I have been hearing rumors that Ventura County Community College Board of Trustees Member Bob Huber is considering running for Mayor of Simi Valley in 2010. Bob Huber is an ally of Rep. Gallegly and a long time supporter of local charities. He is a partner in local personal injury law firm Huber & Takasugi.
I have already reported that Current city council members Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka have also expressed interest in running.
Check out this video of Paul Moomjean eating some of a hat:
Former candidate for Mayor of Simi Valley Paul Moomjeam is writing editorials for the VC Reporter on politics. His recent editorial brings up the proposed memorial to the victims of the Metrolink crash.
Here are excerpts from his opinion article:
What do you think? Paul Moomjean has agreed to answer your questions.
My first question:
Paul will you join me in helping to raise money for the memorial?
The blogger behind VoteSimiValley.com, Mike Chandler has another update up, this time defending CandleLight Nightclub. Here are a coup of key quotes:
No doubt, nobody wants to tell pissed off residents that they need to stand by and wait for the owners of this nightclub to make a good faith effort to resolve the issues. Who would want to? They're pissed off! But this place earns money for the city AND (and read this, because this is the most important part) the owner's genuinely WANT to resolve the issues completely and be good neighbors! Not sure you believe me? Read on...
o with this issue once again facing City Council, the big question is will they do what's right for Simi Valley business and the general fund? Will they inform citizens of the effort being made and encourage them to wait and see while promoting Shop Simi First, or will they answer the angst of pissed off neighbors and ensure their votes for the next election cycle? This is politics, after all.
Candlelight Night Club recently had an article in the Ventura County Star related to their ongoing efforts to work with the neighborhood and their application to expand some of the facilities.
Here are a couple of quotes from that article:
Commissioner Keith Mashburn at the beginning of the three-hour meeting asked if there are different requirements for the various uses at the site, which includes a wedding and banquet venue, a restaurant, a bar and a nightclub.
Paul Drury, the city's acting deputy director for environmental services, said the business' primary use is a restaurant/banquet/bar facility -- all allowed in the commercial planned development zone. Candlelight's co-owner, Garner Gerson, said the property gets 85 percent of its business between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. But that fact could lead to more problems for the business.
After the meeting, Drury noted the city permit as well as the state Alcoholic Beverage Control license is valid for a restaurant and a bar, where alcohol sales cannot exceed food sales. If the majority of business is coming in after 10 p.m., it would appear alcohol would be the driving force.
"If they did do that, they would not be allowed there at all," Drury said after the meeting.
Mashburn said Candlelight is "over-serving" customers. "I had the impression this was a restaurant," Mashburn said. "It's a nightclub. Patrons are leaving and causing DUIs." Mashburn asked Simi Valley Police Lt. Mike King how many DUIs could be traced back to patrons of the business.
After almost three hours of public comment, the commission voted to send the issue back to city staff. The lone dissenting vote, Commissioner Jim Dantona, said he wanted to move forward with the application with the possibility of additional conditions.
A real quick fix would be for Candlelight Night Club to only allow people to park on site or in the parking lot they rent from Simi Valley High School. As long as nightclub patrons are parking in a residential neighborhood the problems will continue. Now, as far as sound and the other issues those are more complicated.
Speaking of their website is the man in the bank wearing a towel without a shirt? I haven't been up there in awhile but did they open a new type of bar or something?
By Brian Dennert on February 22, 2009 5:51 PM
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( Check out The Radiation Rangers on YouTube. I am not a marketing professional but something tells me that super hero uniforms might be needed to capture the attention of the public more.)
To the consternation of the Simi Valley Radiation Rangers the proposed project at Runkle Canyon, pejoratively named Runkledyne by critics, is coming closer to getting final approval. I wonder if the economic slow down will do more to delay the project than all of the recent hearings, meetings, and tests have done.
Local investigative environmental reporter Michael Collins isn't satisfied and continues to insist the project is unsafe and that the process of testing for unsafe chemicals has been riddled with errors.
Here is a quote from a recent article that appeared in the Ventura County Reporter:
Hirsch then zeroed in on Dade Moeller's radiation plan and on the controversial company itself, whose namesake testified back in the 1990s that money spent on cleaning up Cold War-era nuclear facilities was being wasted since there would be a cure for cancer.
Click here for the article printed in the Ventura County Reporter.
Click here for the developer's Runkle Canyon website. Their website has a FAQ covering environmental safety, traffic, and a list of some of the prominent local charities they have supported.
Click here for the blogger Mike Chandler's aggressive defense of the Simi Valley City Council on this issue.
Simi Valley blogger Mike Chandler created the first Barack Obama themed image for me and now I am addicted. Let's make this the official photo of Mayor Paul Miller. Do me a favor and post it on your blog or post links on other blogs linking back to this entry.
Now, back to serious news. Mayor Paul Miller will be giving his annual State of the City address to the Chamber of Commerce. Tickets are $55 for the public. If you don't want to pay or don't have the time I will try to find the text of the speech and post it.
Mike, are you going to go? Any chance you can video it for everyone that wants to see it?
I know Mike Chandler will appreciate your time and participation. If you are going to call him to cover your events or to help your candidate it would be nice if you helped out with his data collection. Mike's technical skills are among the best in the area.
By Brian Dennert on December 22, 2008 6:28 PM
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Mike Chandler, the blogger behind VoteSimiValley.com, recently posted this video of Barbra Williamson discussing campaign finance reform and the idea of forming a committee of Simi Valley citizens to come up with ideas for them. Any nominations?
By Brian Dennert on December 22, 2008 12:15 AM
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( I am a real big fan of U2 and the theological messages in their music.)
People from across Simi Valley and Ventura County have been doing significantly more to help get the poor off of the streets then in the past and much more than many of us might have realized.
In Simi Valley recent progress has been made in helping homeless people and helping others from becoming homeless. I was really inspired and proud of the people in the homeless task force when I read this story from The Star.
The Ventura County has a whole section devoted to understanding the plight of homeless video that includes individual stories, videos, pictures and more.
Click here for the Samaritan Center of Simi Valley's website. The website is currently down but I linked to a cached version of it. The center takes donations of many basics of life including white athletic socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, chapstick, and other basic grooming supplies.
Let's play the inspiration game. if you as a reader will leave a comment with your real name and pledge to make a donation of needed items to the Samaritan Center by Christmas eve I will make a pledge to do something to help for each person that takes the pledge.
The things I am willing to do is interview homeless people and post the interviews, make donations, volunteer at my church's community dinner, blog about upcoming meetings, and ask others to help. I am also open to suggestions.
Let's start inspiring each other.
UPDATE: The Star's blogs were down for awhile so I am extending the challenge. So far I am bringing more to the Samaritan Center because Kim posted that she will be bringing some of the requested items on their list. Let's keep it going.
By Brian Dennert on December 20, 2008 10:39 AM
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The actual headline from The Star included the phrase:
"DARE program goes up in smoke..."
I looked for an author of the story that came up with that pun but there was no byline. Anyways...
Simi Valley has earned a reputation as a fiscally well run city, but in these budget cutting times the city council also has started their program reductions and staff cut backs.
The cut backs include the popular DARE program, increased holiday DUI enforcement ( there will be increased enforcement, but not as much as previously planned), some SWAT training, and a few staff positions.
A proposal the city council suggested was to have a retired officer volunteer to run the DARE program. I agree that would be ideal but if they are doing a weekly program in almost all of the elementary schools in Simi Valley then that is a significant contribution they will be asking for from retired law enforcement. It can be done, but I expect for the program to be run at the same level it will require more than a few volunteers. Luckily Mayor Paul Miller is a retired police officer and might have the connections needed to know who to ask for their time.
If the Mayor and other council members are successful in recruiting volunteers for the program I expect an attempt to connect the cut backs to the recent 7% raise won't be very meritorious and/or salient.
How or what is your city going to cut back? Do you think it will make much of a difference to the quality of life in your town?
By Brian Dennert on December 19, 2008 12:11 AM
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I found this video for the Simi Valley City Council's and the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce's Shop Simi Valley First campaign on youtube.
Does your city have a campaign to get citizens to keep their sales tax revenue in town? What do you call economic nationalism on a local level? Civic pride?
Consider this blog entry a free ad for the Shop Simi Valley First Campaign.
By Brian Dennert on December 18, 2008 5:19 PM
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( I found this amateur video in support of Roseann Mikos for the Moorpark City council on youtube.com )
The Moorpark City Council had a choice on what to do with the open seat on their city council. They could appoint someone who then would run for the open seat with all of the advantages of incumbency or they could do what they just did when they appointed someone to serve the term, but not run again, allowing for a more level playing field for any potential challenger.
Even if my favored candidate had a chance to be appointed I would rather them win it in an open election.
During competitive elections campaigns inform voters on local issues and their differing visions. Elections add legitimacy to government. New people are brought into the process which allows the elected official to call on their team to fill positions on committees and to volunteer on projects.
Elections can be expensive and I understand that during tough budget times calling an election for a council seat doesn't sound that appealing.
But if there is going to be an opening on the council I would prefer an appointment of someone that doesn't plan to run again.
The governors of Colorado, New York, and Delaware are expected to appoint replacements soon. Add to that whatever happens with the mess that is happening in Illinois and I would prefer that these seats from city council to the US senate were filled by elections, not appointments, and when that isn't possible by someone that isn't going to run again.
Thanks to Moorpark for setting an example.
In Simi Valley rumors have been swirling for months that two of the council members will be running against each other for mayor. If either of them wins that will leave an open spot on the council that could be filled by an appointment.
If you are interested in helping me convince the Simi Valley City Council to set up an alternative to appointing someone that will then run again as an incumbent, let me know and let's work on the policy before we know who any of the personalities might be.
None of this should be construed to say that appointed politicians that then run as incumbents aren't decent elected officials or that they wouldn't win on their own merits. I just think they should have to work for it.
By Brian Dennert on December 15, 2008 10:23 PM
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( This video of Steve Sojka at a recent meeting talking about campaign finance reform was filmed by Mike Chandler.)
Mike Chandler, the blogger behind votesimivalley.com, is calling on Barbra Williamson to return some donations from her last campaign that have been at the center of some recent news stories to put the story behind her.
Both Paul Miller and Steve Sojka have already returned money that was bundled to their campaigns from an unrelated source that has directed criticism towards them.
Click here for a recent post that goes into more details on the money returned from Paul Miller and Steve Sojka recently.
This blog is devoted to the nuts and bolts of local politics.
Have some political Info you want released? Let me know! I want to publicize fundraisers, parties, Web sites, meetup.com events and anything else happening in Ventura County. So, send them to briandennert@yahoo.com.
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