Mike Chandler, the blogger behind votesimivalley.com, is putting together a great interview and he asked me to plug it on my blog.

Here is his message:

Hi Brian,

I am working on a live candidate chat that I have scheduled for this Thursday night at 7:00pm. I was wondering if I could get you to mention it on your blog.

I have invited all four challenging City Council candidates (Council Members only, not Mayoral candidates) and all four have accepted. The forum will consist of Mike Judge, Keith Mashburn, Ken Sandberg and Mitch Green. The discussion will be streamed live on the internet on my blog. To listen in, you'll just need to point your browser to my website and follow the links that I plan to make very obvious.

This isn't a debate. It's simply an open forum where the candidates are invited to discuss their positions on various topics. Among the topics will be city employee pension reform, business challenges in Simi Valley, and Shop Simi Valley First. My hope is to introduce some worthy candidates with fresh ideas to the voting public.

If you wouldn't mind spreading the word, I'd be forever grateful. Thanks much!

Regards,

Mike

Mike Chandler has also volunteered to help any of the Simi Valley City Council candidates with using social networking tools to reach voters. Read more about his offer here. I am really impressed with his contribution to local democracy. Have you asked the incumbents to be interviewed?

Candidate for Simi Valley Mayor Steve Sojka put his signs up first across town and now it has become a campaign issue. Mike Chandler's blog post and the article in The Acorn are comprehensive enough that I don't have much to add.

The article in The Acorn had this observation from candidates Mike Judge and Michelle Foster:

Though Judge said the law favors incumbents, who have strong ties with local developers, business and property owners, Foster said she believes the ordinance still creates a level playing field.

"Everyone has the opportunity to receive permission from someone to put a sign on their property," she said, adding, "Just because you are currently an office holder doesn't mean people say yes to you. It's their way of validating whether you are doing a good job in the community or not."

A property owner that wants to develop their property would be wise to curry favor with the people in charge of making a decision on what they can do with their land. The same goes for commercial property owners who often need to work with the city on a variety of issues. A sitting council member has an advantage when asking a property owner to allow their sign to be posted. Remember that next time you see a property with a campaign sign in front of it.

That said Steve Sojka has been effective at placing his signs beyond simply being an incumbent. As a local business owner he has worked closely with many people either through nonprofit work like the Police Foundation or as customers of his advertising business. He has developed many personal relationships that have been helping him as he campaigns.

Mike Chandler, over at Votesimivalley.com, has created a Facebook page dedicated to the 2010 Simi Valley elections. Click like on it below to see his posts in your Facebook feed.

Mike Chandler also posted Bob Huber's response to the start of the campaign signs going up on his blog. Huber contends that he chose not to post them out of respect for voters. read more about his response here.

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.

Click here for his blog entry.

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.

Click here for the Ventura County Star story.

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.

Click here for Candlelight's website.

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?

( 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 EnviroReporter website.

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.

Click here for the Radiation Ranger's website.

Click here for the City of Simi Valley's website devoted to this development.

Before voting check out some of the links above. You can vote for as many as you want.

Real estate professional Ted Mackel hosted a tech night for local business people recently that I posted the announcement for on my blog. I wasn't able to make it but Mike Chandler, the blogger behind The Simi Show and VoteSimiValley.com, went with his camera. The above video is mostly a summary but after watching it if you are interested in attending the next session leave a comment to help Ted Mackel gauge the demand for his seminars.

Ted, my sister went and said she was going to use many of the ideas you explained. Thanks for offering the free seminar.

On a related note both of you owe me at least 10 comments for all the free plugs I have posted linked to your blogs. You have 7 days or I will Google b-o-m-b you. Just kidding guys. Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

Click here for Ted Mackel's blog.

Click here for The Simi Show.

Click here for VoteSimiValley.com

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 has launched a new internet show called " The Simi Show" and it has been getting more and more attention. Last Friday The Acorn had a great review of his videos and his plans to expand his coverage of local people and events.

Click here for The Acorn article.

Click here for The Simi Show website.

Even though it would seem like Mike and I would be in competition to the point of not mentioning each other because we focus on many of the same issues, that's not the way I see it. I like the idea of listening to more and compelling voices. He is irreverent, funny, and talented. Go check out his website. he might become his own Shop Simi Valley campaign.

Mike, it looks like The Acorn should issue a correction though. The article stated that:

Chandler's fire was lit during last fall's election season, when he created www.votesimivalley.com and began asking tough questions of local candidates.

Despite his opposition to the three incumbents in the City Council election, Chandler said, his new venture, "The Simi Show," isn't at all about pushing his own personal political views.

But your own blog entry had many nice things to say of Council Member Williamson:

Last night, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Barbra Williamson and her family, friends and supporters. They are truly a dynamic group of people and it was a real pleasure. Barbra's entire family is very friendly not to mention engaging and passionate about the issues. I have zero doubt that my vote for Barbra Williamson for Simi Valley City Council is the right one.

Get a correction in and they will put your name in the paper again! Did your family hang the article on the fridge?

Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

( Mike Chandler has a funny story behind this photo that I will allow him to share. Mike, what website did you use to create it?)

Do you have a request for me to plug another blog? Send me an email and let me know.

This request comes from my fellow Simi Valley centric blogger Mike Chandler of votesimivalley.com.

Mike said I should post it because:

"...Diana quite nicely suggests and recommends ways to entertain yourself on the cheap, and some of her ideas are downright fantastic. Further, she's a local, so she tells you how to get it done without driving all over the state. She's a lot of fun and a true asset to the community.

Click here for Diana's blog. Note: the title is not safe for work (NSFW). I wouldn't normally even post a link because of the vulgarity in the title but Mike has done some great reporting on Simi Valley and I am doing it as a personal favor.

( Mike how many different projects do you have going? Are you stalking the KFI AM 640 tech guy?)

Mike Chandler, the blogger behind VoteSimiValley.com, has a new entry up on Simi Valley employment and he needs your help.

If you have a few minutes he needs you to take a survey so he can collect some data.

Click here for his blog.

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.

Mike Chandler, the blogger behind VoteSimiValley.com, has a new entry up talking about the proposed Hummingbird resort in Simi Valley.

Click here to see his post.

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?

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.