Bridging the generations
By Brent E. McCoy thereal@roadrunner.com

Every now and then, I like to jot down a few notes on the happenings in and around Moorpark. By the same token, I occasionally like to have a little fun with the language skills of our youth. I was curious to see what would happen if I combined the two. We're about to find out.

Dude, did you go see the Simi Valley Days Parade? It was like totally awesome, dude. I mean, it was like everyone was there. The bands, the marchers, the local service groups, and man, like everyone. I totally hope you had a chance to see it. The Moorpark Country Days Parade and Street Fair on Oct. 6 should definitely be just as chill, and it will be totally worth going to. It will be a good time to kick back and chill. (I know- this lingo can get a little confusing).

Did you like see the article in the Moorpark Acorn about the coalition to fight graffiti in Moorpark? Man, we should all get behind this because it's really every citizen's problem. It's like our city and we want to keep it clean so let's all think about what we can do to help because graffiti is just so whack.

Oh, my gosh; oh, my gosh; oh, my gosh (or OMG, OMG, OMG for the supercool), we seem to have a debate going on in town over the issue of affordable housing. Look at the response just one letter to the editor has brought on. It's so random, man.

This is just one example of the things that make Moorpark and this newspaper off the hook. What has been interesting- so far, at least- is that folks have expressed differing views on an emotional and important subject and there has been no name calling yet. Right on!

I still consider myself a newcomer to Moorpark. I've only been here 21 years. There has been a lot of change in those 21 years. There are more businesses, more houses, more traffic and generally all of the problems associated with a growing city. The majority of the people who have moved here in the last 21 years were not part of an affordable housing program.

Still, we have the traffic and an increase in crime, but we're still one of the safest cities in the country. According to the Moorpark Acorn, there have been 465 units sold or rented under similar programs since 1988. I'd venture to say that if most of us hadn't read it in the paper, we'd have no idea that there were that many units involved or that it had been going on that long.

Actually, with all of the problems, this is still Moorpark, and Moorpark is still a pretty terrific place to live, and it's understandable that, personally, I'm not as concerned about diversity as I am about the fellow in the $100,000 car cutting across three lanes of traffic to make the Albertsons parking lot- a parking lot he didn't see because he was like reading the newspaper, actually.

Here's the 411 on a good time. This Sunday, there will be another High Street Broadcast at the High Street Arts Center. This is another thing that makes Moorpark such a nice place to live. The broadcast is a free show, but when it's over you'll feel like you should have paid to get in. It's the bomb.

Well, that's it. It was fun but, like, dude, my head hurts. Call me; no, text me. No, send me an IM. You call her and have her call me. I'll have my girl call your girl. Oh, the heck with it- just send a letter to the editor.