Labor Market Report for December 2022
The California Labor Market Information Division (LMID) released its December 2022 report on Friday, showing a surprising but welcome drop in the Ventura County unemployment rate, from 3.7% in November to 3.2% in December. That places Ventura County well ahead of California’s overall rate of 3.7% and ahead of the national average of 3.3%. For the official December data, click here.
Since the onset of the January 2023 storms, California has been working closely with federal partners to provide support to impacted communities. On January 8, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom requested a Presidential Emergency Declaration, which was approved by President Biden on January 9, 2023, to include Ventura County. The Presidential Emergency Declaration provides state and local assistance to providing emergency services, such as protecting lives and mitigating damage.
Following the Emergency Declaration, Ventura County continued to sustain damage from the January 9-10, storms that impacted public and private property. Considerable efforts to collect damage reports and conduct field assessments with state and federal partners are currently underway. Residents and business owners are asked to submit reports of damage or requests for assistance in hopes that Ventura County may also be included in a designation for Individual Assistance. Individual Assistance may include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the quintessential double-edged sword. It has the ability to rescue humanity from some of its most intractable problems. On the other hand, if we are not careful, it could end up subjecting us to its whims, ravaging societies, and, ultimately, destroying us.
Some scientists and social engineers are giddy with the possibilities of AI. They see it as a means toward achieving things such as advances in medicine, more effective education, better tools for fighting climate change, and stronger and more durable materials. Employers are salivating with the potential of AI to help them trim costs—enormously, in some cases.
Editor’s note: Amigos805 welcomes local guest columns, letters to the editor and other submissions from our readers. All opinions expressed in submitted material are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of Amigos805. By David Magallanes •…
An evacuation warning has been issued for the Alisal, Cave, and Thomas Fire burn scars ahead of a projected storm coming in Monday evening. Public safety officials will be meeting tomorrow morning to make a decision on whether the warning will be elevated to an order. Stay alert and be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
If you are in a position where you are safe and secure, please consider joining our Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for our installation ceremony during the first Board hearing of the year on Tuesday January 10th at 9am. During the ceremony, I will be installed as Chair for the 2023 Board of Supervisors and we will be celebrating the swearing in of recently elected County officials.
When all four of my grandparents escaped the violence in Mexico and arrived in the U.S. in 1923, they couldn’t stop feeling gratitude for the sense of safety that they were experiencing. Despite the prejudice and spiteful attitudes of some of the people around them in Los Angeles, they felt at peace. For them, any societal problems in the city were relatively minor compared to what they had experienced at the hands of the revolutionaries in Mexico.
And yes, of course, we had, and still have, problems in our society. Lots of them.
But sometimes we have to place things in perspective.
SANTA BARBARA — Unite to Light, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing clean, renewable light and energy to people living without electricity, is partnering with REACH For Uganda to host the Mike Love Benefit Concert, an electrifying musical event with a purpose.
Reach For Uganda.
The concert aims to provide 2,000 solar powered Luke Lights to create Light Libraries at REACH For Uganda schools. A Light Library is where schools possess a number of solar-powered Luke Lights for students to “check out.”
For over twenty years, our caring supportive service teams have responded with compassion, expertise, and a friendly smile to ensure that all residents have the opportunity to be at their best. Whether it’s a visit from a social worker, help with homework, or connections to the community, our counselors, educators, and advocates are alongside in moments of need.
With the winter solstice debuting this month, what better time than now to take a midweek/weekend getaway to view a spectacular winter sunset on California’s Central Coast.
Here are Lompoc California’s Top 4 Picks to view a tranquil one-of-a-kind winter sunset:
Last month, food systems took the global stage as a legitimate solution to the climate crisis. For the first time ever, COP27 hosted a Food and Agriculture Pavilion where local, national, and global farmers and food system stakeholders convened to develop solutions for how we can ensure the path from farm to table is more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.
Top line solutions included funding and financing, inclusive policy-making, and innovative approaches implemented by a diverse group of food producers. While global leaders play catch-up, SBCFAN is already helping implement these solutions by:
connecting food system projects to accessible, affordable, and equitable funding and financing opportunities
facilitating food policy coordination, navigation, and advocacy
supporting the development of new and innovative food system projects by a diverse group of stakeholders
This year was marked with so much success because of strong partnerships, faithful support and visionary investments from people like you. Thank you for every part you played through your advocacy, goodwill and generous support.
Thank you for continuing to build so much more than housing with us.
Dear Friend of the Museum,
If you have already made a contribution to the Museum of Ventura County – THANK YOU for your support!
If you would still like to give a gift, thank you for helping the Museum serve our Ventura County community with:
In-person and virtual school tours
Free events for ALL of the community
In-person and virtual discussions and interviews
Historical articles, lectures and videos
Innovative exhibits
FREE ADMISSION at the Museum of Ventura County downtown and at the Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula
The Port of Hueneme appreciates everyone who has journeyed with us through 2022. As we look towards 2023 we invite you to remember some of our highlights from this year. Click below to view a message from our CEO and President.
“Dance like no one is watching,” they tell us. These words are meant to encourage those of us at the next wedding party who might feel a bit inhibited about showing off whatever “dance skills” we may (or may not) possess.
One female Spanish tourist in Mexico thought she would test that motivational phrase last month at a famous archaeological site. She did dance as if no one was watching. The problem was that there were plenty of people watching her from the base of the pyramid at the site. But, unlike at your typical wedding party, the Mexicans who witnessed this sacrilege were quite angry and vitriolic about her “moves.”
The County of Santa Barbara Rec Masterplan Workshop
All are welcome to join a Virtual Public Workshop for Parks, Recreation, and Trails Planning for the County of Santa Barbara
Thursday, December 8 at 5:00 PM
The Comprehensive Plan provides goals and policies to guide land use and development, and the Land Use Development Code (LUDC) regulates development consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. This existing recreation policy framework is outdated and no longer reflects current and future parks, recreation, and trails needs.
The County is developing potential amendments to its recreation policy framework to guide the long-term provision of parks, recreation, and trails in unincorporated areas. These amendments will provide goals and policies for park and recreation projects and support for the implementation of the Countywide Recreation Master Plan, which is currently under development.
The County is seeking public participation in the development of new goals and policies for parks, recreation, and trails, including:
Parks serving local neighborhoods and communities
Sports fields and courts
Community centers and recreational facilities, including pools and aquatic centers
Trails for hiking, biking, and equestrians
Coastal access and beaches
Camping and low-cost overnight accommodations
Rural and agricultural recreation and agritourism
Equitable access & recreation for all
Sustainable recreation
Community health and active living
Public-private partnerships to support public recreation projects
We invite everyone receiving this notice to spread the word about this important opportunity to participate in recreation planning for the unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County.
We recently held a very special celebration at Spanish Hills Club in Camarillo to honor four important leaders who have inspired our work and four award winners who are making significant contributions in our community. Together with our friends and supporters, we enjoyed a wonderful evening filled with heart-warming stories and inspirational award presentations.
We were honored to have Lourdes Castro Ramírez, Secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, as our keynote speaker. Also joining us for the festivities were our emcee David Cruz, a longtime TV and radio host, and Jasmine Padilla, VCCDC homeowner and board member, who delivered a powerful client testimonial. The crowd gathered included many VCCDC sponsors, our four award recipients and their friends and families, and family members of those honored with the naming of the four VCCDC leadership awards.
Initially, I was going to title this article “Decluttering Our Lives, Part II.” But I changed my mind and decided to use a more intriguing title.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Herculean task of decluttering my life. I came to a point where I felt a need to rid my life of all the unnecessary “things” that no longer contributed anything to my plans or goals at this stage of my life. I promised to share some of my insights into actually accomplishing this. Of course, not everyone will want to declutter their lives the way that I do. But many of us want to do something to alleviate the “mess” that we find ourselves in. We just have to choose our own path that will take us to DeclutterLand.
Not long ago I realized that after decades of intense dedication to my work, I had been neglecting other aspects of my life. For example, it was no surprise that upon retirement I was suddenly confronted with entire file cabinets bulging with papers that were no longer relevant or necessary. Much of what I used to file away, such as bank statements, was now being stored digitally. I spent over a year sifting through all those documents, shredding, discarding, or refiling them.
Then I noticed that there was much more clutter than I wanted around my house and more cleaning that I had to do. A day dedicated to “spring cleaning” never materialized because the task was just too daunting for me to even imagine. On top of filing, discarding, shredding, organizing, and cleaning, there were projects that I had been wanting to throw myself into “once I retired.” But those projects required time that would detract from the time I needed to, quite literally, get my house in order.
Produced in partnership with House Farm Workers! and funded by California Humanities
Art About Agriculture also offers a glimpse into My Home/My Land, a community outreach project presented by the Santa Paula Art Museum in partnership with local nonprofit House Farm Workers! and funded by a grant from California Humanities.
My Home/My Land invites our local farmworker community to contribute their voices and art to the Art About Agriculture exhibition. In recent months, SPAM educators hosted workshops at farmworker housing sites in Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Fillmore, and Piru. Families shared their connections to the agricultural landscape through art projects designed to capture individual symbolism and meaning.
A considerable number of children of immigrants decide to “do their family proud.” They decide to commit to studying medicine to become a doctor or dentist. Some of them are first-generation college students who become first-generation professionals.
Although their ambition and successes are admirable, the backgrounds of immigrants’ children may not thoroughly prepare them for the financial jolts they will receive along the way as medical professionals. It is entirely possible that no one in their family ever sat down with them and talked about that traditionally taboo topic: money. It is entirely conceivable that no one talked with them about financial planning because the parents and other relatives themselves had little money with which to plan much of anything.
An informational listening session will be held on December 7 to seek public input on how bus systems, dial-a-ride, and paratransit services can better serve residents in Santa Barbara County. All residents are encouraged to stop by anytime during the two-hour virtual listening session to share comments or concerns about bus systems, dial-a-ride, and paratransit services in Santa Barbara County, or express needs for new or expanded services in the county. Spanish language interpretation services will be available during the listening session.
As the end of the year draws near, the Social Justice Fund for Ventura County (SJFVC) has been working hard to support our fellows and reflect on the impact of our work. In a recent meeting, Dexter Nunnery – one of our 2022 fellows – stated the following:
Many of us will remember the Gabby Petito saga from a little over a year ago. Gabby was a pretty 22-year-old woman who went missing and was found dead several days later. It was determined that her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, was a suspect. The month following the discovery of Gabby’s remains, his remains were found. An anthropologist determined that he had suicidally shot himself.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who came to our Annual Fundraiser in Saticoy on October 16th. We are grateful for our speakers, who all brought an invaluable perspective and offered attendees a thorough look at the challenges and community efforts in Saticoy.
Like the distant sound of thunder that precedes a turbulent storm, we are hearing disturbing rumblings that warn us of the political chaos that could precede the death of democracy in our country. We would be wise to heed the warnings and take note (better yet, go vote) rather than brush them off as mere “nonsense” with a shrug that says, “It can’t happen here.”
Unfortunately, it can happen here.
Walking around the campuses of the Ventura County community colleges, you’ll notice that our student body is diverse. Students represent a wide range of ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, ages and immigration statuses. Moorpark College, Oxnard College and Ventura College provide a welcoming, safe environment to all.
We believe that students, regardless of their citizenship status, should have access to higher education in this culturally rich environment as they pursue their career and professional goals.
As we participate in California Community Colleges Undocumented Student Action Week (USAW), Oct. 17-21, our colleges reaffirm their commitment to building greater awareness of and support for policies that lead to undocumented student success. This year’s theme is “Juntos Podemos (Together We Can): Collaborative Ecosystems that Support Undocumented Students,” which recognizes that we must continue to advance best practices, ensure campuswide collaboration and advocate for policy solutions to support long-term success.
Many of us of Latino/Chicano heritage grew up listening to rock ‘n’ roll radio in the late 1950s. We were delighted, along with the rest of the country, when the song “La Bamba” hit the airwaves. The singer with the euphonic, captivating voice was Richard Valenzuela, but the world knew him as Ritchie Valens.
Ritchie, a child of Mexican immigrants, was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. He grew up listening to mariachi and Mexican folk music, along with “jump blues” (a precursor to rock ‘n’ roll) and the rhythm and blues associated with the African American community. He accomplished an enormous feat during his transitory journey through our musical landscape. He blended purely traditional Mexican music with the iconic American rock music whose star was rising just as Ritchie was growing into what appeared to be a promising career.
A big thanks to the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District for offering free chipping service again, starting November 7th, 2022. This is a great way to increase the defensible space around your property and your neighbors.
They will be starting the chipping in Summerland, and working East through the District. Residents are free to put piles of brush (non-fibrous, chippable material) in an easily accessible area for our contractor to chip. You can keep the chips if you would like, or we will haul them away. Please specify in your email if you would like to keep the chips. d.fawcett@csfd.net
Quebec is the largest province of Canada (a “province” is equivalent to one of our states). The area of this huge territory could swallow up roughly a third of the United States. Quebec, in its earliest incarnation, was a part of New France. This even larger mass of land, claimed by France in the mid-1500s, extended from the cold north, approaching Greenland, down to what eventually became the state of Louisiana. Needless to say, the earliest settlers of Quebec spoke French.
Following a long war, Quebec became a British colony where, of course, the English language was imposed. However, in an effort to discourage the people of Quebec from supporting what would become the American Revolution, the government accommodated the “Québécois” by allowing them to retain their French language. Quebec has been engaged in tussles between English- and French-speaking Canadians ever since.
Community leaders and Oaxacan communities living throughout the United States strongly reject racism, classism, colorism and discrimination against the indigenous people of Oaxaca.
The Oaxacan community living in Los Angeles, California, whom have been an essential workforce during the pandemic, working in restaurants, construction, and contributing to a vibrant culture in the United States, are subject to racism, classism, and discrimination from Los Angeles, California, City Councilors.
These outrageous comments were made known in an audio recording published by the Los Angeles Times where the voice of the sixth district councilor, Nury Martinez, is heard mocking minority communities that include LGBTQ, children, African Americans and the indigenous community. Particularly Oaxacan residents of Korea Town. “I see a lot of short and dark people,” the councilwoman said with laughter about the Oaxacan residents of Korea Town. “I don’t know what village they come from,” she continued to mock, “so ugly.”
Those of us who were in grade school in the 1950s and early 60s will never forget the “duck and cover” drills we used to have in our classrooms. This was a Civil Defense exercise that put the fear of nuclear war into our little heads. At least once a month, as best I recall, we would hear the sirens wailing at 10 a.m. on a Friday. We knew what to do: kneel and drop, face down, below our desk—that mighty protector of our young lives—and cover our necks and heads with our arms and hands as much as possible.
The Soviet Union became a nuclear power in 1949, and suddenly we had a threatening nuclear rival. The Cold War that followed World War II was replete with the rattles of sabers and ominous words, not too unlike what we are hearing today from the leaders of Russia, the remnant of the Soviet Union.
I feel fortunate that as I walk around parts of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, I am generally not too concerned about my personal safety.
Well, maybe just a little. I have to admit that I’ve encountered a fair number of angry people on the streets and – I’ll have to say – a substantial number of individuals with obvious mental health deficiencies.
I won’t delve here into the myriad factors that I believe foster this discontent and madness in our midst. But it makes me yearn for a place that allows me to walk, especially at night, with a sense of confidence in my fellow citizens.
Laudably, President Joe Biden has reignited the “Cancer Moonshot” that he had previously launched in 2016 when he was vice president. There is now renewed energy, new leadership, and more advanced medical experience, knowledge, and technology. The goal is now more focused: to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years.
The initiative was termed a “moonshot” to evoke the historic call by the late President John F. Kennedy to land a man on the moon within a decade. So far in our history, nothing compares with the boldness, wisdom, and foresight of that vow to take the “giant leap for mankind.” Nonetheless, a spirited call to take on the current, daunting epidemic of cancer in the United States and save American lives is certainly a necessary step in the right direction.
The late great poet, activist and musical genius Gil Scott-Heron, often reminds folks through his work that, “America has always lead the world in selective amnesia and hypocrisy” How can any honest, common sense thinking American disagree? But alas, we Americans are often a hard-headed, selfish, greedy and stupid people in full display of an incredulous world, some watch nervously others cheering madly, as Trump and his MAGA cult push our nation further toward the abyss of totalitarianism.
So to me, the short and long answer to whether will America survive the big lie is as scary as it is obvious. Of course, the United States of America will survive; it may even continue to flourish if and when Trump and his MAGA fellow fascists take over. After all what is more dangerous and entrenched than an army of MAGA/QAnon zealots that have collectively drank the orange Kool-Aid and believe to the marrow of their soul that the country that they ruled for over 245 years is being “stolen from them by the godless hordes of Mexicans, Blacks and other undesirables heathens.”
As we know all too well, Californians have been suffering recently with the “heat domes” that seem to enjoy settling, for days at a time, over our region in the Southwest. The resulting inferno bakes us, unmercifully, in a sweltering heat. The suffering we experience forces us to admit that yes, despite those who rant and confuse climate with weather, we are in fact facing a potential collapse of earth’s climate systems.
And yet many of us here in Ventura County live relatively close to the beach. We along the coast, at least, are consistently among the cooler spots in this entire corner of the country—if not the entire country (except for Alaska—usually). We are indeed fortunate when we compare our climate to that of California’s Central Valley, for example.
Still, we suffer, though our suffering is relative. We can’t help but feel that we’ve angered the sun when in fact we’ve angered the earth.
With cooler temperatures on the way, fall is the ideal season for a road trip to Lompoc! Sip award-winning wines from Sta. Rita Valley wineries, warm up with a pumpkin latte in one of our cozy coffee shops, take a lazy drive on our scenic country roads or relax at Jalama beach, catch a rocket launch from Vandenberg SFB, and stay at one of our comfy hotels!
Whether you visit for a week or a weekend, the comfortable weather conditions clear the way for outdoor activities like these:
Major construction companies waste billions of dollars every year due to process inefficiencies. As the final product typically takes priority, other areas, like the storage of equipment and materials, often fall by the wayside. Large pieces of equipment are left unsecured, leaving them susceptible to theft. Project managers and team members are burdened with shuttling tools and materials back and forth to off-site facilities, further expending valuable time. According to construction software company PlanGrid, these sorts of process inefficiencies cost the construction industry $177 billion every year. PODS’ simple solution of on-site storage containers can help increase efficiencies by keeping tools, materials, and equipment at the job site.
Here are four of the biggest reasons to use storage containers on your construction site:
The murky blinding white lights of eternity:
It was touch and go for a couple weeks with me and my recent bout of Covid. In my worst feverish bouts of acute pain, hallucination and delirium a couple of times I swear I saw those murky blinding white lights of eternity. In the past three years we had been one of the real lucky families in this country. We had been dodging and miraculously avoided get infected with Covid. We had done everything scientifically and deliberately possible to stay away from the deadly disease. I have a chronic, pervasive, and serious auto immune defect in my nervous system that seems to have been passed on to all my children. We are a super high risk family, so we made a very conscience decision to isolate from everyone and everything.
The news of Carmen’s demise was stunning, not too unlike when the shocking deaths of President Kennedy, Princess Diana, and Beatles icon John Lennon were announced. Carmen was a politician who was widely admired. She could be trusted, believed, and embraced as a friend.
By now, we all know the sad circumstances of her death. She was doing the kind of thing that so many of us do on a pleasant summer evening. She was walking to a concert that once again was enlivening downtown Oxnard after a pandemic pause. Unanimously elected to be the first Latina chair of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors earlier this year, she likely had plans in her head for improving the lives of county residents as she took that fateful step into the crosswalk.
