• On March 12 an official ground breaking was held at the proposed Kellogg Park located on the Westside of Ventura on Ventura Ave. (more about this in the next issue of the Breeze). Even though I commend the many people who have worked extremely hard to get this park on the Westside I really don’t get it.
The reason stated for the need for this park is “Lack of park space and other recreational activities on the Westside. Westpark Community Center, the area’s main park, is on the far end of town, too far to be of regular use to many.”
Twelve blocks north of Kellogg Park is the Harry A. Lyon Park with baseball fields and tennis courts and it is right next to two schools so kids can walk there after school.
Six blocks to the south is possibly the nicest and most inter-active park in Ventura the Westpark Community Center. Westpark has (I believe) the only indoor basketball facility of any park in Ventura, art rooms computers rooms, community gardens, kid’s play area, baseball and soccer fields, a skateboard park and a wonderful boxing program for youths. And a bike path is located right next to it so people can bike to it. Also Sheridan Way school is located right next to it so kids can walk there after school also.
There is not any other area in Ventura that has three parks (or even two) that are located within 1.5 miles of each other. Again, I applaud all of the hard work that has made Kellogg Park possible.
Okay, I await the nasty letters that I will receive about this.
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is now playing at the Rubicon Theatre. It is another outstanding play at the Rubicon and a must see. Playing until March 20 so only a few more days left to see it. http://www.rubicontheatre.org/shows-events.
• I recently attended an engineering challenge event for local middle schools that was covered in a previous issue of the Breeze. As part of this event the kids had to make verbal presentations regarding their projects. To prepare for this I saw kids printing as fast as they could preparing their presentations. All were using printing because schools no longer teach cursive writing because they say kids don’t need to know it anymore. For several reasons this is really stupid and this was one of them.
Interesting names for schools these days. Some of the schools that were competing were Frank Academy of Marine Science & Engineering, Los Prineros School of Science & Arts and Fremont Academy of Environmental Science and Innovative Design.
• Even though most commercial airlines have banned the use of e-cigarettes on their airplanes for some time it has never been an official government policy. This has changed because the U.S. Department of Transportation has now explicitly set rules that state that e-cigarettes fall under the same ban as that of other tobacco products. Good for them.
• The Breeze certainly has writing errors but a recent one in a headline in the LA Times sports section was funny. A headline that should have said “OWNER GOAL STEALS SHOW”(the owner made basket) said “OWNED GOAL STEALS SHOW”. I thought that perhaps the owner of the goal stole it in the middle of the game.
• I want to congratulate Venturan Jack Ainsworth. The California Coastal Commission has appointed him to be the interim replacement for executive director Charles Lester who has left. He will head the agency’s staff until a permanent replacement is found. Ainsworth has been on the commission staff for 27 years.
Ainsworth has degrees from California State University, San Bernardino, and a master’s in geography from University of California, Riverside. He has served as the commission’s senior deputy director since 2011.
• A legal battle over the CMH parking structure now being constructed seems to be continuing. The structure is scheduled to be completed in July and must be completed before the completion of the new hospital but another lawsuit to stop construction has been filed. It will be a wonderful addition to mid-town because 1/3 of the spaces will be available for the use of the neighborhood.
A local business has continually attempted to stop the construction for some unknown reason. I’m sure that their attempt with once again fail in court.
• If you ever feel depressed maybe you can’t blame your parents anymore but can blame Neanderthals. Even though it has been about 40,000 years since they disappeared their genetics may account for our ability to fight infections, risk of addiction and even depression. How do we know that? I have no idea but some really smart people do by studying their DNA. If you are of Asian or European descent 2-4% of your genome came from our Neanderthal ancestors. So don’t kid anymore by calling someone a Neanderthal because most of us are.
• Good news is that the island fox have made a strong recovery on Channel Islands. Golden eagles were decimating the fox population (they need to eat) but they have been removed. The fox were listed as an endangered species several years ago but because of the work by the National Park Service and others who were concerned programs were set up that have resulted in the return of the foxes.
• At a recent City Council meeting the Council unanimously voted to ask the state to allow the Players Casino to stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The extra 20 hours the casino would stay open could generate an additional $125,000 per year in taxes and certainly would have no negative effect on the area.
Apparently casinos are regulated by the state. The casino has been very successful so I support this. Also a great place to eat, especially after other restaurants have closed for the evening.
