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Ventura College Foundation to award scholarships

Students who receive financial support from VCF tend to have higher completion rates.

With its scholarship application deadline on Jan. 24, the Ventura College Foundation (VCF) is welcoming a final flood of applications from Ventura College students who have completed at least 12 units. Foundation officials expect to award more than $400,000 to some 280 students this Spring, for an average award of $2,000 per student.

“Nearly all of these scholarships are awarded based on the donors’ wishes, in honor of or in memory of a loved one. It’s a living legacy, to have an impact on a student and that student’s family,” said Norbert Tan, executive director of the Ventura College Foundation.

Nearly half of scholarship applicants will receive some funds. Most awards are based on a combination of need and achievement with criteria designated by the donors, such as students’ area of study.

Students who receive financial support from the Ventura College Foundation tend to have higher completion rates than students who don’t, according to foundation statistics. Many scholarship recipients graduate to enter a career that allows them to support a family, and many students graduate from Ventura College to pursue a four-year degree.

“Many students come to us wanting to get a college education but have to overcome the hurdle of cost. The Foundation helps with student success, enabling scholarship recipients to focus on their studies to achieve their career goals,” said Tan.

For more information on scholarships or to download an application, visit www.venturacollege.edu. Students with questions should contact the foundation at 289-6491 or email [email protected].

Dee Dowell Memorial Scholarship Award

Alex Brunk was a 2015 scholarship winner who received $3.500 from the VPOA.

The Ventura Police Officers Association (VPOA) is accepting applications for the 13th annual Dee Dowell Memorial Scholarship. The scholarships will be presented in June to honor Sergeant Darlon “Dee” Dowell, who was shot and killed on August 7, 1978. Sergeant Dowell is the only officer in Ventura’s history to die in the line of duty.

In selecting scholarship recipients, the VPOA will consider academic achievement, school and community service, and financial needs. Applications must contain all required information and be returned no later than April 23, 2016. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Scholarship Awards:
1st Place $5,000.00
2nd Place $3,500.00
3rd Place $2,000.00
Honorable Mention(s) $500.00

Applicants must:

  • Be entering his/her freshman through senior year in college;
  • Plan a course of study related to the field of public service;
  • Ventura resident or have graduated from a high school in Ventura within the past three years;
  • Have a grade point average of 3.0 or better (based on a 4.0 system);
  • Maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or better if selected as a recipient;
  • Submit a resume of school and community activities, including a copy of transcripts through the most recent semester;
  • Submit an essay of 1000 words or less on “Service, what it means to me”;
  • Submit a letter of recommendation from a public servant.

For additional information please contact Officer Cameron Goettsche at 339-4462 or [email protected].  Applications are also available at the front desk of the Ventura Police Department at 1425 Dowell Dr., Ventura, CA 93003 or for download at www.venturapoa.com.

 

 

One thousand people kept from homelessness by the Homeless Prevention Fund

The Homeless Prevention Fund helped to move the homeless out of the river bottom and into housing.

by Jill Forman

Over 20,000 individuals in the City of Ventura have household incomes that leave no room for emergencies.  One-time financial difficulties such as a car repair, accident, illness or job cutback can result in the loss of housing even for employed families; nearly half the homeless each year have never been in this situation before.  Sometimes, all they need is assistance to get them through this temporary crisis, and they can keep their homes – 50% of homelessness can be prevented.

On December 16, the Homeless Prevention Fund helped its 1000th individual to remain housed.  Since 2007, the Fund has assisted 381 households with 1004 people.  50 households were aided in 2015: 80 adults and 50 children.

When a family loses its housing, the financial and human costs are astronomical.  Living on the streets or in substandard housing is detrimental to physical and mental health.  This puts increased demands on local hospitals, law enforcement, and emergency services.  And, it is more difficult and costly to get back into a home: rent needs to be paid up front, security deposits, and so on.  It has been estimated that up to $20,000 in services can be needed before a family is restored to housing.

In contrast, the Fund’s average cost to help with a one-time rental assistance is $500 per household, or $192 per person.  A case manager works with the recipients to ensure that a household budget is in place that will keep their housing costs paid for the future.  Over 90% of the families are still in their homes at follow-up nine months later.

The Fund has always been completely funded by donations from individuals and religious institutions.  There are no administrative costs; case managers from local social service agencies can use it as another tool in their efforts.  All the others involved are community volunteers.  100% of all donations goes directly into the Fund, preventing homelessness in the city of Ventura.

In 2003, the Fund incorporated and formed its own 501(c)-3.  A board of local supporters and businesspeople came together to take the organization to a new level of independence and effectiveness.

The Fund has been recognized by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness as one of eight innovative programs nationwide, achieving results in preventing homelessness.

To reach the Fund, donate or for further information, visit Venturahomelessprevention.org or contact Sue Brinkmeyer at 626-0363.

 

Ventura Chamber of Commerce Student of the Year Awards

youth of the year
Photo by Kenny Barker

At the 19th Annual Poinsettia Awards Luncheon, presented by the Ventura Chamber of Commerce and held in December the Male Student Of The Year was Justin Lucio who attends Ventura High School. Justin challenges himself by taking a rigorous amount of classwork every semester, earning high marks while also taking classes at the community college level. The Female Student Of The Year was Fidelity Ballmer who attends Foothill High School. Among her many accomplishments she is the Editor-in-Chief of the nationally recognized Foothill Dragon Press. She holds a 4.6 grade point average while taking all advanced placement and honors classes.

 

Vol. 9, No. 8 – January 20 – February 2, 2016 – Answer In A Breeze

answer in a breezeIf you have a question you would like answered send it to [email protected] and we will try to get an answer for you.

Q.   What is proposed on the triangle lot where the closed Joes Crabshack is located ?

~ Walt Mattace

A.   The proposed project, at 567 Sanjon (or is it San Jon?)  is a 231-unit multi-family residential apartment project and the demolition of a 7,000 square foot restaurant building on approximately 11 acres. The project includes 137 one-bedroom units, 91 two-bedroom units, and 3 three-bedroom units.

answer in a breeze insertAdditionally, the project includes a new bluff-top public promenade with overlook areas fronting onto Hwy 101 Freeway. Additionally, a 20,000 square foot publicly accessible park space is proposed to be developed at the western edge of the project site adjacent to the southern terminus of Ash Street. The project proposes one new street designed as a two lane collector (it will be Vista Del Mar)with public parking available on both sides of the street.

Sidewalks are located on both sides of the street for pedestrian access. The project proposes three bike racks located within the promenade open space area and bike storage areas throughout the residential portion of the project.

The proposed project will be reviewed by the Design Review Committee on Jan.20. It would still be several years away from development securing many approvals.

If you want more information the city planner handling it is Jared Rosengren, AICP at 658-4737.

 

To tax or not to tax? That is the question

We need a tax increase
By Ventura Mayor Erik Nasarenko and Deputy Mayor Neal Andrews

As 20-foot waves pounded our 143-year-old pier recently, causing damage costing at least half a million dollars to repair, Venturans were reminded of what makes our great city so special, but also very expensive to maintain.  Ventura is a truly beautiful city, but it’s also Ventura County’s oldest city.  It has a stunning natural landscape that sometimes inflicts costly damage to our aged infrastructure.  As our City Manager likes to point out, Ventura is like a stately Victorian home, majestic and elegant from the outside, but upon closer inspection it needs plenty of work, from new plumbing to necessary electrical upgrades.  Unlike nearby inland cities that incorporated in the 1960s, Ventura’s birth as a city occurred nearly 150 years ago, when President Andrew Johnson occupied the White House and the country was still reeling from the Civil War.

As we celebrate our 150th anniversary as a city, Venturans need to both look to our past as well as envision a better future.  What investments do we need to make today that will create a more secure tomorrow? How can we maintain our great natural beauty while ensuring that basic, core services – services like police and fire response – are provided to residents efficiently and effectively?

Ventura has few options under State law. One of the most important possibilities allowed is a local sales tax because all the money generated by it stays in our community to support local needs.  All cities in California are required by the State to apply a 7.5 percent tax on most retail purchases within their boundaries. The vast majority of those tax proceeds go to State and County government.  For example, in fiscal year 2014-2015 approximately $176 million in sales tax was generated in Ventura, but the City was able to keep only $24.4 million of that amount. Basically, most State sales taxes don’t help Ventura, leaving our residents and City officials with a long list of needs, but little money to meet those needs.

And those property taxes you paid in December? For every one dollar you paid, only sixteen cents will come back to Ventura.  Again the vast majority was already earmarked for State and County government.

Because we are an old city, our sewer systems, our water systems, our roads and sidewalks, and our buildings need costly attention.  Like our historic pier, the City of Ventura has unique features that require maintenance, care and funding, from keeping our fire stations open and providing life-saving paramedic response, to protecting our waterways from pollution.  One solution is to pass a local sales tax where every penny will stay in our community to maintain the services Venturans want and need.  A modest ½ cent local sales tax, where every penny stays in our community to meet local needs, would go a long way to making sure our city is prepared for a disaster and to maintaining critical city services.  An added plus is that tourists and travelers will all contribute to making our city strong as Venturans create a local funding source now and for generations to come.

Breeze: The City Council would need to vote to place a tax increase measure on the ballot.

Ventura City Council to ask voters to increase taxes – again
By Venturans for Responsible and Efficient Government (RES PUBLICA)

On April 14, 2015, the City Council directed the City Manager to conduct a “community survey” for a fee of $38,000.  They did that and spent your money for a poll.

The paid consultant, of course, was available to provide the needed education to attract more voters at a cost of $80,000.   The Council again voted to spend your money because you need “education”.

The poll that the City of Ventura commissioned asked if the citizens would be willing to support a tax increase, if it provided:

protection of local water supplies
keep all fire stations open
protect local beaches, rivers and coastal waters from pollution
maintain and improve fire, police and paramedic emergency response
maintain essential city services
improve services for seniors, the disabled and veterans

Past City Councils have relied upon poor surveys and have lost elections both times.

Ventura has a new Mayor his desire to tax the citizens of Ventura is partly because taxes are lower than Los Angeles. However, more tax money is being sold to Venturans under the disguise of “keep funds local”.

Several of poll items, such as water supply, rivers, beaches, seniors, disabled and veterans are already paid for by county, state and federal agencies.

The Ventura Water Department, independent of the city general fund, maintains our water system with the recent 34% increase in water rates over that last two years. Ventura has the funds for our aging water system.

The pier has over one million dollars in the “pier fund” for repairs. The pier is protected with an insurance policy that calls for a $100,000 deductible for each major occurrence. Therefore, no sales tax dollars is needed for the pier.

Over the last 2 years, the City of Ventura property taxes have increased by 4.0%. Also over the same two years, the City of Ventura sales tax revenue has increased by 9.5%. Therefore, revenues for the City of Ventura have continued to rise.

The real reason more taxes are being suggested is in 2015/2016, after the employees’ contributions, the City owes another $16,079,104 for retirements. This is an increase of $1,017,581 over last year.

Our Mayor’s own words from his 2013 campaign:

1) Asked how pay for to improve streets, public safety, and water resources… he said: “By growing the economy… the city must attract and retain businesses that will increase its sales tax base.”

2) Asked the role of the city is to attract a better economic vitality and he said: “The city can bring economic vitality to Ventura by keeping it safe and clean, creating a business-friendly culture at city hall, making sensible, cost-effective loans to businesses, and by promoting trade and tourism both locally and globally”.

3) The action he promised was: “As councilmember, I would like to make Focus Area 1 a top priority, bringing to the Auto Center area a destination retail establishment, like a Bass Pro Shop, and possibly a hotel to support the Players Club casino.”

In our new Mayor’s own words, economic vitality through increasing the business base is the top priority. We should keep him to his word.

To the Publisher
The Ventura Breeze

Dear Sheldon,

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your great newspaper. My wife and I moved to Ventura about four years ago and the Breeze has not only helped us adapt to our new home, it’s entertained us along the way. We look forward to every new issue.

My reason for writing at this particular time is to comment on Mayor Nasarenko’s article in the current issue, “Ventura has a great future ahead.” I suppose it would be quibbling to comment that this is better than having a great future behind, so I’ll avoid that. The mayor’s vision for a great future includes increasing the sales tax so as to be in line with the “industry standard.” Perhaps this is a catchy way of claiming that everyone else is doing it.

I would really like to see this proposal made in a more respectful way to those who will be paying the tax. We have to pay taxes. Everyone knows this. But that doesn’t mean every tax increase is justified. If the mayor wants to raise taxes, I feel he owes it to the city to make a strong case with specifics, line item by line item, not just the feel-good generalizations he references in the article. Additionally, if he wants a tax increase in perpetuity, he should make a strong case for that.

We pay a lot of taxes; a partial list would include State and federal income taxes, auto registration fees and taxes, gasoline taxes, various disposal taxes, personal property taxes, health plan taxes, sales taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes, phone taxes, beverage container deposit fees and sewer plant taxes.

What all these taxes have in common is that once upon a time someone thought, well, just one more little tax won’t hurt. The problem is, collectively, they do hurt. They make it more difficult for families to raise children, for seniors to get by, for Ventura retail businesses to remain competitive. If we’re going to need to put up with a higher sales tax, at least we should know why.

Dan Coverdale

Breeze:

Unbelievable!  The first announcement out of the mouth of newly appointed Mayor Erik Nasarenko of Ventura is that he will be pushing for a new sales tax on Ventura residents.  I guess it should really come as no big surprise because, of course, it’s now payback time for Nasarenko.  He received heavy support from the Ventura police and fire unions in his campaign for City Council two years ago with the understanding that he would advocate to get a tax increase measure on the ballot to beef up the police and fire budgets.  This is a clear tit-for-tat situation and is completely unacceptable.

But, the problem is people are on to these kinds of shenanigans, especially in the City of Ventura where tax increases have been placed on the ballot numerous times in the past and have failed, most recently in 2009.  What part of “no” does Nasarenko not understand?

People in this community are struggling right now to make ends meet in an economy that has seen wages stagnate over the last seven years.  Let’s not impose more suffering on them so that Erik Nasarenko can return a campaign favor he promised two years ago.  Please join me in opposing this ludicrous and unnecessary tax measure when, and if, it appears on the ballot.

Sincerely,
Mike Gibson

 

 

 

Vol. 9, No. 8 – January 20 – February 2, 2016 – Mailbox

Dear Sheldon,

Thank you very much for putting the City website number to contact for concerns and requests.  It is a simple act and will reap real action by our good City workers if they know of it.  I have been calling the “Graffiti number” often and really do get action within 24 hours.

Also, I agree 100% with the goal to go to a metric system like the rest of the world.  Why should the U.S. refuse to cooperate?

Respectfully,
Suzanna Ballmer

To publisher

It would be a terrible idea to close Poli on a permanent basis.  Thompson is now the only 2 lane road to go from West to East Ventura and vice-versa.  I grew-up using Foothill \ Poli to go surfing before school.  I know you are not from Ventura and would like to change things as You see fit.  Why do people move to Ventura and feel it is necessary to fix / improve things?  Why did you move here?  Most likely because of the atmosphere in Ventura.  Having lived here more than 50 years, I have seen far too many people try to make Ventura more like Orange County or LA after they move here.  If you don’t like the way Ventura is, move!!

David Eigner

David: Just because I think Ventura should close the street means that I don’t like Ventura and I should move? How absurd. So in the 50 years that you have loved here you haven’t found anything that should change because it might be better for Ventura? Hard to believe! So anyone not born here does not have the right to express an opinion?

Sheldon

Ventura Breeze:
I recently read in the American Journal of Human Genetics (very exciting reading) that Homo Sapiens contain 2-4% of Neanderthal DNA depending on ones lineage.
Between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal mated which accounts for us containing their DNA.
Creationist believe that Homo Sapiens have been in existence for only 6,000 years.
I can understand a slight difference between science and religion but not over 30,000 years.
By the way Homo Neanderthalensis were named after Neandertal, Germany where in 1856 they were first discovered.
Perhaps some Breeze reader could help me understand this.
Thank you
Donald Russell – Ventura

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and  trying to lift himself up by the  handle.

~ Winston Churchill

Tall ships return to Ventura Harbor

Photos by John Ferritto

stuff tall ships insetOn Saturday, Jan.16 the Tall Ships had their grand arrival as they sailed into the Ventura Harbor for their three weeks of sailing adventures, cannon battles, and educational programs for young people. The brig Lady Washington and the topsail ketch Hawaiian Chieftain are scheduled to stay in Ventura Harbor until  Feb. 8.