I like when elected officials hold public forums where voters can ask questions not filtered by the media and the average voter can attend. Events held in the middle of a work day at a Country Club with an admission charge do not count.

Jay Kapitz, a Barack Obama volunteer and a community activist, sent me an email with information on the upcoming community forum to discuss the landmark open space law known as SOAR.

Are you going to go? Anyone know if it is going to be televised? If it is, please post it on youtube for us.

Here is the email from Jay Kapitz:

Dear Friends:

You are invited to a meeting on Saturday, January 31, 2009, 10 AM to Noon, at the Oak Park Community Center regarding protecting the open space in Oak Park, the Conejo Valley and all of Ventura County.

Ventura County Supervisors Linda Parks and Steve Bennett will discuss the law known as SOAR -Save Open-Space and Agricultural Resources."

Currently the SOAR law is set to expire in less than 12 years. It protects us against development of the hillsides around Oak Park, Thousand Oaks and surrounding areas. There is currently a deed restriction prohibiting development around Oak Park by the Rancho Simi Park District, which owns the open space. This deed restriction will expire in a few years and that is a huge reason that SOAR is so important to anyone living in Oak Park. Similar issues are in play for Thousands Oaks.

Please attend this meeting. Come find out more about SOAR and how we can protect these and other open space areas that could be at risk for development.

Hope to see you there.

Jay Kapitz