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

We all know Ernie is a regular reader of the Post, and his comments are welcome. Any word on last night's Closed Session?

The closed session that so frightened people and filled them with dread at having dared to exercise their constitutionally protected rights was about a tree, not about proposing yet another SLAPP suit.

great to hear the COUNCIL realizes the importance of planting a tree!

From how Dennis describes the announcement (on the "Spiritual Politics" thread), it sounds like the City mis-posted its notice of closed session. Nevertheless, what a sorry incident. It really goes to show the importance for all of Ojai of the SLAPP appeal that the ACLU has taken on our behalf. Look what happened. The Council puts on a notice of closed session to consider suing someone, and people who have exercised their rights panic out of fear they are going to be subjected to a SLAPP lawsuit.

Irrational. But imagine having to suddenly put your house up to finance $100,000 in legal fees to defend yourself? Imagine having to contemplate spending the bulk of your time for the next few months defending that lawsuit? It is easy to indulge the philosophical idea of not being worried about defending a baseless lawsuit - until something even so remote as a closed session posting to initiate litigation makes you contemplate the actuality that yes indeed, it might actually happen to you. All of a sudden, exercising one's rights goes out the door.

It is an awful state of affairs. This council owes it to the people of Ojai to loudly and unequivocally repudiate its SLAPP lawsuit, and make clear it will never do it again.

Fat chance, I know.

I'm thrilled to see that the Subway sign is gone and the space is for lease again! hooray! Maybe we aren't losing our Ojai after all...

It's clear that the next step is to get Kenley's initiative passed. And, support our local businesses.

Had a delicious lunch at Cafe Emporium today and enjoyed reading about owner, Nancy Rosen in today's OVN.

If indeed the Subway has bailed - that's terrific! For all those who have been taking the punches over the last months, kudos to you and please keep up the efforts. Let's not make this a temporary victory.

It's official - Subway bailed:

http://ojaivalleynews.blogspot.com/2007/05/subway-owner-abandons-ojai-plan.html

Hooray. A major victim for the people of Ojai. Subway alone would not have destroyed our city. But had Subway opened the message would have been that Ojai was open to chains. Instead the message is we value our uniqueness; if your stores look the same everywhere in the world, we do not want you in our City.

Thanks to the City Council for voting for the moratorium. Thanks to everyone who has spoken out on this issue and to those who showed up at the last council meeting. And special thanks to Jeff and Kenley for putting their initiatives our there to keep this issue in the public's eye.

Now let's get Kenley's initiative on the ballot so that the temporary protection of the moratorium becomes permanent.

Len Klaif

Only yesterday, it finally happened.

After six years of darkness blanketing these United States, of a deep murk with only one bright point of light poking through right up on the northern tip of the San Francisco Bay peninsula, the City of San Francisco, our one point of hope... finally, yesterday, another faint point of light peeked through, down in the northeastern edge of Ventura County, in the heart of Reagan country. The Republicrats turned tail. The soulless corporate chain, headless, tailless, and finally heartless, fled. The night lifted, just briefly, as a flicker of light emerged. All over the world, faces rose in hope. Is this period of darkness finally beginning to close?

Amen to the above by Anon.

Frodo still has the Ring! Go Frodo!

I agree with Lenny...

Subway would not have singly destroyed our city but chains are a slippery slope in terms of small towns...

What is interesting about this particular situation is that Subway "came in" most likely to compete/knock out Jersey Mike's sub shop so this reveals a whole other dynamic about chain stores. This means that they will go to war with each other regardless of profit and the theater happens to be whatever town they decide to establish in. This does happen and I bet based on my research in college that Subway probably would have subsidized the theoretical new location if was running at a loss. I know that BlockBuster and Starbucks do this for a fact!

The real point in my opinion that we need to address for Ojai is why our economy is becoming weak enough for chains to infiltrate our city. We very well could go into a recession as a country given that the federal govt. has spent way too much money on obvious causes and also because nobody has any money; hence the birth of the variable rate loan for houses!

Long story short I believe that a "hard rain is going to fall" so to speak on this country but this does not let Ojai off the hook...

We definitely need to coordinate at the city level to assist locally owned businesses and housing in this city not purely based on philosophical reasons but because we have to if we want to continue and to sustain our current economic model. In other words, don't take the tourist economy for granted, it needs maintenance like everything else.