Jul 5

Jul 5 Worth Saving

PART ONE: Before the July 12 City Council Meeting

If you’re an OLO member — where we dig into the Ojai Valley’s dirty laundry, into subjects that probably only interest locals — then hopefully you’ve noticed the gossip section has been overwhelmed by a single issue: the Becker Group project. I’m adding more there and here as I prepare for the City Council meeting on July 12 at 6 PM. You should come. There’s other stuff on the agenda, something about the chain business ordinance might be important. I dunno about that because the Developer Agreement is over 300 pages, and I’m still reading it. If anyone has questions or wants to throw in their two cents, email us.

This valley is changing — big time. What is worth saving in Ojai? Affordable housing? I think so. I think we have to sink our jaws into all that’s left, no matter how much they shake and pull. I’ll get called a NIMBY again, as I did by the San Fransisco developer who wanted to turn Chaparral into a 200-room hotel. He also used the developer-lobbied standards, so when he said, “we’re building affordable housing,” he meant for people making almost $100K per year. I think that until we can figure out how to get funding (the state backlog is years long, btw, that is no easy solution) to create ACTUAL affordable housing in Ojai, we can at least make sure we aren’t removing what is here.

PART TWO: After the July 12 City Council Meeting

After about 5 hours of public comments and discussion, a very exhausted Council voted 3-2 to kick the deal back to the ad hoc committee, taking into consideration all the public comments, doing an environmental review, and hiring an affordable housing consultant. No one won, no one lost — yet. We had so many new subscribers to OLO (and you can find more post-meeting tea there), that when Andra Belknap offered to write a wrap-up, we were able to give her a resounding YES! Read it here.

PART TWO: The Issue is Still Live

A lot of folks figured Council would let this go until after November, in which the two ad-hoc committee members who worked on the deal are not seeking a return to their council seats: Bill Weirick and Paul Blatz both announced in July that they’d had enough, Blatz going so far as to site his frustration with the general public’s involvement at council meetings. But, here we are, whispers of the item to be on the September 27 agenda. At the September 27th meeting, Becker brought a lawyer, and Council voted 3-2 to give her a month to review the case and negotiate with Ojai’s attorney. The full Developer Agreement is coming back for October 18.

UPDATES

OJAI ELECTION 2022

VORTEX will follow the run-up to November in its Ojai Locals Only section. OLO is events, gossip, and now, election news. It’s the best way to support what we’re doing. It’s either that or those horrid Google pop-up ads. You don’t want that.

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39th Ojai Studio Artist Tour

The 39th Annual Ojai Studio Artists Tour, one of California’s premier art events, is coming up on October 8, 9, and 10 with over 70 artists opening their studios across the Ojai Valley.

We put together a few of our favorites in OLO.

O.J.A.I.

The doors of Basic Premise have been closed for about a year, but curators Matt Henricksen and Teddy Nava have been busy behind the scenes working with newly graduated Elizabeth Herring to curate a multi-artist/disciplinary/sensory experience in Libbey Park. Their shared palette: the old Ojai Jail. With events coming up at Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation and at Ojai Day, we'd like to share a little background info. Read Ojai Jail Arts Initiative by Andra Belknap.

A local Institution Returns:

The Ojai Film Society is back with a big announcement: four five* nights of outdoor movies at Libbey Bowl. Read about the comeback, new look (designed by yours truly), and events starting July 29.

*New doc screening added for OCTOBER 14: Fire of Love