Outdoor dining areas have become prevalent along Main Street in downtown Ventura as portions of the street remain closed to cars. The closure of Main St. in downtown to cars is scheduled to end in June 2024. But council members, the general public and some business owners have very different ideas if it should stay closed.

The closing called Main Street Moves, goes from the San Buenaventura Mission to Fir St. and one block of California St.

Some business owners say it has really helped their business and others say it has really hurt them. The public is also very divided. Some love the outdoor seating that most restaurants now have but others say they just can’t walk through downtown and want parking back in front of the stores.

Further action will be coming from the council.

The San Buenaventura Conservancy is moving forward with a desire to add Ventura’s former Washington School to the National Register of Historic Places. Consultants have determined the century old school meets the requirements for eligibility.

The site, at 96 MacMillan Ave., was recently home to Ventura County Christian School which was closed. Conservancy chair Stephen Schafer stated that the group is increasing fundraising efforts as it formulates a formal application.

Don’t trash it, smash it! Sustainably dispose of your pumpkins and have fun with the whole family. Join this year’s Pumpkin Smash & Compost Party on Sunday, November 5, from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the Cornucopia Gardens, located off Telephone Road near Johnson Drive.

Dispose of your pumpkins after Halloween and other fall festivities, and embrace sustainability at our annual event. What to expect:

• Pumpkin smashing fun
• Learn about composting
• Help maintain the compost pile
• Garden tools will be provided
• All ages are welcome

Ventura will continue providing Spanish interpretation of live meetings and translation of agendas for the City Council. The City Council voted unanimously to keep the translations in place. In September, 2022, the city approved a six-month pilot program to bring interpretation to council meetings. In March, the council extended the program and added Spanish translation of City Council meeting.

There has been an increase in people accessing the Spanish language agenda, according to the city. Typically, the translation takes about 72 hours after the agenda is posted.

A large cannabis trade show could be headed to the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

The Fairgrounds has entered into a tentative agreement to lease space for a cannabis trade show in March.

Fairgrounds CEO Jen McGuire said a contract is being drawn up for the show to lease space at on March 13-14. Before the deal becomes official, it will have to be approved by the fairgrounds board of directors and also be reviewed by the state who owns the site.

Visit Ventura is proud to announce it is a finalist for the Place Brand of the Year category of the City Nation Place Awards 2023 for the organization’s involvement and leadership in hosting the X Games 2023 in Ventura. Visit Ventura is the only USA finalist in this category.

The City Nation Place Awards celebrate and benchmark the very best in strategic and effective thinking for place branding and marketing. As the only specialist global awards designed to showcase the best approaches to building and managing the reputation of destinations, the City Nation Place Awards attract entries from across the world. Winners of the awards serve as best-practice case studies for reference and inspiration for cities and destinations around the globe.

“Being announced as a finalist feels like we’re already a winner!” said Marlyss Auster, President and CEO of Visit Ventura. “Our whole team is beaming with pride knowing that our hometown is receiving international recognition with this award. We succeeded in hosting a big-time event while also staying true to our roots. I am so proud of what we achieved this past summer as a community. We made history.”

The Place Brand of the Year category awards destinations that demonstrate a committed approach to support the long-term goal of promoting the place brand by capitalizing on an event or implementing a project. Visit Ventura’s entry titled “A Small-Town Story of a Big-Time Event: the Journey of X Games 2023 Coming to Ventura,” outlined ways we leveraged regional partner and stakeholder collaboration, community involvement, local business engagement, and sustainability to ensure the X Games was a success in our hometown. By hosting an event that not only is internationally acclaimed as the world’s largest extreme sports competition but one that also matches Ventura’s ethos and love for the outdoors, Visit Ventura elevated our destination to world recognition.

An international panel of judges determined Visit Ventura’s entry as a finalist for the category alongside entries from New Zealand, Brussels, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Lithuania. City Nation Place Awards winners will be announced at City Nation Place Global 2023 in London on November 9.

Comprehensive energy program will leverage Federal funding to implement integrated solutions at all 27 school sites and capture an expected $106 million in net energy savings

Ventura Unified School District (VUSD) recently approved a contract with ENGIE North America (ENGIE) for comprehensive solar, LED building lighting, customized sports facility LED lighting, and an integrated STEM internship and student engagement program. As the first K-12 school district along the Central Coast to leverage Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding, VUSD will also utilize bond funding to help pay for the project and expand its technical scope which will positively improve sustainability outcomes across the District.

Serving approximately 15,000 students across 27 school and campus facility sites, VUSD leadership and the supporting community have long prioritized the design of a financially-viable energy program to capture energy savings and align with local and state climate action goals. ENGIE worked with the District to lock in favorable Net Energy Metering 2.0 rates for the next 20 years. VUSD is also committed to delivering sustainable solutions across all school sites – many of which are located in economically underserved parts of the city.

This project is financially attractive for the District and will reduce its overall electricity costs by 70 percent over 30 years. This work will be done across schools with a Southern California-based team of ENGIE project engineers. The combined project scope will include:

• 4,708 kW solar PV scope across 25 sites and parking canopy solar structures;

• Interior/exterior LED lighting and occupancy sensor controls at nine sites;

• Sports Field LED lighting at Buena High School and Ventura High School, reusing existing lighting infrastructure poles to minimize extended construction impact on the fields; and

• Integrated STEM offerings aligned with real-time project data production, including professional development for teachers, hands-on engineering design learning for students, and six dedicated summer intern opportunities for local students.

The VUSD program is expected to save $133 million in energy costs over the lifetime of the project. The District should be eligible for $14 million in IRA federal funding dollars that will go directly to it after the project is completely constructed.

“As thoughtful stewards of our community’s resources, Ventura Unified has been interested in solar energy and high-efficiency LED lighting systems for many years. Unfortunately, making those changes was cost-prohibitive until recently,” stated Board President, Sabrena Rodriguez. “Thanks to the generosity of our community by passing Measure E, a general obligation bond to update our schools, we can now make these changes a reality. These changes are not only a positive step towards sustainability and resilience for the District, but they will also provide opportunities for our students and staff to learn about how green technologies can be good for the financial bottom line — creating a win-win for the community and our schools.”

“The IRA is a true gamechanger for our ENGIE customers – now that we are seeing local leaders like VUSD start to directly build out projects that leverage potential IRA funding, it is clear what a win-win this is for energy communities across the U.S.,” said Jean-Francois Chartrain, Managing Director, Energy Solutions Americas at ENGIE. “We are excited to help VUSD expedite their plan for long-term sustainability that will enhance and elevate the District’s financial and environmental impact through our range of comprehensive solutions.”