Conejo Valley Days parade

It's great the the Conejo Valley Days parade is going to continue this year (after some early jockeying about the prohibitive costs), but adding $3,000 in cost to the city isn't going to help much in the long run.

Cutting the parade about two-tenths of a mile means it will stop at The Lakes, 2200 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., instead of continuing to Erbes Road as it has in the past. By making this change, Dallas Drive will be left open for paradegoers who would like to park at the Civic Arts Plaza parking structure.

The City Council voted 5-0 at their meeting last week to pay $3,050 to buy out the parking structure so parade watchers can park there for free beginning at 7:30 a.m. Sat., May 5. The parade is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.

"We changed the parade route so viewers will have easy access into and out of the structure," said Don Hegarty, CVD parade chairman and Kiwanis president-elect. "We believe more people will attend the parade with more parking available close to the parade route."

Back in October, the parade was pronounced dead because it would cost $15,000 (it was eventually raised). Not only do I have no idea how a parade full of volunteers could cost $15,000 but the city has now upped the ante for future parades.

The parking structure belongs to the city, which should result in zero cost unless they're going to staff it. If this was like most events, that would mean having someone collecting money at the entrance (a real salary is involved there). Then again, if you've ever been to an event at the Civic Arts Plaza, you know that the likelihood of encountering an employee anywhere after you have paid to gain entrance is as close to zero as one can get. All I can think of at this point is that it will cost an additional $3,000 in insurance to leave the entrance gate open all morning (with a $50 service charge).

Last year I was really slothful about getting out of the house to see Sarah and Jon do their thing. I left right about 9 AM (when the parade begins at Duesenberg / Auto Mall Drive) and wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to find somewhere to park. Instead of heading to the Elks Lodge (as I've done before), I figured I'd try the south side. I used the freeway to Willow Lane and back to the south side of Conejo School Road. The parking lot by Rhineland Deli and Café Provençal was predictably full, but the lot at the Lakes was wide open (at about 9:10 there were hundreds of open spaces) and I was able to quickly find an open spot. I didn't need to walk very far east of Conejo School Road on Thousand Oaks Boulevard (only a hundred yards or so) to find a place to plop myself down.

The music festival at The Lakes as the parade winds down sounds interesting, but it does seem like someone else (such as the merchants most likely to profit from a lingering crowd) should be picking up the tab for generating the foot traffic. Not the city.