efficiently, more so than any central planner or central planning body with "endless" amounts of information.

I'll discuss how this plays with respect to three actors; a producer, a retailer and a consumer. If a commodity is suddenly scarce, like a tomato during a drought, it's price will rise. The price of an individual tomato rises due to its scarcity relative to the all of the other tomatoes. If a producer is able to produce tomatoes during a drought, he will charge more. His tomatoes are now more valuable due to their scarcity. Also, when the retailer has less tomatoes to sell due to the diminished supply, but the same amount of demand he will increase the price of the tomato so as not to run out of his inventory too soon. The consumer of tomatoes who sees the increase in price will make one of two decisions; she'll either buy the pricier tomato or substitute it for another commodity that didn't go up in price.

In Ventura County example; Casey Houweling owns a multi-million dollar hothouse that hydroponically grows tomatoes in Oxnard. His hothouse gobbles up as much sun as possible, is immune to wind, captures rainwater, hosts its own bees for the dissemination of pollen and is very resistant to pests without using much (if any) pesticide. I'm barely scratching the surface, if you want to read all about just how cool the Houweling's hothouse is, you can check out the original articles I read here and here.

The Houweling hothouse is able to churn out regular, predictable amounts of tomatoes. The hothouse tomatoes are almost completely immune to droughts and recalls. The capitalist should be encouraged to make frugal investments in his agribusiness. Bounded rationality, as explained by F.A. Hayek allows for the shrewd entrepreneur to make a profit by serving his fellow man. The Houweling hothouse should be allowed to charge more for tomatoes in droughts, recalls (remember the recent salmonella recall?) and any other shortages. The Houweling's took the risks, they made the investments and they ought to benefit from their hard work, insight, agricultural talent and smarts.

Click like to read more local political stories and to comment on my Facebook Fanpage.

This isn't a political event but I wanted to share with my readers that Tomatomania, a heirloom tomato seedling sell, is in Ventura County this weekend and next.

There are hundreds of varieties of tomato seedlings available and supplies too. I have seven varieties to plant this year. I'll post photographs later in the season.

Before Jeff Gorell was elected to the State Assembly he invited me twice to come speak to his students in his public policy classes at CLU. A former student of his sent of his is helping to put together a forum on job growth in Ventura County. Here are the details:

Take a Leadership Role in Creating a Vibrant Local Economy
At Leadership Summit 331, Thursday, March 31, 2011

Thousand Oaks, CA - Mark your calendars now and plan to join business and government leaders from Ventura County and the Conejo Valley for Leadership Summit 331, scheduled for Thursday, March 31, 3 p.m., at Cal Lutheran University (CLU), 60 West Olsen Road, Room Nygren 101, Thousand Oaks.

Leadership Summit 331 is being organized with the goal of bringing together creative minds from throughout the County to brainstorm and strategize on the possibilities for a more vibrant local economy through the creation of new job opportunities.

Sponsored by Dr. Herb Gooch, Department Chair, Masters in Public Policy and Administration Program (MPPA) at CLU, the Leadership 331 will employ a concept called Open Space Technology (OST), a powerful group discussion technique that brings together a diverse group of people to deal with complex, and potentially conflicting material, in innovative and productive ways. Summit participants will have the opportunity to identify specific issues that relate to generating new jobs, self-direct in small discussion groups, and work with others who are passionate about building a strong local economy to put people back to work.

Greg Stuart, President of Thousand Oaks-based Harmony Solutions International, and an Adjunct Professor in the Masters in Public Policy and Administration Program at CLU, is facilitating the program. "I see tremendous potential in Ventura County and the Conejo Valley when it comes to job creation," Stuart said. "By bringing together business and government leaders from throughout the community to brainstorm and create a plan of action, I believe we can have a positive impact on the jobs outlook today and for years to come." Stuart's CLU students will also be organizing and leading this event.

To learn more about Leadership Summit 331 and reserve your space now, please e-mail us at 331vibranteconomy@gmail.com.

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