TURNING AROUND: Crime is down by nearly...

TURNING AROUND: Crime is down by nearly 30% in Las Casitas, a neighborhood of 540 condos in southwest Thousand Oaks (B6). . . . And city officials will consider a plan that could make the area even safer. The City Council will vote Tuesday on an agreement with the Ventura County Flood Control District to install fencing along a concrete channel in the neighborhood, a move that could keep out transients who camp there. . . . Mayor Elois Zeanah will present a report detailing efforts to turn the area around.

BERRY DEBUT: As Mickey Mouse is to Disneyland, so the Super Strawberry will be to the California Strawberry Festival. At least that’s what organizers of the Oxnard event hope. . . . Auditions are set Tuesday in Oxnard and Wednesday in Hollywood for the mascot, which will make its debut at the festival, scheduled May 21 and 22. . . . Wanna-bes will be judged on how well they project personality while wearing tights and a giant red berry suit. . . . The mascot’s mission is spreading cheer. “Hopefully, we won’t scare too many kids,” said Don DeArmond, an audition judge.

HOME BASE: The American flags flying everywhere provide an early clue. Catalina Heights in western Camarillo is not your standard-issue neighborhood (B1). . . . An extension of local Navy bases, the area is home to about 1,100 Navy personnel from the Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme and the Point Mugu Naval Air Station. . . . The stay for some is short, but residents are bound by a sense of community. “Once you’re here, you have everything you need,” resident Marge Hays said.

HUENEME DAY: Port Hueneme residents voted for cityhood 46 years ago this week. Of 541 votes cast March 16, 1948, 338 residents of the military seaport favored incorporation, while 203 opposed it. An attempt to incorporate two years earlier had failed by a 30-vote margin. . . . The city’s actual incorporation date is March 24, 1948, when papers were filed with the state.