Ventura County Library System Launches "Career Cruising" Exploration Program

Ventura County Library cardholders can now access Career Cruising, a bilingual (English and Spanish language) career exploration and research program for all ages. Available now, Career Cruising provides age-appropriate career development, assessments, planners and other resources to assist users to achieve their full potential in school, career and life.

Your Ventura County Library card is all you need to create a personal account (My Plan) and complete interest and skills assessments resulting in a personalized list of career matches. With your personal My Plan account, you can find careers, schools, and majors of interest to you, create a resume and prepare a personal career and life plan.

If you don't have a library card, get one at any of our Ventura County Library locations. Visit vencolibrary.org to find a library near you.

Ventura County eLibrary's Career & Jobs online resources include:

• Career Cruising
• Career Transitions
• LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator
• LearningExpress Library of practice tests and skills courses

Ventura County Library System: Inspiring our community to explore, discover and connect.

The Ventura County Library is available 24/7 at www.vencolibrary.org.

City of Thousand Oaks Adopts Drought Action Plan to Conserve Water

Per the State of California issued mandates, Thousand Oaks must reduce water consumption citywide by an average of 32%. In response, the Thousand Oaks City Council has adopted a comprehensive Drought Action Plan and declared a Level 2 Water Supply Shortage with a series of water conservation measures which impact residents, businesses, City operations and other local agencies.

Community Measures:

• Outside irrigation is now limited to 2 days a week for no more than 15 minutes per station per day
• Outdoor irrigation prohibited between 9 AM - 5 PM
• Watering is prohibited during or 48 hours after rainfall

City Measures:

• Removal of over 916,000 square feet of turf in street medians
• Removal of non-essential turf at all City facilities
• Establishment of new watering systems to provide water to trees in the medians
• Emptying of The Civic Arts Plaza fountain 

Enforcement of the new requirements will be focused on voluntary compliance through education, but fines of up to $500 per occurrence are possible for repeat offenders. A host of water conservation information, rebates and resources can be found at www.toaks.org/savewater. A water hotline is available to report water waste and to request a free in-home water conservation consultation at (805) 375-5747.

New Splash Pad and Picnic Shelters at Rancho Tapo Community Park

A new and improved splash pad was set to premier on Friday, May 22nd BUT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO NEXT WEEK at Rancho Tapo Community Park in Simi Valley. The new splash pad is 55% larger, has a water treatment and recycling system and had three different play areas! Yay!

Cal Lutheran to Dedicate Bronze Statue of Richard Pederson on April 18th

After five years in the making, a bronze statue of the farmer who donated his land for the California Lutheran University campus in Thousand Oaks will be dedicated at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 18.

The statue of Richard Pederson, a son of Norwegian immigrants, will be dedicated during the Scandinavian Festival, but the site will be accessible to people who are not attending the event. The statue stands next to Soiland Humanities Center near the flagpoles on Memorial Parkway. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

Cal Lutheran President Chris Kimball will preside over the event. Pederson’s niece, Janet Pederson Reeling of Bishop, plans to attend.

While serving as an artist-in-residence during Cal Lutheran’s 50th anniversary in 2009, Paul Lucchesi of West Virginia decided to sculpt a statue of Pederson based on a black-and-white photograph of him looking out over his ranch. With the statue now at the top of an incline near the center of campus, Pederson will forever look out over the university he made possible.

The original clay sculpture sat in storage until last spring, when the Cal Lutheran Community Leaders Association, Artists and Speakers Committee and University Advancement paid for Lucchesi to return to campus to create a wax mold and prepare it for casting in bronze.

Pederson had been ready to retire a bachelor when he donated his 130-acre ranch in 1957 so California Lutheran College could be built. The ranch’s chicken coops were converted into the first offices and classrooms. Classes began in 1961 with 330 students. Today, the university has 2,800 undergraduate and 1,350 graduate students who come from around the world and represent a diversity of faiths and cultures.

Pederson’s parents, Lars and Karn Pederson, had paid $3 an acre for the ranch land and $2 an acre for the hillside in 1890 when they became one of the founding families of the Norwegian Colony.

After Lars Pederson died, the family moved to Santa Barbara, but Richard and his brother Peder returned in 1913 and their mother later joined them. They lived in a Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog kit house, which today is the home of the Music Department. They grew alfalfa, hay, tomatoes and grapefruit and raised chickens, selling about 9,000 eggs a day. Pederson died in 1976 at the age of 81.

Mountains Restoration Trust Seeks Volunteers at Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park

Mountains Restoration Trust (MRT) has received a $94,469 grant from the Ventura County Tree Mitigation Fund and will work closely with the National Park Service (NPS) to to revive native trees and plants at Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park. Rancho Sierra Vista is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Elementary school students plant native plants at Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park. The National Park Service and Mountains Restoration Trust are seeking volunteers to help plant nearly 5,000 native plants and trees. (Credit: National Park Service)The project encompasses 24 acres and consists of planting, monitoring and regular maintenance of 2,000 trees, including coastal live oaks, valley oaks, walnuts and sycamores. In addition, there will be 3,000 understory plants, including shrubs such as sage, bunchgrass and herbs. All plants and trees will be maintained and monitored over a 10-year period.

"This is an exciting and important restoration because we are connecting to 10 acres we planted last year in the upper reaches of Potrero Creek," said Irina Irvine, a restoration ecologist for the National Park Service. "We will be creating a functioning, self-sustaining riparian corridor which will benefit overall watershed health, reduce flashy fuel loads and provide water, forage and shelter to wildlife."

The public is invited to volunteer either a few hours or on a more long-term basis to help with planting and weeding. More information is available at www.volunteermatch.orgsearch/opp1943238.jsp.

All trees and plants will be grown locally at native plant nurseries operated by the two agencies.

Mountains Restoration Trust is a non-profit land trust dedicated to preserving natural land in the Santa Monica Mountains through restoration, education and land acquisition. Founded in 1981, MRT collaborates with government agencies in an ongoing effort to maintain a cooperative relationship between urbanization and native land. More information is available at www.mountainstrust.org.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is the largest urban national park in the country, encompassing more than 150,000 acres of mountains and coastline in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. A unit of the National Park Service, it encompasses a seamless network of local, state and federal parks interwoven with private lands and communities. As one of only five Mediterranean ecosystems in the world, SMMNRA preserves the rich biological diversity of more than 450 animal species and 26 distinct plant communities. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/samo.

The Ventura County Tree Mitigation Fund distributes funds for projects that result in the planting and maintenance of protected trees, including restoration and/or maintenance of their associated habitat. The program is administered by the Ventura County Planning Department.

Malibu Canyon Road Nighttime Closures Begin in January 2015

Starting January 2nd and lasting approximately 8 months, the Malibu Canyon Road tunnel will be closed for construction from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. 5 nights a week, Sunday nights to Thursday nights (until 5 a.m. on Friday mornings). The tunnel will remain open weekdays between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m as well as all day on weekends (until 9 p.m. Sunday night).

During these closures, Malibu Canyon Road traffic will be detoured onto Kanan Dume Road and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Los Angeles County Public Works is undertaking this massive 7 month project in order to improve the tunnel’s interior lining by replacing steel plates inside of the tunnel. Other improvements will be made to the roadway in order to improve road safety and driver comfort. The project will also bring water quality benefits with the construction of a vegetated swale, which will filter pollutants from storm water and help replenish groundwater supplies.

For more information, visit the LA County Public Works website at dpw.lacounty.gov/pdd/proj/MalibuTunnel.

Flu Vaccine Required for Ventura County Health Care Workers Beginning Jan 1, 2015

January 1, 2015, all health care workers (HCWs) in Ventura County hospitals, clinics, skilled nursing and long-term care facilities, ambulances and other licensed health care facilities are required to receive an annual influenza immunization or wear a protective mask while in contact with patients.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza infection affects 5-15% of the U.S. population every year, leading to an estimated 3.1 million days of hospitalization and 31.4 million outpatient visits. Influenza accounts for an estimated 36,000 excess deaths in the U.S. each year, 90% of which are in persons ages 65 years and older.

This is the first time Ventura County has issued a mandatory flu vaccine mandate. The order will remain in effect throughout flu season which generally is defined as December 15 – March 31 of the following year.

Those HCWs who refuse to receive the influenza vaccination for religious or other reasons will be required to wear a face mask in patient care areas during the influenza season. Mandatory vaccination or masking policies have been shown to increase HCW vaccination rates to above 95%.

The new rule is part of a growing trend among health-care facilities nationwide. Similar orders have been issued in 23 other California counties.

The CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine for everyone 6 months of age and older as the first and most important step in protecting against this serious disease. While circulating flu viruses vary from one year to the next, the seasonal flu vaccine is designed to protect against the four main flu viruses that researchers predict will cause the most illness during the upcoming flu season.

More info about Ventura County Public Health at www.vchca.org/public-health.

The Annex to Bring Local Artisan Marketplace to Oxnard in 2015

Shea Properties and CenterCal Properties recently announced the newest addition to The Collection at RiverPark called, The Annex, a 13,800 square foot collection of microshops, artisan boutiques and epicurean discoveries, opening in 2015.

The Annex will showcase unique local retailers and craft food and beverage purveyors. The community-oriented marketplace will bring together a mix of tenants who wish to share their passions with a wider audience. Archtecturally, the Annex will have a contemporary feel, with wi-fi and comfortable seating available throughout.

The Annex will offer a combination of local shops, boutiques and eateries in a communal layout that encourages social interaction. A craft brew coffeehouse, wine and cheese bar, boutique retailers and small restaurant concepts, such as a noodle bar and taco shop, will be among the types of vendors to open at The Annex. Leases will be announced as they are confirmed.

For more information about The Annex, visit www.tcrpannex.com. 

About Shea Properties

Shea Properties, headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, is a diversified real estate company responsible for the acquisition, design, development, construction and management of business parks, shopping centers, apartment communities and mixed-use environments. Since beginning operations in 1969, annual revenues have grown steadily to more than $250 million, while the overall value of the portfolio has grown to more than $3 billion. Shea Properties owns and operates approximately 6,300 apartment units and 5 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space in California and Colorado. Currently, Shea Properties has nearly $1 billion in development projects underway. For more information, visit www.sheaproperties.com.

About The Collection­

The Collection at RiverPark is a 650,000 square foot, open-air specialty retail center located in the heart of West Ventura County. Inspired by the beauty of the California coast, The Collection reflects the unique atmosphere of the surrounding seaside communities. Built around a pedestrian friendly grid of retail streets, the center includes a carefully crafted assortment of established and contemporary designer shops, distinctive dining, and signature entertainment venues. Anchors include Target, Century RiverPark 16, REI, Whole Foods Market and H&M. Restaurants include Yard House, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar, and Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana. Visit www.thecollectionrp.com.