Paule takes the lead on Oak Park issues

The Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council held its annual reorganization meeting and elected Mike Paule chair and Derek Ross vice chair for 2009.

Paule succeeds Jay Kapitz.

Ross was elected to the MAC in November.

The annual election for the Oak Park Recreation and Planning Committee also took place and resulted in the selection of Michael Sklar, Lenore Lewis, Jerry Kaman, Drew Fine and Steve Iceland. The five ran unopposed.

MAC member Mike Green, who represents the council at Rancho Simi Recreation meetings, said he has asked that the group's April agenda include a request to have permanent memorials in Oak Park parks. The move came after the family of Cody Badalato, a 14-year-old Oak Park teen who died suddenly in December, asked for permission to install a permanent memorial.

"Right now the park district has a policy that you can't do anything like that on an individual basis," said Green, who approached Rancho Simi about changing the policy.

Paule announced that the Agoura Youth Basketball Association will offer a college scholarship in Cody's name. Bar Harari, the MAC's student representative, said that the Oak Park High School Peer Counseling program is installing a memorial in its oncampus reflection garden in Cody's memory; his eighth-grade classmates will be at the high school in the fall.

"We have had several tragedies in the past couple of months. There is an effort to create a location where people can offer tribute and memorial for any reason," Paule said. "Hopefully we will have a mechanism to provide this to the community."

Recent striping painted on a steep curve of Sunnycrest Drive appears to be working, Kapitz said. Residents had long complained of speeding motorists. Last August a driver crashed his vehicle through the garage of a corner home on Sunnycrest and Summit Knoll Court. As a result, the MAC sought county help for traffic mitigation.

"You slow down because the stripe narrows you to a more confined area," Kapitz said.

To further help with speeding traffic in the area, a multiway stop sign at Sunnycrest and Aspen Ridge is still in the works, Kapitz added.

Jeff McGuire, an owner of the Oak Park Plaza Shopping Center, announced that the farmers' market will open in early spring. The shopping center parking lot will host the weekly market.

Paule, who was elected last November to the Triunfo Santitation District board, said the agency is formulating a water conservation plan. A meeting to discuss the possible austere measures will be held at 7 p.m. Mon., Feb. 23 in room G9 at Oak Park High School.

A second workshop, scheduled for Sat., March 21, will address droughtresistant landscaping.

"Mandatory conservation could be anywhere from 15 to 50 percent of our current use," Paule said.