The Associated Students of the Ventura County Community College District have announced that Kimberly Ramos was elected student trustee of the Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustees. Ramos received 1,521 votes from a total of 3,417 votes cast.  “Ramos demonstrates a passion for serving, having held positions as president for the Latina/o Leadership Network, student office assistant for Supplemental Instruction Coordinator, student aid for BEACH community within the department of Learning Resources and as a tutor,” said VCCCD Chancellor Bernard Luskin.

“My role as a student worker has provided much insight into the needs of students that go beyond tutoring,” stated Ramos.  “I have witnessed first-hand the challenges many students face and understand the services needed to support student retention and successful class completion,” she added.

Equitable access to housing, day care, technology and a safe place for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are among the many issues she plans to address during her tenure as student trustee.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we look forward to working with Ms. Ramos and supporting her efforts to improve student retention – a primary goal of the Board,” stated VCCCD Board Chair Bernardo Perez. “We thank outgoing student trustee Josue Ruiz for his service and welcome Kimberly Ramos as the newest member of our governing board,” added Perez.

Ramos has completed 35 units within the VCCCD and holds a cumulative GPA of 3.0.  She will take office beginning June 1 and will be sworn in during the Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, June 13.

The name Nannerl Mozart has long been a footnote in classical music history, but Sylvia Milo’s award-winning The Other Mozart reveals the extraordinary talent and rich inner thoughts of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s sister in the acclaimed Off-Broadway drama the N.Y. Times describes as “strikingly beautiful.”

A prodigy, keyboard virtuoso and composer, Nannerl performed alongside her brother throughout Europe as children to great acclaim, but was forced to give up her artistic passion as a young woman due to the societal expectations of her gender.

Her brother would rise to become one of the preeminent composers in history, while Nannerl’s own works were lost. This monodrama is set in a stunning 18-foot dress. Directed by Isaac Byrne, The Other Mozart is based on facts, stories and thoughts culled from the Mozart family’s humorous and heartbreaking letters. This poetic and poignant production features music composed by Mozart and Marianna Martines, (a female composer who inspired Nannerl), along with original music written for the play by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen. The modern-styled music created for the play utilizes clavichords, music boxes, bells, teacups, fans and other objects d’art. The Other Mozart is a multi-sensual experience that transports the audience into a surreal world of oversized beauty and delight – but also one of overwhelming restrictions and prejudice where, finally, this other Mozart tells her story.

Dates: May 31-June 18.
Previews Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at 7 p.m. ($30)
Thursday, June 1, 2017 at 8 p.m. and Friday, June 2, 2017 at 8 p.m. ($35)
Opening Night  Saturday, June 3, 2017 at 7 p.m. ($99)
Rubicon Theatre Company , 1006 E. Main St.
Ticket Range: $30 – $55 . For regular performance times and prices go to http://www.rubicontheatre.org.

by Gail Field

It doesn’t have silver bells an cockle shells, but it has plenty of vegetables tended with care by Ventura children.  The Kids Garden  Brigade, with the under the guidance of Gerardo Gallegos is giving kids a chance to learn and practice caring for plants and harvesting fruits and vegetables for their families and residents.

The garden on 572 Ventura Ave., an affiliate of Restore Ventura, is holding a Volunteer Day for teens and adults as part of Serve Day, which is a movement to provide volunteer opportunities to help people and projects in need.  Serve Day is held this year the morning of Saturday, June 3, from 8:30 – noon.

The call is for volunteers to participate in three projects in the garden:  painting the fence, extending water lines, and building a treehouse. All of these projects enhance the functionality and beauty of the garden. Volunteers are encouraged to bring tools including brushes, screwdrivers, wrenches, cutting tools any other supplies appropriate to the planned projects.

In charge of the project is Gerardo Gallegos, the Director of Operations for the non-profit Restore Ventura. Teens and adults are welcome.  No children, please, because of the space needed to do sawing, cutting, and irrigating.  Please come at 8:30 to get assignments and a head start on the morning.  For more information about this event, call Gerardo Gallegos at  550 – 7890.

You can find out about other Serve Day opportunities online: http://meettheneed.org/event.php?id=564266&orgtemp=6688

John Gherini, great-great-grandson of Santa Cruz Island ranch owner Justinian Caire, will share images and stories of Santa Cruz Island during the June From Shore to Sea lecture.

Gherini recently published the two-volume Santa Cruz Island: An Illustrated History, the most comprehensive illustrated history of the island ever to be released. Together, both volumes contain almost 600 images of life on the island, some of which have never been previously published.

During his lecture Gherini will recount the fascinating history of the island, from the time of the Island Chumash to the Spanish-Mexican period, to the Caire family ranch era, and ending with the transfer of the island for conservation by the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy.

Gherini’s unique blend of natural and cultural history is supplemented by his personal experiences on the island, as well as the experiences of generations of his family members; Gherini’s family owned the eastern ten percent of Santa Cruz from 1926 until 1996. His lecture will provide an exclusive insight into the struggles and triumphs of life on Santa Cruz Island.

John Gherini was born and raised in Santa Barbara and currently works there as an attorney. The island has long been a part of his life; growing up, he traveled there often and spent time building and repairing fences, herding sheep, sacking wool, and performing other ranch tasks.

The talk will be held on Thursday, June 8. The From Shore to Sea lecture series is sponsored by Channel Islands National Park to further the understanding of current research on the Channel Islands and surrounding marine waters. The 2017 lecture series will take place at 7:00 pm on the second Thursday of each month, January through December, at the Channel Islands National Park Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center, 1901 Spinnaker  in Ventura Harbor. The programs are free and open to the public.

This lecture can also be viewed live online, at: Shore to Sea lecture series.

GUEST COLUMNIST
by  Bob Alviani, Chairman, Venturans for Responsible & Efficient Government’

Complaining about how Ventura spends tax money is like complaining about the weather. Everyone talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.

You trust city officials would spend it as though it comes out of their own pockets. However, many believe that City officials view tax revenue as an endless faucet spewing money.

So, we rely on our elected officials to question spending when necessary. The following example illustrates how dysfunctional the oversight has become.

At a recent meeting, the City of Ventura Finance Committee considered a “small-dollar” expenditure. The Finance Department wants to spend $29,600 per year on outsourcing the opening of payment envelopes and processing of water bills.

Currently, Ventura Water sends water bills every two months and when payment is made, city personnel open envelopes and process the payments through the bank. The City will soon change to send out water bills monthly. Since Ventura will change to monthly billing, the outsourcing costs would double to $59,200.

The city’s finance staff justified outsourcing this service to improve cash flow and increase efficiency. The staff did not discuss or offer any evidence on just how they would be more efficient if adopted.

Only two City Councilmembers attended the committee meeting.

A citizen asked how much money we would save and how many staff people would be reduced or redeployed. The initial reply was the cost savings would be “minuscule.” When pressed to define minuscule, the staff member was unprepared to provide numbers. When pressed about changes in staffing, the answer was “none.”

That should cause every tax payer in this city to express concerns about the issues surrounding this spending proposal and by extension any plans to spend tax money regardless of the amount:

Why would any staff member ask for $29,600 per year and not support the request with time and cost savings?

Why didn’t the City Council members ask the hard questions about time and cost savings?

If the city wasn’t planning to reduce staff, what would these staff employees do instead of opening envelopes and processing payments? How would they be more productive in their new duties?

You may be asking, “Why so focused on one instance such as this?” After all, it’s only $29,600 today. But soon, it’s going to double to $59,200. We must remind ourselves of Benjamin Franklin’s admonition — “Watch the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves.”

In this case $29,600 doubles within the year. No City Councilmember noted or questioned the expense.

Why? Have our elected City Council members have become complacent? Do they trust staff

recommendations unquestionably? Or, are they no longer concerned about how they spend our tax dollars?

No matter the reason, the City Council has to stop looking at taxpayers as an endless faucet from which money flows. It’s time they started spending our tax money as if it was coming out of their own pockets, not some faceless person.

When pennies turn to dollars and dollars turn to thousands then turn to millions, who do YOU think they will look to for more money?

Gold Coast Transit District (GCTD), Ventura County’s largest provider of public transit, broke ground recently on the future home of its new Operations and Maintenance facility that will support future transit needs for thousands of riders in Ventura County.

“This facility is an investment in both the future of transit serving Ventura County and the transit workers we depend on to keep a modern, efficient transit fleet in good working order,” said Congresswoman Julia Brownley.

The new facility will replace an outdated and deteriorating bus garage located on a 3-acre site that was originally built in the 1970’s for a much smaller fleet. Once built, the new “green facility” will allow GCTD to maintain a future fleet of up to 125 buses and will include an administration and operations building, an eight-bay maintenance and repair building, a compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel station and bus wash. Noted Darren Kettle, Executive Director of Ventura County Transportation Commission, “This is the largest transportation infrastructure project in the last 10 years.” The new facility is located at 1901 Auto Center Drive in Oxnard, and is expected to open in late 2018.

“We have to keep our buses, equipment and facilities in good shape so that people can rely on public transit to get to work, school and appointments,” said Steve Brown, General Manager.

With the May 11, 2017 announcement, Ventura joins a group of communities, in all 50 states, that are transforming their neighborhoods. There are now 416 communities nationwide currently recognized with a BFC award for their efforts to make biking better.

This is the first time that the City of Ventura has qualified as a Bicycle Friendly Community.  Local bicycle club and advocacy organization, Channel Islands Bicycle Club, assisted with the application and has supported the many improvements for cyclists in Ventura that resulted in this recognition.

“We applaud these communities for making improvements for people who bike in ways that build upon their existing strengths and are based upon their particular needs, whether that is infrastructure, education, or encouragement,” said Bill Nesper, Executive Director at the League of American Bicyclists. “We are encouraged by the way that communities are using bicycling as a part of their solution to issues of health, job access, traffic safety, and the environment and using our program to make progress in those issues.”

The Bronze BFC award recognizes Ventura’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies. The BFC program provides a benchmark for communities to evaluate these conditions and policies, while highlighting areas for improvement. The national scope of the program also promotes competition and comparison between communities.

Each community that applies for a BFC award receives a report card. The report cards for communities that receive an award are available in the League of American Bicyclists’ award database.

“We are very proud of the many recent infrastructure projects in Ventura, such as the clearly marked bike lanes and green ‘bike boxes’ at intersections, that help cyclists and motorists share the road in Ventura,” said Leslie Ogden, Government Liaison at Channel Islands Bicycle Club.  “We encourage new riders to sign up for a Street Skills class through the City of Ventura and learn the techniques for safe road cycling.”

The League of American Bicyclists is leading the movement to create a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.  The Bicycle Friendly Community program was created in 1995 and has processed more than 1,200 applications since 2002.

To learn more about building a Bicycle Friendly America, visit:  www.bikeleague.org/BFA

About the Channel Islands Bicycle Club

The Channel Islands Bicycle Club (CIBike) represents over 300 cyclists from Ventura County and beyond. The Club sponsors weekly road bike rides and co-sponsors the annual “Cool Breeze Century Ride” every August.  CIBike advocates for safe cycling facilities and provides grants to organizations that promote cycling for recreation, health, sport, and transportation.  CIBike is partnering with the City of Ventura to offer the Street Skills classes.

by Terri Stober.

My book entitled  A Road to Barcelona, A Mother’s Account has been recently published.  My e-book or paperback is listed on Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online retailers.  Bank of Books in Ventura, also, has my book in paperback.

My book is a mother’s story of her two daughters leaving home at young ages to pursue gymnastics dreams to be Olympians.  The loneliness and longing to be with her daughters during their journey and the long separations were not easy to describe.  Maybe they didn’t make it to the Olympics, but there were decisions, successes, and experiences that I wanted to share.

A retired high school educator and Human Relations Specialist retirement has allowed me the time to hike, bike, volunteer at the Ventura Botanical Gardens and the San Buenaventura Mission, play bridge, travel, and now write my first book.

Terri and her husband raised their two daughters in Grass Valley in Northern California, where they found their passion for gymnastics. After the girls’ college graduations, Terri worked and lived internationally for five years in Egypt and Paris, France, then moved to Seattle where she lived for 11 years. She finally returned to her home state of California in 2013.

I will have my second book signing at Bank of Books, 748 E Main St.  from 1-3 pm on June 24. I hope to see you there. www.gymnasticsamothersacctbystober.com .