Ojai Valley News - Editorial

Wash away Mission/Pueblo water rights

Details: Published: Wednesday, 25 November 2020 17:01

This is the Ojai Valley News’ public comment for the state of California’s Truth and Healing Council meeting on Dec. 3 and 4:

To Tribal Adviser Michael Park, California Truth and Healing Council members, and Gov. Gavin Newsom:

Gov. Newsom has proclaimed November as Native American Heritage Month.

OVN EDITORIAL on OPINION page: Want justice? Take the train

Details: Published: Friday, 20 November 2020 08:56

As Los Angeles County COVID-19 numbers surge, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Highberger denied Ojai Valley News reporters remote access to the water adjudication lawsuit proceedings.

The ruling against equal and meaningful access to the proceedings affecting thousands of Ojai Valley residents creates a constitutional problem. The ruling was handed down “with prejudice,” despite the valiant efforts of the Press Freedom and Transparency Team at the University of California Irvine School of Law, led by Susan Seager, Esq.

OVN EDITORIAL on OPINION page: Climate over-REACH

Details: Published: Friday, 30 October 2020 11:46

The all-electric building reach code that the Ojai City Council’s handpicked climate committee brought to the council Tuesday was authored by a Santa Rosa consultant. The reach code proposal to ban natural gas in all-new construction has been adopted by less than 1% of other California cities. It is considered to be a “symbolic gesture” by the climate committee and by the council, as the codes are expected to affect no more than one home per year.

OVN election endorsements on OPINION page

Details: Published: Friday, 16 October 2020 11:26

10 17 endorsements

The Ojai Valley News Editiorial Board recommendations for some of the Nov. 3 races and measures are:

Measure G: Ojai cannabis tax:

YES — The city of Ojai currently faces a $1.5 million shortfall due to COVID-19. Help restore financial stability to Ojai.

Proposition 15:

Initiative constitutional amendment to increase public funding sources for public schools, community colleges, and local government services by changing tax assessment of commercial and industrial property.

YES — This state proposition closes a tax loophole used by the wealthiest corporations. It will reclaim $4.8 billion annually for K-12 schools, community colleges, and critical local services. A total of $12 billion is expected to help fund public services.

Measure K: OUSD bond:

NO — With previous bond money unspent and with families facing financial insecurity, now is not the right time for a new $45 million school bond measure. It is not responsible to incur a total cost, with interest over 30 years, of $86.4 million for this bond on some items that will only last from five to 15 years.

Ojai mayor: William Weirick

Experience, expertise, and years of working for the betterment of the community.

OUSD Area 2: Jeffrey Starkweather

Independent voice, committed to school board transparency and excellence in our schools.

OUSD Area 4: Chiany Dri

A bold candidate with a passion for equity and inclusion in education.

CMWD Division 3: Pete Kaiser

He is the only director on the Casitas Municipal Water District board with more than two years of experience and institutional knowledge during this critical time for a vital agency.

Ojai Valley News Election Endorsement: Why No on Measure K? Yes on Proposition 15

Details: Published: Friday, 09 October 2020 10:49

Measure K — the Ojai Unified School District’s $45 million bond on the Nov. 3 ballot — is not “all about the kids.” In fact, it’s not about kids at all. The school bond is about buildings. Not one dime of the $86.4 million the taxpayers will commit to paying over 30 years will go for educating students or paying their teachers. And most of what they do pay for will no longer be in use during the last 10 years Ojai residents will be making payments. With no crystal ball to predict how the pandemic will affect our community for the next two years, the bond effort is a swing and a miss for education in the Ojai Valley at this time.

Ojai Valley News Election Endorsement: Starkweather, Dri for school board

Details: Published: Friday, 09 October 2020 10:47

While the job of school board member has always been important, no one who ran for school board four years ago could have predicted the responsibilities they now have.

2020 is the first year Ojai Unified School District board members will be chosen by districts due to a voting rights legal challenge affecting cities and school districts across the state.

EDITORIAL on OPINION PAGE: Weirick for Ojai mayor

Details: Published: Friday, 02 October 2020 08:47

10 2 Bill Weirick

Ojai Valley News endorses Councilman William Weirick for Ojai mayor.

When elections work as they should, dedicated, caring, informed citizens volunteer their time and ideas to improve he communities they call home.

That is the case this election season in Ojai and is exemplified by the two candidates running for mayor in the Nov. 3 election.

Publisher's letter: Why subscribe?

Details: Published: Friday, 18 September 2020 10:00

Please subscribe to your Ojai Valley News today!

Visit: www.ojaivalleynews.com/contact-us/subscriptions

Rights, when not exercised, eventually cease to exist. Our right to a free press is written expressly in the very First Amendment, and is as fundamental to our American values as freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

When news organizations are in trouble, democracy is in trouble. Your local news source is essential because of its function to inform and defend the interests of the people. Ideological barriers are broken down when neighbors get to know each other as people. A well-informed citizenry makes better decisions and actively engages in its community.

Editorial: Council must address Ojai risk from fire

Details: Published: Friday, 11 September 2020 09:18

As the sun rises red in the morning, while our eyes sting and more than 2.5 million acres burn across the state, devastating small communities such as Shaver Lake, the Ojai Valley News is again requesting the Ojai City Council to heed the 2-year-old advice of the Ventura County Fire Department.

At the City Council meeting of Sept. 8, the mayor and council brought no meaningful recommendations forward to address the concerns in the 2018 Ventura Fire Department letter. They must address the threat to our community from “large patches of unburned hazardous fuel (vegetation)."

EDITORIAL on Opinion page: Rethinking policing

Details: Published: Thursday, 27 August 2020 17:41

Rights we take seriously:

— The right to peaceful public assembly.

— Innocent till proved guilty.

Nationwide, law enforcement is facing increasing public scrutiny due to horrific abuses of power, as exemplified by the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25, and the latest shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin on Aug. 23.

Only two months ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a ban on strangleholds. That is just the beginning of the changes needed. The Ojai Valley News calls upon the governor to make good on his call for the creation of standardized crowd-control measures. Tear gas is a chemical weapon banned in warfare by the Geneva Convention, yet permitted for use against Californians exercising their legal rights.

Secret court of LA

Details: Published: Friday, 21 August 2020 12:23

web Seal of the Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles

Are you one of the 14,500 potential parties who missed the Aug. 17 case-management conference in the Ventura water adjudication lawsuit? (Remember the card we just got from the city of Ventura saying it is “not pursuing active litigation”?)

It turns out we were supposed to miss it, along with future proceedings related to this matter, because the “real” players attend the court in the safety of a group phone call (LACourtConnect) to which the public and media have no access.

The public is being effectively shut out under cover of COVID. A private adjudication court that clearly benefits the city of Ventura has been created. The Ojai Valley News can use your help to change that.

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