It is now official. Simi Valley has annexed Moorpark. The move will dramatically increase the size of Simi Valley.

The area of Moorpark will now be known as Mo'Simi.

The move is expected to benefit both areas with increased economic cooperation. Simi Valley now has a community college. Moorpark will benefit from the many businesses in Simi Valley. What do you think will be the best benefit?

Happy April 1st

The Simi Valley / Moorpark Democratic Club is going to being discussing the plans for Simi Valley to have three Wal-Marts and the change in the library. The new Wal-Marts will be smaller stores that sell groceries.

The Simi Valley/Moorpark Democratic Club will discuss the City Council's decision regarding Wal-Mart and privatization of the library, 7pm, Wednesday, August 15 at the Simi Valley Library community room, 2969 Tapo Canyon Road.

With their interest in city issues and one of their club members running for city council I am wondering if they plan to make a big effort to elect someone to the city council. There is expected to be a crowded field. A dedicated activist group could make the difference and elect someone.

I haven't agreed with many of the priorities Mayor Bob Huber has chosen but I am glad he continues to hold town hall meetings. Does your Mayor hold town hall meetings?

Bob Huber has announced he intends to run for re-election. Do you think he will face serious competition? The last campaign between Steve Sojka and Bob Huber was among the competitive election for Mayor in Simi Valley that I remember. It would be great to watch Bob Huber make the case of why he has deserves re-election and why his priorities have helped Simi Valley.

Who do you want to run against him? I have heard that Glen Becerra has been considering running.

Steve Sojka and Barbra Williamson are also up for election if they run again.

You don't have to register to comment but keep it classy.

The Adult Film Industry has retaliated against Simi Valley because Mayor Bob Huber does not want them in Simi Valley.

"Under the guise of caring about workers Mayor Bob Huber has created a law that he has announced is for a different purpose. The adult film industry will not stand, nor will it recline casually, for an attack on freedom." said their spokesperson.

Their spokesperson announced that all web traffic from Simi Valley will be blocked on adult content websites. The user agreements will now force people to certify they do not live in Simi Valley. If a user if found in violation of the terms of service the will be redirected to the Simi Valley City government website. "That will surely bore people" their spokesperson explained.

Their spokesperson said "Mayor Bob Huber ran with support from the Tea Party. He wants government so small it can fit in your bedroom. If his focus is on "stimulating" the economy this will only serve to notify the entertainment industry that Simi Valley is not business friendly."

Click here to join the action group protesting against this law.

People are acting surprised that some incumbent Democrats tried to influence the redistricting commission.

I am not. Just as I wasn't surprised to watch elected officials in Simi Valley argue that Simi Valley must be in a congressional seat with Ventura County, not Santa Clarita, while staying nearly silent on Simi Valley being with Santa Clarita for the State Assembly.

The redistricting commission isn't perfect but it is better than the other methods we normally use.

Check out this article on the Propublica research from Progressive blog Calitics.

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.

As a blogger I am often critical of the actions of local elected officials and governments. But I am very supportive of this project in Simi Valley. Most governments don't plan for the distant future. The city of Simi Valley though is rising to the challenge.

Our plans for local economic development should include making Simi Valley more attractive to businesses. Some want to review our regulations and stop there. Businesses though consider many factors including infrastructure and ability to attract talented workers. To make Simi Valley a more livable community we need to continue to improve our schools and the amenities for recreation.

This greenway project connects many issues that are important to me including environmental sustainability, health, habitat preservation, family friendly communities,local history, economic development, and recreation. I am glad the city is taking a progressive approach to community development.

The Simi Valley Acorn reported that progress continues to be made in the plan to change the wash that runs through Simi Valley into the Simi Valley Arroyo Greenway. The plan calls for large amounts of money to be spent in coming decades to change the path that runs along the wash into a park that spans the length of the city. The project won't be free to local taxpayers but many leaders believe they will continue to get financial support from the state and federal governments.

This project will develop an asset in our community into a treasure.

Families from throughout the region will be coming to Simi Valley. Our nationally ranked high school cross country teams could use it for training. Families will have another outdoors option for recreation. Less bicycle commuters will need to use the streets. There will be environmental and historical interpretive signs to educate young people of our ecological and social histories.

California is a dynamic state that is the headquarters of some of the most innovative businesses in the world including Facebook, Google, Ebay, Yahoo, and Apple. We should develop communities that attract those businesses and their workers.

Go the city's website to learn more and then go to the Facebook page I created to support the plan.

The Simi Valley Police Officers Association got involved in the recent city elections in a way they haven't done before. They have argued that the city hasn't dealt fairly with them in recent contract negotiations and that the contention was over more than just benefits. They announced their intentions to get much more involved in local elections long before the final field was settled.

They endorsed Bob Huber for Mayor over City Council Member Steve Sojka and Keith Mashburn for City Council.

The race for Mayor was an open seat election but the city council election had two incumbents running and several challengers for two seats. The POA wanted to defeat incumbents with Steve Sojka, Glen Becerra, and Michelle Foster on the ballot they had their targets.

Huber was also able to earn the support of Rep. Elton Gallegly, State Senator Tony Strickland, the Ventura County Republican Central Committee, and two former chairs of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee.

Their endorsement of Huber over Sojka wasn't much of a surprise as Bob Huber was the only other candidate for mayor on the ballot and their goal was to defeat an incumbent. Steve Sojka counted as an incumbent because he was already on the city council.

What was much more interesting is their endorsement in the city council race. They had two strong challengers to choose from: retired firefighter Keith Mashburn and LAPD officer Mike Judge. They chose to endorse just Keith Mashburn, although they had many complimentary things to say about Mike Judge. They could have endorsed both of them and tried to get them to run as a slate. I haven't studied slate elections in nonpartisan elections enough to give a well informed opinion, but I am very interested in your opinions on this strategy. You don't need to register to post a comment but keep it classy.

That's academic for now as they chose to endorse just one challenger. I imagine one of the reasons they endorsed Keith Mashburn over Mike Judge was that they thought Mashburn was more electable. That of course turned out to be funny because Mike Judge won without their support.

I am very impressed with Mike Judge's campaign. He had very little money and almost no endorsements. His fundraisers were mostly attended by actual friends of his. That's unlike when other politicians call big campaign contributors that have business in front of them "friends".

The POA most wanted to defeat Glen Beccera on the city council but they ended up contributing to the defeat of Michelle Foster instead. The official score records their endorsed candidates going 1 for 2 in this election but they came out as clear victors. They were able to defeat two incumbents and a police officer was elected to the council.

Click on continue reading for their press release.

It will be interesting to see how involved they will be in two years when Bob Huber will be up for re-election and the two seats currently occupied by Steve Sojka and Barbra Williamson will be up for election.

Both of those incumbents have significant strengths that might deter many challengers from running against them if they both run again. Steve Sojka obviously has a large base of support he built upon in the last election and Barbra Williamson has been very open in her opposition to the landfill/dump expansion plans.

There are many arguments over the validity of expanding the landfill but it is a fact that enlarging the landfill to take more trash from outside areas is very unpopular. A smart politician might come out and convince people that it is in the best interest of the city to support the expansion. But so far that hasn't happened. That means Barbra Williamson goes into the next cycle with a a strong advantage.

I read this post and the comments on it on the Simi Valley Facebook Page. You can go read it by going to that page and scrolling down the page.

I know that parties and activists want to promote people they agree with because candidates for one office might run for another office later. But I don't find this issue compelling in the race for mayor of Simi Valley. Do you?

I do find it interesting to learn how people make their decisions on local candidates.

Bob Huber is having another campaign event at a local park. Here are the details:

Until the election I am running a contest for candidates to get free coverage by sending in a picture of their signs. The goal is to make it difficult, but not impossible, to guess where the picture was taken.

This picture was sent in by a Bob Huber supporter. You don't need to register to post a comment but keep it classy. So, what's your guess? Post as specific as you can the location of the sign. Before the election I will post who correctly answered the most challenges and I'll post who submitted the winning pictures.

You can submit your own photos or view more photos on Facebook.

Note about comments: I respect the privacy of my posters but I don't allow people to create fake screen names to make their opponents look bad by posting outrageous statements supposedly from a rivial's supporters. If it was done to be humorous consider this a warning that I don't tolerate that practice.

Yesterday I went to an event organized by education activist Donna Prenta, School Board Member Rob Collins and Former School Board Member Diane Collins. The meet and greet was put together to support candidates for SVUSD School Board Arleigh Kidd and Jeanne Davis plus candidate for Mayor of Simi Valley Bob Huber. I talked with Bob Huber and his campaign manager Scott Santino about the negativity in the campaign and other issues. Bob Huber agreed to be interviewed on camera without me telling him all of the questions first. I did tell him that I would ask about the plan to fix the Arroyo bike path, which is an important issue for me.

Overall the event was well-attended and have people a chance to talk to many community leaders. I finally had a chance to talk with June Ewart who has been helping me with the Shop Simi Valley First Facebook page. If you ever want to discuss intervention strategies for at-risk youth in Simi Valley you should contact her.

To see the other videos and pictures from the event go to my Facebook page for my blog. I don't have a budget for fundraisers but if you would like to invite me to take videos and pictures send me a message. I don't need to agree with your candidate to attend.