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Sunset by Wendy Winet in current CMH show, “H2O”

Call for Entries at Community Memorial Hospital exhibit “Precious”

Deadline: Midnight, Saturday, January 6.

With the recent fires, Mother Nature has reminded us once again that we are not necessarily in charge here! For many who had to flee, last-minute decisions had to be made to take only those things that were most precious. For many, of course, it was their pets. For others, it was mementos of times past. Show us what is precious in your life. It could be pets, things, family, favorite activities or places that you find yourself returning to again and again. What, for you, is precious?

The love in the air is thicker than the smoke!

Juror: CMH and BAA panel

For entry details go to Online Entry at BuenaventuraGallery.org

Vol. 11, No. 7 – Jan 3 – Jan 16, 2018 – Opinion/Editorial

• Even though the Thomas Fire was the largest in California history, it was nowhere near the most devastating in the terms of structures or lives lost. The Cedar fire took 15 lives and destroyed 2,820 structures. The Thomas fire claimed a little over 1,000 structures (perhaps 600 in Ventura) and two lives – one of which was caused by a vehicle accident. Of course, if you lost your house that is little consolation.

Now comes the extremely difficult part for the hundreds of people who lost their homes. Recovery for families will be a long and arduous process. In some cases it will be very difficult to rebuild some of the lost homes in their previous forms. Many of the older homes had non-conforming yards, and perhaps heights that are not allowed any longer.

New structures will need to adhere to existing zoning and building codes which are much more restrictive then when many of these homes were built. Geology and soil reports will be required in many cases that could result in very expensive foundation modifications.

Hopefully the City will take every step possible to expedite the planning and building department approvals so that folks can get on with putting their lives back together. The City Council has voted to declare a local emergency and approved an ordinance that suspends deadlines associated with “routine” land use, subdivision and zoning applications. That allows planning staff to focus on projects related to the disaster.

I have seen a few destroyed homes with ”lot for sale” signs up already. I would expect more of these as time goes on. The process of clearing the lot, dealing with insurance companies, having plans drawn-up, managing contractors and pulling permits could easily take two years or more and many people just won’t be prepared for this. Especially some of the older ones. After such as ordeal some people look at moving away from the area using real estate companies to find a new home for themselves and their families. If you are in a similar situation, you may want to click here to learn more about Trappers Crossing and see if they have a home for you.

Hopefully, the outpouring of love and concern shown by Venturans will continue for a long time during these extremely difficult times. As you might know, I am a retired architect and contractor so if I can be of any help (no charge), please let me know.

Driving through the burned areas, it is amazing how quickly the city had EarthGuard sprayed on homes and hillsides. It actually looks a little spooky with all of them being green. The cost of this will be in the millions of dollars, which will certainly put a strain on our City budget. Not sure if Measure O money can be used for this.

I saw a lot of insurance company signs already posted on many lots. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Are they taking advantage of a bad situation to advertise their product or just showing that many people had fire insurance and will be taken care of?

It bothers me when the news media points out that very expensive homes (some even owned by movie stars) are in danger of burning as if this is a worse scenario than the less expensive properties. It is likely more of a hardship for the less affluent owners when compared to the Montecito properties, and many of those folks likely have second homes.

In addition, we now need to be concerned about rains coming. As much as we need the water, when they do come we hope that they will be light and spread out over longer periods of time.

• At the December 18 City Council meeting, the Council adopted an emergency ordinance banning the use of gas, electric, and battery powered leaf blowers in the City of Ventura (it includes homeowners and gardeners).

Public health officials have cautioned against the use of leaf blowers to clean up ash as they cause fallen ash to become airborne. This increases the risk of the ash being inhaled by both residents and animals.

I’m afraid the ordinance is mostly symbolic. Any person convicted of violating the ordinance would be guilty of a misdemeanor. The police department will not be able to deal with this. Perhaps code enforcement would be able to, but they don’t have enough staff to respond in a timely manner.

Some people are taking it upon themselves to tell gardeners to stop but many of them are not from Ventura (and probably wouldn’t know about the ordinance even if they were).

•The lack of water pressure at homes and especially in fire-hydrants is of great concern to us all. We all saw firefighters just standing watching homes burn to the ground because of lack of water. The Breeze will have future articles dealing with this serious problem. With fire comes electrical outages, which means pumps can’t work so there needs to be a backup system to ensure water pressure is not lost.

• I have mentioned this before, but it is very important. Fire victims may be targeted by scammers posing as contractors offering their services. If nothing else, never give money in advance to anyone offering services. The contractor’s law is very specific about this and only allows a small amount to be paid up front.

Crooked companies, officials warn, may use websites that appear legitimate with false endorsements from the Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Cal Fire.

Authorities urge fire victims to thoroughly vet contractors or other vendors they are considering to use in their attempts to rebuild. A contractor’s license status can be checked through the California Department of Consumer Affairs Contractors State License Board. More information can be found by visiting www.cslb.ca.gov. Another way to ensure the legitimacy of a contractor or vendor is to check the official listing of certified companies at www.venturacountyrecovers.org. And do remember that licensed companies can also be dishonest so get multiple quotes and verify references.

• Ventura County Treasurer/Tax Collector Steven Hintz said his office will waive all penalties and fees related to late property tax bills for homeowners affected by the fire. Homeowners can also get their future property tax bills reassessed to reflect the current values of destroyed or badly damaged homes.

Hopefully he was not motivated by the fact that he lost his home in the fire (kidding – sorry to hear Steve). Get more information at ventura.org/ttc/fire-disaster-2017.

• The Breeze is looking for people who are willing (if not too painful) to share their experiences as they rebuild their homes and lives. If you are interested, please let me know at [email protected].

City responds to fire crisis

With barely enough time to snatch up valuables many cars were left behind.

by Burris DeBenning

Evacuate immediately!” With barely any time to snatch up valuables, several thousand Venturans heard this mandatory evacuation order on the evening of December 4 blaring from police and fire megaphones, because of the horror that was rapidly approaching Ventura’s hillside communities and had already consumed thousands of acres in Santa Paula. Santa Paula is almost a good 20 miles from many of these communities, so why the rush? In just under an hour, right in the middle of a city council meeting, Santa Ana wind gusts of 50 miles and greater pushed the fire from its origins at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula all the way to Ventura’s downtown area. Across the hills from the Avenue to Kimball Road, burning cinders from the main fire showered down on trees, roofs, yards and gardens, engulfing and destroying the large Hawaiian Village apartment complex in the hills above downtown Ventura in a matter of minutes, and spreading from home to home. Before the conflagration passed west of the city and threatened Ojai in the north and Solimar-Faria along the 101, over 500 residences, where families had been raised and memories sown, were reduced to rubble and ashes.

City public safety personnel, staff and all of Ventura County rallied to the City’s aid. Because the City has thorough and updated emergency plans, an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was established at Police/Fire Headquarters and a unified agency command center managed by the County Office of Emergency Services set up at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

At the December 11 city council meeting held at the County of Ventura Board of Supervisors meeting room, Supervisor Steve Bennett called Ventura personnel role models for how to cope with an emergency of this nature. The timing and scope of the evacuation was tremendous, and according to Chief David Endaya of the Ventura Fire Department, an estimated 27,000 people in the hills had to be mobilized in under an hour, a feat that normally takes hurricane prone states days to accomplish. In a few hours, about 6,000 first responders were on hand, striving to save homes and businesses. Thanks to valiant efforts from all personnel working the fire, Ventura did not have a single fatality. Community damage was extensive, involving neighborhoods from Clearpoint in the City’s east to the Avenue, and in between, homes were completely lost or damaged above Ventura College, Ondulando, Skyline and Hobson Heights, the latter established in 1923.

As the City enters the recovery phase of fire operations, resident concerns, questions and needs are being answered and assessed and priorities ranked. At the December 11 council meeting, leadership personnel from various agencies provided status reports, and the City Manager introduced in Special Presentations the team, headed by the Assistant City Manager, Dan Paranick, that would be responsible for the totality of the clean-up and recovery stages of the fire. Before residents can come onto their properties, County and State agencies, such as the State Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC), County Public Health and the State Office of Emergency Services (OES), need to first make certain that hazardous waste, such as melted paint cans and broken propane tanks, are removed, and unstable debris, like crumbing chimneys, are cleared away.

Before residents can come onto their properties, County and State agencies, such as the State Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC), County Public Health and the State Office of Emergency Services (OES), need to first make certain that hazardous waste, such as melted paint cans and broken propane tanks, are removed, and unstable debris, like crumbing chimneys, are cleared away.

Councilmember Chery Heitmann asked Chief Corney for a timetable on when people can get back to their homes to collect valuable and mementos, and the chief estimated about two weeks, due to the extensive utility work being performed by the Southern California Gas Company and Southern California Edison. In fact, SCE has erected staging areas for line and pole repair at both Arroyo Verde Park the Ventura Community Park.

Local Ventura artist Cassandra Tondro offers to replace her art burned in Thomas fire for free

Cassandra Tondro is a local Ventura artist who has offered to replace any of her art that burned in the Thomas fire for free.

Tondro received a comment on her Instagram feed from a couple who lost one of her paintings when their home burned earlier this month. Realizing that there were probably others who had lost her art, she saw that this was something she could do to help fire victims.

According to Tondro, “People who have lost their homes have bigger things to worry about right now than replacing lost art. Please contact me when you are resettled, even if it’s several years from now, and we will find something lovely to replace the paintings that burned.”

Tondro’s contact information can be found on her website www.tondro.com.

Livingston patients continue to receive in-home care during the Thomas Fire disaster

Despite blazes, blackouts, and evacuations due to the Thomas fire, Livingston’s nurses, social workers, therapists and caregivers continued to keep patients safe and as comfortable as possible as they performed their clinical and custodial duties. They helped some patients evacuate, packing up precious mementos and personal items, and even drove one client to a safe haven in Carpinteria, the long way around, since Highway 33 was closed.

Forty three patients were relocated as a result of the fire. For those moved out of the county, Livingston partnered with other agencies to care for them. Locally, be it in a church, a high school gymnasium, or other evacuation center, clinicians continued to deliver support and services. Medications for pain, nausea, and shortness of breath were administered without interruption. For those on oxygen, which is primarily reliant on electricity, Livingston was able to solicit help from a medical equipment company to provide portable oxygen tanks during power outages.

One client shared, “I’m so impressed with (Livingston CareGiver’s CNA) Manuela. During all the chaos caused by the fire, she has been a constant during an inconsistent time. With road closures and other obstacles, she has arrived on time and without distraction. We are so grateful to her and your organization.  I’ve been able to get much needed rest while Manuela has been here.”

Jeannette Cunningham, RN, BSN, PHN, Livingston’s Safety Officer, observed that it was teamwork that made things go so smoothly. “It was not at all chaotic. Everyone kept calm and got the job done. At the command post, all you had to do was state a patient’s need and it was taken care of.”

According to Teresa Pavan, BSHS, RN, Vice-President/CEO of Livingston, “It really ran like a well-oiled machine. We continued to see patients no matter where they were moved. It was all about getting to the right place at the right time to deliver the right care.”

Being a safety net for the community doesn’t stop with patients and clients. Several Livingston staffers, including Pavan, distributed blankets and N95 masks to the homeless that camp in the City of Ventura.
The Thomas fire is now the largest fire In California history. Even in an immense disaster such as this, Ventura County residents can be assured Livingston will be there in their home or shelter to help them.
For information on grief support services for fire victims, call 642-0239 ext. 705.

Let’s Rebuild Regeneratively

by Ron Whitehurst
The author is co-owner of Rincon-Vitova Insectaries and Chair of the Board of Ventura Food Coop

Fire is a natural primal element, but the devastation was man made. Our First Peoples burned brush every couple of years to manage nutrients, soil microbes, and improve the ecology for deer and acorns. How do we learn to use fire as a tool, and build homes and landscapes that resist fires? Here are some observations of permaculture designers, Connor Jones and Leif Skogberg.

Re-establish small water cycles – slow, spread and sink water where it falls, to grow food-producing perennial plants, ideally in mixed culture – many different kinds of plants together, or polyculture. These practices will restore water in the landscape that moderates temperature extremes and reduces drought. See Michal Kravcik’s New Water Paradigm videos on YouTube.

Learn to build with earth, cob, and adobe materials that are literally dirt cheap and readily available. An adobe-plastered straw bale house at Ojai Foundation came through the fire intact, where conventional structures burned. Cover exposed timbers and flammable roof materials so they won’t burn. Also cover eaves and vents to stop fire entering the house. Earth sheltered homes – partially buried – offer protection from fire and extremes of hot and cold, and, coupled with passive solar, reduce heating and cooling bills.

Tops of ridges are hard to protect from fires that race up slopes, doubling in speed with every 10 degrees of slope. Buildings in valleys are safer, but hot dry gusty winds will spread fire rapidly in any terrain.

Oaks (and even eucalyptus) and irrigated orchards of avocado, citrus, olive serve as a fire break. Trees spaced 30 to 100 feet apart don’t burn as long as there is no brush (ladder fuel) between them. Cacti, succulents and agave are great water thrifty landscape plants that do not burn. But, palms and arundo send burning fibers on the wind.

Ponds, pools, dams and tanks slow the fire and if you have a pump that can be powered when the electricity is off, you can use the water for fire protection.

Neighbors who we know from working on projects together are our best assets in emergencies. Join NextDoor.com, it’s like Facebook for neighborhoods, and connect for cleaning up a path or creek, planting a garden, or sharing garden fruits and vegies.

Let’s work to create healthy and just communities embracing a low carbon future. Support Community Choice Energy that focuses on building microgrids and other net zero community energy from sun, wind, and wave. Locally produced power is not affected when power poles burn. With rooftop solar and power walls charging EVs we are freed from gas stations and polluted air. A price on carbon can speed the transition to a clean energy future. See CitizensClimateLobby.org.

Helping aging loved ones with goal setting

Painting has always been one of my goals.

by Connie Perez
Family Caregiver Resource Center Catholic Charities(OASIS)

As we enter a new year, we also start planning and preparing ourselves on how we can achieve our goals. Whether it’s a buddy system such as going to the gym or finding other ways that help us in trying to achieve before the next year approaches. Here are some tips on achieving those goals:

1. Develop a plan – Discuss mobility, assistive devices, if needed, especially if an elder would like to take walks daily. Talk about the time of day they may feel at their best to help them reach their goal.

2. Create smaller goals – It can become frustrating to start running instead of walking first. Set goals that are manageable then build from that

3. Willingness to change – Discuss the possibility of having to modify their goals if it becomes too difficult due to set backs under circumstances we cannot control.

If your loved one is in need of an assistive device, home modification or other resources, please give the Family Caregiver Resource Center a call at 420-9608.

Boho Chic’s official ribbon cutting

Even though they have been open since May, Ventura Chamber President and CEO Stephanie Caldwell told the young lady to be careful with the scissors at Boho Chic’s official ribbon cutting held on Dec.14. Located at 973 E. Front Street, owner April Michalski-Toth, brings years of creative designing and the love of style and comfort to her boutique. Photo by Michael Gordon.

WEV’s training programs

Are you ready to become an entrepreneur, or expand your existing small business? Afraid to “go it alone,” or unsure how to proceed? WEV’s training programs guide you in taking the next step. Attend a free 1-hour orientation, where you’ll meet a WEV representative that will help you determine if SET, EXPLORE, or another WEV program is right for you!

Cost: free, but registration is required.

In Ventura: January 4, 6-7 pm, January 10, 12-1pm, January 16, 6-7 pm, January 24, 6-7 pm,January 30, 6-7 pm.

Orientation locations are subject to change. For more information, location and to register for an upcoming orientation, visit http://www.wevonline.org/orientations.

Women’s Economic Ventures is dedicated to creating an equitable and just society through the economic empowerment of women. WEV provides training, consulting and loans to help entrepreneurs start, grow and thrive in business. While WEV targets its services toward women, it serves men as well, and provides many services in English and Spanish.