Enforce ban on gas-powered tools
Using a gas-powered blower for one hour creates the same amount of pollution as taking 239 car trips from Boccali’s at Reeves Road to Farmer and the Cook on El Roblar Drive (4.6 miles each way), according to the California Environmental Protection Agency. That many trips would take just over 43 hours in a 2016 Toyota Camry, according to Google Maps.
Kindness challenge
Gandhi said, “The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
There is certainly power and joy in being kind and being the recipient of kindness.
In Ojai, we experience many small kindnesses every day from friends and strangers alike.
And we have lots of reminders that kindness matters.
Just walk into NoSo Social Cafe where recent chalk messages on a blackboard exhort customers to “Do something today.
— Write a love letter.
— Pay it forward.
— Meet someone new.
— Call someone just because.
— Tell someone you love them.
— Forgive someone.”
As a result of these reminders, if you are in line for a cup of coffee, you may just find that the person ahead of you paid for it.
Kindness can be contagious and we can never have enough.
That is why we would love to hear from our readers about kindnesses they experience this week and lists of ways to be kind.
Here are just a few ideas:
— Ask your grandparents about growing up.
— Do the dishes.
— Let the person in the store who is in a hurry go ahead of you.
— Mow your neighbor’s lawn.
— Visit a nursing home.
— Call an old friend.
— Tell a former teacher how he or she inspired you.
— Donate blood.
— Thank a veteran.
— Volunteer.
— Adopt an animal from the shelter.
— Cook a meal for a friend.
— Send a get-well card.
We looked up “kindness” and found a lot of people have written about it. Here’s what some well-known people have said:
Plato: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”
Dalai Lama: “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
Confucius: “Act with kindness, but do not expect gratitude.”
Anne Frank: “No one has ever become poor by giving.”
Saint Basil: “A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”
Aesop: “No act of kindness — however small — is ever wasted.”
We can’t wait to quote our kind readers.
Please email your suggestions on ways you have experienced kindness or shown kindness recently.
And please share a few words about the kindest person you know.
We will share submissions in the OVN in an upcoming edition.
Submissions may be sent via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Facebook, or mail them to 101 Vallerio Ave., Ojai, CA 93023.
Time to go electric
If you traveled east along Ojai Avenue this week, you may have caught the view of Nordhoff Ridge and the Topatopas through a smog ring just below the top of the ridge. We have known for years we have deteriorating air quality in the Ojai Valley. The six-month “smog season” lasts through October and Ojai has some of the worst air quality in the county.
Help can't wait for Creek Road
In 2018, Creek Road resident Teena Broumand documented 30 crashes on Creek Road, resulting in 19 injuries. She also noted that there had been three fatalities along that stretch — two since 2015.
Back-to-school time
The start of public school in Ojai on Wednesday, Aug. 21, marks the unofficial end of summer.
Ojai can chart path to action
Interest rates on bonds are the lowest in decades. We see an opportunity for local agencies to take advantage of the current 30-year T-Bond rate of 2.240 percent to reduce costs and make capital infrastructure improvements.
Put hold on hemp permits
As California enters the Brave New World of legalized pot and permitted hemp production, we are literally experiencing growing pains. Now just four months after a system of permitting hemp pro-duction was put in place at the California Department of Agriculture, Ojai Valley residents are faced with the unknown. Here are some of their questions:
Students deserve our very best
If there was ever a good time for Ojai Unified School District to be told by the California Department of Education that it has two of the lowest-performing schools in the state, it is now.
This is a time of change for the school district as it moves sixth-graders to the junior high; creates district voting; and welcomes a new superintendent, Tiffany Morse.
Ojai's finances can get boost at ballot
Anyone who attended Ojai’s recent city budget meeting can gather that Ojai has a long list of goals that an infusion of funds can help achieve. Among them: citywide wifi, solar-powered city facilities, improved water dependability and delivery, disaster preparation, more sidewalks, a city swimming pool, bike lanes and more.
Case in point: Our streets will take 29 years to pave and bring up to acceptable standards. There must be a math problem, because they only last 15.
Wake-up shake-up
If people at the Ojai Parade on July 4 felt the magnitude 6.4 earthquake close to Ridgecrest at 10:33 a.m., they might well have mistaken it for the marching band. A few people posted notes on the Ojai Valley News Facebook page saying they felt a gentle rolling or their cupboard doors opened or their pools sloshed.
From zero to 60: Buckle up, Ojai
Tiffany Morse, our new Ojai Unified School District superintendent, isn’t just moving to town and into her new office. She is embarking on a journey and taking all of us who care about education in the Ojai Valley with her.
We cannot imagine a more dynamic jump-start to her new job than the first of three community forums June 30, called “Impact to Engage,” a summer series on growth and innovation in Ojai public schools.
More than 90 people jammed the offices of the Agora Foundation on Ojai’s Bryant Circle, showing the interest and concern of parents, educators and community members in the education we are providing students today and in the future.