UPDATE: In the comments section City Council Member Barbra Williamson says it is not going to be a debate. The email sent to me from the Landfill Taskforce, a group of citizens not affiliated with the city, stated it was going to be a debate. But your input is valuable as a current member of the negotiating team and the city council. Thanks!

The Simi Valley Landfill Landfill Expansion Taskforce, a group unaffiliated with the city government of Simi Valley, is calling on people to help them to limit the plans for growth of the landfill in the area outside of Simi Valley.

The City Council is united in trying to mitigate the negative potential impacts to the surrounding communities but as The Acorn reported the council is divided on how and what to negotiate for.

The landfill will have negative and beneficial impacts on our communities. Simi Valley does not have a direct vote but if our city council was united or opposed to a deal that would be a powerful recommendation to the County Board of Supervisors. Don't believe a local politician that says they are powerless.

So, what could make you support expanding the local landfill?

Here is a recent release from the landfill expansion taskforce. I am intrigued by the announcement of a debate. If this was previously posted I must have been too busy lately to notice.

SAY "NO" TO LOS ANGELES GARBAGE IN SIMI VALLEY

Your help is urgently needed to help Simi Valley stop the Landfill from becoming one of the largest landfills in the Nation in its quest to be the repository for Los Angeles garbage.

With your help, we can win this battle.

Two meetings will be held later this month and your attendance at each of them will make a difference.

Meeting 1: a televised debate between Waste Management and the Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force to be held on March 23, Wed., at 6:30 PM at City Hall. Please attend so you can send a message to Waste Management that we are united in our battle to keep Los Angeles garbage out of Simi Valley.

Meeting 2: The Ventura County Planning Commission will hold its Public Hearing in Simi Valley for the first time. The meeting will be at 1:00 PM on March 24, Thursday, at City Hall. Please attend and be prepared to speak. Your testimony can be very short.
"I urge you to recommend the "No Project Option" since expansion of the landfill is not needed to meet the needs of Ventura County."

Lastly, we need letters-to-the-editor NOW. Send them to the Ventura County Star and the Simi Valley Acorn. They can be either short or long, but keep the message simple. Our County Supervisor's need to deny the expansion of the landfill because it is not necessary for the needs of Ventura County and it will harm the air quality in Simi Valley and Moorpark to a level that can not be mitigated.

Side Note: I miss Mike Chandler's blog posts and the comments on his entries. Mike, don't give up. We don't always agree but I appreciate your perspective.

The Simi Valley / Moorpark Democratic Club often holds community discussions at their meetings. This month they will be continuing with their ongoing landfill expansion discussions.

Here is the information:

The Simi Valley/Moorpark Democratic club has scheduled a discussion about the expansion of the landfill, 7pm, Wednesday, February l6 at the Simi Valley Library community room, 2969 Tapo Canyon Road.

Louis Pandolfi, member of the Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force, will be the guest speaker.

The meeting is open to the public and includes light refreshments.

What would you like them to discuss at a future meeting? Vote for as many ideas as you want in this poll or post a comment to suggest your own idea. You don't need to register to post a comment but keep it classy.

The Simi Valley Landfill has plans to expand how much trash they take and the size of their landfill. The Simi Valley Democratic Club is going to be discussing the landfill expansion again. If you want to know more about the expansion I'd suggest going to the meeting AND going to the company's website.

I'd also suggest trying to get any candidate that is running to be specific about what their views are on the expansion. The landfill has extensively worked with many local charities. They have earned goodwill with numerous politicians that don't want to alienate voters or WM. The City Council doesn't have a direct vote on the subject but they do have influence in letting WM and the county under what conditions they support expanding the landfill.

I asked candidate for city council Mike Judge the following question:

The landfill wants to expand their business. Would you be more likely to support expanding the landfill if they added a shooting range open to police officers?

He responded:

I do not think the Range if there is to be one should be given with any pre-conditions. I do think the Landfill is the 2ton gorilla in the room this election everyone is trying to ignore especially the incumbents. Good, Bad or indifferent my Opinion would be just that an opinion because right now the City will not have a say in what happens. But I believe our City should have a say and the expansion should be predicated on certain favorable conditions to the City of Simi Valley. This all goes back to one of the main premises of my Candidacy the lack of credible leadership among the incumbents and our need now more than ever for that leadership.

Here are the details of the club meeting to discuss the expansion:

The Simi Valley/Moorpark Democratic club has scheduled a meeting 7pm, Wednesday, August l8 to discuss the proposed expansion of the landfill at the Simi Valley Library community room, 2969 Tapo Canyon Road.

Guest speaker is Lou Pandolfi, member of the Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force.

For more information, please go to simimoorparkdemocrats.com The meeting is open to the public with refreshments.

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?

Click here for the newstory with the details.

Mike Chandler, the blogger behind votesimivalley.com, recently toured the landfill. Click here to read his post on the subject.

Click here to read my past posts on the subject.

Mike, when do you plan to go back and make videos?

The Star has an update on the apparent campaign finance violations that Barbra Williamson has been receiving criticism for.

Click here or click on continue reading to see the full story.

What line stands out the most to you? Here are a few that caught my attention:

"When a local politician comes up and says 'Donate to my campaign,' I'm going to do it," Gerson said. "We make donations to have people leave us alone."

And...

City Attorney David Hirsch has said if contributions are made by separate corporations controlled by the same contributor, it could be a violation.

It could be a violation? The campaign finance rules need to clear enough that there isn't much debate over what is and is not a violation. The article also doesn't say if Simi Valley Council Member Williamson has already returned any of the donations or is planning to return them.

Most campaign violations start by sounding very serious and end up with a minor fine long after the election. The groups that oversee them are reactive and wait for a complaint or for a newspaper story, instead of looking into the statements from each campaign.

This should be an opportunity and a catalyst for reform locally. If I was advising Barbra Williamson ( and being that she reads this blog, I guess I am ) I would suggest she leads the way on providing transparency and stronger oversight to campaigning.

Here are some of my top local political reforms:

1. Stop appointing people to open seats that then run as incumbents. Many of the people might be the best candidate around, but elections, not incumbents should make that choice.

2. On campaign finance forms I want to see the donors list the name of the business they work for or own AND the type of work they do .I don't recognize all of the names but I want to know what they want from our government and this will help.

3. A database that is web based. I want to click on a name and see how much they donated to all local candidates.

This is just a quick list. I would really admire Barbra Williamson if she used this opportunity to improve our campaigns and elections. What reforms would you like to see put into place?

We might not all agree about the seriousness of this issue, but we should all agree transparency will improve local voters confidence in the system.

My fellow blogger Mike Chandler has started writing about the proposed landfill/dump expansion close to Simi Valley. Click here to read his blog entry on the subject. Here is the introduction:

"I've been in contact with the Simi Valley Landfill and I'm pleased to say that I have a tour scheduled for November 24th. I'm excited and that's no joke. Unlike most people, I like landfills. The reason is because I produce trash and I'm pleased that as a producer of trash there's a place for me to put it when my trash cans are full. Plus, I'm well aware of the benefits of a landfill. There are some... I swear."

Mike has scheduled a tour of the landfill and he is asking readers to leave him a comment with questions he should ask. Leave a comment here for him or go to his blog and leave him a comment.

Mike, will you be making video?

Click here to read some past entries I wrote on the subject.

People interested in the proposed expansion should take a tour. The staff is very professional and is ready to discuss the many programs. I took the tour and I feel I have a more fully developed opinion because of it. Click here to read my thoughts after taking their tour. You don't need to be a writer, elected official, or involved in a group to take the tour. Just give them a call.

The Star published a news report about Barbra Williamson's campaign donations last Saturday. Click here to read the story.

Barbra Williamson has explained some of the issues on a past entry. Click here to see that entry.

Now, she has issued a press release with more information. Click on continue reading to see it.

( This video is from Mike Chandler of votesimivalley.com )

Simi Valley City Council Member Barbra Williamson was the focus of a critical story in The Star because of fundraising issues.

Click here to read the article.

Click here to see the financial reports for candidates on the city's website.

There are many policies and issues that I disagree with Barbra Williamson on but she has always been open to debating, discussing, and explaining herself. Her candor and enthusiasm for open dialogue has served her and our community well. I expect she will use those attributes in dealing with this issue.

I am not defending her, she can do that herself as she always has before. Barbra, thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

Going through the fundraising of different candidates is there anything you think deserves more attention?

I have been hearing rumors that Hummingbird Ranch has been mulling over developing a resort in Simi Valley by Smiley Face Hill. Does that explain why people involved with Hummingbird Ranch are involved with local city politics in a year that hasn't seen much competition?

( The video is back from the archives but I figured with the election announcements it is timely again.)

There are two seats up for election this November on the Simi Valley City Council. The incumbents include Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka.

Barbra Williamson just emailed me her press release announcing she is going to run again. To read through the entire statement click on continue reading.

That is a great thing about blogs. I am not limited by space. When you see the news in the paper in a few days it will take a couple of quotes and that is about it.

In the past Barbra Williamson has come on here and taken questions from readers. Thank you for doing that Barbra.

No word yet on if Steve Sojka will run again. I will keep you posted. Have you heard anything?

So, what do you think the top issues in this campaign will be if there is a real contest.

The top issue I think will be the proposed expansion of the landfill.

I predicted that the Democrats under the leadership of Hannah Beth Jackson would make the Ventura County Republican Central Committee regret soliciting $50,000 from a cigarette company to help Tony Strickland in the fall campaign.

( Another defense of cigarette company donations)

Hannah Beth Jackson has sent out an email that appears to be just the opening to the attacks she will be directing at Tony Strickland. Expect months of the barrage aimed at how campaigns are financed.

In the comments section several people have pointed out that the state Democratic Party has taken tobacco money and that the state party gives money to local candidates and parties.

Is there degrees of guilt? Is there a difference between soliciting the donation and getting money from a state party that gets it from somewhere else?

There is two major problems with donations from sources the public doesn't trust as I see it.

1. It appears that the special interest group is trying to buy a legislator's vote. If this is the case it is on the person making the accusation to prove the politician altered their behavior in the way the special interest group favored. Has the California Democratic Party changed their positions after receiving tobacco money? Go do your research. What were the most important bills that the tobacco companies had an interest in?

2. The special interest group is funding a candidate that shares a policy preference. In this case we should know what the shared view is between the two. What issues does Tony Strickland or the state Democratic Party agree with tobacco companies on? Does Hannah Beth Jackson have any evidence that Tony Strickland agrees with the tobacco companies? What are the bill #'s from his days in the assembly?

Click on continue reading to see the latest email from Hannah Beth Jackson.

In other Hannah Beth Jackson news when you look at the email check out the new sophistication in Hannah Beth Jackson's campaign in her email which includes many ways to connect to the campaign.

For some Tony Strickland news Timm Herdt's top blog entry is about Mitt Romney's upcoming fundraiser for Tony Strickland that Strickland said he expects will help him raise $200,000 towards his state senate campaign.

Here is a video of Tony Strickland talking about why he supports Mitt Romeny:

The Rev. John Southwick will be talking about and answering questions from readers in regards to The proposed development in Simi Valley called Runkle Canyon or Runkledyne by critics.

You can read the background to the current debate by going through the pages of press clippings at this link.

My questions for this group:

What local leaders have you been able to work with the best in your efforts to make sure the public safety and environment are protected?

Have you brought this to the attention of any local candidates from the state assembly to congress?

Do you hold public meetings to discuss this issue?

What is the URL for your youtube videos? Do you plan to release any more soon?

In other news next week there is an EIR meeting in Simi Valley about the proposed landfill expansion. Has anyone heard if it will be televised?