Howard Smith

Profile

Chairman of the Board, VCEDA

Howard J. Smith is Chairman of the Board of VCEDA, the Ventura County Economic Development Association, and was honored this year as one of the top fifty Business Leaders in the Central Coast by the Pacific Coast Business Times. A Past President of the Ojai Valley Chamber of Commerce, Smith has also served in an advisory capacity to the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, the Ojai Community Hospital Foundation, the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation, the Wild Foundation, the Ojai Film Festival and numerous other community organizations.

He recently organized an exhibit at the Ventura County Maritime Museum; "When China Ruled the Seas, The Treasure Fleets of the Ming Dynasty." Smith is an active member of the Estate Planning and Planned Giving Councils of Ventura County as well as the Business & Technology Partnership at CSUCI. He taught for five years at UCLA Extension and has lectured nationally. A frequent Op Ed contributor to the Ventura County Star and the Ojai Valley News, his articles have also appeared in the Washington Post, Horizon Magazine, The VCEDA News, The Journal of the Writers Guild of America, and numerous trade publications. Random House published the paperback edition of his second book "Opening the Doors to Hollywood."

Posts

Stop The Trucks: Rock Truck Crashes on Ojai’s Dennison Grade

by Howard Smith March 23, 2012

Rock hauler flies off the Dennison Grade, photo by Logan Hall, Ojai Valley News

 

According to Logan Hall, a reporter for the Ojai Valley News, the driver of a rock hauler,  Gary Raymundo escaped injury after his vehicle went over the side of Highway 150′s Dennison Grade on Thursday  …

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Stop The Trucks: Coalition Scores Victory in Santa Barbara – NO MORE GRAVEL TRUCKS ON MARICOPA HIGHWAY!!!

by Howard Smith February 25, 2012

On the heels of Thursday’s victory at the Ventura County Planning Commission Hearing where the Ojai Quarry was finally forced to come into operational compliance by the Planning Division, Santa Barbara County Planning official, Gary Kaiser announced that the Zoning Clearance for Diamond Rock Quarry Phase I (extraction and hauling…

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Stop The Trucks: Coalition Victory as County Forces Ojai Quarry into Compliance – Hearing Continued for 90 Days

by Howard Smith February 23, 2012

Although there are still some critical outstanding issues which are noted below to be resolved in the coming months, the Coalition registered a major victory today as the County finally forced the Ojai Quarry to:  1) Produce and Deliver an acceptable Site Reclamation Plan;  2) Pay Financial Assurances…

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Stop The Trucks: State deals business blow to Ojai Quarry

by Howard Smith January 10, 2012

Read excerpts from Tony Biasotti’s new article in the Ventura County Star that appeared in Tuesday’s online edition:

“While Ojai Quarry owner Larry Mosler waits to see whether the county will revoke his mining permit, he got bad news from the state: His mine has been barred from supplying material for…

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Stop The Trucks: The Past and Future Legacy of the Ojai Valley

by Howard Smith January 9, 2012

By Michael J. Shapiro

The Stop the Trucks! Coalition (Coalition) has had to fend-off countless, scurrilous attacks from the moment we organized five years ago. We were vilified again following the most recent Ventura County Planning Commission hearing (December 15, 2011) after expressing our opposition to the Ojai Quarry (Quarry) being…

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Stop The Trucks: Two Breaking News Events: Mosler Delisted & Santa Barbara County Ready to stop the trucks

by Howard Smith January 7, 2012

Two new major breaking news stories have taken place this week as can be see from the emails below. The first is from Steve Offerman in Supervisor Bennett’s office and the second is from Gary Kaiser at the Santa Barbara Planning Department:

1)   When the Ventura County Planning…

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Stop The Trucks: From Supervisor Bennett – Truck Legislatio​n Support Needed

by Howard Smith December 22, 2011

Dear Ojai Valley Resident:

Earlier this year, Assemblymember Das Williams introduced a bill to restrict truck size on the mountainous segment of Highway 33. This bill, AB 538, would limit single-trailer trucks to 30 feet in length between Camino Cielo Road and the Santa Barbara County line.

In doing so, it would…

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Stop The Trucks: URGENT: Ventura County Supervisors Need to Hear From You NOW!!

by Howard Smith December 13, 2011

By emailing this letter to you, I SUPPORT the Planning Division’s move to revoke the C.U.P. for the Ojai Quarry.

steve.bennett@ventura.org
linda.parks@ventura.org
kathy.long@ventura.org
supervisor.foy@ventura.org
john.zaragoza@ventura.org

a. Uphold the Planning Division’s October 17, 2011, Order to Comply (“Order”) with the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA);including the requirement to cease all further mining activities and forfeit the…

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Santa Barbara Stops the Trucks! What about Ventura County on Thursday?

by Howard Smith December 13, 2011

But the struggle is not over!

Tuesday, a vote by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors put an END to Gravel Trucking on Route 33, Maricopa Highway, from the Cuyama Valley through Ojai to Oxnard and beyond!!!

This vote marks an end to one phase of our Five Year battle to…

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Stop The Trucks: Who REALLY owns the Ojai Rock Quarry?

by Howard Smith December 11, 2011

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Pro-Quarry forces have made much of the claim in recent days that the Ojai Quarry is a “Mom & Pop” operation that has been around forever.

True or False?

You be the judge — Especially after you see the Deeds of Trust below:

Our Cyber-Sleuth (aka the real Girl with the…

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