Column: Life Can Be This Good

Earlier this week, Patch reader Ken Sherman—who also happens to have a blog on Patch—left a comment on a post praising the mayor and city council.

“We in Moorpark are very fortunate to live in such a fine city,” Sherman wrote.

I’d have to agree.

Though it seems like we’ve had more than our usual share of car accidents and police-involved events lately, we still live in one of the safest cities of its size in the state. We live in a family-friendly city where we don’t see drug deals going down on every corner, our kids don’t have to walk through metal detectors at school and some of us don’t even feel too panicked when we realize—part way into filling our grocery cart—that we forgot to lock our car door.

Sure, we all have worries and concerns, but life could be much, much worse.

I’m reminded of that, sometimes, while sitting at Moorpark’s city council meetings. It was heartening in some way, for example, when certain topics have come up recently. Not too long ago, Councilmember Mark Van Dam asked city staff to look into the city’s rabbit population. The staff came back with some ways to help control the population, including having exterminators shoot them, but the council asked that the issue be further researched. The matter hasn’t come back to the council, but with the changing of seasons and naturally occurring flux in population, perhaps it isn’t as pressing an issue now.

What’s an issue now is pornography. Let me restate that. It’s not an issue here in Moorpark. At least not yet. But Van Dam, fearing a recently passed Los Angeles ordinance requiring the use of condoms while filming adult videos could push the adult entertainment industry out of LA, asked staff to look into the issue and determine what sort of laws affecting or pertaining to Moorpark are already on the books and what kind of ordinance the city could pass to deter those in the industry from migrating this way.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not bringing up these requests of staff members to pick on Van Dam. I can appreciate that he probably heard from a good many residents who were unhappy Peter Rabbit was chewing up their rose bushes. I know of a few different home owners associations that were at wit's end dealing with the bunnies. And while I may not agree (we did, after all, opt to live in a rural area), I sort of get it because I see them all over my neighborhood. Van Dam was simply addressing the concerns of his constituents.

And an ordinance against something that isn’t even a problem here—and perhaps never would be—could seem frivolous. But it’s not the first time the council has explored bans on activities as a preventative measure. Anyone remember the drinking games at bars ban the city was exploring back in 2010? No bars were hosting drinking games at the time (some games had taken place at bars, but had stopped). The council eventually rejected the ordinance, but it did help to raise awareness. Perhaps it’s this forethought that has kept the city so safe and such a desirable place to live.

I understand that. I really do.

But come on, who doesn’t giggle a little at the thought of little old Moorpark becoming the next Chatsworth in terms of the porn industry? Or declaring a war against bunny rabbits?

When it comes down to it, though, I’m glad these are the issues we’re dealing with. It reminds me we’re pretty lucky. Unlike those cities who are dealing with weapons at schools, we have issues we can find humor in and remind us Moorpark’s motto isn't far from the truth: Life can be this good.

Oh-one more thing . . . I have a suggestion to float. Maybe staff could think of a way to combine Van Dam’s requests: mandatory condoms for porn shoots . . . and rabbits. Voilá. One ordinance, two problems solved.