Oak Park, CA

California's ongoing drought, as well as court decisions to restrict water flow due to endangered fish are forcing
conservation measures. As a result, businesses and residents of Oak Park, Ca must reduce their water use by 15% between now and June 30, 2010. The consequences for not doing so will be fines and higher monthly bills. (So fish are more important than the local economy? Must be another blog post in there somewhere!)

Janna Orkney, chair of the Triunfo Sanitation district, which owns Oak Park Water Service said, "After one year, if Oak Park Water does not have any reduction in use from the base years (2004-2006) we will be fined over $1 million. If we only reduce 10 per cent, the fine will be almost $650,000." Any fines will likely be passed on to us, the ratepayers.

The water agency is developing an ordinance that would allow the district to enforce stages of mandatory water rationing in case of emergency, and to fine violators. Stage one would require a 25% reduction in water use, stage 2 a 35% reduction, and stage 3 a 50% reduction. My teenage sons are going to have to figure out how to take shorter showers, that is for sure!

The following restrictions are now in place:

• No landscape watering between 8 AM and 5 PM daily, unless using a hand held bucket or hose with self closing shut off device. (How does someone water the lawn with a bucket?)
• Irrigation must run for no more than 15 minutes/day per station, with certain exceptions.
• No watering during rain or after 24 hours of measurable rain
• Water runoff that flows into the street, sidewalk, etc. is prohibited.
• Washing down hard or paved surfaces is prohibited, except when necessary to reduce safety or sanitary hazards, with restrictions
• Customer leaks must be fixed within five days of discovery. (How will this one be enforced??)
• Water fountains or decorative water features that do no use recirculating water are prohibited.
• Washing the car, or other vehicle is prohibited, except with a hand held bucket or hose with self closing or shut off device.
• Restaurant may only provide drinking water upon request.

Our hopes, of course, are for a wet winter, to ease our drought. But conservation of water and all our resources should be ongoing. We only have one earth!

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Saturday, May 9, 2009 was the beginning of something exciting here in OAK PARK, CA. It was our first Farmer's Market, and the community response was awesome. The market will be open every Saturday, and will feature organic and fresh local produce and fruit, fresh baked goods and plants, as well as a live soloist musician entertainment with seating for customers to “come and stay a while.”

The community definitely celebrated the opening of their new Farmers Market and came in droves to be a part of it. The amount of customer support was not anticipated at all and the number of certified farmers will increase sooner than planned next week to meet the communities demand for fresh, local and certified food directly from the farmers themselves.

Some of the comments by the farmers were that this was the best first day of any Farmers Market they have ever done. The farmers said that the customers comments were of excitement and very thankful that they were there.

The Oak Park Plaza merchants were heavily involved as well with the Farmer Market; with the Dahn Yoga Center walking around the Farmers Market handing out flyers celebrating their Farmers Market with Free Yoga Classes to be offered on Saturdays' May 16 through the 30th. A staff member at Starbucks Coffee said that today was the busiest day that he had ever worked at Starbucks.

Overall everybody was happy, festive, grateful and excited with the Oak Park Certified Farmers Market. Everybody hopes for its continued success like today. Coastal Pacific Farmers’ Markets can be reached by calling (805) 643-6458.

Come enjoy the fun and excitement of a safe and relaxed morning of food, coffee, fun and families every Saturday at the Oak Park Plaza, corner of Lindero and Kanan.

(PS. Does anyone know what a jujube is??)

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OAK PARK BEAUTIFICATION DAY
SATURDAY, MAY 16,2009
8:30 am TO 1:30 pm
OAK PARK HIGH SCHOOL PARKING LOT
(889 N. KANAN RD)

Ready to do your spring cleaning? Now is your chance! Come take advantage of this FREE opportunity to recycle the following:

• Residential yard waste. (leaves, brush, tree trimmings, and UNTREATED wood)
• Palm fronds, yucca, succulents, stumps, and painted wood will be handled as trash. PLEASE KEEP SEPARATE FROM CLEAN YARD WASTE.
• Cardboard,plastic, metal, and paper items
• residential refuse and bulky items (furniture, appliances, etc)
• Electronic waste (computers, printers, monitors, televisions, VCR's, fax machines, cellphones, etc)

NO HAZARDOUS WASTE OR TIRES WILL BE ACCEPTED!

You may also bring hard to handle items to the event for disposal. However, refrigerators, propane tanks, or hazardous waste cannot be accepted.

Waste Management/GI Industries offers its customers one free pickup of no more than two bulky items at your home. This could include couches, bikes, toilets, etc. If you haven't used your annual bulky item collection, call GI Industries at 815-782-2474 to schedule an appointment for pick up.

Oak Park residents can dispose of household hazardous waste (HHW) at City of Thousand Oaks HHW collection events. These are held the first Saturday of every month. Call 805-449-7283 or go to www.toaks.org to schedule an appointment.

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The above list is all the sales reported on the MLS from January 2009 through March 31,02009 in Oak Park. The chart below compares that information to the same time period last year. While the number of sales has dropped for the time period, changes in prices are negligible. If I were to guestimate what we will see in the future, is that the median and average price in the area may drop. I say this because of the lower sales prices in the Regency and Chambord tracts, two of the higher priced tracts in Oak Park.

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This past year has certainly been memorable for many reasons, the continuning decline in home prices, even here in Oak Park, being one of them. While this upcoming year may be tough, I think it will be good for real estate. Investors are jumping in, interest rates continue to be incredibly low, and there is still plenty of real estate. Call or text me now at 818-642-9445 to see how I can help you!

Click here to SEARCH FOR HOMES IN OAK PARK, AGOURA, WESTLAKE, AND ALL OF VENTURA COUNTY.