Thousand Oaks has selected Akbar Alikhan, who is currently Ventura’s interim city manager, as their city’s new deputy city manager. Ventura’s department heads roulette continues.

Akbar has worked for the city of Ventura since 2019. In his new post, he’ll report to Thousand Oaks City Manager Drew Powers.

Alikhan, who previously was an assistant city manager in Ventura, was named acting city manager on Nov.14 after city manager, Alex McIntyre, was placed on administrative leave and has taken another job.

Ventura is in the process of hiring a permanent city manager. Alikhan had expressed interest in that position previously. I think he would have been an excellent Ventura city manager.

He will be taking a pay cut (but it still ain’t bad). His annual salary with Ventura is about $248,800. He will be starting at $224,000 in his new position.

Alikhan’s exit comes following an extensive shakeup in Ventura’s upper management.

On Nov. 28, Ventura Community Development Director Peter Gilli resigned. On Dec. 12, McIntyre was forced out. On Jan. 26, Chief Financial Officer Michael Coon was placed on paid administrative leave.

Lots of Venturans think that our homeless population is very high, but it really isn’t. All cities are experiencing a high count. The homeless population in San Diego reached another record high for the 6th month in a row.

Donor Don sent this note with his latest contribution. Thought worth sharing.

“This contribution is on behalf of Sheldon, for his long years of excellent reporting and great sense of humor. Since founding the Breeze and somewhat retired (not quite yet) he continues to bring much needed insight of the community and worthy national news, much appreciated over many years.
Don Rodrigues

Thank you Don!
I think the reason that no aliens have landed here is that they haven’t been formally invited. I sent the following to NASA who, I’m sure, will be broadcasting this into space.

ALIENS YOU ARE HEREBY INVITED TO A PARTY ON EARTH
TO BE HELD ON THE USA WHITE HOUSE MAIN LAWN.
MEET EARTHLINGS FROM THROUGHOUT THE PLANET.
CASUAL ATTIRE (NOT NECESSARY IF YOU DON’T WEAR CLOTHES).
DRINKS, HORS D’OEUVRES AND DINNER WILL BE SERVED.
PLEASE NO ANIMALS OR CHILDREN UNDER 250 YEARS OLD.
PLEASE RSVP TO [email protected]

The Tennessee House GOP expelling of two (or 3) Democrats in retaliation over gun control protest was a very sad day for our democracy, which is being destroyed daily.
Last week National Hairball Awareness Day was celebrated, so I took my cat Savana to lunch to celebrate. After she spit up a hairball of course.

Disney has sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the Republican’s takeover of its theme park district, alleging the governor waged a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company opposed a law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.” How incredibly stupid of DeSantis regardless of his reasoning (which is bad enough). The theme park is a great thing to have in your state. The money, tourists and taxes it brings in are tremendous for Florida. Maybe Disney should pick up the park and move it to Ventura. Oh wait, we wouldn’t want that would we?

Pope Francis has decided to give women the right to vote (in Vatican affairs) at a meeting of bishops. This is an historic reform that reflects his hopes to give women greater decision-making ability and laypeople more say in the life of the Catholic Church.
Francis approved changes to the rules governing the Synod of Bishops, a Vatican body that gathers the world’s bishops together for periodic meetings, following years of demands by women to have the right to vote.

This could be the start of something big. Perhaps shortly women will be able to vote in our national and local elections.

If you are not familiar with Chat GPT, it is one of a few AI (artificial intelligence) programs that can write articles. They are not written by humans but “robots” – so to speak. I asked it to write 200 words about the Ventura Breeze newspaper.

It wrote 209 words, but close enough. And with a few minor errors. Still amazing, but also scary. Students are using AI to write their reports. For instance, a person can say “write me 500 words about who wrote the constitution, “and the answer displayed in an instant.
Ai has passed bar and CPA exams.

This is what Chat GPT wrote:
“The Ventura Breeze newspaper is a weekly (we are bi-weekly) publication that has been serving the Ventura community in California since 2007. It was founded by Sheldon Brown, who remains the publisher and editor-in-chief to this day. The newspaper is free and distributed throughout the city, and its mission is to provide residents with an independent and reliable source of local news and information.

The Ventura Breeze covers a wide range of topics, including local news, politics, sports, arts and entertainment, and community events. The newspaper also features a variety of columns and opinion pieces written by local writers and experts on various topics. In addition to its print edition, the Ventura Breeze also has a website where readers can access its content online.

One of the distinctive features of the Ventura Breeze is its commitment to community engagement. The newspaper actively solicits feedback and contributions from its readers, and it regularly features stories and profiles about local residents and organizations. The Ventura Breeze also sponsors and promotes a variety of community events and initiatives, including fundraisers, festivals, and volunteer opportunities (not entirely true).
Overall, the Ventura Breeze is a valuable resource for the Ventura community, providing timely and informative news and information, fostering community engagement, and promoting a sense of civic pride and involvement.”

Ventura’s Fiscal Year Financial Report can be viewed at https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_04242023-2921 if you want to type all this in your browser.

Outside of a few recent issues, Ventura remains a fairly safe place to live. In a few of our recent issues, there were no significant police reports. More in this issue

The recent sinkhole on Victoria was caused by the collapse of a 60-year-old storm drain. Ventura has much infrastructure older than 60-years, so this is not surprising especially with the large rains that we have had. It wasn’t very big so did not cause much damage.

A reader took exception to my criticism of FOX News for false and misleading news reports. Some of their reporters who praised Trump publicly made up good news so that their viewers would be happy and continue watching. But privately they very much disliked him and thought him to be harmful.

All Americans, be they Republicans or Democrats, should find this to be very disturbing. This is what we criticize communist countries for doing not a democracy

On January, 25-year-old teacher Abigail Zwerner was badly wounded by a first-grade student in her classroom at Richneck elementary school.

A Virginia grand jury has indicted the mother of the six-year-old who shot an elementary school teacher charging her with crimes related to felony child neglect and firearms possession.

The parents of a teenager who killed four students at a Michigan high school can face trial for involuntary manslaughter, the state appeals court said in a groundbreaking case of criminal responsibility for the acts of a child.

The murders would not have happened if the parents hadn’t purchased a gun for Ethan Crumbley, or if they had taken him home from school on the day of the shooting, when staff became alarmed about his extreme drawings, the appeals court said.

I certainly agree with these actions. Adults who have guns in their homes (or buy their kids guns) with small children must be held accountable when their child has easy access to the guns and uses them. In several instances, children have accidently killed a sibling.

Why is it when women wear torn jeans it’s fashionable, but when men wear them they’re homeless?

For the second time, the Ventura County Fairgrounds Board of Directors has turned down a proposed development including a baseball stadium at the fairgrounds. The developers said the project would also expand and renovate the state-owned facility. Directors rejected the proposal unanimously in October.

At the hearing, held on Feb. 22, most of more than 500 people attending expressed opposition to the project.

Either way the fairgrounds is in desperate need of a major refurbishing so hopefully money might be available in the future to do this.

Rainfall:
This year 25”
Normal 13”
Last year 8.5”

The Ventura City Council has ended its investigation into employee spending and reimbursement practices.

In September, the council ordered a review of city expenses after it was revealed city manager Alex McIntyre had left an excessive tip (nice guy) and purchased wine with a state-issued credit card on a 2021 trip when he paid for a meal for eight in Sacramento. He spent $323 for the meal, $115 for a bottle of wine (I drink $2.50 wine) and left a $234.60 tip.

McIntyre apologized and explained he overtipped because he didn’t realize the tip was already included. He later told the council he reimbursed the city for the wine and tip. McIntyre ultimately resigned on Dec. 12.

Even though the infractions haven’t amounted to much, it’s important that the council thoroughly understand what they can spend on city credit cards. The city needs to provide better training to employees on allowable expenses.

In the meantime, the San Bruno City Council hired Alex McIntyre as its interim city manager. The San Bruno (population 42,000) council unanimously approved McIntyre’s contract.

McIntyre joins Peter Gilli, Ventura’s former community development director, who is employed by San Bruno.

Forty-one-year-old Sandra June Dillard, the Ventura woman who had pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of a homeless woman in a homeless camp in Ventura, has been sentenced to thirty two-years-to-life in prison.

She also had a prior serious conviction and had also pleaded guilty to grand theft of a Firearm and Felony Battery on a Peace Officer in separate cases. She was already in the Ventura County Jail in connection with several other open cases. Why are people with these backgrounds not in prison to begin with? What happened to 3-strikes and you’re out?
Finland was chosen the world’s happiest nation for the sixth consecutive year in the annual World Happiness Report. The list is largely based on Gallup World Poll evaluations on matters such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption. Finland’s strong feelings of communal support and mutual trust were factors in helping the country again grab the top spot.

The USA came in at number 15. And, with the way this country is being divided (“feelings of communal support”) more and more every day, it wouldn’t surprise me if we continue to fall on the list.

Is nothing sacred? Two men accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fish fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in a fishing tournament pleaded guilty to charges including cheating. Next, people will lie about the size of the one that got away.
As you know, 3 three adults and three children (9-year-olds) were shot and killed at a private Christian school in Nashville. The 28-year-old female shooter was killed by police.

I know some people think the solution to gun violence is for everyone to carry a gun. Even if true (I certainly don’t think so), why was it necessary for this lady to own 7 guns, several which hold 30 rounds.

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order aiming at increasing background checks to buy guns, promoting more secure firearms storage and ensuring U.S. law enforcement agencies get more out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer.

I’m so sorry to hear of the recent passing of the wonderful Patti Channer. She was a great contributor to the arts and culture of Ventura and a friend.

The Women of Jewelia stated, “With broken hearts we share the sad news that Patti Channer has passed away. She was the driving force behind the movement Women of Jewelia. She was a connector and communicator beyond description. Her love and incredible spirit touched everyone she knew.”

Women of Jewelia: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Necklace

The Ventura County Christian School will plead its case before a jury as it tries to avoid eviction from the century-old Ventura building it has occupied for the last two decades located at 96 Mac Millan Ave. The trial comes months after the building’s owner, Ventura Unified School District told the school its lease had been terminated after the former Washington School site had been deemed an earthquake hazard. The school has remained open. When it does go to trial I hope the school does not make this by claiming their religious rights are being denied them. It’s just a matter if it is or isn’t safe in case of an earthquake. The group is also working/collecting funds to attempt to have the property deemed a historical landmark.

The break-in and theft of $572,020 at the Ventura County Fair in August was done by an insider who worked at the fairgrounds for the company that processed cash receipts. Alexander Piceno, 28, of Baldwin Park, was employed by the processing company. It seems stealing this money was just too easy. Hopefully, processes have been corrected to avoid this in the future.

A 3-year-old girl fatally wounded her 4-year-old sister in an unintentional shooting in Texas, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. I would certainly hope it was unintentional. The sheriff said a group of family and friends were inside a Houston apartment. At one point, the children were unsupervised in a bedroom because each parent thought the other was watching them, he said.

Gee, maybe a better solution would have been to lock up their gun(s). Normally I would think the parents should be prosecuted but perhaps losing their daughter is punishment enough.

Employees at Fox News knew blaming election fraud for Donald Trump’s 2020 loss were outlandish and false, even as the network continued to promote them as credible.

A document reveals that producers, executives and stars of the network knew that the election wasn’t stolen. The communications suggest that Fox News focused on fraud claims to boost ratings and appease their conservative viewership.

Bill Sammon, Fox News senior vice president and managing editor of the Washington bureau, told a colleague in December that “it’s remarkable how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things.”

Tucker Carlson, a huge supporter of the fraud charge wrote, “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait. What he’s good at is destroying things. He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.” In another message sent just before Jan. 6, 2021, Carlson wrote, “I truly can’t wait. I hate him passionately.”

Readers and viewers (when what they hear or read is what they want to hear) emphatically believe the stolen election to be the truth. Fox news certainly helped enrage the protestors who stormed the capital – they might even be as much to blame as Trump. At the very least, Fox should be heavily fined by the FCC.

Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other Senate Republicans lashed out at Tucker Carlson after he characterized the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as “mostly peaceful chaos.”

From Lorraine Ali writing in the LA Times; “Fox News isn’t news and it shouldn’t be treated as such. Let’s call it what it is: a right -wing variety show where ratings trump truth.”

Approximately 500 people attended the Ventura County Fairgrounds re-development meeting held Thursday, Feb. 23 in the Santa Rosa building. The $319 million project proposed by the Pacific Sports Group of Oxnard would bring a 7,500-seat baseball stadium and other improvements to the fairgrounds. Most people in attendance were opposed to the proposal.

Certainly, the fairgrounds needs to improve the very old deteriorating Quonset type buildings that are now used for their events. The fairgrounds is in desperate need of renovation.

The plan calls for two new parking garages, a transit center, a police substation, and retail space that could be used by restaurants, stores and other business. The Ventura County Fair would still be held there.

Some protesters claimed Pacific Sports Group was just looking to make money. Of course, they want to make a profit if they are willing to spend $319 million on the project. Some of what they are proposing couldn’t even legally be built there, but I think a minor league baseball team would great. It could be called the Ventura Breezers and might get kids out of the house and into the sunshine for matinee games. And people from outside of Ventura could take the Amtrak to the games and spend money in Ventura.

A lot of Venturan’s want to keep our town of 110,000 a “little sleepy town” exactly as it is. Except, unfortunately, “sleepy little towns” don’t provide the tax base to maintain even basic infrastructure.

Regarding the fairgrounds 4 Los Angeles County men have been arrested in connection with the theft of more than $500,000 at the Ventura County Fair in August.The money came from gate receipts and parking.

The suspects are:

Alexander Piceno, 28, of Baldwin Park, Rafael Morales, 56, of La Puente, Carlos Alberto Aranda, 44, of Los Angeles and Jesus Rios, 55, of El Monte.

The Ventura City Council has approved an ordinance to help build more affordable housing. The new rules will impact residential projects with seven or more units and will take effect on July 1.

Approved unanimously, the inclusionary housing ordinance, will require projects of seven units or more to have a certain percentage set aside for low and moderate income residents.

The ordinance contains the following:

10% of affected housing projects must be reserved for moderate-income residents.

For rental properties, 15% of units will be restricted, with 5% for very low-income and 10% for low-income tenants.

In Ventura County, moderate income for a family of four is $118,550 annually for the household. The low-income equivalent is $90,350 and very-low is $56,450.

Research conducted in The Netherlands has found that the maximum ceiling life span for a female is 115.7 years. For men, it is slightly lower at 114.1 years, but, even so, that’s a long time. Therefore, women will need to live alone for 1.6 years.

Six people are dead and another was wounded in a series of shootings in Tate County, Mississippi after a man opened fire on his ex-wife and potentially other family members. The suspect, Richard Dale Crum, 52, was arrested and is facing charges of first-degree murder in connection with the case. I doubt if he bought a gun to kill his ex-wife and 5 other family members.

A record 6,542 guns were intercepted at U.S. airports last year. Not at all surprising as more and more people are carrying guns.

Recently a friend asked me to buy cigarettes for them, I was out and about and heading to a liquor store. I bought 2 packs for over $22. Many people who smoke are spending at least $350.00 a month to support their habit. For that amount, you can buy a car.

Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.
~ From George Washington’s Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour

• Ventura County’s strawberries will again be celebrated with the return of the California Strawberry Festival. After a three-year hiatus, the 37th annual event will be held on May 20 and 21 at their new location – the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

Speaking of the fairgrounds, the Oxnard-based Pacific Sports Group presented a massive proposal in October to completely rebuild the fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds Board of Directors rejected the idea unanimously.

Fairgrounds officials will provide an opportunity for the developers to present their project again, on Feb. 22 in a two-hour hearing at the fairgrounds, which is open to the public.

In a right of first refusal agreement signed last year, the developers paid $25,000 to obtain exclusive rights to make a detailed proposal to the fair board. Pacific Sports Group leaders stated their proposal wasn’t given a fair consideration by the board in October.

The massive project would include the building of a stadium for the home of a minor league baseball team and would also be used for concerts, outdoor conventions and other uses.

The fairgrounds would be completely renovated, with virtually everything on the site replaced or rebuilt. The finished project could also include restaurants, a theater and a farmer’s market.

The site (and old Quonset hut buildings) is certainly in need of major remodeling. This would be a major change to the area of the fairgrounds including access to Amtrak. A huge number of cars would occur as well, so the streets would need major revisions .A project of this scope would take many years for plans, approvals and construction. It should be noted that the fairgrounds is owned by the state, not the city of Ventura.

• Forty mass shootings have been recorded in the US so far in 2023, more than any at this point in any year on record. If “only” 3 people are killed it is not a mass shooting. How sad is that?

In a few of the attacks, the suspects were over 60-years old, much older than the typical shooter. It now seems the only common thing in mass shootings are guns. I doubt if any of these people bought guns for the purpose of a mass shooting.

“Only in America do we see this kind of carnage, this kind of chaos, this kind of disruption of communities and lives and confidence and sense of safety and belonging,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said after California suffered three mass shootings in about 44 hours.

• An Iranian couple, both social media influencers, have been given lengthy prison sentences (over 10-years) after a video emerged of them dancing in a main square in the capital Tehran. Each was charged with “spreading corruption and vice,” and “assembly and collusion with the intention of disrupting national security.” Nothing is more harmful to society then seeing people dancing in public except perhaps if they were also holding hands.

• Former President Donald Trump has lashed out following the release of the House January 6 committee’s final report. The report says that Trump was the “central cause” of the attack, with the former president having launched “a multipart plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”

Trump denounced the 845-page document as a “highly partisan” (even though several Republicans were on the panel) and of being a political “witch hunt.” He repeated his false claims of massive fraud in the 2020 election, which he argued was the cause of “the protest.”

If I understand him correctly the storming of the capital was justifiable because he really won the election and it was just a peaceful demonstration.

The federal omnibus bill includes $28.9 million for 17 different projects in Ventura County, including. $750,000 to bring air conditioning to E.P. Foster Library. Foster is the only library without air conditioning in the county library system. Now, at least people will go to the library to cool down, and maybe they’ll even pick up a book.

The City Manager is the most influential job in Ventura’s city government. He controls millions of dollars and impacts Ventura for years to come. He (so far only males) does this with little oversight from a part-time City Council. A search is now under way to replace Alex McIntyre. Previously, the Council voted unanimously without debate to accept a separation agreement with McIntyre and a general release with a settlement payment of $150,000 in exchange for a waiver of any claims against the city. He could have received a much higher settlement during litigation.

When I was young (A long time ago), I thought there was a country named Panavision because movies always stated “Filmed in Panavision.”

Bill Gates has given $5 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to back the grant maker’s work in global health, development, policy and advocacy, and U.S. education. Wonderful that he does this and isn’t focused about developing Mars to make it into Gatesville.

William Singer, the college admission consultant who bribed coaches and rigged exams to get children of his wealthy clients into universities, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison. It is rumored that he asked the judge to give him four years which would give him time to obtain a BA degree in license plate manufacturing. He also tried to bribe the warden to put him on the prison water polo team.

Just when we think we have enough laws, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 997 of them in 2022. This is not new as hundreds of new laws are created every year. Here’s a couple of my favorites to make life safer and better for all of us are:

Creates a new state holiday, The Lunar New Year, under which state workers can receive 8 hours of holiday credit for that day.

Repeals a misdemeanor law against loitering in public for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. I support this. Prostitutes should have the same right to loiter as do people standing outside their work places smoking.

Creative expression from music to books are restricted from being used as evidence in criminal proceedings. After it was found that many men of color were being prosecuted using their lyrics as evidence. On the other hand, it was found that singers who sing God Bless America were much more likely to be found innocent of crimes.

I went spear fishing and caught 4 spears, but they were too small so I had to throw them back. in.

There is a 988 hotline to help people who are experiencing a mental health emergency. The nationwide helpline is staffed with mental health counselors. Since its launch in July it has fielded approximately 8,000 phone calls a day from those seeking help. With so many of our youths, and adults, struggling with mental health issues, it is important that they know about this service.