[Toidylop]

"Ventura County has been a big well-kept secret until lately. Now the developers are going full-bore and I think the plan is to turn us into Orange County West (yes, O.C. is mainly east of V.C.)"

"well-kept secret"!!! I visited my brother-in-law that lives in the area (Mandalay Bay development), nothing is less than a $mil each :(

[Bernard Marx]

A million bucks isn't a huge amount for houses near the beach in CA. They're getting that much for a new development near me that looks like row houses, and you nearly have to get up on the roofs to see the ocean about 12 miles distant. Mandalay Bay is a very nice area and those prices don't surprise me.

What I had in mind is pressure for large-scale development through the whole county. We have a new 4-year college, Cal State Channel Islands, that will bring lots of new people to the area. Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station is being eyed by development interests as a new commercial airport to take pressure off LAX. There's talk of all kinds of developments, from amusement parks to a Hollywood Bowl-sized stadium/entertainment center.

It won't be long until Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo and Moorpark merge into a single mass of streets and buildings. The semi-rural aspect of the area has begun to disappear more rapidly each passing year. I guess that kind of progress is considered good but I've enjoyed the peace, quiet and very low crime rate too. That's all changing.