Mayor Bozajian's April 30 Letter To The Community

Press release from the City of Calabasas:

May 5 2021

Today we announce the first winner of our monthly Historical Treasure Contest, commemorating the City’s 30th Anniversary. Congratulations to Kathleen Sterling, publisher of the Las Virgenes-Calabasas Enterprise, for helping us to preserve a true historical gem. Kathleen submitted a photo of a tee-shirt bearing the logo of an early Calabasas Pumpkin Festival in the 1970s. Ironically, little did the designers of the cigarette-toting jack-o’-lantern know that some day the future City of Calabasas would be at the forefront of municipalities regulating public smoking.

The tee-shirt belonged to Kathleen’s late husband, Rodger Sterling, who founded the original Pumpkin Festival when he was President of the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce. Back then, the Pumpkin Festival was held in the heart of Old Town Calabasas, where The Enterprise was also located. Kathleen explained as follows: “The Festival sold pumpkins garnered from a pumpkin farm that ran along the edge of Las Virgenes Road. Beer was sold in kegs stored in big bins in front of the Sagebrush, and turkey legs and other food items were cooked and sold on site. Banners proclaiming the Pumpkin Festival were strung across Calabasas Road from the Cantina to the newspaper office.”

Thank you to the many people who submitted other items to us. Those submissions will be considered for future months. If you would like to compete in this ongoing competition, please go to the link for further information on how to submit images of your memorabilia.

https://www.cityofcalabasas.com/our-city/30th-anniversary

On April 29th, a small brush fire broke out on the hillside just southeast of the intersection of Las Virgenes Road and the 101 freeway. Coincidentally, I was right at the location at the height of the blaze and was able to take some photos myself, including this one.

Fortunately, the only damage was the destruction of about five acres of brush. A big “thank-you” to our local firefighters and Sheriff’s deputies, who responded to the threat and worked quickly to douse the flames. It was also fortuitous that there were no high winds. The cause of the fire remains unknown.

The City’s two major Earth Week activities, organized by the Mayor’s Youth Council and held last weekend, were a great success. On April 24th, volunteers planted about 80 trees along Las Virgenes Creek to replace some of those destroyed in the 2018 Woolsey Fire. On April 25th, volunteers conducted a creek clean-up along that same stretch of Las Virgenes Creek, starting at Agoura Road and meandering southward. Congratulations to Matthew Borselli, winner of the competition for who would discover the most interesting item during our excursion along the creek bed. While he did not find a rotting car submerged in the creek (as we did many years ago), Matthew did locate a rather uninviting-looking couch down there.

With respect to COVID-19, we may know some time next week if Los Angeles County will be moving from the State’s “Orange Tier” down to the “Yellow Tier.” COVID infection rates in the County are now low enough to put us in the lowest tier, which would of course mean fewer restrictions. Simply put, the Yellow Tier means capacity limits at businesses and events can increase, as long as safety guidelines are followed. As of now, approximately two-thirds of Calabasas residents who are eligible to be vaccinated have been at least partially vaccinated. Speaking of which, time is running out to register for the next one-day COVID vaccination clinic being run by Albertson’s on May 7th at the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center. If you are 16 years or older and need a dose of the Pfizer vaccine, you can go here for more information and find the link to register: https://bit.ly/2PB2x7B

On May 8th, the City will be hosting an event for young children to help celebrate Mother’s Day. “A Wonderland Tea for the Little Ones & Me” will take place at Grape Arbor Park, with two separate seatings (11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m.). Tickets are $5, and pre-registration is required. Please go here for further information and to register. https://bit.ly/3eDgt9K

And finally, a reminder that all City employees will return to their worksites on May 3rd. City Hall and the Senior Center remain closed to the public for now, but we expect to announce their re-openings soon. Aside from the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center, all other municipal facilities are now open.

James R. Bozajian
Mayor
City of Calabasas

This press release was produced by the City of Calabasas. The views expressed here are the author’s own.