Community Corner

Happy Birthday to Us

Moorpark Patch marks it's first anniversary today.

Moorpark Patch turns a year old today.

It doesn't seem all that long ago I was moving stuff into my new Moorpark home and wondering how I'd ever jump feet first into covering my new town without knowing the key players and movers and shakers yet.

I was only moving from the other side of county, but there's that great divide between east and west called the Conejo Grade and, to perhaps a lesser extent, Somis. And, let's face it, it's sort of one of those "never the twain shall meet" deals. The people of Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks don't spend a heck of a lot of time in Ojai, Oxnard or even Ventura. And folks from my previous neck of the woods don't spend a lot of time here, so while I knew Los Angeles Avenue and Moorpark College (and, hey wasn't there a melodrama out this way a long time ago?), I didn't know the city's full layout, depth and quirks.

Find out what's happening in Moorparkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Yes, quirks—like that we celebrate Independence Day on the third of July. We have a celebration called Country Days (that's plural, mind you) that lasts only one day and whose parade just might be paused at any moment by a train rumbling by. In fact, many things in our fair city might be paused at any moment by a train rumbling by. We have , run by two guys from Italy and we have run by a woman from Germany...and both are yummy! But you get the idea...

I also didn't know how friendly and helpful everyone would be. We proudly call ourselves a family community, but we are also, in large part, a bedroom community to Los Angeles and the Valley so, frankly, I didn't have the highest of hopes. Here Patch writers and I were, outsiders nosing around and asking questions for an online publication nobody had ever heard of, but from my first phone call for a story—a call to Steve Carlson at the —people have embraced the idea of a site specifically focusing on Moorpark.

Find out what's happening in Moorparkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

And I didn't know how we'd ever come up with enough news to update the site more than once a day. Even city residents were skeptical.

“What are you going to find to write about?” they'd ask with a laugh.

With very little crime, a city budget that might be tightly stretched but is operating in the black and high performing schools, it could be tough.

Now, well over a thousand articles, numerous Chamber gatherings, City Council meetings, school events, High Street Arts Center performances and club visits later, I wonder why I worried. Everybody here has a story to tell. We haven't had a chance to tell yours yet, give us time.

As we move into our second year, I have two goals: first is to increase coverage of the schools. There are a lot of amazing things happening at our educational institutions and we want to help share them.

Secondly, I want to encourage the community to get involved on the site. Moorpark Patch is your site. It should be a place for locals to share their own news, discuss city politics, rate restaurants and other businesses, propose new ideas and a myriad of other things you might find to do that I haven't even thought of yet. (See Monday's article with a video that shows how to post announcements .) If you have ideas or suggestions about things you feel should be covered more, feel free to contact me at rebecca.whitnall@patch.com or at 805-206-0857.

Finally, I want to say thank you to a whole lot of people. The site wouldn't exist without contributions by a talented group of writers and photographers. It might not be so upbeat without the caffeinated crews at , and the gang at . Mayor Janice Parvin and the city council members are always willing to answer questions and the city staff members have been incredibly helpful in providing information, as has the police department's Capt. Ron Nelson and Senior Deputy Bob Berger as well as Patrick Ellis and Steve Carlson at the Chamber. I'm sure there are so many others I will kick myself for forgetting after I post.

Mostly, though, a big thanks goes to you, the readers, for clicking on Patch daily. There'd be no reason to write if you weren't there. Thank you for embracing us, challenging us and visiting the site.


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