The Democratic Club of Ventura will provide a chance for members of the community to meet face to face with elected representatives during the “Keep It Blue” fundraising luncheon. On July 30th from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m, Congressional Representatives, local elected officials, the Democratic Party State Chair, members of the Democratic Club of Ventura and interested community members will mix and mingle in the beautiful grand atrium of Historic Ventura City Hall. Money raised by the luncheon will be used to elect and re-elect Democratic candidates in the 2018 election.

California State Democratic Party Chairman, Eric Bauman, will serve as the official Master of Ceremonies in a brief program featuring Congressman Salud Carbajal, District 24, and Congresswoman Julia Brownley, District 26. Attendees will have the opportunity to directly interact with our elected leaders while enjoying a buffet-style “luscious lunch” with musical entertainment provided by Clarence Ulrich.

“We want to provide an opportunity for Ventura Democrats to meet their elected representatives and Party leaders while raising money to keep our city and county Blue,” said Matty Park, Democratic Club of Ventura’s President.

Both Congressional representatives, Carbajal and Brownley, serve the city of Ventura as well as surrounding areas, and both have very tough races ahead of them. Carbajal is a first term Congressman whose reelection to the district, previously represented by Lois Capps, could be a very tough battle. Brownley’s race has previously been targeted by the DCCC, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, as a high priority race due to extreme amounts of money spent by opponents to defeat her.

Ticket information is as follows:

Cost per person: $45.00 $85.00 (couple)

How to buy tickets: Online: secure.actblue.com/donate/keepblue

Tickets by phone 620-7477

The Democratic Club of Ventura, DCV, club members believe that politics is not a spectator sport! Monthly meetings are held on the 2nd Sunday of the month. For more information please visit venturademocrats.org and Facebook Democratic Club of Ventura.

To be found in this issue what are the ages of YPG members ?

The first correct entry will receive two tickets to the Ronald Reagan Library (value $58.00).

Send your answer to [email protected].

Realty Watch: by Patricia Fasen, Realtor

By now just about every would-be buyer out there knows there simply aren’t enough homes for sale these days to appease the hordes of competition. Yes, there are always the homes on https://www.findnctrianglehomes.com/, but not everyone can be lucky enough to get one of these. Still, despite the shortages, rising prices, and bidding wars, more homes are expected to be sold this year than in more than a decade.

In 2017, the number of sales of homes is expected to rise about 3.5%, to 5.64 million, according to the midyear forecast from the National Association of Realtors®. The group predicts that existing-home purchases will rise an additional 2.8% in 2018, to 5.8 million.

It’s understandable why the sales of homes are still rising, and that is because of the number of people who are in need of a house for themselves, or their family. Plenty of people are buying houses off real estate companies, such as Willam Pitt, because they are either in need of a home or just fancy a change. The market for a home is likely to keep increasing as well.

“The combination of the stock market being at record highs, 16 million new jobs created since 2010, pent-up household formation, and rising consumer confidence are giving more households the assurance and ability to purchase a home,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “However, prices are still rising too fast in many areas and are outpacing incomes.”

Sales of brand-new homes, which builders can’t seem to put up fast enough, are expected to jump 10.7%, from 560,000 in 2016 to 620,000 this year, according to NAR. They’re expected to rise an additional 8% in 2018, to 670,000 sales.

New homes are typically more expensive than existing homes, as builders must contend with shortages of land and labor, plus rising costs of materials and difficulty obtaining financing.
The price tags of all homes are expected to keep rising. NAR predicts prices will jump 5% in 2017 and an additional 3.5% in 2018.

“As a result, buyers are compromising on the number of rooms, length of a commute, or other home qualities,” says Senior Economist Joseph Kirchner of realtor.com®. “Meanwhile, builders are mostly building for the mid- to upper-price range. This mismatch in supply and demand is making affordability more acute for those with modest incomes.”

In some white-hot markets along the coasts, prices are rising by double digits because of the dearth of homes. That’s led many current homeowners who might be interested in trading up to a larger, nicer home in their area to hold off-because those homes are simply out of their price range.

Bidding wars have gotten so bad in Seattle that buyers are driving up prices 30% over asking in some cases, says local real estate broker Chris Bajuk, of HomeSmart Real Estate Associates. (Seattle prices were up 12.2% year over year in February, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Schiller report.)

“It is crazy,” Bajuk says. “There’s strong demand and lack of supply.”
Buyers are coping by putting ever-higher percentages of their incomes toward homeownership-even when it means eating at home every night and doing without new clothes or annual beach vacations. Sometimes they’re spending half of their take-home pay on housing, he says.

Others are purchasing homes farther from the city center where they work, settling for smaller homes or even purchasing residences in need of some work.

“They may need to spend more of their disposable income,” Bajuk says. “Or they may need to lower their expectations on what kind of home they get.”

Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation (VCMRF) has announced the recipients of the 2017 Fainer/Tauber, MD Awards. They will be honored on Thursday, August 17 at Ancient Creek at Petersen Ranch, in Somis.

Hospital Physician of the Year: Deborah Carlson, MD Community Memorial Health System-Pacific Inpatient Physicians

Community Physician of the Year: Richard Rothschild, MD Cabrillo Cardiology Medical Group-affiliated with Dignity Health/St. John’s Regional Medical Ctr.

Vision Care Specialist of the Year: Michael McQuillan, OD Owns a private practice Camarillo

Oral Health Specialist of the Year: Joel Goldenberg, DDS Goldenberg Family Dentistry, Ventura

Hospital Nurse of the Year: Amy Querol, RN, BSN Community Memorial Health System

Community Nurse of the Year: Shirley Scott, JF Charge Nurse California Forensic Medical Group at Juvenile Facilities

Behavioral/Mental Health Professional : Patrick Zarate ntura County Behavioral Health – Chief Operations Officer/Substance Use Disorder Services

Community Service Award: Denise Carter Mission Home Health – Regional Director of Sales

Allied Health Professional of the Year: Bonnie Subira, MSW Community Memorial Health System – Director, Social Service/Case Management

Trailblazer Award: Kaiser Permanente (Mary Jarvis, Public Affairs Director is the contact)

The $225- plate event ($195 for past award winners) includes a champagne reception, entertainment by the Midnite Band), dessert, live and silent auctions, formal dinner and the awards ceremony. Funds from the event will benefit oral health and vision care services for low-income children and seniors, homeless outreach for those less fortunate, and survivorship wellness retreats for low-income women undergoing cancer treatment at local hospitals through the InnCourage program. The event MC’s and Live Auctioneers are Bonnie & Rich Atmore

Founded in 1956, Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation’s mission is “To improve, in partnership with others, access to needed health care for the most vulnerable and underserved residents of Ventura County.”

For more information please contact Victoria Chandler at the Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation 641-9800, email at [email protected], or visit website at vcmrf.org.

Ventura Harbor Village packs in a rousing good time every Wednesday in July and August, when locals and visitors can take off midweek and enjoy great dining discounts and specials along with one-of-a-kind retail shopping offering everything for a perfect day seaside on the waterfront.

Entertainment abounds with live steel drum entertainment from noon to noon to 3 p.m. This weekly attraction entices visitors and locals to discover weekdays seaside at the Village, with selected stores, boutiques and restaurants offering specials and discounts.

Stop by the Wet Wednesday booth from noon to 3 p.m. for special giveaways and to send a postcard to a friend for free, postage paid by Ventura Harbor Village Harbor shops and restaurants to take advantage of Wet Wednesday offerings.

For a complete list of everything that’s offered for Wet Wednesday, visit www.VenturaHarborVillage.com.

Ventura Harbor is a vibrant, working harbor village and fishing marina boasting 35 shops, galleries, restaurants and waterfront activities including a Village Carousel & Arcade, Comedy Club, Harbor Cove Beach and Surfer’s Knoll Beach, dive and fishing boats, harbor tours, boat, kayak and peddle boat rentals, and a beautiful walking Promenade. The Village offers visitors an escape to a sun-kissed, seaside playground with transportation to and from the Harbor via the new Ventura-Downtown Harbor Trolley, annual special events, live weekend entertainment, dog-friendly facilities, soft adventure, and spectacular sunset views of the Pacific coastline. Home to the Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center, this coastal playground features its own viewing tower, exhibits and bookstore, it is easy for travelers to visit the five islands right off the Ventura coast. It is here that visitors can experience world-class island diving, snorkeling, hiking, kayaking, sea cave exploration, photography, camping and wildlife viewing.

by Jennifer Tipton

Thursday, July 13th was a cool and breezy evening, nonetheless, about 150 folks showed up to support the ribbon cutting for the new rooms at the City Center. Including our City Councilmember Matt LaVere who addressed the crowd “I am so honored to be here tonight. We’re all here to recognize Jim Duran and the Board for everything they do for the City of Ventura and for making a huge difference in our community!”

The City Center is a transitional living program to help the homeless get their lives back on track. “It’s not a handout, it’s a working program”, as one of the graduates stated. Residents do pay rent and are required to save a portion of their income. Jim Duran, who heads the City Center tells me they are also required to advance in their place of employment or go to trade school, college or any other training that would advance them financially.

The newly renovated eight rooms provide housing for the graduates of the initial phase of the program until they are fully ready to be independent, several rooms are already occupied.

With a few “hiccups” along the way, construction took longer than anticipated, so completion was truly a celebration! Jim Harrasta came in as a carpenter to do windows and says he “just ended up staying” as a project manager. There have been 3 project managers to date and Jim says, “it’s been a collaborative effort.”

Sponsors of the newly renovated rooms include:

Lowe’s Ventura, Bill & Elise Kearney, Coast Water Solutions, Shondra & Eric Vielbig, Pacific Western Bank, Lori & Andre Nintcheff, Trinity Lutheran Church, Wendy Lawson (to honor her mother Laura Sann) and Leadership Ventura – class of 2011.

Although these rooms are completed, the project is ongoing with a playground in progress, plans for a learning center and additional rooms. The goal is to have 30 functioning rooms and since the current rooms aren’t large enough for families greater than 5, there is talk of perhaps putting two rooms together.

The rooms are small with a bathroom but do not include a kitchen, but there is a large kitchen (sponsored by Leadership Ventura) available for resident’s use.

The new landscaping was done by Chris & Kristal Shreenon from Bird Dog Landscape and Irrigation, they currently have a daughter with an infant and a 4-year-old residing at the City Center.

For more information- thecitycenter.org or 628-9035. Located at 837 E. Thompson.