City of Thousand Oaks to Increase Traffic Congestion, Endanger Cyclists

Oct 202011

During the initial salvos of the now ten year long war in Iraq, Americans witnessed on their television sets one of the most desperate and disgusting acts of Saddam Hussein’s regime: the use of human shields. Placed onto key bridges, the idea was for maximum casualties by placing unarmed civilians in harms way. Similarly today,  residents of Thousand Oaks will find themselves needlessly endangered by their local city government.

As reported in a recent Ventura County Star article entitled, “Thousand Oaks moves forward Avenida De Los Arboles lane reduction plan,” the city will be re-striping this arterial road and reducing the number of lanes for vehicles from a total of four to only two.  Bicycle lanes will also be added to Lynn road. Other changes will be made that include the removal of at least one stop sign.

At the center of this action is a relatively new concept  employed by “smart growth” planners, advocates of walkable cities, and extreme environmentalist called: traffic calming.  According to Wikipedia, such measures as adding bicycle lanes create “…a living street … in which the needs of car drivers are secondary to the needs of users of the street as a whole…”

Sounds safe.

Indeed, socialistic “traffic calming” measures are employed to outright discourage the use of vehicles all together according to public policy analyst, Randal O’toole.  Florida Urban planner, Dom Nozzi wrote a candid article in The Gainsville Sun that praises such anti-motorist stratgies. In his article entitled “Congestion is our Friend,” Nozzi lays out his argument for how traffic congestion discourages vehicle use and traffic calming is a method for creating that congestion. Thus we see advocates for “walkable cities” pushing suspiciously hard for bike lanes absolutely everywhere included where they don’t belong (like Lynn Road).

Nozzi suggests that congestion imposes a “time fee” on motorist and such a fee is easier to impose than monetary fees such as those based on mileage, vehicle size, or gas consumption. Bicycle lanes which are a staple form of such traffic calming measures also force drivers to reduce speeds for fear of hitting cyclists.  Lynn road is a perfect example where every week it seems, motorists careen off the road and knock out a block wall. How many more motorist swerve far less than that distance into what will become a bike lane along Lynn road? It is reasonably foreseeable that such tragic events will become more frequent as a result of the City’s actions. Despite this very fact being presented to the City of Thousand Oaks, they seem determined to create Saddam-style human shields out of cyclists in order to push an ideologically driven war on motorists.

It’s imperative we encourage our city leaders to accommodate cyclists without endangering them or reducing vehicle lanes on our streets.

Contact the City of Thousand Oaks at: 805-499-2100

References:

The Gainsville Sun: “Congestion Is Our Friend”

Beer and Government – Drink up! You just bought a home!

Sep 202011

Opinion:

As I type this rant, I am sitting here in the State Board of Equalization’s office in Ventura where I just handed them a check for $5581 in sales tax. Today is a special day, a little victory for me. You see, moments before I walked in and paid my final sales tax to the state of California, I dropped in the mail my paper work to dissolve my company and wind down. Why? Was it because I’m retiring? No. Was it because I was unable to do business for lack of sales? No, it’s slow but there are opportunities to pursue.

The answer is that I have taken the steps to close my company because I no longer wish to pay the $800 tax that every corporation or LLC must pay in this state for the privilege of existing in this state -profit or not. Atlas, has once again shrugged. I don’t work just so I can hand it over the government.

But the story gets more interesting… A few days ago, I ordered a couple of Newcastle beers at a bar and the total came to $18. Alcohol is expensive and more-so than it needs to be were we to have a truly free market.

You see, as I walked over to the register at the State Board of Equalization (what do they equalize anyway???), I noticed a sheet of paper posted on the wall. It was the public notice for an auction of a liquor license. Yep, if you want to sell alcohol in this state, you need permission from the government. What many people don’t know is that the state actually limits the number of liquor licenses it will issue. Ostensibly, it’s to prevent liquor from being sold at the local dry cleaners or while you wait at your accountant’s office. Imagine the pandemonium.

License are so limited that to buy one from someone who already has a license means you’re paying a premium. In fact, the notice on the auction flyer said the opening bid was $48,000. That bares repeating: FORTY EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS for permission to sell a Newcastle beer. To put that in perspective, that means before entering into battle with the local health department, negotiating with landlords, spending many tens of thousands improving a commercial space, hiring employees, or advertising, an entrepreneur must fork over the value of this home…just to sell me a beer.

Do you think my nine dollar beer includes the cost of that license? Of course it does! And for what? All because the government wants to “protect” somebody from something, somewhere. It’s a miracle there is any profit after all this poor sap has to pay out before he can open his doors and compete with other poor saps. They’re all workin’ for the government it turns out.

The simple truth is that when government grants monopolies or in this case, an oligopoly, by concentrating the right to sell a product into the hands of a few, it is obstructing the very competition our founding forefathers recognized was so essential in both a free market and society.

So whether it is my now-surrendered sales tax license or a liquor license, government is the single largest impediment to businesses today.

The Real Newt Gingrich

May 162011

We don’t usually comment on national politics as we prefer to focus on local issues that don’t receive much attention from state or national media. But to the extent that the following video will awaken our local patriots to the fallacy of Republican protection of your constitutional rights, we felt this was an opportunity that couldn’t be ignored. With Newt Gingrich’s admission that he supports Obamacare’s individual mandate, he has finally revealed himself to the public for the the big government Republican he’s always been. Newt Gingrich can now join the ranks of other big government Republicans who have a record of eroding your rights for the benefit of expanded government power. Others like: John McCain, Mitt Romney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olympia Snow, George W. Bush, Richard Nixon and our very own local Republican, Linda Parks. Even Tony Strickland, who recently voted to keep community redevelopment agencies (a favorite tool for reshaping our communities by progressives and liberals) has compromised your rights. Republicans leaders aren’t the only ones between us and the commissars. They ARE the commissars!

Together with the Libertarian Party you can put a stop to this. We hope that after watching this video by the John Birch Society that you’ll reconsider your association with the Republican party and consider joining the only party of true constitutional government: The Libertarian Party.

(Note: While the John Birch Society may accurately describe the real Newt Gingrich, the LPVC does not necessarily agree with or endorse their positions.)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5FDmujOrpM[/youtube]

Supervisor John Zaragoza Votes to Kill County Jobs & Family Farms

Apr 262011

On April 26th 2011,Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 in support of adopting the County Planning Department’s version of the Biology Initial Study Assessment Guidelines, a document with far reaching consequences for property owners and small-time farmers whose way of life is now in jeopardy. Even as local family farmers pleaded for the Supervisors to make small changes to the regulations, it was Supervisor John Zaragoza (District 5 – Oxnard), who cast the deciding vote against local farms and the jobs they seek to bring to the County through additional agricultural production.

Local businesses opposed the adopted revisions, as well. A representative from the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, located in Zaragoza’s district, attended the meeting to voice their concern over the County’s version of the new regulations in what should have been the clearest sign of the deleterious effects of his vote.

Zaragoza’s apathy toward the destructive effects of the now-clarified ISAG regulations was evident when he reluctantly granted a short twenty minute meeting (in the days leading up to the vote) with VC COLAB, a group formed in response to the threat of ISAG regulations, to be the primary voice speaking on behalf of farmers, labor, & local businesses. In fact, often times he appeared to be napping during the supervisor meeting. Perhaps Zaragoza might consider a position in President Obama’s administration as Vice President  or an air traffic controller where it seems Narcolepsy is a resume enhancer.

Farmers were wide awake, however, as they watched in dismay while the supervisors trashed farmers’ plans to expand their agricultural businesses.

Ostensibly, the purpose of the revision to the Biology ISAG regulations was to make them “less subjective” and “more clear”. To that extent, the Ventura County Planning Department scored a smashing success. The ISAG regulations are now clearly harmful to jobs, agriculture, working class families and property owners. In reality, the Biology ISAG document was more than clarified as it was expanded by over 500%.

Ironically, according to the Ventura County Star, John Zaragoza “appeared ready to give an initial OK” to a proposed plan to build a film production studio north of Simi Valley, only to then vote for the expanded ISAG regulations which will now ensnare that very project. The production studio, incidentally, is also mired in bureaucratic red-tape thanks to S.O.A.R..  If Zaragoza is really pro-jobs, perhaps he should wake up (literally) and spend more than 20 minutes with stakeholders who can show him how to accomplish his goal of attracting more jobs to the County without plowing under his own efforts or those of farmers.

Here We Go Again [Team America, world police].

Mar 292011

We’ve seen this movie before:  Spectacular photos of Tomahawk Cruise missiles being launched from American navy vessel, B-2 bombers piloted by amazing American crews making nonstop trips from Missouri to the Mediterranean…. And Americans of all political stripes asking: What’s the plan?

Make no mistake.  Muammar Gaddafi is a very bad guy.  He has been a bad guy for 40 years, and he has brazenly killed Americans on several occasions in attacks that fit any reasonable definition of terrorism.  The world would be better off without him.

But, at the same time that our courageous and incredibly skilled military is again being asked to destroy a military headquarters in Tripoli without damaging the civilian building next to it, the White House is saying “Gaddafi must go”, but these attacks are not about “regime change”.  They are saying the mission is to protect the Libyan people from Gaddafi’s madness, but that we aren’t going to send troops in to do the protecting.  And yes, they are once again assuring us that the U.S. commitment is limited and we are just doing our part as a coalition of the willing.

When are we going to learn?  Injecting American military right into the internal strife of other nations with no clear definition of a successful outcome doesn’t work.  Our service men and women who are putting themselves at risk, the taxpayers who are paying $600,000 for every Tomahawk missile launched, and yes, the people in Libya we are supposedly trying to help, all deserve to know what the plan is.  That really isn’t too much to ask.

Sometimes it appears our political leaders doubt that we can handle the truth.

If the objective in Libya is to replace Muammar Gaddafi – then why don’t we just say it, and do it?  Or at least have an honest debate about it.  If that is the idea, it is perhaps worth noting that the guy has hung on to power for decades and just bombing his missile defenses may not do the trick.  It is also worth pointing out that we went into Afghanistan to get rid of Osama bin Laden and his cronies, and almost ten years and hundreds of billions of dollars and too many American lives later, we are still there – and bin Laden isn’t.

If the plan were to somehow level the playing field in Libya so that Gaddafi’s opposition has a fighting chance of toppling him, it would have been a lot cheaper and easier to do that 3 weeks ago – before he was on the verge of crushing them.  And then there is the whole question of who will replace him, will they be any better for U.S. interests than Gaddafi, and how many of those people we are trying to protect will die in the process?

It has been observed that, by weakening his military capabilities, perhaps we will encourage dissension and defection among his own leadership and commanders. If that is the plan, it would be cheaper and a whole lot safer to just give each of them a check for a million dollars and a condo in Florida.

Or, if there is some hope that Colonel Gaddafi will back down, see the handwriting on the wall and turn over a new leaf, it really must be remembered that we have tried that a couple of times already.  The result:  He is still in power and killing people, and the Presidents who “backed him down” are not Presidents anymore.

For the cynical among us, let’s even try the theory that we care about what happens in Libya because it is the source of 1.3 million barrels of oil per day – and we need imports like that for more than half of our oil needs.  If we are worried about oil, we should be a lot more concerned about what is going on in Saudi Arabia and a bunch of other countries that are in fact much more important to our energy security.

Mr. President, or someone, PLEASE, tell us what the plan is.  Otherwise, just stop. At the end of the day, what is happening in Libya is a civil war against a clearly bad leader.  The world is full of clearly bad and evil leaders, and millions of people being victimized by them.  What makes Libya special?  Simply enforcing a no-fly zone will cost American taxpayers as much as $300 million a week, and that doesn’t include all those Tomahawk missiles and B-2 round trips.  More importantly, those are American crews risking their lives.  If there is some compelling reason to be doing what we are doing, tell us what it is.

If, on the other hand, we are once again playing cop to the world, we can’t afford it.

In Liberty,

Gary Johnson

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