Santa Paula Blog

FILLMORE, Calif. (AP) — A small earthquake has struck the Los Padres National Forest northwest of Los Angeles but there are no reports of damage or injuries.
A preliminary report by the U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-3.5 quake hit at 1:52 a.m. Saturday. It was centered six miles northwest of Fillmore and seven miles northeast of Santa Paula. The area is near the Sespe condor sanctuary.
A dispatcher with the Ventura County Sheriff's Department says there are no reports of damage or injuries.

Congratulations to the Santa Paula High School football team for their 42-40 win last night over Grace Bethren to claim the Frontier League title. See full story of the game in the Ventura County Star. (Photo: Santa Paula Times)

1. Consider amending the SP Municipal Code allowing outdoor displays on private property in the Central Business District.

2. Further discussion on amendments to the SP Muncipal Code pertaining to commercial and industrial zoning in the City.

3. Consider adoption of fee schedule to move forward with use of contract City Architects to review significant city projects.

Full agenda (PDF) of meeting.

The Santa Paula Fire Department has had one engine company fighting out of town fires the last few days. The City sent an engine company Thursday to Montecito. The engine company was involved in a strike team of other Ventura County fire departments. They were relieved early this morning and sent to the Sylmar fire. SPFD is backfilling the assigned engine company so that Santa Paula still has two engine companies on duty in town.

As of 12:25 PM Friday:
- FRED W. ROBINSON 3,545
- JENNIFER A. MATOS 3,389
- JAMES ''JIM'' TOVIAS 3,592

The Ventura County Star is reporting that about 10% of ballots still need to be counted countywide (approximately 30,000). Countywide election results can be found here.

- FRED W. ROBINSON 3,480
- JENNIFER A. MATOS 3,329
- JAMES ''JIM'' TOVIAS 3,523

The Star is reporting the County tallied 14,394 votes today countywide with 41,000 remaining to be counted.

- FRED W. ROBINSON 3,379
- JENNIFER A. MATOS 3,250
- JAMES ''JIM'' TOVIAS 3,436

The Ventura County Star is reporting tonight that there remain 50,000 absentee and provisional ballots throughout the County to count. Next results should be released Wednesday after tomorrow's Veteran's Day holiday.

The latest vote count:
- FRED W. ROBINSON 3,071
- JENNIFER A. MATOS 2,962
- JAMES ''JIM'' TOVIAS 3,138

The City of Santa Paula will be holding a ceremony recognizing Santa Paula residents who are serving in the U.S. military and who have been honored with an Armed Forces Banner with their name and branch of the service on Monday November 10 at 11 AM at the Gazebo of the Santa Paula Train Depot.

The City posted twenty-eight banners earlier this year honoring local service members. At the ceremony on November 10, two servicemembers who have completed their tour of service will receive their banner and an additional forty-one residents will be honored with new banners. The banners are displayed on 10th Street between Harvard Boulevard and Railroad Avenue.

For further information about the program, please see its website: http://www.ci.santa-paula.ca.us/banner or contact the City Manager's Office at 933-4200.

The Ventura County Star is reporting that 86,000 votes remain uncounted.

The Ventura County Elections Division reported today that, countywide, there are 76,103 mail-in ballots and 10,010 provisional ballots waiting to be processed. That represents about 24 percent of the votes cast, and could affect some close elections.

The votes will not be counted today, election officials said. Mail-in ballots must be check for a signature, while provisional ballots need more extensive varification. A provision ballot is cast when poll workers are unsure if a voter is register or is at the right poll.

City staff has contacted County staff who have no breakdown at this time of the percentage of the 86,000 votes to be counted that are from Santa Paula. County staff indicated that there should be additional results available sometime tomorrow.

The current election results represent all of the regular ballots cast at the polling places on Tuesday and absentees ballots turned in early. The 182,283 votes turned in by the precincts and 60,537 ballots that were mailed in have been counted for a total of 242,820 votes counted. There are more than 425,968 registered voters in Ventura County.

The County of Ventura has tens of thousands of uncounted ballots countywide. The County Registrar of Voters is determining exactly how many ballots (late absentee and provisional) that remain and then we can find out how many are from Santa Paula. We hope to get an update from the County this afternoon. The County must report the number of uncounted ballots to the California Secretary of State by Thursday at 5 PM. We will keep you posted.

With all precincts reporting, Jim Tovias and Fred Robinson are the apparent winners of the City Council race with Tovias receiving 2,863 votes and Robinson receiving 2,775. In third place was Jennifer Matos with 2,749 votes. With only 26 votes separating second and third place, there remains a possibility that the final vote totals could impact the final results. All precincts were finally counted sometime between 4:00 AM (when I finally went to sleep) and 4:59 AM, the time of the last election update posting. More information on how many absentee and provisional votes that may be left to count later.

Election Day in Santa Paula. Information on polling places in Santa Paula can be found here. Election results for City of Santa Paula races here. Election results for all Santa Paula local races will also be available on Time Warner Cable Channel 10. Absentee results should be up by 8:30 PM. No further results expected until after 11 PM with likely final results after Midnight. Call the County of Ventura Elections Division (654-2781) with any questions.

The City's next In Pavement Crosswalk Lights Project will begin construction this Monday, November 3rd. This project will start with foundation excavations, that will take place at all three project sites. The project locations are:

Palm Avenue & Ventura Street;
Santa Paula Street & 5th Street;
Ventura Street & Oak Street.

If you have any questions about the project, please contact our Public Works Department at 933-4212 ext. 305.

Two great articles today in the Ventura County Star reinforcing our claim as the "City of Spooky Paula": one on the legend of the Billiwack Monster of Santa Paula and the other about the hauntings of the old Santa Paula Chronicle building. Boo!!