Civic Duty

Hmmm, these past couple days have been filled with civic duties. Last night I went to the Simi Valley Neighborhood Council #2 meeting. That was cool. I was the only unofficial person there, so I represented the people. That was kind of fun, though it would have been nice to see more participation by the people. Still, I didn't even go until last night, so I'll give everyone the benefit of the doubt that they either just don't know its there or couldn't make it. We heard a liaison report from a police officer and a report from someone in the city planning department. We also gave approval for a new Starbucks with a drive through to go into a really run down plaza that they are hoping to renovate. Normally I would say, my goodness we already have some 9 Starbucks' in Simi, what do we need more for? But in the case of the Mountaingate Plaza, I think that putting a Starbucks in will draw in business to that area.

Today I gathered signatures for a petition. In a nutshell, it denies public benefits and drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. It also requires that state and local officials report illegal immigrants to the feds, it is a misdemeanor if they don't. The total estimated savings that would come of this would be over $100 million annually. Tomorrow is the deadline to get it on the November ballot and they hadn't made it yet, so today I decided to make it a goal to gather 20 signatures for the petition before the post office closed. I made my goal, though I accidently let a guy that doesn't live in Ventura County sign it, so his signature won't count. So I got 19 valid signatures today but if you count my signature from a week ago I did contribute 20. Hopefully it will be a significant enough contribution. I think I made a good effort of it for a last minute job.