Conejo Post

I dropped by the main Thousand Oaks Library last weekend to stock up on some new mysteries.  I got the books, but  I also picked up at the checkout, a 1/4″ thick packet of letters about funding for the T.O. Library system.

I have since plowed through the packet.  From a letter from Library Director, Stephen Brogden, I learned that Thousand Oaks and Ventura County have had an agreement for 20 years that has partially funded the T.O. Library giving free service to people living in unincorporated areas in or near the city.  These areas include Casa Conejo, Lynn Ranch, Lake Sherwood, Ventu Park, and Rolling Oaks, with a total population of about 8,500, according to staff answering a question by Dennis Gillette at last night’s  City Council meeting.

We know these are hard budget times, and cities and agencies are scrambling for money.  A letter from Brogden dated 5-19-09, that was also in the packet, says that on 4-2-09, the Ventura County Library Commission recommended that the Funding Agreement be cancelled by the county.  I guess the next step is consideration by the Board of Supervisors.

I have a lot of questions about this funding controversy, and when I get more answers, I will pass them on. It seems to me that Thousand Oaks could fund library users from the unincorporated areas of the county, with county funding or not.  For, instance, Supervisor Linda Parks wrote in an email to me today that ,right now, residents of Moorpark, Westlake Village and Calabasas have free access.  Why?  Another of my questions is, why do Oak Park residents have to pay a fee now?  Oak Park is unincorporated Ventura County and adjacent to Thousand Oaks. 

From a personal standpoint, I do not like paying $70/year to use the libraries in Thousand Oaks, but I pay it anyway.  While I can use the Ventura County Library in Oak Park, or nearby and beautiful L.A. County libraries in Agoura Hills and Westlake Village for free, they are not nearly as large as the main library in T.O.   I want the best selection of books possible, and that is why I choose to go there.  

Besides, I like T.O.’s aquarium.  During a busy day, it is very relaxing to watch the colorful fish swim by.  Incidentally, there is one puffer fish that likes to swim into the coral and then puff up, so it looks like it is stuck, but that is another story! 

Posted by Janna Orkney