MAC members take office

The two newest Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council Members, Bonnie Biddison and Jay Kapitz, were sworn into office by Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks at last week’s MAC meeting.

Bonnie BiddisonThe two vacancies came about after the Feb. 26 death of long-time MAC member Kent Behringer and David Chatfield’s move out of Oak Park in mid-March.

Biddison and Kapitz were selected by Parks from a group of 19 candidates. Parks interviewed each candidate and then presented her nominations to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors earlier this month. The board unanimously approved her choices.

Both Biddison and Kapitz advocate open space in Oak Park, a major reason why Parks said she selected them.

Jay KapitzAfter the swearing-in, Parks reminded the board of the Brown Act, which prohibits board members from attending impromptu meetings to discuss city issues when not in session. She said the law also covers group e-mails between board members.

The first night in office for Biddison and Kapitz dealt heavily with traffic issues.

The first order of business was a report given by the California Highway Patrol.

Officer Robert Arouza said the CHP will step up patrols in traffic hot spots throughout Oak Park and other east county areas with Special Enforcement Units.

Arouza said two additional units will be assigned to areas of concern like Medea Creek Middle School and certain intersections along Lindero Canyon and Kanan roads at specific times two days a month.

Medea Creek continued to be a focal point for the board. The MAC approved spending about $19,000 to install steel-enforced street dividers along Doubletree Road in an effort to keep parents from making illegal turns out of the Medea Creek parking lot.

“Our goal is to effect real change with regards to making the area around the school safer for the students, the parents and the school’s neighbors,” said Todd Haines, the board chair. Haines said parents are simply driving over the rubber dividers currently on Doubletree.

City officials said construction for the new dividers should be completed by the Fall.

To help mitigate peak-hour traffic at the middle school, it was suggested a private citizen videotape traffic violations at the school and then send the tape into the CHP to issue tickets.

Officer George Myers later said the proposition was not only illegal, but also risky. Myers said the CHP could not use the videotapes to write tickets because of legal reasons. He also said the idea is dangerous because the people videotaping leave themselves open to physical confrontations by angry motorists.

Even though the CHP plans to increase their patrols, MAC member Deena Parry said she has researched the possibility of bringing police volunteers to Oak Park.

Parry said she met with Capt. Jeff Matson of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. Matson helped start the Volunteers in Policing program currently used in Thousand Oaks. According to him, the most efficient way for Oak Park to get a volunteer patrol unit would be to contract one out from the city of Thousand Oaks. Parry said she and Matson will continue to discuss the issue.

Also mentioned during the board meeting was the possibility of making the privately-run Oak Park Update website officially endorsed by the city. Parks pointed out that too many legal issues made it impossible for that to happen.

The MAC meets next at 7:30 p.m. Tues., June 28 in room G-9 at Oak Park High School.