Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley Had the 4th and 5th Lowest Crime Rates Among Large Cities in 2015

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In late September, the FBI released its annual Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data for 2015. "Crime in the United States, 2015" compiles crime data from law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The data includes violent crimes, consisting of murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, and property crimes such as burglaries and thefts.

The overall U.S. violent crime rate grew 3.1% in 2015 as compared to 2014, with 3.73 incidents per 1,000 inhabitants. Overall property crimes declined 3.4%, at 24.87 incidents per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015.

Three years ago, the crime rates were 3.87 (violent crimes) and 28.59 (property crimes), indicating the rates have declined overall over the last three years.

We took a look at the data for approximately 300 cities in the U.S. with populations of 100,000 or more. The cities of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley ranked 4th and 5th in the U.S. and 1st and 2nd in California for the lowest overall crime rates among large cities in 2015. Congratulations! The top 10 are shown in the table below:

Top 10 lowest overall crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

Top 10 lowest overall crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

The cities of Oxnard and Ventura landed at 143 and 153 when ranked by lowest total crime rates.

Taking a look at solely violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, assault), the list looks a bit different. Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley drop to 12th and 26th, respectively and other California cities - Irvine, Murrieta, Glendale and Temecula moved into the top 10.

Top 10 lowest violent crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

Top 10 lowest violent crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

Let's take a look at other Ventura County cities of all sizes to see where they stand. Keep in mind that this does not include unincorporated communities of Ventura County like Oak Park, Casa Conejo, Lake Sherwood and others.

Overall crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in Ventura County cities in 2015 (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data) (excludes unincorporated communities)

Overall crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in Ventura County cities in 2015 (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data) (excludes unincorporated communities)

The cities of Ojai and Moorpark held the lowest overall crime rates among Ventura County cities in 2015.

Overall, in 2015 Ventura County residents had an average of 22.84 total crimes for every 1,000 residents, including 2.56 violent crimes (31% below the national average) and 20.28 property crimes (18% below the national average).

As a comparison, the City of Los Angeles, with nearly 4 million residents, had an overall crime rate of 29.94 total crimes per 1,000 residents, including 6.3 violent crimes. The highest overall crime rates among large cities in 2015 were: Salt Lake City, UT (101.86 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants), Springfield, MO (91.51), St. Louis, MO (81.33), Birmingham, AL (81.05) and Spokane, WA (80.31).

Other nearby cities' 2015 crime rates in the UCR data includes Calabasas (11.71 crimes per 1,000 residents), Agoura Hills (15.5) and Westlake Village (the L.A. County side, with 8,522 residents) with 23.59.

Overall, there are nearly 9,400 cities measured in the UCR. Of these, 214 cities had a total of zero reported crimes in 2015. The average population of these 214 cities was 870.

* The FBI cautions comparative use of this data for drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities. Comparisons lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Keep this in mind when reviewing this data, which is summed up here for informational purposes only.

Three Ventura County Schools Win 2016 National Blue Ribbon Schools Honors

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Three Ventura County Schools were named National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2016 today by U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. The Blue Ribbon Schools are selected based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. The Ventura County winners are among just 279 public and 50 private schools to be selected nationwide. The local winners are:

Environmental Academy of Research Technology and Earth Sciences (EARThS Academy)
Conejo Valley Unified School District

Vista Elementary School
Simi Valley Unified School District

Westlake High School
Conejo Valley Unified School District

The U.S. Department of Education will formally recognize the winners at an awards ceremony in Arlington, Virginia on November 7 and 8, 2016. The honored schools include public and non-public elementary, middle and high schools, including traditional, charter, magnet schools, parochial and independent schools in 42 States, the District of Colombia as well as Department of Defense Education Activity schools.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools award affirms the success of educators, students and families in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content. The National Blue Ribbon Schools flag gracing a school’s building is a widely recognized symbol of exemplary teaching and learning. National Blue Ribbon Schools are an inspiration and a model for schools still striving for excellence. Now in its 34th year, the U. S. Department of Education has bestowed this coveted award on fewer than 8,500 schools.

A complete list of all 2016 honorees is at www2.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/2016/national.pdf. 

Note: There were no Ventura County schools on the 2014 and 2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools lists; however, our local Yerba Buena Elementary School of Agoura Hills was a 2015 recipient and La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks received this prestigious award in 2013.

About the Ventura County Office of Education

The Ventura County Office of Education provides a broad array of fiscal, training and technology support services to local school districts, helping to maintain and improve lifelong educational opportunities for children, educators and community members. VCOE also operates schools that serve students with severe disabilities and behavioral issues, provides career education courses, and coordinates countywide academic competitions including Mock Trial and the Ventura County Science Fair. Learn more at: www.vcoe.org.

Thousand Oaks Ranks #49 on 2016 BICYCLING Magazine List of Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities

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The Amgen Tour came by so fast in 2016 that it was just a blur!

The Amgen Tour came by so fast in 2016 that it was just a blur!

Today, BICYCLING Magazine published its biennial list of the top 50 bike-friendly cities in the United States. The list is updated every other year based on data from over 100 cities and factors in miles of bike lanes and other information.

The City of Thousand Oaks made the cut at #49 this time, down from #33 on the 2014 list. The article mentions that the City gave bicycle safety education to 5,500 K-8 students over the last year, upgraded paths by providing separate facilities for bicyclists and equestrians and added green paint to bike lane intersections. However, the write-up notes that "much of Thousand Oaks' bike lanes remain far too narrow" and that only 3 out of the city's 157 miles of bike lanes contain a striped buffer to allow extra space between cars and cyclists.

Other Southern California cities on the list include Los Angeles (#24, up from #28 in 2014) and Long Beach (#28, down from #23 in 2014). The top 3 cities on this biennial list are Chicago, San Francisco and Portland.

For Class I Bike Paths in and around Ventura County, click THIS LINK.

Other local cycling clubs/groups in and around Ventura County at THIS LINK.

Thousand Oaks Ranked #33 on 2014 BICYCLING Magazine List of Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities

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Amgen Tour of California 2016

Amgen Tour of California 2016

In August 2014, BICYCLING Magazine published its biennial list of the top 50 bike-friendly cities in the United States. The list was completed based on cities with populations of 95,000 or more (roughly 300 U.S. cities are in this category) based on input from various sources, including the League of American Bicyclists.

Congratulations goes out once again to the City of Thousand Oaks for placing 33rd on this list, up from 38th on the 2012 list. Thousand Oaks was one of three Southern California cities to make the list, which included Los Angeles (28th) and Long Beach (23rd).

Keep in mind that this list was based on cities with populations of about 100,000+, which represents about 300 of the 20,000 or so cities in the U.S.

For Class I Bike Paths in and around Ventura County, click THIS LINK.

Other local cycling clubs/groups in and around Ventura County at THIS LINK.

Ventura County Area Schools in U.S. News 2016 Ranking of Nation's Top High Schools

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U.S. News & World Report has published its 2016 ranking of the nation's best public high schools. The rankings were based on data from 28,561 public high schools and from that total, 19,908 schools with high enough enrollment and sufficient data to be ranked.

The methodology for the ranking process was to 1) identify schools that best serve students' needs, including disadvantaged subgroups, based on academic performance in reading and math and 2) evaluate college preparedness based on graduation rates and participating and performance on Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams.

The median College Readiness Index (CRI) for 2016, measured on a scale of 0 to 100, was 20.17. A CRI of 100 means that all 12th graders took and passed at least 1 Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate test.

Among other factors, to be ranked, a high school had to perform better than expected on state accountability assessments, factoring in the proportion of economically disadvantaged students.  In other words, to receive a ranking, a school had to perform higher than other schools in the state with similar proportions of economically disadvantaged students.

To be ranked in California, schools must receive either a gold (top 500 nationally) or silver (top 501 to 2,673 nationally) medal, representing schools with CRI values at or above the 20.17 median.

Learn more at www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings.

2015 survey summary is at THIS LINK.

Ventura County Area Schools in Newsweek's 2016 Ranking of the Nation's Top High Schools

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Newsweek has published its 2016 ranking of the nation's "top 500 public high schools." The rankings were based on data from 16,285 public high schools from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Researchers determined the ranking by selecting schools at perform in the 70th percentile or higher in standardized state testing. From there, the ranking was done using the following criteria:

  • 10% of ranking based on "Holding Power," or the proportion of 9th graders that stay enrolled through 12th grade.
  • 10% based on the ratio of school counselors to students.
  • 17.5% based on SAT/ACT test score performance.
  • 17.5% based on AP/IB dual enrollment composite.
  • 20% based on graduation rate
  • 25% based on college enrollment rate.

Based on the above methodology, four local area schools made the top 500:

Oak Park High School ranked 51st overall and 7th in California

Westlake High School ranked 119th overall and 15th in California

Foothill Technology High School in Ventura ranked 393rd overall and 45th in California

Missing from this year's list that were on the 2015 list were Thousand Oaks High School (215th overall last year) and Calabasas High School (339th overall last year).

See more at www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2016.

January to June 2016 Restaurants New and Restaurants Adieu in Ventura County

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Here's the latest compilation of restaurants in the Conejo Valley and throughout Greater Ventura County that opened, announced plans to open or closed during the period January through June 2016.

(Click here for previous July through December 2015 activity.) Let us know of any we missed!

Restaurants That Have Opened Since December 2015

Restaurants That Are Planning to Open Soon