Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley Had the 4th and 5th Lowest Crime Rates Among Large Cities in 2015

In late September, the FBI released its annual Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data for 2015. "Crime in the United States, 2015" compiles crime data from law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The data includes violent crimes, consisting of murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, and property crimes such as burglaries and thefts.

The overall U.S. violent crime rate grew 3.1% in 2015 as compared to 2014, with 3.73 incidents per 1,000 inhabitants. Overall property crimes declined 3.4%, at 24.87 incidents per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015.

Three years ago, the crime rates were 3.87 (violent crimes) and 28.59 (property crimes), indicating the rates have declined overall over the last three years.

We took a look at the data for approximately 300 cities in the U.S. with populations of 100,000 or more. The cities of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley ranked 4th and 5th in the U.S. and 1st and 2nd in California for the lowest overall crime rates among large cities in 2015. Congratulations! The top 10 are shown in the table below:

Top 10 lowest overall crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

The cities of Oxnard and Ventura landed at 143 and 153 when ranked by lowest total crime rates.

Taking a look at solely violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, assault), the list looks a bit different. Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley drop to 12th and 26th, respectively and other California cities - Irvine, Murrieta, Glendale and Temecula moved into the top 10.

Top 10 lowest violent crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

Let's take a look at other Ventura County cities of all sizes to see where they stand. Keep in mind that this does not include unincorporated communities of Ventura County like Oak Park, Casa Conejo, Lake Sherwood and others.

Overall crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in Ventura County cities in 2015 (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data) (excludes unincorporated communities)

The cities of Ojai and Moorpark held the lowest overall crime rates among Ventura County cities in 2015.

Overall, in 2015 Ventura County residents had an average of 22.84 total crimes for every 1,000 residents, including 2.56 violent crimes (31% below the national average) and 20.28 property crimes (18% below the national average).

As a comparison, the City of Los Angeles, with nearly 4 million residents, had an overall crime rate of 29.94 total crimes per 1,000 residents, including 6.3 violent crimes. The highest overall crime rates among large cities in 2015 were: Salt Lake City, UT (101.86 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants), Springfield, MO (91.51), St. Louis, MO (81.33), Birmingham, AL (81.05) and Spokane, WA (80.31).

Other nearby cities' 2015 crime rates in the UCR data includes Calabasas (11.71 crimes per 1,000 residents), Agoura Hills (15.5) and Westlake Village (the L.A. County side, with 8,522 residents) with 23.59.

Overall, there are nearly 9,400 cities measured in the UCR. Of these, 214 cities had a total of zero reported crimes in 2015. The average population of these 214 cities was 870.

* The FBI cautions comparative use of this data for drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities. Comparisons lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Keep this in mind when reviewing this data, which is summed up here for informational purposes only.

Complying with Voting Laws in California

With the Presidential General Election coming up in less than two weeks, how about a quick summary of selected voting laws in the State of California for voters here in the Ventura County area. The following is a summary from the California Secretary of State's "Voting Law Compliance Handbook: A Voter's Guide to Safeguard California's Election Process" updated April 2016.

Voting at the Polls

Making the time to vote: The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. If you work a long shift and are unable to get to the polls to vote in a statewide election, California state law provides up to two hours of paid time off to vote. These hours must be at the beginning or end of your normal shift and you must give your employer two working days notice. 

Rewards for voting: Can the local donut shop offer a free donut if you show them that you've voted in the Presidential Election? NO! Say what!? No free donut?? Nope. Federal law prohibits anything of value given in exchange for proof of voting if there is a federal office (e.g. President, U.S. House, U.S. Senate) on the ballot. In a state or local only election, the donut offering would be o.k., just as long as it wasn't given to bribe you to vote (or not vote) for a particular candidate or measure. Speaking of donuts, or doughnuts, as it were, the new Krispy Kreme in Oxnard opened last month.

Electioneering: It is illegal to promote a candidate or measure within 100 feet of a polling place. So if you see signs or other promotional materials in the parking lot at a polling place, that is illegal. And on a side note, California law makes it illegal to "photograph, video record, or otherwise record a voter entering or exiting a polling place." So you best not be selfie-ing at a crowded polling place. 

Voting by Mail

Death and Voting:  Hypothetically, let's just say my spouse passed away two weeks ago but I received her absentee ballot in the mail. I knew who she planned to vote for, so I turned in her ballot along with mine. This is o.k., right? WRONG! You cannot vote for your deceased spouse, nor anyone else that is deceased for that matter. That said, if your spouse had completed the ballot and signed the envelope before passing, that would a legitimate ballot, as the vote-by-mail voting period opens 29 days before the election.

Returning Vote by Mail Ballots (from the Ventura County Clerk/Recorder): If you mail your absentee ballot in, allow for seven days' delivery if you can; that said, the ballot must be postmarked by Election Day and received no later than November 14, 2016. Otherwise, you can return your ballot to any of the 10 City Clerk offices in Ventura County, to the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura or at the Thousand Oaks Library. Or, you can bring them to any polling place by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Counting the Ballots

Can I Watch? Yes, you can watch the entire process, from opening of the vote-by-mail ballot envelopes to the counting of ballots on election night, by law.  But perhaps contact the Ventura County Clerk/Recorder first.

Campaign Do's and Don'ts

Use of State Seal: It is considered election fraud to use an official government seal in campaign literature. This should be reported to the Election Fraud Investigation Unit at 916.657.2166 or call the Ventura County Clerk/Recorder.

Paycheck Inserts: It is illegal in California to attempt to influence employees to vote for or against something by inserting something in your paycheck envelope.

These are just some of the elections laws in the State of California. For more complete information, visit www.sos.ca.gov/elections.

Aerial Photographs of Conejo Grade in 1957

The four mile stretch of Highway 101 that connects the Conejo Valley with Pleasant Valley is the Conejo Grade.  Originally constructed in 1915 with no less than 49 twists and turns, the Conejo Grade has been straightened and widened over the years to accommodate growing population needs.

The shot above was taken in 1957 by aerial photographer Walt Dibblee. You can clearly see remnants of prior iterations of the Conejo Grade from above. You also may notice the lack of, well, much of anything, at the top of the grade in Newbury Park.

Below is another shot, a bit closer up. As you can see, the Grade was not quite as wide in those days.

Thanks to Walt's son Steve Dibblee of VenturaViews.com. 

A Visit to the New ALDI Store in Simi Valley

We live in the Conejo Valley and like most folks, most of our grocery shopping is done at nearby stores...Albertsons, Trader Joe's, Costco, Ralphs, Sprouts, Smart & Final, and so on. But German grocery store ALDI opened in Simi Valley in June and we wanted to check it out.

ALDI is an abbreviation for Albrecht Diskont, or Albrecht Discount, named after founders Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946. You may already know that ALDI is the parent company to both the Trader Joe's chain (purchased in 1979) and the ALDI store chain. That said, this ALDI store looks and feels nothing like a Trader Joe's store (to me at least). ALDI is one of the world's largest privately-owned companies.

The Simi Valley ALDI store is located at 425 Cochran Street in Simi at the Plaza, next to PetSmart and Party City and sandwiched between nearby Walmart and Home Depot.

The first thing you'll notice is that you'll need a quarter as a deposit to get a shopping cart. Place the quarter in the slot and the cart is yours; the quarter will be returned when you return the cart. If you don't have a quarter handy, not to worry; the folks working at the store were happy to lend a quarter for a cart when I was there.

I found the store to be on the "spartan" side, to some degree like the Fresh & Easy stores that are long gone, but lighter and brighter and the shelves were not as high. To keep costs low, the chain does not carry anywhere near the number of items that a typical grocery store carries. This does seem to pay off in that pricing is quite low.

This particular visit I was not planning to do my complete grocery shopping, including refrigerated items, etc. This visit was mainly to acquire snacks for the household. The first aisle as you walk into the store has quite a large selection of items, most of which are ALDI brands. We enjoyed exploring the snacks and piled our cart with reasonably priced items.

As you can see in the image to the right, ALDI brands like Millville look quite a bit like well known brands. "Fruit Rounds" at only $1.19/box looks good to me. And "Crispy Oats" looks a bit like, ahem, Cheerios.

The snack and wine aisle. My favorite aisle.

As you can see above, the aisles are fairly wide and easy to navigate. We found a lot of great snacks and interesting items throughout the store, then went to pay.

ALDI does not provide paper or plastic bags, so do bring your own reusable bags or you can buy them at checkout. And when you check out, they do not bag your items for you. They scan the items off of the belt and place them back into your cart. From there, roll your cart a few feet away to the self-bagging area. 

To learn more, visit www.aldi.us. The Simi Valley location is the only ALDI in Ventura County at this time. The next closest store is in Inglewood at 3330. W. Century Blvd. (about 6 miles from LAX).

Bag your items here and you're on your way.

California State Senate Bill No. 3 to Will Increase Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour Over Next 6 Years

In April 2016, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill No. 3, that, among other things, will increase minimum wage in California to $15 over the coming years. 

On January 1, 2016, the California minimum wage increased from $9 to $10 for all employers (with the exception of California sheepherders...which you can read about more HERE).

The planned increases to get to $15 are outlined below and vary based on if the employer has 26 or more employees or 25 or fewer employees.

Employers with 26+ Employees

• 1/1/17 to 12/31/17: $10.50/hour (5% increase)
• 1/1/18 to 12/31/18: $11/hour (4.8% increase)
• 1/1/19 to 12/31/19: $12/hour (9.1% increase)
• 1/1/20 to 12/31/20: $13/hour (8.3% increase)
• 1/1/21 to 12/31/21: $14/hour (7.7% increase)
• 1/1/22 until adjusted again: $15/hour (6.7% increase)

If your employer has 25 or fewer employees, there will be a year lag in the increases. So in 2017, there will not be a change in the designated minimum wage if you work for a company in that range.  The first increase (from $10 to $10.50) will take place effective 1/1/18 and the final increase highlighted above (from $14 to $15) will take place effective 1/1/23.

So, if you are a minimum wage employee at a smaller company, you will be making slightly less than your "larger" company counterparts in California until 1/1/23.

After 2022, the minimum wage will generally be increased by the lesser of 3.5% and the inflation rate.

November 8, 2016 Presidential General Election Registration and Key Voting Dates

The State of California makes it extremely simple to register to vote online at registertovote.ca.gov for this coming November 8, 2016 Presidential General Election.

The system will search the DMV database for your California driver license or ID card, date of birth and last four digits of your SSN. The Ventura County Clerk and Recorder Elections Division will contact you when the registration is approved or if additional information is needed. See how easy it is at THIS LINK.

You can also register to vote the old fashioned way by picking up a paper voter registration application at the Ventura County elections office, library, DMV or post office. More information at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm.

In California, the deadline to register to vote is 15 days before Election Date. Thus, to vote in the November 8th election your registration must be electronically submitted or postmarked by October 24th. 

As of August 22, 2016*, there were 419,869 registered voters in Ventura County, up from 412,924 on June 9th. You can register as Democrat (175,256; up from 169,759), Republican (139,129; up from 138,663), Non Partisan (85,638; up from 84,615) and Other (Green, Libertarian, Peace and Freedom, American Independent) (19,846; down from 19,887).

* Update as of 10/8/16: 428,296 registered; 178,028 Democrat, 140,343 Republican, 89,190 Non Partisan and 20,735 Other.

Turnout for the 2012 General Election was 77.39%, with 426,948 registered voters and 330,419 votes cast. Turnout for the 2016 Presidential Primary Election was 51.79%, with 413,045 registered voters and 213,914 votes cast.

Visit recorder.countyofventura.org/elections to learn more information about Ventura County elections.

Why Does the Label On My Peanut Butter Say CONTAINS PEANUTS?

So the other day I was making my son, the son without peanut allergies, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and glass of milk. I glanced at the label on the peanut butter jar and noticed "CONTAINS PEANUTS." highlighted in bold, below the ingredients, which clearly lists "dry roasted peanuts" as the main ingredient. Interesting.

Then I grabbed the bag of Sara Lee 100% Whole Wheat bread, looked at the label, and saw that in addition to the multiple mentions of wheat in the ingredients, it also says CONTAINS WHEAT, MILK AND SOY. Like we didn't already know the WHEAT bread contains WHEAT!

After putting the finishing touches on the PB&J, slicing off the crusts and cutting the the sandwich in half, it was time to pour the milk. Sure enough, underneath the ingredients of this Trader Joe's milk carton that clearly indicates milk three times in the ingredients, is the statement CONTAINS MILK.

Isn't this a bit overkill!?? Does someone think I'm stupid? (Don't answer that.)

The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) of 2004 initiated new food labeling requirements for eight food groups that, according to the FDA, are the source of 90% of food allergies in the U.S. Food allergies affect 2% of adults and 5% of children.

The eight foods, all proteins, are milk, eggs, fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod), Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp), tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans), peanuts, wheat and soybeans.

Source: FDA.gov: FALCPA requires food manufacturers to label food products that contain an ingredient that is or contains protein from a major food allergen in one of two ways:

The first option for food manufacturers is to include the name of the food source in parenthesis following the common or usual name of the major food allergen in the list of ingredients in instances when the name of the food source of the major allergen does not appear elsewhere in the ingredient statement.

The second option is to place the word "Contains" followed by the name of the food source from which the major food allergen is derived, immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients, in type size that is no smaller than the type size used for the list of ingredients.

I've underlined the statement that puzzles me. If the allergen appears elsewhere in the ingredient statement, it would appear the label meets FALCPA labeling requirements. Yet, the labels shown above all include the redundant "CONTAINS (PEANUTS/WHEAT/MILK)" statement anyways. Why, why, why? I suspect the manufacturers figure, why not. Maybe someone will blog about it and give us free publicity.

So later on, after the kid's belly was full, I thought, what other allergens lurk in our fridge? Ah ha! Eggs! It took me a bit longer to find the label on the egg carton, hidden on the inside cover (hey, I don't cook much). I was actually a bit disappointed to NOT find the statement "CONTAINS EGGS" on the label. Darn it, now I'm left to wonder, are these really eggs?

To learn more about FALCPA requirements, visit www.fda.gov or download an actual pdf copy of the law at www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM179394.pdf. Joking aside, it's a great law that helps food allergy sufferers more clearly identify foods that could cause them much grief.