May 1st marked the official opening of Portside Yoga located at 947 Schooner Drive – Unit 211 in Ventura. This beautiful second-floor studio directly overlooks the harbor and captures a perfect view of sailboats, wildlife, and a perfectly framed postcard sunset every evening.

Yoga classes for all levels, all bodies, and all abilities will be offered, as well as Barre Sculpt and Cardio Barre. Special Events will occur several times a month on the weekends, with Portside Yoga’s first Open House occurring May 6 at 7:30pm .

Portside Yoga’s owner Donna DiMeo Sorce, has been a professional Yoga Instructor for 23 years in the Los Angeles and Ventura County areas and is registered with the Yoga Alliance.

Donna is also a Master’s Level Reiki practitioner. For the past 8 years, Donna has led yoga classes at The Ranch Malibu, a world-renowned luxury fitness, health, and wellness retreat in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Prior to her “second career” diving deep into yoga, Donna was a Professional Dancer on Broadway. Donna traveled the world appearing in many noteworthy productions. Donna’s most memorable gigs included her run in the original cast of

Jerome Robbins’ Broadway and then a wild two seasons as a Weekend Update

Dancer on Saturday Night Live. Donna also toured with National and

International companies in the musical, West Side Story and appeared on the Tony Awards several times.

Donna is a proud Brooklyn-born New York City native who makes regular trips back East to see family, friends, and old dance partners. But these days, Donna is thrilled to finally call beautiful Portside Ventura Harbor her home, where she shares an apartment, and a 45’ classic yacht, with her fiancé, Michael – who she met in the Portside Hot Tub – no kidding!

Yoga has created a community for Donna no matter where her journeys lead her. She believes, “Once we’re on the mat, we all speak the same language!” Her intention for all her students and clients is to create a sacred space where a connection to our bodies and breath can occur. She strives to create space where everyone can unplug from distractions, find balance, and always feel a little better when they depart than when they arrived. Donna enjoys sharing her love and enthusiasm for the practice of yoga, and is fulfilled by every “aah-ha” moment that blesses her studio.

Events occurring monthly will include Sound Baths, Reiki/Restorative Yoga, Special Workshops, and Sunset and Full Moon gatherings and waterfront meditation.

by Richard Senate

He was the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ventura but  he was much more than a religious leader in the community. He was a fixture in town, always speaking up for the underdog on local radio and newspapers. Anyone who  attended his sermons will recall his dry humor and booming voice.  He had once been trained as an actor, even appearing in films in that era, before movies could talk.

That was before he received the call to the pulpit.   He was serving as a prison chaplain at Walla Walla, Washington State Penitentiary when he learned one of the convicts, Clarence Boggie, confessed he was innocent of the murder of a man that had seen him sentenced to life in prison.  He believed the man and took up the cause of reopening the case to see if his account of what happened was true. At that time mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner had written that he was going to start a group to investigate people wrongly convicted of major crimes. He called it the “Count of Last Resort”.

Argosy Magazine saw it as a public relations stunt, but Garner believed it could make a real difference.  Reverend Gilbert made the long drive from Walla Walla to Temecula  where Gardner had his home then. He presented the facts of the Boggie case to the mystery author.  The two men became fast friends.  Investigators  were called in, the new lie detector used, and it was found that Mr. Boggie wasn’t even in the same town when the murder took place.

Gardner wrote up the findings in the magazine and the case was reopened, leading to the release of Clarence Boggie with a full pardon. It became the first of many cases that saw 100 men and women investigated with over half released.

It is interesting to note that not one of the released convicts ever went back to a life of crime.  Mr. Boggie himself, married his childhood sweetheart, built a cabin and then died of a massive heart attack three months after his release–but he died a free man.

When Gardner learned that a position was open for a new rector in Ventura, where he had once lived, he told Rev. Gilbert to apply. William got the job and moved his family to Ventura. He would continue to help with the Court of Last Resort and built the new church that still stands on Loma Vista. The two men worked together for many years, and when Erle Gardner passed away, Rev. Bill Gilbert gave the eulogy at this funeral service. After his retirement, and when Rev. Gilbert passed on to his reward, as was his wish, he was buried at the church he loved, a truly remarkable man.

An Opinion
by Alex Garcia, Community Organizer with CAUSE

As a community organizer I regularly talk to longtime residents about the countless sacrifices they make year after year to keep up with rising rents. I recently met Maria O. in her home where she has lived for the past 11 years with her husband and 3 kids located on the Avenue. I was shocked to hear that in 2016 the new property owner who bought her building raised everyone’s rent $600 dollars extra per month. When I asked how they were able to cope with such a significant rent increase she said, “the only option was to leave or find a renter to sublease a room in our apartment. “ She mentioned that even subletting a room hasn’t solved the issue because the rent keeps rising – they just received another rent increase of $250 earlier this year which has forced them into even harder financial times. To make ends meet they have accrued a lot of credit card debt, have had to ask relatives for loans, and they’ve even had to start difficult conversations with their kids about the possibility of moving out of state where housing is cheaper.

There are thousands of families in similar situations because the 10% state rent cap is simply not enough to keep families in their homes. This is why the Ventura City Council needs to make rent stabilization and other tenant protections a priority this year.

Renters have been raising concerns about the housing crisis, rising rents, and unjust evictions for years. In early 2021, tenants brought forward the need for stronger tenant protections, but ultimately city council decided not to take action. In 2022, renters called on the city council to act once again and they decided to push the conversation for another year. Ventura tenants have been holding their breath hoping this year the city would adopt local laws to protect them from unjust evictions and drastic rent increases, but instead the city council remains apathetic and refuses to make this issue a priority this year and plans to delay once again.

Ventura residents need strong and bold leadership like we’ve seen in Ojai recently. In March, the Ojai City Council listened and acted on the pleas of already displaced tenants and families at the brink of being priced out due to crushing rent prices by passing an ordinance to provide stability to renters with a 4% annual rent cap and relocation assistance of two months or $5,000 for no-fault evictions. Ojai council member Andrew Whitman expressed his support for the ordinance explaining that it provides tenants with some security that their rent is not going to continue to rise dramatically, and that stability will help hundreds of residents stay in their home. Mayor Betsy Stix has described this as a moral responsibility to protect the residents of Ojai since housing prices have continued to increase while wages have not. This is the type of leadership that is desperately needed in the City of Ventura.

The Ventura City Council needs to stop making excuses that there isn’t enough staff capacity to bring forward these protections. If they really wanted to get it done, they would shift their priorities to reflect the will of the people. In reality there’s very little political will in the current council because they are siding with the financial interests of the property owners – in other words they are putting profits over people.

How much more do working families need to suffer before Ventura City Council gets the courage to act on protecting their constituents?