•Per the new owners of Carrows Restaurant on Harbor, all newspaper racks have been removed. But not to worry, just go over to Vons to pick up your favorite local newspaper.
•While attending the Ventura Music Festival at the Olivas Adobe, featuring the John Jorgenson Quintet, we couldn’t figure out why there was a lady on the balcony with what appeared to be a hawk. Turns out it was a hawk. The VMF hired a “falconer” who brought a Harris Hawk to keep the trees free of birds who, in the past, have bombed some attendees at the summer concerts.
•On our pet page is news about the new location for the Canine Adoption and Rescue League (CARL) Thrift Boutique at 2750 E Main St. I feel proud that I was able to provide their architectural drawings and help them through the city permit process. It’s a great location, so be sure to support them and the dogs that need adoption.
• Glad to see grading started on the large “triangle lot” development project. Even though it will increase traffic, it is an important part of the Downtown plan with a major public promenade along the bluff to be enjoyed by all.
• I may be in the minority, but I don’t like the fact that Union Pacific has had to remove a large amount of their fencing which makes it much easier to cross over their tracks – very dangerous. Legal crossings (an overpass or underpass) would be great but would cost millions of dollars.
• The dozens of Thomas Fire lawsuits against Southern California Edison proceeded recently when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Buckley approved some procedural conditions and ordered some evidence be shared in the litigation.
The lawsuits allege negligence by Edison, in maintaining and operating its equipment led to the fires and subsequent Montecito mudslides.
• Congratulations go to new, or re-appointed, members of Ventura’s Cultural Affairs
Commission, Public Art Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission,
Downtown Parking Advisory Committee and Library Advisory Commissions.
They are Marie Lakin, Ken May, Alec Gasca, Todd Collart, Daniel Saltee, Maline Werness-Rude,
James White, Kevin Clerici, Debbie Giles and Berta Steele.
• The Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to ban vacation rentals that are not the primary residences of owners in the unincorporated areas of the Ojai Valley (not city of). The vote affects homes that are rented for less than 30 days (short term).
Ventura has been struggling for some time with what some see as this problem, especially in the small Lanes in the Pierpont area.
•LeBron James has signed a contract with the LA Lakers for 4 years for only $37.5 mill per year. With his endorsements he might make less than $90 mill for 6-months work, so I’m starting a go-fund campaign to raise money for his kids so that when they reach 16 they can buy their first Maserati’s. My first car was a 1939 Chevy coupe, and I could even work on the engine.
•As we all know, Ventura has had one very tragic murder this year and some locals and news outlets have made it sound as if we are the murder capital of the world. Oxnard has had 9 so far this year, so maybe we aren’t so bad.
•The November election will be the first time City Council members are chosen from the districts in which they live, a total of four seats are becoming up for election. A good opportunity for Venturans who have never thought of running for office. There is not an incumbent in two of the districts which improves your chance of being elected.
The deadline to submit your ballet application is 5 p.m. on Aug. 10. To get listed on the ballot candidates need to collect only 20 signatures from registered voters who live in their district. To run, you must be at least 18 years old, registered to vote, and live in your district.
Four council seats – District 1, 4, 5 and 6 – are being voted on under the new districts. To find out what district you live in go to https://bit.ly/2JB8fm0.
Applications are available at the City Clerk’s office at City Hall which is open Monday- Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. The office will be closed July 20 and Aug. 3.
For more information, go to cityofventura.ca.gov/election. If you do run, be sure to send your photo and platform statement to [email protected] for all to see. We have included several candidate overview statements already.
•Built by IBM and Nvidia for the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Summit is a 200 petaflop machine. This means it can perform 20 quadrillion calculations per second. As stated by MIT Technology Review, “Everyone on Earth would have to do a calculation every second of every day for 305 days to crunch what the new machine can do in the blink of an eye.”
Before you consider buying one: The machine weighs 340 tons. The system is housed in a 9,250 square-foot room at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s facility in Tennessee. To keep this machine cool, 4,000 gallons of water are pumped through the system (it couldn’t be in Ventura since we don’t have that much water). The 13 megawatts of energy required to power this behemoth could light up over 8,000 US homes.
Summit is now the world’s most powerful supercomputer, and it is 60% faster than the previous title holder, China’s Sunway TaihuLight. It’s the first time since 2013 that a US-built computer has held the title. And if you turn it over, it doesn’t say “Made in China”.
