Dear Editor,
I have read the opinions in your newspaper and other local publications regarding the homeless issue with a mixture of amusement and anger. While I understand that Ventura probably has a significant aging hippie population, and numerous forward thinking progressives, are we talking about the same homeless people?
So many of the solutions that are mentioned involve increasing services to the homeless, and mental health “issues” that need to be addressed and dealt with in that population. While I’m sure that there are some who would benefit, most of the visible homeless who are causing the blight in Ventura are beyond help.
I live in downtown, and what I see are a bunch of dirty, filthy pigs. They belong to borderline criminal gangs. I have had constant issues with break ins and theft, and it is more often than not that the sidewalk outside my residence has human excrement on it.
These people need to be institutionalized. Transitional housing is just another money pit for them to ruin. If California cities do not get a handle on this issue, there is going to be an unstoppable exodus of the middle class.
Bill Deeney
Bill:
Don’t be shy tell us exactly what you think. I don’t think that there are homeless gangs, but could be wrong.
To Editor
I would like to submit “SPAM the HAM” for your consideration . . .
There might even be a song that can go along with it. I vaguely recall something about
“Old Black Betty Ramalam” you could change it to Spam the Ham . . . during parades or events.
Thank you. Really enjoy the Good News from the Breeze versus other choices. Keep up the good work !
Frank Antonowitz
Frank:
Our very unofficial name the pig contest is over but thanks for the suggestion.
May 20, 2018
Dear Mr. Mayor,
I’m writing this letter to tell you that we have a serious problem with our streets around town. Driving around town it seems very bumpy and shaky which is not good for the tires and cars. Also, the streets don’t make Ventura look pretty and that when people come to visit we want to make a good first impression. Please consider fixing the roads of Ventura. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Aidan O’Neil
3rd grade
Portola Elementary School
Editor;
“If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?” So said Franz Kafka about literature and I think it works with architecture too.
The greatest sin of the new Kaiser building seems to be that it’s different. Well, what’s wrong with that? Why does every new building need to be in the quasi-Spanish style, in the usual antique bone and ochre color scheme with a phony tile roof? Why can’t the style of a building reflect the period it was designed in, with this one being a nice example of early twenty-first century architecture?
As far as calling for more restrictive planning you need look no further than our neighbor to the south, Thousand Oaks, to see what a visually dull city that produces. How long would the ice cream parlor stay in business if all thirty one flavors were variations on vanilla? I’d much rather be offended than put to sleep.
Ernst Haas said it best: “Beware of too much taste as it leads to sterility.”
Alfred J. Lewis
Plain and simple, be a good neighbor
Parking in Ventura is a problem—no breaking news to most residents. For any number of reasons, many establishments don’t have enough parking for their customers, let alone the staff. However, when some local business owners direct their employees to park in residential neighborhoods, there certainly should be a few things that should be considered.
Local business owners, when strange vehicles show up at the break of dawn and stay well into the night, homeowners take notice. When these same employee vehicles block our driveways and when your employees move our trash cans “to get a better parking spot”, homeowners take notice.
Worst of all local business owners, when your employees have the mobile detail guy show up in our neighborhoods, homeowners really take notice!! The excessive noise of the spray hoses, the water run-off, and the uninvited environmental consequences are just the start. Did we ask for the soap and the overspray on our yards? Does the City of Ventura want to settle slip and fall issues due to the water on the sidewalks? It’s my understanding that this is an illegal, code violation worthy activity on city streets to begin with and, plain and simple, a reflection on local business owners not being good neighbors.
Being a local business owner has its’ challenges. I’m very aware of that. Just remember, residents see your business name on your employees’ scrubs and t-shirts. Your office might offer the best teeth cleaning in town or your café might serve the best raspberry jam, but your business, via your employees, may have left a bad taste in the mouth of many of your potential, or even worse, former customers.
Jim Barrick
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want. And, if they can’t find them, make them.
~ George Bernard Shaw
