Four Seasons Westlake Village Teams Up With Kmart to Reinvigorate Space on Hampshire Road

This is breaking news in the Conejo Valley.

Four Seasons Westlake Village has announced a partnership with Kmart to redevelop the former Kmart store at 325 Hampshire Road in Westlake Village. 

Four Seasons Motel at the former Kmart building in Westlake Village.

Kmart, now part of Sears Holdings, occupied the 116,000 store until it vacated the premises in 2004. The space was subsequently leased by Home Depot through 2025, but plans to open up a Home Depot store fell through.

Now, however, Kmart has teamed up with Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village to create the new Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village.

The Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village will bring 820 cozy, 120 square foot rooms catered towards budget-minded travelers to the Conejo Valley.

Each room will be outfitted with wall to wall linoleum accented by an exclusive Kmart throw rug. The all season Coleman sleeping bag in each room will comfortably sleep up to 1 person, possibly two (depending on size; of the people, that is).

The former Kmart men's and women's restrooms will be brought back to life after 13 years of silence. WiFi will be available throughout the facility, featuring a quite fast (as of 2004) dial-up AOL Internet line.

Travelers will be allocated one special Bluelight Special item per stay, which may include an entire roll of bath tissue or two Twinkies.

Ima Pulin-Urleg of the Four Seasons said "We are thrilled to be partnering with Kmart in this unique extension of the Four Seasons brand. It will provide all visitors to the Conejo Valley an opportunity to experience something they've never experienced before."

The new Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village will offer guests outdoor physical fitness options like nowhere else in the Conejo Valley. In 2017, at no additional cost, guests can tone their upper bodies in the Parking Lot Area Youthfulness (or "PLAY") building program. "Where else can you experience the physical pleasure of repaving an asphalt parking lot?" exclaimed Kmart area manager Brent Musselhead.

Guests can test their physical strength outdoors at the Four Seasons Motel Westlake Village.

For more information, call 1-277-453-6657 or...

1-APR-ILF-OOLS

APRIL FOOLS'!

Happy April Fools' Day!

April Fools' fun in prior years

Overall Crime Rate in Thousand Oaks Up 8% in 2016 Compared to 2015

Excerpt from Ventura County Sheriff's Office 2016 Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) for Part 1 Crimes, 2014-2016 January-December Comparison (released February 2017)

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office has released its 2016 Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) crime statistics for Part 1 Crimes in 2016 compared to prior years. Part 1 Crimes include violent crimes of homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assaulted and property crimes consisting of burglary, theft and arson.

The data was provided by the Sheriff's Office for contract cities of Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark, Fillmore and Ojai, as well as unincorporated areas of the county.

The good news is that the overall number of reported crimes in all jurisdictions was down 1% in 2016 as compared to 2015, although the violent crime rate increased by 1% (representing six crimes), offset by a 1% drop in overall property crimes.

However, the news for Thousand Oaks was not as positive in 2016 compared to 2015; the overall crime rate was up 8%, violent crimes increased by 21% (from 136 crimes in 2015 to 164 in 2016) and property crimes increased by 7%. 

Let's take a look at what drove the 21% increase in violent crime. About a third of the increase was a result of a 43% increase in robberies in 2016, from 23 in 2015 to 33 in 2016. Also, while the number of assaults using firearms and knives dropped by 50%, other assaults, including the use of "Hands/Fist/Feet" and "Other" (whatever that might be) increased by 36% in 2016. There were no homicides reported in 2016 or 2015.

Reported property crimes increased by 7%, including a 20% increase in residential burglaries, 17% increase in grand thefts (generally thefts with a value of over $950) and 14% increase in other burglaries.

While the residential burglary rate did increase in 2016 vs 2015, it is still dramatically lower - 34% - than it was in 2014.

Let's look back a bit farther, to 2010. That year, there were 139 reported violent crimes and 2,036 reported property crimes in Thousand Oaks, for a total of 2,175 total reported crimes at a population of 124,000. That equates to 17.53 crimes per 1,000 residents. In 2016, there were 14.05 total reported Part I crimes per 1,000 residents. That is quite an improvement.

Getting back to 2016, the City of Moorpark crime rate among those served by the Ventura County Sheriff, at 9.26 Part I crimes per 1,000 residents. down from 10.31 in 2015.

More information at local.nixle.com/alert/5857520.

Ventura County Comprehensive Smoke-Free Ordinance Passed in January 2017

At its January 10, 2017 meeting, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors passed the Ventura County Comprehensive Smoke-Free Ordinance

The ordinance prohibits smoking in the unincorporated areas of the county and at nearly all County-owned and operated buildings, campuses and properties.

In addition to the ban at County properties, the ordinance prohibits smoking in dining areas, entryways, recreation areas (except golf courses), service areas, public events and outdoor worksites.

The definition of smoking includes tobacco products, e-cigarettes and marijuana.

The Board passed the item on a 4-1 vote with Supervisor Parks casting the dissenting vote. The reason she did not vote for the ordinance is for two reasons. The ordinance allows for an exception on golf courses; and the ordinance negatively impacts psychiatric patients addicted to nicotine that are confined to a inpatient psychiatric unit.

The ordinance will become operative 180 days after its effective date.

I always am amused by the specific signage requirements for ordinances.

Section 6711 of the Ordinance specifies the posting of signs by those that have control of an area in which smoking or use of tobacco products is prohibited. The sign should indicate "No Smoking and No Vaping" or "Smoke-Free" at each entry point to the area and at least one other conspicuous sign within the area. 

"The signs will have letters of no less than one inch in height and shall include the international "No Smoking and No Vaping" symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette, marijuana leaf and e-cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar across it."

The penalties for violations of this ordinance are as follows: Infraction for first offense; $50 fine for second offense within one year; $100 for third violation within one year; $200 for fourth or subsequent violation within one year. In other words, you are given one free violation per year.

Ordinance at THIS LINK.

Water Flows at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa in Newbury Park After 6-8 Inches of Rain

The river is back again near the Wendy and Potrero trailhead to the Wendy Trail in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. It was here a month ago, dried up quickly, and of course now is back. This and other water flows near the Satwiwa Center, "Lake Satwiwa" near the parking lot and more captured here. Best to stay off the trails until they dry up a bit though I did tiptoe down the side of the Wendy Trail to capture the water flow. 

More on local hikes and trails around Ventura County at THIS LINK.

Seasonal pond next to main parking lot at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. I like to call this "Lake Satwiwa" though there is no official name for it to my knowledge.

Sam Donaldson Speaks at Ronald Reagan's Birthday Celebration in Simi Valley Today

Every year, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library hosts a celebration to commemorate the February 6 birthday of our 40th President. The event is free and open to the public. 

Today marked the 106th birthday of President Reagan, who passed away in 2004. This was the first celebration that took place without the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, in attendance, who passed away exactly 11 months ago -- March 6, 2016.

The keynote speaker at today's event was former journalist and White House Correspondent Sam Donaldson. 

The Reagan Library's Executive Director John Heubusch introduced Donaldson as the perfect person to reflect on Reagan's ability to reach across the aisle and use humor to achieve such remarkable success; "...while looking through President Reagan's speeches, I found over a dozen references to Sam Donaldson as the punchline to a joke."

Donaldson was in great form, today, speaking for over 20 minutes, bringing many fun anecdotes and stories to the appreciative crowd.

"Perhaps the most important of Reagan productions came at Geneva, Switzerland*, on the day when the man who called the Soviet Union an evil empire, met for the first time, a maximum leader for that empire -- Mikhail Gorbachev" Donaldson started. "We'd asked the President back in Washington whether he was nervous about meeting this leader, Gorbachev." "Reagan responded <panned by Donaldson in Reagan voice> 'Oh no, I once co-starred with Errol Flynn'" to the laughter of attendees. It was an entertaining and informative keynote and you can see it in the video below. (Donaldson begins at around 17:30 into the video.)

* The Geneva Summit was held on November 19 and 20, 1985. It was the first meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev to discuss international relations and the arms race.

More on the Reagan Library at THIS LINK. And check out the Reagan Ranch Center Exhibit Galleries in Santa Barbara at THIS LINK.

The Calleguas Creek Watershed in Southeastern Ventura County

The Calleguas Creek Watershed covers approximately 343 square miles in southeastern Ventura County. The Watershed includes Conejo Creek, Arroyo Santa Rosa, Arroyo Simi, Arroyo Las Posas, and Calleguas Creek, as well as Revolon Slough and Mugu Lagoon.

Calleguas Creek Watershed Map (from Watersheds Coalition of Ventura County)

The northern boundary is formed by the Santa Susana Mountains, South Mountain, and Oak Ridge Mountains. The southern boundary is distinguished by the Simi Hills and Santa Monica Mountains.

About half the watershed is open space, 25% is agricultural and 25% is urban land use. 

The watershed ultimately drains to the Pacific Ocean through Mugu Lagoon.

Learn more about the Calleguas Creek Watershed at www.ventura.org/wcvc/calleguas.htm.

Here is the Calleguas Creek in Camarillo, along side the Calleguas Creek Bike Path, after some significant rains in January 2017.

2016 Ends With a Beautiful Double Rainbow in the Conejo Valley and Surrounding Areas

As soon as I stepped outside just after 4pm today, I noticed the sun shining amid the clouds and I uttered out loud, "This is rainbow weather!" 

Sure enough, I was right. We drove a block and noticed the beautiful, massive rainbow in Thousand Oaks, but we missed the double rainbow that wowed local residents after an entire day of cloud cover, cold and rain.

Here are some of my favorites from THIS FACEBOOK POST.

Taken from Newbury Park