Thousand Oaks is great, but it isn't Camelot

Maybe we're living in Camelot.

Despite plenty of depressing news both local and national, Thousand Oaks Mayor Andy Fox gave an upbeat and positive summary during his State of the City speech Tuesday.

Eternal optimists love State of the City events because the spin is always positive, sort of like State of the Union speeches. Fox made Conejo Valley sound like Camelot, the mythical home of King Arthur.

The annual event was hosted by the Thousand Oaks/ Westlake Village Regional Chamber of Commerce. It was sponsored by Amgen. Both have a vested interest in the financial success of Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Westlake Village. All three communities need, in turn, for Amgen and other Chamber members to enjoy success.

All of the positive thinking in the world cannot, however, sweep all the bad news under the carpet.

Amgen and Countrywide have had major layoffs.

Conejo Valley Unified School District will be closing several schools in the next year.

Although gasoline prices have rolled back slightly in the past few weeks, we're still paying well over $3 a gallon.

The real estate market remains in the deep freeze with home values continuing to erode.

Some homeowners are suddenly facing higher mortgage payments because they took advantage of adjustable rate loans with initial rates set artificially low.

Despite all of that, we're glad that Mayor Fox found plenty to be positive about, and we agree that Thousand Oaks is a wonderful place to live.

But it isn't Camelot.