This weekend, on January 21 from 9:30am-1:30pm (rain or shine), the "2nd Annual Winter Wonderland Charity Event" at Three Springs Park in Westlake Village. Those attending are encouraged to bring gently used children or adult coats to benefit CASA Pacifica in Camarillo. This is a family event with winter crafts, games, coffee and smoothies -- and this year, event organizers are adding snow.

CASA Pacifica is a center that provides emergency shelter, medical and other community-based interventions to families in need. Visit http://casapacifica.org/ to learn more.

Synopsis

At the Las Virgenes Metropolitan Water District's board meeting this past week, General Manager John Mundy and staff gave the Board of Directors a verbal update on the water storage tank project. At that meeting, the Board instructed staff to schedule a special meeting about the District’s Backbone Improvement Program (including the 5 million gallon water storage tank proposed above Three Springs) which will include a "re-evaluation" on both the needs, and details, of the proposed. Put more directly, the water district is considering whether all the parts of the project are still necessary, and if there are alternative ways to accomplish their goals or even implement the plan.

The Board's actions are in direct response to issues raised by the public during the December 13th LVMWD regular board meeting when the Board of Directors was expected to vote to approve the proposed water tank storage project.

Earlier this week, Mann Theaters at the Promenade in Westlake Village, which opened in 1996, closed its doors. Many have been wondering what was going on. Theater employees told the Daily News that they are being laid off. Mann has not released a statement on the reason for this closure.

Synopsis
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In the middle of the night on Christmas morning, a Westlake Village home was burglarized while the residents were home. Malibu/Lost Hills Deputies got a tip from the victim about their iPad indicating its location was ata nearby home. Deputies responded to the location, arrested the suspect. Working with San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputies, deputies were able to solve another burglary and recover 40 stolen children’s Christmas presents -- in time for them to be returned to the kids in Vista, California.

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The Malibu / Lost Hills Sheriff station has put out the following safety tip reminders for the holidays...

With the Christmas and holiday celebration season in full swing, Malibu / Lost Hills Station would like to provide some safety tip reminders that will help all of our citizens have a safe and enjoyable holiday season.
With the increased demands on our time and attention this time of year, we are more vulnerable to crime and accidents. Take a few moments to review the following tips before you head out shopping and celebrating, confident that you are prepared.

Parking Lots:

Westminster Presbyterian Church's Bethlehem Experience will not be taking place this year. It will return December 2012.

WPC has has presented the Bethlehem Experience every December for 15 years, "thanks to the dedication of a core group of men and women leaders, and the participation of many volunteers." Last Spring, as plans for Bethlehem Experience 2011 were being discussed, project leadership decided it was "time to pause and reflect on this mission and its place".

Las Virgenes Metropolitan Water District tonight held a meeting where they were expected to vote on the water storage tank above Three Springs. After public comments were completed, the Board recognized that there may be confusion in the public about possible options, and more importantly, that there may be additional options worth considering including the possibility of building a permanent access road that doesn't go through any HOA.

The Board deferred voting on which water storage tank side (A or C) would be best until after it understands a possible choice for access.

Tomorrow, the Las Virgenes Metropolitan Water District Board will consider and likely vote on the tank location for the proposed water storage tank in Three Springs. According to LVMWD, "The proposed storage tank is part of a series of water system improvements designed to increase the potable water distribution system’s operating efficiency, with expanded capacity to meet peak summer water and emergency supply demands."

This afternoon, LVUSD released the agenda for the upcoming Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Dec 6. This agenda had three pieces of big news for the District ... in order of appearance in the agenda.

To be clear, NONE of these are official until the Board of Education votes and approves on them. That said, all are the actions being recommended to the Board for this coming Tuesday.

The City of Westlake Village has just announced the final event in the 30th Anniversary Celebration. See the full announcement about the Winter Wonderland event on December 11.

CITY OF WESTLAKE VILLAGE 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION CONCLUDES WITH A WINTER WONDERLAND EVENT

It's the time of year for the city council to vote for a new mayor. As covered in earlier Westlake Revelations articles, the residents elect the city council members for four year terms. The city council, in turn, once a year elects a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. Tonight, each of these positions were selected as well as a surprise announcement about the joint City/Y sports park.

Changing of the Guard

First, the city council certified the election results re-electing Ned Davis and Philippa Klessig as council members. They were sworn in immediately after.

David H. Murdock is going to make a surprise announcement regarding the Family Park and YMCA facility (aka Regional Sports Park facility). Those YMCA members, sporting team members, and anyone interested in the park project is encouraged and welcome to attend tonight's City Council meeting which also includes the annual reorganization of the City Council, and election and swearing in of the new Mayor for Westlake Village.

Reception will follow the reorganization meeting and special announcement.

The meeting takes place at 6:30 at the City Council Chambers at City Hall. The meeting is expected to be a shorter meeting than is typical (probably 45 minutes).

Synopsis

The City of Thousand Oaks Police Department has just released the following. Thousand Oaks requires taxi drives to have a city permit. Of the drivers contacted, half were operating illegally in Thousand Oaks. Licensed drivers are screened for controlled substance abuse and undergo a complete background check. In addition, illegal taxi services may not have a properly working taximeter.

Licenses taxicab drivers are required to display a sticker (for the current year) and their personal operator's license (see pictures below for the Thousand Oaks ones).

The City of Westlake Village falls under the County of Los Angeles licensing for taxis (the LA County code is included "by reference" into the City's Municipal Code). Like Thousand Oaks, the County (including the City of Westlake Village) require taxicab operator to "procure a license and pay an annual license fee", and taxicab drivers need to display a vehicle permit affixed to the rear portion of the taxicab.

The City of Agoura Hills also falls under the County of Los Angeles licensing.

This was just released by the Sheriff to further explain this week's arrests.

Tomorrow, November 19th, is the annual suicide survivors day, which occurs in communities throughout the nation. The local event will be at the Thousand Oaks Library from 9am-2pm. The Grant R. Brimhall Library, located at 1401 E. Janss Road in Thousand Oaks.

Synopsis

The Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's station released the below information this morning after executing a six location search warrant operation to collect evidence in relation to the sudden unexplained death of Griffen Kramer (the Thousand Oaks High School quarterback). Funeral services were held earlier this month for the high school senior.

3 adults and 2 junveniles were arrested on felony charges. 2 additional juveniles were arrested on misdemeanor charges, and 2 adults were cited for misdemeanor offenses. Due to deplorable conditions, 6 children were taken into protective custody by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services Response Team.

Earlier today, the City finished counting the ballots for City Council Member elections. All precincts, vote by mail, and provisional ballots are now counted.

Final results are:
Ned Davis: 1316 votes
Philippa Klessig: 953 votes
Chris Mann: 907 votes

With two seats available, both Davis and Klessig have been re-elected.

As of last night, Philippa Klessig had 39 more votes than Chris Mann (subject to the vote being certified, and the balance of votes being counted). During every election, there are votes that need to be counted after election night. These fall primarily into two categories: vote by mail (aka absentee) ballots that were turned in on election day, and provisional votes. In both cases, these need to first be confirmed that they are legitimate votes, and then they need to be counted.

Two additional votes in the area happened today, and 100% of the precincts are now reporting in. While the vote count may change a bit between now and the certified results, the outcomes of these two elections are fairly definitive.

MEASURE K
Education Parcel Tax did not pass (requires a 2/3 vote).
YES: 3,747 votes for 56.27%
NO: 2,912 votes for 43.73%

Agoura Hills City Council (top 2 candidates win)
ILLECE B WEBER: 1,427 votes for 31.86% (winner)
JOHN M EDELSTON: 1,362 votes for 30.41% (winner)
SUE LEPISTO: 1,242 votes for 27.73%
MERIL S PLATZER: 448 votes for 10%

Tonight, the City of Westlake Village has three candidates running for the office of City Council Member: two incumbents, and one challenger. Mayor Ned Davis, Councilmember Philippa Klessig and former Councilmember Chris Mann ran for the two seats open on the City Council.

The vote for City Council is close enough that the unofficial results could change, but at this point in time, the vote results stand a decent chance of reflecting the final vote. Tonight, the results are as follows:

30.0% for Klessig
28.6% for Mann
41.4% for Davis