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Year in review 2007
Below is a month-by-month account of the major stories in Camarillo from 2007. January The year began with a jolt when entertainment giant Technicolor- one of the city's largest employers- announced plans to cut 630 jobs at its manufacturing and shipping facility. Pleasant Valley School District's newest school, Rancho Rosal Elementary, opened its door to 375 students. The school was donated to the city by developers who built the surrounding Village at the Park housing community.
February Frustrated by stalled salary negotiations, begun nearly two years earlier, California State University faculty members, including those at CSU Channel Islands, threatened to strike. March Residents were treated to the opening of the $27million Camarillo Library. A landmark building for the city, the 65,000-square-foot library took a little more than two years to finish and was stocked with 40,000 new books paid for with $1.5 million in donations. The volunteerdriven "Next Chapter" fundraising campaign exceeded its goal of raising $1 million. Faced with declining student enrollment and the need to boost teachers' salaries, the Pleasant Valley School District closed two schools and restructured two others. Protests by both teachers and parents made for a turbulent school year for the school board.
California State University officials and union representatives reached a $400-million agreement to give 24,000 faculty members a 20.7 percent salary increase over the next four years, avoiding faculty walkouts at its 23 campuses across California, including CSUCI. Parents with students who attended Los Senderos Open School called for the opening of the Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education. Public meetings were held to discuss funding and the process to acquire a charter. A Ventura County Superior Court judge ruled that three Seabees stationed at the Naval Base Ventura County would stand trial for the shooting death of a Camarillo man. Rebecca Braswell, 26, Shannon Butler, 23, and Matthew Toerner, 20, will return to court next year to face murder charges in the death of 27-year-old John Marmo. Prosecutors said the shooting was sparked by a two-year custody battle between Marmo and Braswell, his ex-wife, over their young daughter. May For the second year in a row, Camarillo was ranked as the fastest growing city in Ventura County. The city's population jumped an estimated 2.4 percent, from 64,075 last year to 65,601 as of January 2007, according to state records. City Manager Jerry Bankston said that the population bump, driven mainly by the new Village at the Park development, may be a bit deceiving. Because the state uses new housing units instead of an actual person count to calculate population growth, Bankston said, the numbers are usually not as accurate as a federal census. Pleasant Valley School District Interim Superintendent Ken Moffett resigned nearly a month before the end of the school year. June The boys' baseball teams of Rio Mesa and Adolfo Camarillo high schools proved the Pleasant Valley is rich in talented ballplayers. Both teams finished outstanding seasons. The Spartans ended their season with a 5-4 loss to Vista Murrieta High School in the CIF Southern Section Division II semifinals. The Temecula Valley team went on to defeat Camarillo High 1-0 in an 11th-inning win for the championship. St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital opened its new 11,000square-foot emergency room. Built in anticipation of Pleasant Valley's growing population over the next 15 years, the 14-bed emergency room cost approximately $16 million. July A 28-year veteran of education and former head of the Santa Paula Elementary School District, Luis Villegas was hired as an interim superintendent for PVSD. CSUCI was granted accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The report said the university's educational programs are effective and meet academic standards. August St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard was closed for more than two weeks to fumigate for mold. Although the temporary closure was expected to jam emergency rooms at neighboring hospitals, the Oxnard facility was reopened quickly and did not cause the anticipated delays. Camarillo firefighter Greg Chavez won the $1-million grand prize on ABC's reality television show "American Inventor" for his invention that extinguishes Christmas tree fires. The 44-year-old father of six said he worked on his invention for 15 years. Chavez signed a deal with alarm maker First Alert to develop his invention. September Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education, a charter school started by parents of former Los Senderos students, opened its doors less than three months after Oxnard Union High School District granted its charter. The kindergartenthrougheighth-grade school is expected to have 450 students in the next few years, according to CAPE officials. October Representatives of the families who own the 170 acres that stretch along the north side of the 101 Freeway between Las Posas Road and Central Avenue in Camarillo met with city officials to discuss a plan that would finance the $30-million Springville Drive freeway interchange needed to build 1,350 homes along the freeway. Wildfires ripped through large swaths of Southern California, covering Ventura County in a blanket of haze and soot. Two small fires broke out in the Santa Rosa Valley but were quickly extinguished. November Luis Villegas was selected as superintendent of the Pleasant Valley School District. He is one of three top school officials who joined the district this year. Gene Haas, owner of Oxnardbased Haas Automation, was sentenced to two years in prison for his involvement in various schemes to avoid paying $34 million in taxes he owed the IRS. In addition to jail time, the 54yearold Camarillo resident was ordered to pay more than $75 million to cover back taxes owed for 2000 and 2001. The Camarillo City Council voted 5-0 to purchase 20 acres along the south side of the 101 Freeway to make room for the Springville Drive interchange. The $4.3-million land buy will help move forward the complicated deal to bring freeway onand offramps to a potential housing community on the north side of the freeway. December Nancy Bush, a 25year member of the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District board of directors and a longtime Camarillo resident, died at the age of 62. A fixture on the park board, Bush was known for her careful planning and as a founding member of the agency which oversees 27 parks throughout the area.
Charlotte Craven was named mayor for 2008. A member of
the Camarillo City Council for more than 21 years, Craven is serving her fifth
term as mayor. | |||||||||
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