The Oak Park we know and love

With two new members of the Municipal Advisory Council sworn in last week, Oak Park government is back at full strength.

These are halcyon days for the unincorporated community just north of Agoura Hills and the newly appointed Bonnie Biddison and Jay Kapitz will make sure that Oak Park’s residents continue to be well represented.

Although some in the community are still resentful that theirs never became a city—the tax base was never deemed big enough—Oak Park remains one of the most sought after places to live in Ventura County. After years of living in the shadow of Agoura, they even obtained their own ZIP code.

Biddison, Kapitz, Deena Parry and veteran community leaders Ron Stark and Todd Haines provide a strong voice for the residents, and Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks serves as an effective liaison between the MAC and the county’s board of supervisors. The Rancho Simi Recreation and Parks District has given Oak Park some of the finest recreational facilities in the county, and the Oak Park Unified School District is second to none.

Living in Oak Park, what is there not to like?

Last week the municipal council took action aimed at stopping one of the community’s oldest problems, the morning and afternoon traffic in front of Medea Creek Middle School.

The MAC agreed to install heavy dividers along Doubletree Road to keep selfish drivers from making illegal turns out of the school parking lot. The $19,000 fix will be a huge help, although long overdue.

As a planned community, Oak Park is finished with its new home construction, which boomed during the ‘80s and ‘90s, but while the stoppage of growth should help ease traffic, it presents problems for the school district, which relies on a growing student population to provide revenue for the classroom. The once xenophobic high school is now actively soliciting new students from outside the district.

All in all, Oak Park represents some of the best of what our area has to offer: safe streets, quiet neighborhoods and picturesque beauty. Most importantly, community volunteerism is on the rise—on the MAC, on the committees and in the schools, and that’s the best news of all.