Sheldon:
Recently I saw smoke start coming up from a residential neighborhood south of me.
Thinking that someone may need help or may not be home to know, headed that direction and saw an RV on fire next to a house.
I pulled my van to the side and called 911 while running to the door. I banged on the door repeatedly “the RV is on fire get out of the house” while trying to explain to 911 where I was. An older woman finally came to the door on her cell phone and said she was on the phone with 911 who said someone else called. I told her it was me and asked what she wanted to get out of the house questioning if she had pets etc – she gave me several bags and said she needed to go get the baby.
Got them safely outside but she forgot diapers so I ran back into the house for them. Then went to the attached apt ringing the doorbell and yelling about the fire until their upstairs tenant came out.
I took the woman and the baby around the corner to an unknown neighbor’s house to get them out of the toxic fumes, FD and VPD showed up knocked out the fire before it damaged the house.
Cindy Summers
Cindy works for the Ventura Breeze and we wanted to share her story of heroism to inspire others to do the same when necessary.
Dear Mr. Brown,
I just came across two articles from The Breeze dated September 18, 2013 and October 2, 2013, titled “10 projects that will change the face of Ventura”. As a Pierpont Beach resident I watch the projects closest to me, and have time and again been disappointed to see new housing and commercial improvements stall and fail, such as the townhouses that were proposed on the site where Social Tap now sits (like we needed another bar), the Anastazi project at Seaward and Harbor, where there is no sign whatsoever of activity, the proposed Marriott Residence Inn near China Palace, and the huge Sondermann-Ring proposed project in the Harbor, which also doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
There is a real need for new housing in Ventura, which is full of ageing, sub-standard housing, but what seems to happen is that instead of infilling areas in the city where streets and sewers etc. already exist, the building is done on what is probably the most valuable and productive farmland in the world. And once it is taken out of farming, it is gone, never to be replaced, and there isn’t going to be more made elsewhere. We can build housing on empty lots, or tear down old warehouses and buildings that have outlived their purpose, but we can’t ever grow strawberries or lemons or avocadoes when the farms are built upon.
The proposed Hillside development (Regency 55-unit), if it passes all the geological testing, etc, at least will be built on non-productive land and will be a tremendous boost to downtown businesses, as will the proposed housing where Joe’s Crab Shack was. That area (Sanjon and Thompson) is full of boarded-up stores. Ventura needs to grow its tax base and building higher-level or luxury homes adds people who pay higher taxes and spend more money, which helps underwrite all of Ventura’s services to lower income people as well as supporting restaurants and stores, and neither of these projects, nor any of the ones cited at the beginning of this letter, take farmland out of production.
The City of Ventura needs to move forward on some of these projects. I understand that water use will be an issue, but the technology exists to make new construction much more water and power efficient than the old homes, and either a city moves forward or it moves backward – it doesn’t and can’t stay the same.
How about an update on all the projects from your original list?
Sincerely,
Lynne Hiller-Ventura
Lynne: Your points are very well taken. We will work on updates of these and other projects.
Dear Sheldon,
I am writing in response to your recent reference to the LA times article that mentions that teens are more likely to take up the habit of smoking after trying E Cigs or Vaping.
Those E Cig shops are really smart. Have you noticed how many there are within 2 blocks of Ventura High School? You can recognize them by the BIG bright pink, orange and neon green fluorescent window writing signs. – (this signage style reminds me of a 7-11 Big Gulp) Many teens turn 18 while still in the 12 grade. What a perfect opportunity to walk there after school. It’s no surprise they visit there, especially with all the different products available like vape mods and RDAs to customise your own Vape, who wouldn’t want to do that, especially teens. I understand that vaping is used for various reasons, such as to help many stop smoking, and it can also be used with CBD products to aid with depression. I also understand that many people who use these services so they can get the best products such as getting the best vape pen battery for their personal use. I do understand that.
I just wish there could be a city or state ordinance that would not allow these shops to blatantly window advertise so close to the high school!
Thanks again for bringing the issue to light( no pun intended) .
Cheri
And a lady was just awarded $1.9mill because one of them blew up and caught her on fire
