Oak Tree Capital Management

The $800-million RiverPark mini-city, the largest mixed-use project in Ventura County history, is set for official groundbreaking Tuesday with the dedication of a new elementary school and a fire station, and the unveiling of a smaller, redesigned business core. East Elementary School, scheduled to open in a year, and a joint city-county fire station are the first buildings under construction in a project planned for 7,500 residents and 1.2 million square feet of shops and businesses.

The $750-million RiverPark mini-city, the largest mixed-use project in Ventura County history, appears headed for approval in a fast-track process scarcely two years after it was first proposed. Backed by Oxnard officials who see it as a key step to improving the city's image, the 700-acre home-and-business development is set for consideration by the Planning Commission on May 2, and the City Council shortly after that.

The first residents of the new community of Playa Vista moved into their apartments Monday, a quarter century after initial plans for the mini-city near Marina del Rey spawned one of Los Angeles County's most protracted and bitter development struggles. The arrival of U-haul vans, women carrying armloads of clothes and men hoisting couches into sandstone-colored buildings beside Lincoln Boulevard marks a major watershed in a land-use dispute that began when Jimmy Carter was president.

It wasn't long ago that the Japan Airlines flight from Tokyo to Honolulu was a virtual commuter shuttle for cash-rich Japanese businessmen shopping for resorts and mansions. And residents were holding rallies to protest the flood of Japanese money into their tropical islands.