But protocol was broken last week when Eric Lundstrom, a first term trustee, received the majority vote.  Uh oh!  Protocol was broken?  Yikes!  And Sandland doesn’t like that at all according to last week’s article in the Acorn:

“I think it’s my turn,” she said. “It’s a natural progression.”

DiFatta agreed with her fellow board member.

“There shouldn’t be any debate,” DiFatta said. “The clerk of the board (Sandland) has done a great job, and unless she’s not interested in being president, we should move the clerk to president. I certainly hope this board doesn’t go toward the culture of previous boards that were divisive and mean-spirited.”

I love that!  Breaking away from tradition gets this old timer to utter the words “divisive” and “mean-spirited!”  Really Janice??

What really moved me was the response from former Simi Valley Mayor and former School Board Trustee Greg Stratton.  I like Mr. Stratton for several reasons that I’m not afraid to admit.  1) I bought a condo from him about 10 years ago, 2) he used to work with my father, 3) he’s a well respected member of the community and 4) he was never afraid to openly voice his concerns about the school district and our board of trustees.  He speaks openly in a letter to the Acorn this week:

Obviously their definition of “recent memory” does not go all the way back to 2004, when they broke protocol and denied me and Carla Kurachi our turns as board president and clerk. They taught Rob (Collins) well that the leadership decision is purely political. I’m sure he remembers back that far.

By the protocol, Eric (Lundstrom) should have been clerk last year. Apparently they forgot that part of it then, but now they conveniently remember the rules.

I don’t know how they each can make the statements they made without being afraid of being struck by lightning for twisting the truth.

Read his letter by clicking here.

Update: Brian Dennert discusses the issue here.

Simi residents Al and Nan Kay believe that Simi police work hard for their money and the couple has no problem with the community’s cops getting a raise.

“I think it’s great,” Al Kay, 42, said. “They deserve all the money. They do a good job.”

Denise Rusiecki, 62, had mixed feelings though.

“I realize we need them but these are tight times,” said Rusiecki, who has lived in Simi for 35 years. “It’s tough justifying them getting raises when there are people that can’t afford to buy food and are losing their homes. It’s a tough call.”

Read more here…

School District Employees Lose Their Jobs

Simi Valley Unified School District, which has already shed $187,577 from this year’s budget, notified 16 classified employees this week they will be fired.

The 16 employees—including 11 custodians, four clerical workers and one information technology staff member—were given 45-day notices that their jobs have been terminated.

And more cuts may be on the way soon.

This is awful. While this opinion may not be well received, I think it’s hard to justify pay increases for (already well-paid) police officers while school employees get terminated.

Read more here…

City Council says ‘Wait a minute’ to Simi Couple’s farm animals

Miller explained that the Bridle Path HOA has covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) that prohibit homeowners from keeping certain animals and that just because the planning commission approved a conditional-use permit does not make it OK.

“The CUP doesn’t trump the CC&Rs,” he said.

Williamson, who serves as treasurer for her own HOA, agreed.

If I can possibly get away with it, I will never again live in a community that is governed by an HOA. Then again, I wouldn’t have 8 cows and 2 pigs living in my backyard either.

Read more here…

Barbra Williamson Campaign Finances Challenged by The Star

Glen Gerson donated $3,000 under the names of three separate corporations, including The Vineyards, in this year’s council race. He said he gave money to Williamson after she asked him for support in her bid for a fifth term.

“When a local politician comes up and says ‘Donate to my campaign,’ I’m going to do it,” Gerson said. “We make donations to have people leave us alone.”

I’m fascinated that the Simi Valley Acorn doesn’t touch this story. It makes me wonder if they think it’s a wild goose chase.

Read more here…

If you have some SImi Valley government news that you’d like to share with my or publish for my readers, please contact me.

In response to the idea of a $100 donation from every household for the schools, I think it is a start, but not enough.

Meanwhile, we all wonder how the C4 Bond Funds are being spent and people like me wonder if they’ll have the chance to sit on the oversight committee.  Learn more about that by clicking here.

Also in the Acorn: City will hear latest findings on Runkle Canyon

According to a letter sent to the city in October, the agency has concluded that “additional work is necessary to better define environmental conditions at the site and to address one or more potential threats to public health and the environment.”

From what I’ve read so far, the so-called Radiation Rangers that are protesting the development of Runkle Canyon strike me as hysterical people attempting to sell fear.  I’ve seen no solid evidence to support either claim of clean or contaminated.

I had originally planned to be there with my camera on documenting the happenings on Monday night.  Unfortunately, I’ll be flying out to Cincinnati on business that day.  I’ll have to catch the “re-run” on the city’s website.

Oaks Mall Expansion Opens Tomorrow

Holiday shoppers will want to load up their wallets and put on their comfortable walking shoes because the two-level, open-air expansion at The Oaks mall will be awaiting them tomorrow, Nov. 15

This is bad news for those who are heavily invested in the Shop Simi Valley First campaign.  I’ve heard the new mall is gorgeous.  I’m curious to know how the city’s $100,000 Shop Simi budget is going to keep holiday shoppers in Simi Valley Town Center this holiday season.

I can’t pretend to know all the details, but my understanding is that housing developers are required to contribute funding to the school district when large housing developments are built out. The school district can then decide whether to put that toward building another school or increasing an existing school’s capacity. Judging by all the temporary classrooms assembled on the basketball court at Atherwood Elementary, our school district opts to take the money over building another school.

I found Brad Jashinsky’s comments about the C4 Bond spending compelling. Evidently, I was the only one. I firmly believe the results of the election, specifically regarding the school board, were because of the voting public’s lack of knowledge on the issues.

Am I the only one who’s disappointed?

Simi Valley Mayor

Paul Miller is our mayor again, with 78.66% of the vote.  Bruce Witkin comes second with 13.29%, with Ed Lang bringing in just over 7%.

Simi Valley City Council

Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka get to keep their jobs as City Councilmembers, earning 29.02% and 35.77% of the votes respectively.  Mike Judge pulled in impressive numbers with 17.21%.  Something tells me we’ll be seeing more of him…

Simi Valley School Board

Debbie Sandland earned 22.92%, Janice DiFatta took 18.21% and Rob Collins took 23.95% of the vote for Simi Valley Board of Education, making the incuments the victors in this election as well.  Ray Cruz came close with over 15%, rounding out the totals with over 10% to Eric Smith and just over 8% to Brad Jashinsky.  I firmly believed both would make good candidates, but I don’t think enough people got a chance to see or hear more of them.

Congratulations to all!

I’m scouring the internet and listening to and reading every bit of local election news I can find. As soon as I hear any results on the local elections, they’ll be online here. In the meantime, I encourage you to browse this site and find out what’s to come in the coming months.

Continued best wishes to all the candidates!

The forum at Council Chambers tonight for the School Board candidates was very lively. I’ve got a ton of video on it as well as an on-camera interview of Eric Smith. I’ll have that ready asap!

Barbra Rocks the Web!

Barbra Williamson updated her website and added some new content, including some links to VoteSimiValley.com, and a summary of her accomplishments as a member of City Council. Check out her wide range of accomplishments. This is by no means a “cookie cutter” politician. She does not lean to the far right with folded arms and blinders on. Barbra truly sets out to make a difference and represent her community.