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

Wow! I was so impressed with Howard Smith, Michael Shapiro, Steve Bennett and all the team members of the Coalition's organized and informative presentation. Thank you so much for your hard work, dedication and LOVE for this Valley.

xo
kira

Thanks for looking out for us. This effort has to be one of the most grueling for it's activists of all the efforts presently pursued in and for the Ojai Valley. That statement is not to at all to degrade the other efforts in Ojai, it is a recognition of the enormity of what you(stop the truck coalition) have undertaken, for the rest of us. I'm sure many others feel the same, it just isn't expressed enough.

as chidren we tosseled,
we tumbled, we played.

when 'yearlings' we competed,
then touched, and shared, and strayed.

gentlest songs, years, lives recalling,
morning lights, scents on the wind.

gathering wisdom, a book of various hues,
stitched with joys and sorrows, me and you.

spring's awakening, summer's bright,
autumn's colours, leading to winter's night.

or so we thought, this our mortal plight,
until now, in coming together as one ...

WE were found whole, revealed,
in this, our first, true, light.

Gravel trucks, chain stores and water companies. What's the common dominator? Big business money! What right do private companies have to dominate "our" land, money and water? They have no right except the right of "might." The root of this problem is the scam of private property rights. Common good rights are superior to private property rights. Of course, there is a place for private property but the corrupt courts have rewritten the rules to make private property a god, a golden calf worshipped by fleeced sheeple. A radical solution is needed to save Ojai and the world. The private property fraud has to be exposed for what it is: a crime against nature. This disease is so pandemic that it is invisible to 99.9% of the populace. Nature provides limits to prevent chaos. Private property, especially money, needs lower and upper limits. The property system we have now is rotten to the core and must be removed like a rotten tooth. The Red Brown and Blue Party advocates for radical/root solutions. Win or lose the truck battle, the problem will just resurface if the root problem is not addressed. If not addressed, the rot will kill or maim the whole body. The solution is a strong government that works for the ordinary people, not the money interests. The Red Brown and Blue Party serves "The Lover Government." Weldon Canyon was a tremendous victory but as Steve Bennett said, the truck problem does not have one root as the dump did; there are several mines involved and many money profiteers. Sooner or later, we are going to have to face the fact that money itself is the problem; and then we're going to have to see that the money system is a scam, run by crooks, especially the international banking shell game. The earth is ours; the land is ours; the gravel is ours. It does not belong to the private property racketeers who use the public's resources and then tax them for it, and destroy their life in the process. Think about causes. Think to the roots. We the People and the Earth have the same red blood, the same brown skins and live under the same blue sky with the same blue waters. Throw off these chain robbers, water thieves and gravel scoundrels. Call them on their fraudulent claims which they base on a philosophy of lies. See through the lies to the truth. Wake up, Ojai!

great informative meeting about a totally unsavory subject.

most of us have chosen to live in the ojai valley for the quality of life - for its natural beauty and the beauty of the people who live here.

let's get our resources together for this most important challenge - financial help is needed in a big way if we are to do all we can to assure our magnificent way of life.

energy is also needed to share and educate our friends and neighbors the impact of the current challenge.

just showing up to town meetings and sharing of ideas will spur us on.

in short: this affects all of us . . . so, whatever you feel impelled to do . . please do it.

Michelle Long speaks on this local greening in the current issue of HopeDance. She is promoting the BALLE conference this May 31st to June 2nd. It shows how to take back some local autonomy. See the back cover of HopeDance.

http://organicallyspeaking.org/wp/?p=24
http://www.sightline.org/publications/enewsletters/CSNews/csn-mlong
http://www.hopedance.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=202&Itemid=32

Can you set up a paypal account or some other easy form of electronic payment to make a donation for "Stop the trucks"?

Thanks for the suggestion. We don't have paypal or other methods yet, but we'll look into them.

Please keep in mind this is a 100% total volunteer effort by people whose lives are just as busy if not more so than yours.

Help of any kind is always appreciated.

Remember this is your town.

this Summer of Seven,
her racing winds pre-seeding!

blowing us a thousand million directions ...

ALL to the lustrous 'same' beginning!

I am writting this to let alot of you know that there was afair amount of misinformation given at the meeting.
Any way this my solution to the problem of the trucks from the plants up 33.
You talk of all the chances of accidents coming by the schools, first we will stop all the beer and soda trucks to Ojai. Next we will stop all the trucks delivering food service to the restaurants. Next comes the trucks going to Starr and Von's, followed by trucks to the hardware and lumber yards. Finally, the gas trucks to Ojai. An average of 20 loads, 172000 gallons to the Valley. Ojai does not need the sales tax go to Ventura to make all of your purchases, but no truck not capable of carrying more than 2 1/2 tons.
So if you want to stop the gravel trucks you must stop all the trucks.

Another comment about the trucks and all the particulate matter being spewed into the creeks and all over the country side. Mr. Shapiro at the meeting said "old school diesels" all these trucks are old school. How wrong you are!These engines are run by a computer just like your car. The new Ultra Low Sulphur Fuel reduces still more particulates.
The school buses used in Ojai may be updated, if not they are far dirtier than a truck.
There are many diesel pick-ups in Ojai whose owners have cut the muffler and the catalytic converters off. Mr.Shapiro, how does the computer now adjust the proper fuel and air mixture to run that motor the way it was designed to run cleanly? The next time you hear a very loud diesel pick-up take off and all that black smoke comes out you now know why and what they have done.
Hope to talk to someone soon and if not see you at the meeting May 30.

Wally,

Clearly you have been inhaling too much of those fumes yourself to have any rational thoughts. Pathetic and sad that you would happily destroy your own community. Give you BS a rest... And go back to the Hub...

To fcr. I have lived in Ojai since 1965, my boys were born here and my parents died here so don't tell me I am happy to distroy Ojai. The orchards are being wiped out, the hillsides are being developed by all the people moving here from L.A., Santa Barbara and beyond.
My BS as you say is funny to bad you don't have clue to what really is fact and fiction. Your comment about going back to the Hub is lame,slanderous,libelous since I don't drink and you don't know a thing about me.
When you get head out of whereever it is I would be happy to meet and talk with you.

I commend you Wally for using your full name and speaking honestly. Diversity of opinion is critical and we should be able to voice our opinion without being called names and attacked.

Keep it up.

I agree with Kenley. Mean-spirited accusations, especially against long-time residents who have raised their children here, are counter-productive.

W.N's. comment concerning the improvements of exhaust of diesel trucks, and how they are sometimes bypassed by operators, is quite accurate. Putting that aside, it is not the pollution that really bothers me. It is the fact of the size of these double trailer trucks, their numbers, ever increasing, to traverse a road that was designed for cars and trucks of a different Era. This road was intended for leisure travel for the most part, connecting extremely small pockets of populations. If they were to drop the double trailer, go to a single bed, I wouldn't be so opposed. But what they are doing, and what they are proposing to do, is not reconcilable to the intent and design of Hwy. 33. That is evident to anyone who has cruised Hwy. 33.

Where I part with W.N's. comment is his questioning of where all this stops, the pursuit of stopping trucks. No one is suggesting we stop supplying Von's or any other business in Ojai. There was a time in Ojai that Semi trucks routinely drove through Ojai. They would park along Ojai Avenue for a sleep, usually across the street from Pat's Liquor. That practice was stopped by the city after several years going on, for a variety of reasons. But the people of Ojai didn't shoot themselves in the foot over it. Trucks still traverse our roads, some deliver here, other just pass on.

Wally has a point. Trucks are trucks. Why pick on the gravel trucks? My point is that our whole economy needs to cool it, gravel trucks included. The gravel is just the tip of the gravelberg. It's our insane addiction to materialistic consumerism that may well be our Alamo. Boymen need to grow up and realize the world is not sandbox anymore. It's a garden.

The difference between all the other trucks and the gravel trucks is that the other trucks are serving this valley with food, gasoline, construction supplies, etc. The gravel trucks are serving primarily outlying areas, not benefiting our valley financially or in any other way (except, perhaps, a close and convenient gravel source), and destroying our quality of life in the process.
Let the mines use roads that were built for heavy truck traffic - keep them out of our valley!

Wendy, I agree that there are differences in trucks, the purposes they serve, and where they are going. I support the "limit the gravel trucks" movement. But there is a more serious underlying problem of over consumption, over population and over the top building that also must be addressed. In that sense, "trucks are trucks."

Many of, or should I say 7 out 10 trucks directly impact Ojai daily. If you notice all of the cement mixers coming into Ojai all but one receives all of the material from those plants. The one company has their own rock plant in Fillmore.
Between myself and one other we deliver 200 tons directly into Ojai to contractors, homeowners and other sources on a weekly basis. Sand for patios, room additions, septic tanks and more.
Please don't forget about the 15,000 car trips into Ojai each and everyday(Cal-Trans numbers afew years ago)

thank you Wally...i think you're onto something:
reducing the number of huge, unsafe, loud mining trucks is just one facet of a bigger problem. it's a hot and highly visible facet, but it's only a facet.

we, collectively, are making too damn many trips by car to be sustainable by any measure. it's why i dont support the Casitas Springs bypass; it's a band-aid that allows us to continue to drive a billion cars in and out of the valley....just not through that community.

reduce the trucks, reduce the cars, increase the walking and the biking and the carpooling and the bus-using. increase sustainable living, decrease our use of oil for both ecology's and security's sakes, increase the Peace!

Thank you Evan! I could not have said it better myself! It bears repeating:

"we, collectively, are making too damn many trips by car to be sustainable by any measure. it's why i don't support the Casitas Springs bypass; it's a band-aid that allows us to continue to drive a billion cars in and out of the valley....just not through that community.

reduce the trucks, reduce the cars, increase the walking and the biking and the carpooling and the bus-using. increase sustainable living, decrease our use of oil for both ecology's and security's sakes, increase the Peace!"

This might be a little long, but it's a big issue.

I'm not a big "stop the trucks" guy for reasons I've written here before. The source of most of my ambivalence is the seeming disconnect in the understanding of the economic structure behind the whole trucks issue. Many of the bigger proponents of the "stop the trucks" group seem to be fairly wealthy, advocates of the prevailing paradigm of the "free and open market". What Reagan called trickle-down economics. Milton Friedman's much adored laissez-faire that has been systematically destroying this country for the last 27 years. The idea that unfettered capitalism is a great good and that any regulations, be it environmental, financial, or for public safety are inherently evil. And of course, unions are the ultimate evil. I got this impression at the first city council meeting where the issue of the gravel trucks was on the agenda. Most of the people there were annoyed with the trucks simply because they came by their properties on the way to points South and East. To me it seemed disingenuous to condemn these independent truckers who haul the rocks and gravel while at the same time being a "Regan-Republican". That position should be untenable because of its' internal contradictions.

The sad fact is that these men and women who make their livings by driving loads of rocks and gravel from legal mining operations in our back-county are forced to drive as quickly as possible over routes that may be shorter in miles, but are more dangerous. Some are driving trucks that may not be maintained as well as they should be because, like a great many blue-collar workers in our country, the drivers are struggling just to survive. Many of these drivers are independent owner operators, or hired drivers who work for fairly small independent outfits. I don't know the numbers, but I'd doubt there are many union drivers working for these mines. The drivers take the most direct routs at all times of day and night and they have to get there fast because their incomes depend on it. Unfortunately, the most direct routes from our back-county to the South and East are over HWY 33 and HWY 150 right through our town. It's an ugly catch 22.

The mine owners are allowed to run their operations and hire independent contractors in the form of gravel truckers for the lowest possible bid. This arrangement allows them to shirk any responsibility for the transportation of their product. They are not held responsible for these independent contractors and their subsequent actions. The mine owners do not have to inspect or maintain the trucks. They don't have to provide any benefits as they would to other employees. They get to throw up their hands and claim they have no control over what the trucks do because they are independent. This is classic laissez-faire capitalism: maximize profits for yourself while sloughing off the costs onto the rest of the community. There's no bothersome labor union to get in the way by asking for better wages, benefits, and working conditions that don't include a "beat-the-clock" run through the mountains at breakneck speeds in under maintained trucks. There's no public safety or environmental agency, at least none with any real teeth, that can limit your ability to externalize all costs. Just the almighty market and its' cardinal rule: profit for the shareholders. That's all that matters.

That said, I may have a strategy for the "stop the trucks" people. Clearly you are going to lose. The mines will be allowed to operate and the trucks will be allowed to get to their destinations to the South and East of us. If you really want to stop the trucks, then stop the trucks. There's two ways, one more legal than the other. Option one, force the City to have the Ojai Police "deputize" a citizen group to enforce existing safety and traffic regulations on the trucks. I've seen people driving around in cars with "Community Police" written on the sides. Form an auxiliary traffic safety force and then simply wait at the mouth of the 33 coming into Ojai and pull ALL of the trucks over for inspections. Make sure the inspections take at least an hour and that they are meticulous. A line for inspections would be ideal. Raise funds to buy a truck scale to add to the inspections. If the trucks are sufficiently delayed often enough, the 33 through Ojai will start being seen as a undesirable route. As an indirect benefit of the decimation of labor in this county, you could probably do this and not even get sued right away because the independent truckers don't have the organization or capital to sic lawyers on people. It would be ironic, because you would be using the exact same techniques as the mine owners to curtail the trucks. Of course, the mine owners would eventually hire lawyers to sue on behalf of the truckers they "care" so much about. In reality, this strategy would adversely effect the mine owners' profits because it would cost the truckers more to go North to the 5 and then South and East, and that would eventually "trickle-down", or is it up, to the mine owners. The second potential option if you can't get the City to help you, is to simply go out en-mass and stop the trucks. Block them. A protest with mass arrests would get a lot of press and possibly even cause some sort of regulation in your favor, though it probably wouldn't stop the trucks altogether.

Of course, these strategies would take a lot more work then the run-of-the-mill NIMBY cause can generate. I wonder if the "Stop The Trucks" movement has the wherewithal.

What, no takers on the auxillary police against the trucks idea?

ToSPK.
First and foremost our trucks already go thru a very rigorous inspection by the C. Highway Patrol. They do last as long as 45 min. Our log books and maintenance records are reviewed similar to a tax audit. So you just learned something new.
As far as our police dept. is concerned they can barely enforce the basic laws now. I don't know how many times I have seen cars more than run stop signs, while the police watch and do nothing. I have talked to them on number of occasions about the speed people drive down 33, thru Oakview, and other streets out side Ojai city limits and all of them respond the same "it's not our job"!!!!!During school hours if you care to spend alittle time go over to Nordhoff or Matilija and you will be hard pressed to see one single patrol car enforcing any motor vehicle law. I called Chief Norris FIVE times asking why 2-3 patrol cars with Ojai Police on the door at Eggs n Things at 7:40 in the morning 40 min. into their shift. FIVE calls before it finally stopped. So there you go. If you do not believe go look for yourself before school is out for the summer.
One finale invitation to you or anyone, join me at Java 33 in Oakview sat. and or sun. about 9am and you will be horrified at the speed they drive thru town. It is unbelievable. Oh, by the way it's my treat. I don't bite. (alittle humor among it all!)

A very short post script to my last comment and I'm not picking on you Mr. or Ms. SPK. The Highway Patrol do go up 33 fairly often, there was one up there this afternoon with his radar on. As they are called who do the inspections are called DOT commercial inspectors and they are very meticulous. They have scales we are required to enter. And one other very important matter is the unannounced DRUG AND ALCOHOL test. You are called and told to park the truck and go immediately to the lab. The truck driver or owner pays this considerable amount of money to the DMV. They should do the same for the general public paying more for your registration. We could get rid of some these drunk drivers.
Thank you everyone for letting me take space on this site.It is very important that the correct information is discussed.

Wally,

I hope you read the first three paragraphs of my comment. Sounds like we agree more than we disagree. At to the auxillary police inspections of the gravel trucks, I was suggesting a strategy the "stop the trucks" people could try to curtail their usage of the 33 south through Ojai. The inspections are not really meant to check saftey so much as to make it so onerous to go through Ojai to points South and East that the truck drivers decide to find a different route. The auxillary police inspections would be run by local citizens who are given the right to pull over the truck, so there would be no issue of police man hours. I am aware of the DOT inspections. A good friend of mine is an independant truck driver.

I've posted this question in several places today, hoping someone will respond. I live off Rice Rd. and take my kids to the Montessori preschool each day. I drive them there, but often walk home and ride my bike back in the afternoon. Lately, I've suddenly noticed an unbelievable onslaught of gravel trucks barreling down highway 150 (from Casitas/Capinteria direction). This little stretch of 150 that I traverse on foot or pedaling is harrowing enough with 'regular' traffic - in places only a foot or so of a so-called bike lane. Where did all THESE trucks come from so suddenly? At one every 2 minutes or less, what is their total Nitrogen output (if one truck every 9 minutes was exceeding the limit)? Who's got their eyes on these guys? is this some kind of response to the moratorium maneuvers specifically for the 33, but excluding the 150?

Annika, that onslaught of trucks are moving dirt over on the 33 in Casitas Springs for the water company. It is being dumped across from Sulphur Mtn. Road.

truly, Annika,

an army of trucks on 150!

I get passed by ten or fifteen every time I bicycle between Lake Casitas and Rice Road ... and I can tell you it is a little bit harrowing when I am on the shoulderless part of the road, riding a foot or two into the road, and starring over my shoulder at them -- eye-to-eye so-to-speak -- just to let them know that I would appreciate a foot or two clearance while they roar by and suck me along in their tailwind ...