Photos of an SUV in The Lakes in Thousand Oaks on Thursday Evening

A buddy of mine was at The Lakes in Thousand Oaks last night and was witness to the aftermath of an SUV (Slightly Underwater Vehicle) literally driven into one of The Lakes' lakes.  According to the Ventura County Star, the driver was involved in an accident on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, then shifted into reverse, ending up in the lake.  He was arrested for felony drunk driving.  This happened just after 6 p.m. last night.  Thank God no one was injured, not even a duck.

You know, this could make a good ad for the off-roading capabilities of this SUV.

Another fine picture of SUV in The Lakes. Hmm, maybe he just couldn't find a parking spot? Or was he thirsty?

Or perhaps the driver just wanted a better view of the beautiful fountain at The Lakes.

This is the way The Lakes usually looks during the day. Beautiful setting. Looks much nicer without a car in there.

Only in L.A.: Los Angeles Regional Paparazzi Task Force Citizen's Guide

We have so many things that make where we live such a wonderful, unique place...the weather, the beaches, the climate, and now, The Los Angeles Regional Paparazzi Task Force. Formed by Los Angeles City Councilmember Dennis Zine, the goal is to address ways of dealing with issues related to paparazzi.

The Task Force came up with a one page "Citizen's Guide" (also see below) to dealing with paparazzi. As I am famous celebrity Conejo Joe, I have already printed the guide and glued it to my dashboard. 

What does paparazzi mean anyway? Well no one is completely sure according to this Wikipedia article but one source says papparazi (plural for papparazo) came from an Italian dialect that describes a particularly annoying noise, that of a buzzing mosquito. Federico Fellini, director of the 1960 film La dolce vita, remembered a boy who was nicknamed "Paparazzo" (Mosquito) because of his fast talking and constant movements, a name Fellini later applied to the fictional character in the movie.  Sounds plausible.  Another line of thought is that Fellini discovered the name by randomly opening the 1901 book "By the Ionian Sea," which has a hotel owner by the name Signor Paparazzo.  Hmmm.  All right, all right, I'll stop this nonsense.

Visit the New City of Thousand Oaks "BikeSafe" Website!

BikeSafe is a new bicycle safety campaign launched in April 2008 designed to educate the Thousand Oaks community about good riding and driving practices that help keep everyone safe on the road. The campaign focuses on youth and adult cyclists, with an emphasis on the importance of riding with the traffic not against it.

BikeSafe has tips for local bicyclists and drivers, a great local area bike map, bicycling brochures for adults and children (in both English and Spanish), links to other bicycling website, information about local events and other information.

Check it out at www.toaks.org/bike or call the Thousand Oaks Public Works Department at 805.449.2400 for more information.

Help a Local 8 Year Old Boy Diagnosed With Brain Cancer

UPDATE:  With sadness, we report that young Thomas Hearne passed at 4:30 p.m. today, March 19, 2009.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Thomas Hearne, an 8 year old boy from Camarillo, was diagnosed with brain cancer on July 8th.  Initially emergency room workers thought it was a virus.  An MRI proved otherwise.  The next day Thomas was in surgery at Childrens' Hospital in Los Angeles to remove a tumor at the base of his brain toward the back of his head.  However, the cancer had already spread to his brain and spinal cord and Thomas is receiving chemotherapy.  Not only that, a contractor paid to remodel the Hearne house bailed out, leaving the Hearne family home in need of major work.

Please reach out if you can to help Thomas Hearne and his family in this time of need.  Visit www.thomashearne.titlereptom.com to learn more and to make a donation.  Or make checks payable to "The Hearne Family" and mail to Tami Tackett, 4829 Paseo Montelena, Camarillo, CA 93012.  Or make a deposit at any Washington Mutual branch into the "The Hearne Family" benevolent account.

Misleading Property Tax Reassessment Mailings

Many of us homeowners received solicitations in the mail last month from "Property Tax Reassessment."  These looked like "official" documents from the assessor's office although the return address was a PO Box in Los Angeles.  Initially it appeared that I needed to respond with a $171 processing fee to reduce my property taxes by $1,973 per year.  And pay a $67 late fee if not returned by 9/5/08.

It didn't seem right.  I read the form more carefully and soon realized this was a very cleverly and carefully worded advertisement.  I did some searching and discovered the Ventura County Assessor's Office issued a "Scam Alert" for these types of solicitations and there was also a Ventura County Star article on the issue a few weeks ago.

They were offering a service to file a form to claim your property value has declined below its Prop 13 value.  It costs you nothing to do so yourself (visit the Assessor's Office website above for more info).

The Assessor's office does its own reassessment of local properties and sent out 30,000 decline in value notices this summer.  The office goes on to say that most houses purchased before 2004 have not declined in value below Prop 13 increases (which are limited to 2% per year).

I carefully read the front and back of the solicitation.  Nowhere does it "guarantee" you a tax reduction.  (They can't of course.)  So don't get ripped off!  If it looks too good to be true, do some research!

Let Conejo Joe know if you come across more scams like this so we can all stay aware!

Thousand Oaks Safest City Once Again!

The FBI issued preliminary crime statistics for 2007 today, and...(drum roll)...CONGRATULATIONS, Thousand Oaks!  We are back to the Number 1 spot on the list among the 257 U.S. cities with populations over 100,000.  Our total crime rate in 2007 was 1.668%, or 16.68 crimes per 1,000 people.  This very slightly edged out the city of Irvine, California which was at a crime rate of 1.684% (not bad at all, Irvine!).  Irvine could have beat us if we had just another 25 reported crimes last year, so that was quite close.  Amherst Town in New York was 3rd place at a crime rate of 1.742%.

CLARIFICATION:  My "Safest City" designation was based on the "total" crime rate.  News reports today have ranked Irvine as the Safest City for 4 years in a row based on having the lowest "violent" crime rate, not "total" crime rate (see below).  As it stands, T.O. ranks 2nd among California cities for lowest violent crime rate and 1st for lowest property and total crime rates.  Irvine ranks 14th in terms of property crime rates among California cities.

The FBI groups two main categories of crimes; violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, assualt) and property crimes (burglary, larceny/theft, auto theft).  Thousand Oaks reported 182 violent crimes (70% of which were assault) and 1,942 property crimes.  While it feels good to be #1, we still have room for improvement.  Our overall crime rate actually grew by 6% in 2007 vs 2006.  However, our violent crime rate dropped by 19% while property crimes grew by 8%.

At the bottom of the list was St. Louis, Missouri, Orlando, Florida and Little Rock, Arkansas, at rates of 11.93%, 10.45% and 10.35%, respectively.  What this means is that you are 7 times less likely to be the victim of a crime in Thousand Oaks than in St. Louis.  The dubious honor of highest violent crime rate belongs to Flint, Michigan.  In 2007, 24 out of every 1,000 Flint residents were the victim of a violent crime.

Simi Valley ranked as the 9th safest U.S. city at a total crime rate of 2.09% (4th safest in California, after T.O., Irvine and Glendale).  Oxnard's crime rate was 2.747%, which was a slight drop from 2006.  This earned Oxnard recognition as the 12th most crime-free large city in California out of 65 cities.  Ventura was lower on the list, at #45.

Keep up the great work, fellow Conejo Valley residents!  For more information, visit www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm.