ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

My fingers are crossed, for tonight.

The OVN story just hit. Kenley, what do you say to adding an initiative in support of affordable housing? Good work!
http://ojaivalleynews.blogspot.com/2007/04/nuefeld-submits-chain-initiative.html

Joe Devito's Subway

Time to Recall Joe. Put him out to pasture.

Widders does not need 15 days to prepare ballot title and summary. More like ten minutes. He should be fired if he has not returned title and summary by yesterday. Did he?

Alternative Scenario (let’s hope not!):

Before April 10: Kenley provides draft initiative to city. City begins preparing counter-strategy.

April 10: Kenley submits initiative.

April 10: City holds emergency council meeting to begin campaign to torpedo initiative. Fake "moratorium" killed by single council member. Next meeting date set for May 1.

April 10: Per Devito’s instruction, City sends certified mail notices to out of town property owners warning them that a chains ordinance may be coming down the pike (put in form of a “notice of upcoming meeting”). In response, out of town property owners hurriedly begin contacting chain store operators with attractive lease provisions for their empty storefronts.

April 20-22: Widders advises Kenley that he should change initiative in order to "make it stronger." Council member Hanstad and others contact Kenley to urge him to go along. Kenley revises and resubmits: 15 day clock starts anew for Widders to provide title and summary.

May 1: City has alternative ordinance in initial draft form, providing discretion for city officials to restrict limited types of formula retail in a tightly circumscribed tiny downtown core. People scratch their heads at seemingly arbitrary lines that exclude specific lots even within the arcade. Behind the scenes, city has already vetted proposal with out of town property owners to ensure they are happy with the proposed unrestricted chains district all around the tiny restricted area.

May 2: City begins campaign to induce Kenley to withdraw initiative. Widders and city publicly say that Kenley’s is weak and legally questionable while theirs is strong. They announce plans to adopt theirs after Planning Commission review, as-yet unscheduled. Whisper campaign calling Kenley and initiative supporters “fringe element” begins.

May 2 through July 30: While Planning Commission review is underway and Kenley is either attempting to gather signatures (facing resistance from those propagandized by the city against the initiative) or sitting back to see how the city’s “process” goes, new lease notices from the nation’s worst chains begin popping up in vacant spaces all over town.

September 10: City considers ordinance as vetted and revised by Planning Commission, after several cancelled meetings and various delays. Council approves payment to Widders law firm of $200,000 for its work in dealing with proposed ordinance. After long debate, council votes 3-2 to kill ordinance, citing unfairness now that so many new chains have already executed leases while the ordinance was being considered. Horgan says “it would be bad for consumers to limit chains now – if we limit competition, we would just be protecting Subway and the chains that are already here. Let’s give ourselves a chance for the best chains to win.”

January, 2008: Conde Nast Traveler Runs Article: “What Happened to Ojai?” Recommends readers avoid the "cookie cutter" town. "No reason to leave home to go here," says article.

December 2008: Ojai Valley Inn and Spa sells to Embassy Suites. General Manager says: “Our clientele just isn’t interest in coming to Ojai anymore.”

December, 2009: Los Angeles Times runs article on Southern California towns where the slump just keeps getting worse. Ojai included in top 5. Local realtor quoted: “Property values have dropped over 50% from the peak, and we still can’t sell any homes. People just aren’t interested in suffering the extra commute and roads to live in a town that looks just like all the other suburbs that are right next to their jobs.”

I applaud the people who are so fired up with what is going on, and not so long ago, we were in your shoes. Please heed this advice as it will save you hours of anger and head -banging. SHowing up at planning commission and city council meetings with large numbers of impassioned citizens, does nothing unless the city is already predisposed to voting for your cause. Do the minimum of what is needed before these bodies, (establish the administrative record etc.) as soon it will turn to a humiliating and fruitless loss of evergy. We learned that the only ways to get through to them, is to find a legal loophole to hold them to, or sue them on, if they don't come down and do the right thing. The second thing is, is to change the law, via ordinance. I know this appears negative, but we have years of experience dealing with the city, through countlesss appeals and lawsuits over unseemly developments, and as long as Monte Widders double- dips and lies, he will control the cards, because most of the council and planning commissioners do not think for themselves. In the case of the franchise issue, the city may be on your side as it afftects local business, and the chamber of commerce pressures the city. Having said all of this, follow your passion, but don't burn yourself out. Most importantly, influence as many people as possible not to patronize these busineses. I see an awful lot of people at Jersy Mike's, and Starbucks. (Both places I would not be caught dead)! It is appaling to me that people eat at these establishments and think nothing of it. They are not all tourists eating there. We spearheaded an initiative (traffic initiative) that we thought would be a slam-dunk winner that made total sense for the quality of life for Ojai, and lost. We are staunch of supporters of you all, and just choose to be out of the public eye, as we have many many war stories with the city. Thank you, our support is with you.

Thanks for the advice Anonymous 6:57 p.m. Believe me, we already know the ways of this city government. That is why I went to the trouble to outline the exact course of action for the initiative above. The fact is, if we get 15% of the voters to sign the petition, the City's options are severely limited. They can adopt or schedule the special election. I believe that we would win such an election, but if we did not, it would mean that the majority of the people of Ojai were okay with chains. If that's true, then so be it; at least it will be Democratically decided.

It is very likely that the City will mount some campaign against the initiative using the subterfuge of their own "stronger" initiative. It will be nonsense of course, but I don't doubt they might try. In that case the Special Election will become a de-facto IQ test. Who can possibly believe them after all the things that have transpired. If Ojai goes down like this, that's just the way it is--again, at least there will be Democracy. The only real trouble is, there's just fewer and fewer good places to live.