How to resolve AdBlock issue? Ojai Valley News Editorial on OPINION page March 20: A new test for Ojai
Ojai has faced many challenges over the years, and this pandemic is a new one for us. What we do next, and how we cope with adversity will shape who we are as a community. Decisions people are proud of rarely follow fear and panic. Ojai is a special place, and what that means is being tested in a new way.
The people have spoken
Our tiny town has limped along for a dozen years since the recession and foreclosure crisis. We put aside street and pavement repair and other needed civic improvements.
With the landslide passage of Measure C on Tuesday — more than 82 percent of city voters approved it — the people are clear on this issue. These funds will allow for a new course to be plotted.
OVN EDITORIAL on Feb. 28, 2020, on OPINION PAGE: Vote Yes on Measure C for 'hotel tax' 5% increase to help improve city
The city of Ojai has more than $20 million in street repairs and other deferred maintenance costs, plus an urgent need for fire mitigation, parks and recreation site upgrades, and more. The need for funding is abundantly clear and the least-regressive tax option we see is an increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (hotel bed tax).
OVN EDITORIAL on Feb. 28, 2020 OPINION PAGE: Write in Trevor Quirk for District 1 supervisor on March 3
The Ojai Valley News endorses write-in candidate Trevor Quirk for Ventura County supervisor in District 1, which primarily covers the Ojai Valley and Ventura. The election is Tuesday, March 3.
OVN EDITORIAL, Feb. 21, 2020: Casitas Municipal Water District needs to include public in water solutions
The property owners inside the Community Facilities District are still paying back the $60 million in bond money to buy out Golden State Water. Since then, Casitas Municipal Water District manages our water system for us. First, it spent about $2 million to replace all of our working meters with an “upgrade” to save on costs. After that, it continued to raise the surcharge on the meters, so that now meter charges often exceed the cost of the water delivered.
Have you ever been charged an allocation penalty for the amount of water you use from CMWD? Ojai is required to save water at a stage 3 drought; CMWD collects penalties from residents who exceed that level.
OVN EDITORIAL on Feb. 7 OPINION PAGE: 'Yes' on Measure C will improve city of Ojai for residents and tourists alike
The city of Ojai is falling behind even while it dreams of becoming a city that leads the way. Our city Public Works Department and city manager estimate the current cost of needed city improvements to be at least $47 million. On the list are repairing our roads, reducing fire hazards, improving drainage, and maintaining parks and recreation facilities.
Our roads take 29 years to pave while they wear out every 15. Since the city is required by law to have a balanced budget, infrastructure projects move to the back burner year after year.
Colossal waste: Ventura spending $4,483,00 of taxpayers’ money, and counting … for what?
Money can’t buy you love, but can it buy the Ojai Valley water rights? A public records request to the city of Ventura uncovered this week that on Sept. 11, the city of Ventura authorized spending up to $4,483,000 to its Walnut Creek lawyers, Best Best & Krieger, to find out.
It will take more than money to stop them. Feb. 3 is the next Ventura City Council meeting. Pressure will be required to persuade the Ventura City Council to drop its lawsuit against thousands of Ojai Valley residents. The gains it receives for a dismissal will be worth more than money and sustain us longer.
Ojai Valley News EDITORIAL, Jan. 24: Public agencies run by attorneys?
Who do our elected officials work for?
Ventura Mayor Matt LaVere, an attorney, told the Ojai Valley News on Jan. 12: “I can’t talk about votes in closed session. ... not being a water professional, I don’t know enough to push back. I have to take what my lawyers are telling me is true. … What that meant, and what we were told, is the only way to do that is to bring all of the users into what’s called an adjudication process. … I have not been provided another option.”
OVN EDITORIAL: Jan. 17, 2020: Your water, your voice: Be heard at meetings
Do you care about your water rights? The city of Ventura does.
It is spending millions of dollars to gain control of Ojai Valley water rights, seeking “a preliminary and permanent injunction reducing [Ojai’s] uses of surface water and groundwater affecting the surface and/or subsurface flow of the Ventura River.”
Ventura shakedown
Editorial cartoon by John Aaron
Thousands of Ojai Valley residents are receiving certified letters this week from the city of Ventura containing either legal summonses or notices of legal action in an irresponsible, scattershot grab for water rights.
Leading the charge is Ventura Mayor Matt LaVere. Ventura City Council members need to hear this message clearly from the thousands of Ojai Valley residents, water agencies and businesses named in the nearly 100-page letter:
Cease and desist immediately, dismiss your case, and stop harassing thousands of Ojai Valley residents who turn on a water tap.
Prevent death of the public’s right to know
Imagine if government could keep secret how people died.Imagine if the government said it knows best whose cause of death should be public and whose cause of death should be private.