Breeze:
I know city staff loves having alternate Fridays off and management sold it as saving money, but really, how much $$ does it really save and is it really any way to run a business?  It is not customer friendly.  If we support a tax increase can we do away with it?   Last Friday I observed a couple with a red truck and camper shell going through recycle blue bins on Santa Rosa between Thompson and San Nicholas.   They had filled their entire truck with bottles  I called E J Harrison to report it and they referred me to code enforcement whom I called but by having to leave a message no enforcement action was possible.  This is just one of many reasons I think it is time to do away with this practice.  We are giving pay increases again now and really, this practice needs to go.
Mike L Merewether-Ventura

Mr. Merewether

Code Enforcement is staffed six days a week Monday through Saturday except holidays.  The complaint line number is 805-658-4711.  On the alternate Fridays and Saturdays we have 1 Officer on staff.  They respond by the priority of the complaint. Life Safety being a top priority.  You can also call the Police Dept. for a complaint such as this.  

 Brad Clark
Code Enforcement Supervisor

Dear Editor:

You don’t have to vote for Trump. You don’t have to vote for Hillary. But you can’t not vote. If you’re a citizen of the greatest, richest country in the world, you must vote. It’s the only obligation you owe your country.

There’s no law that makes you vote. It’s not written into the Constitution or enforced by the Supreme Court. It’s your sacred obligation to participate in governing your country — the United States of America. The USA.

This personal participation should be drilled into the heads of all children from preschool on. We should have a national holiday celebrating our ability to partake in making our country free and influencing our elected representatives.

Don’t be making up excuses for shirking this job.

Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote.

Sincerely,
Es Cole

Sheldon

Heartfelt generous thanks and appreciation for honoring my student and great friend Don Haskell in the Breeze. This is one but many reasons why The Breeze is our go to for local news and views.

With love and thanks
Suz Montgomery and our ELA class

Just because you do not take an interest in politics
doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you!

 ~ Pericles (430 B.C.)

Dear Editor,

With regard to the news report of July 5, 2016 in the Ventura County Star, the Ventura voting public needs to keep this news in perspective with how it relates to the citizens of Ventura. This is a City Council that is asking for another $270,000,000 in new taxes to spend anyway they wish.

The City Council approved a 4.50% raise, plus a $1,500 bonus, for police. The City Council also approved a 4.50% raise, plus a $1,500 bonus, for police management. Furthermore, they also approved a 5.25% raise, plus an $800 bonus, for non-public safety employees.

In the private sector, the general public is lucky to receive half this amount as an increase. Raises in the private sector are still running at about 3% or less. If you consider inflation as a baseline, in 2015 inflation was .12% and for 5 months in 2016, inflation is 1.078%.

The City Council is totally out of touch with economic reality and the voters need to relate this to the fact that the City Council is proposing a new 25-year tax. If the City Council cannot say no to spending, the voters in Ventura need to say no to this irresponsible spending. Vote no to an increase in sales taxes.

Robert Alviani-Ventura

Editor:

Today I received my first mailer from the City of Ventura about the ½ cent sales tax they want.  This mailer was paid for with our tax dollars, an irony since the city claims we don’t have enough money, which is why they want the sales tax.  Of course those who oppose more taxes don’t have a pot of money for fancy mailers (wonder how many potholes could have been fixed for the cost of this one mailer?).  We get to write letters to the editor!

Venturans should know that this tax would last for 25 years!  25 YEARS!  And while the city has a list of things it says it would spend the money on, there is NO assurance the money would be spent on these things.  The annual financial audit and the public review of expenditures would happen AFTER the money is spent.  There is no requirement that the city seek approval from anyone before spending the money.

And the “citizens’ oversight committee” will be selected by the city council, so they can stack it with “friendlies” who won’t question their expenditures.  The committee would have no authority to assure that the money is spent on the items listed in the city’s mailer.  The committee could only make recommendations, which the council can then accept or not. The committee’s lack of power was specifically confirmed at the council meeting where the council voted to put the sales tax measure on the ballot.

I am sure we will be getting more mailers about this.  When you get those, think about how much money the city is spending on mailers that could instead be spent on the things we need.  And think about whether you want to lock yourself into this tax for the next 25 years.

Alison Carlson-Ventura

We asked the City for a few responses, there will be much more said about this before the November elections for both sides to be heard. These were their comments.

This mailer was paid for with our tax dollars  – The informational mailer is to educate residents about the measure that will be put before the voters for their consideration.  The City wants to be transparent about the measure and educate residents to make sure they understand what it is and what vital services and programs could be funded with additional local funding.

There will be an Oversight Committee prescribed by the proposed ballot measure which would become law should it be approved by voters. The measure states the committee must include seven individuals who must be Ventura residents. Elected officials are excluded. The committee’s responsibilities are outlined in the proposed measure as well, which can be read here: 

http://www.cityofventura.net/files/file/meetings/city_council/2016/July/item%2003%20revised.pdf (the Citizens Oversight Committee is included in the Ordinance; located on page 22 of the report)

 Decisions on the financial expenditures of the City are the responsibility of the City’s elected representatives who must conduct budget proceedings in public. Budget documents are also made public and independent audits are conducted annually. The value the Oversight Committee adds to this process in assessing the actual expenditure of the measure’s revenues against how those revenue expenditures were prescribed by the ordinance voters approved.

Comment from Publisher Brown:

The City Council also appoints members to the Planning Commission and the Council frequently disagrees with the Commission’s decisions and reverses them.

Editor:

Breaking Bad? Only time will tell on Brexit.   I had just spent a couple of weeks in the U.K. and the whole place was abuzz with would Brexit happen or wouldn’t it? Panic. Fear.   My daughter has lived in the UK for five years now and she was furious and sad at the results.  I felt on the fence a bit but sad that the vote was so close. So like all artists, my inner thoughts suddenly found themselves going on to canvas. I chose to paint Prime Minister David Cameron”s expression just after he announced that he would step down.

Johanna Spinks

No man’s life, liberty, or  property is safe while the  legislature is in session.
~ Mark Twain (1866)

Breeze:

There is a fallacy to the economic benefits of vacation rentals. Allowing homes to be operated as vacation rentals is an economic loss to our community. They give rental owners tax deductions and income advantages that prospective permanent homeowners cannot compete, have contributed to housing price increases, and a decrease in homes available for purchase or rent.

Vacation rentals are taxed at as a source of income for cities that are in need of revenue. This has given incentive for local governments to attempt to legalize these business enterprises despite their illegally per existing zoning codes and laws.

The loss of residential zoned neighborhoods is at risk. The effect of vacation rentals cannot be measured in economic terms.

Reports and articles do not note the loss of traditional local business income. Vacation renters are seasonal. It is common sense that rentals decrease business income over a full time resident. Vacationers do not purchase automobiles; buy tires, gasoline, auto service, hair salons, barbers, or medical services, or insurance even for their rental home, plus a myriad of other services locally, including local charities. They do little more than service their owners and agencies. The vacancy period of a rental is a net loss to businesses that rely on repeat local customers.

There is a multiplier effect on every dollar spent in a community. Every dollar spent locally has a more than three and a half times fiscal impact. Ireland bases their low business taxes on this very principle, as did Canada in the 1980’s. A portion of every dollar spent keeps flowing to other local businesses at a diminishing rate to just over 3.5 times the original dollar spent. A full time resident has a greater positive economic impact over a vacationer due to their full time spending in their community. Where does the rental money go? It goes to the agency renting the property, the agency collecting the rent, and it goes to the owner, who for the most part lives in another community. If the money supply is reduced in a community so does the economy!

John and Carmel Whitman-Ventura

Editor:

If I took my car out tonight with no headlights, drove on the wrong side of the street, on the sidewalk, blowing through stop signs,  I dare say that the local constabulary (that means “the fuzz”) would run me down and drag me off to the pokey for what would probably, and rightly, be a lengthy stay.

So why do you get to do it on a bicycle?

Yeah, yeah, I’m always picking on cyclists. I have nothing against them, I just don’t want to be responsible for killing any of them, and it would be helpful toward that end if they were to wear safety equipment, have lights fore and aft, ride on the right side of the street and follow the same rules of the road as we motorists do.

Alfred J. Lewis
Ventura

Alfred:

You will happy to know that on July 4^th that the Ventura Police Department stepped up their Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations with focused enforcement on collision causing factors involving motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.

The department has mapped out locations where pedestrian and bike collisions have occurred along with the violations that led to those crashes.  Extra officers were on duty patrolling areas where bike and pedestrian traffic and crashes occur in an effort to lower deaths and injuries.

Officers were looking for violations made by drivers, bike riders and pedestrians alike that can lead to life changing injuries. 

In general, the art of government  consists of taking as much  money as possible from one  party of the citizens to give to  the other.

~ Voltaire (1764)

Dear Sheldon and Scamp

I picked up my copy of the Breeze for June 8 just yesterday.  I want to thank Scamp for his concern for animals for putting information about the Yulin Festival in his column.  The better educated people are the better chances are of putting an end to this terrible cruelty.  So, Scamp, thank you very much for being so thoughtful and concerned about animals everywhere.

I always look forward to getting new issues of the Breeze.

Hope both of you have a relaxing weekend, but will guess your weekend will be filled with all kinds of exciting things to do.

Thanks again.
Betty Okrent

Woof woof
Scamp

Dear Sheldon,

Yes, it is stupid and shameful when human zoo caretakers need to kill an animal (in their care) because of the mistakes of other human beings.  It was a human mistake (probably the parent’s mistake) for that little human boy to be in the gorilla animal enclosure.  How could a “caretaker” kill an animal in their care?  Where was the “stun gun” to simply let the gorilla sleep until the boy was removed?  It is a time like this that makes me ashamed of assumed human thinking.

Suzanna Ballmer, Ventura

Ventura Breeze

The City is starting to place these locked trash containers around town.  I saw two already in place along the bike path.  As I can attest, if you cut into the vagrants source of income (canning), they will go someplace else.  Hopefully these will be placed all over Ventura.  Now if the City would only put dividers (arm rests) at the center of each park beach to stop vagrants from sleeping on them.

Robert George-Ventura

Hello dear Sheldon!

Been meaning to send a thank you for days now, so thank you again so much for getting our notice in the Ventura Breeze…I got several calls again and expect at least four new people to show up! Wo – if this keep up we’re gonna need a bigger room for our  Ventura Parkinson’s Support Group!

Hope you are doing well – sure do love your editorials; I at least find time to read that part!!

Yours truly,
Patty  Jenkins

Hi Sheldon,

Regarding your 6/8 editorial – Legalizing marijuana for recreational use is going to happen, but I also recognize the police chief’s concerns. However, to cite the example of a delivery service being robbed shows how restricted the system is now – the only way most people can easily buy legal pot is through these delivery services. Regulate legal dispensaries locally and delivery services will disappear. Robbers also know the issue with current banking regulations, so legal dispensaries also must deal with how to stash large amounts of cash since banks are currently prohibitive towards accepting these deposits. Eliminating this modern day prohibition is the only way to logically remove the murderous cartels from the equation. Technology will quickly figure a way to measure a person’s intoxication soon enough. The same need spurred the breathalyzer fast enough.

Footnote. So sad about the magnificent gorilla. Being a lifelong Buddhist, it’s part of our collective karma that this happens (also the gorilla’s). Until we improve how we protect and manage endangered species, this will continue to happen.

best as always,

Kurt Triffet

Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.

~ William S. Burroughs

The Ventura Breeze hereby apologizes to anyone who was offended by Bill Green’s cartoon in the last issue(Jewrassic Park) and thought that it was racist – it was certainly never intended to be.  By the way, both the Breeze publisher and Bill Green are Jewish. And you can always go to Danny’s Deli for a good corned beef sandwich.

Sheldon,
You have a great sense of humor!  You gave me a good laugh with your comment about buying 72 $400,000 3 bd rm houses instead of building 101 low income units.
You would be lucky to find 10 $400,000 houses for sale in Ventura , let alone 72 !
This issue must be dear to your heart because you’ve mentioned it twice now.
You do realize that by taking more houses off the limited amount of family units for sale, you would just create a shortage. Hummm, that might be what you were hoping for.
By housing seniors,  students and a variety of low income needs, you preserve a ventura of all kinds. Not only the wealthy.
Not only do you house people efficiency , but the maintenance on one building is always cheaper then maintenance on 72 houses.
I hope the city continues to build these units, insuring a diverse community.  A community that offers more than just dollars.
You being a senior should appreciate that.

Barbara Art

Barbara:
How about 72 mobile homes? You are right just trying to increase the value of my home.
I’m a senior? Only when I think about it.

Dear Sheldon:

Thank you for covering Parkinson’s awareness and Ventura’s Parkinson’s support group. You make a difference and your commitment to community news is great.

Best always
Aurora Soriano
Parkinson’s Action Network

To all the staff of the Ventura Breeze.

Just a quick note to express my appreciation for the great write up you gave us in the May 25 issue. All the ladies in the Pin Potters League were very impressed.
And a special thanks to Michael Gordon for the great photos.

Thanks again
Ornette Smith

Editor:

The more I read the newspaper the more confused I get.  This week we learn that the State of California will provide free medical care to one-quarter million children who are in the State illegally and have no right to be here. We also recently read that the care provided our veterans who fought for us and use the Oxnard VA Medical Facility face some of the longest wait times for treatment in the country. Looking at this sad example of our priorities, one might draw the conclusion that this will encourage an increase in illegal immigration into California and a decrease of those volunteering for the military.

One in three people in California are on Medi-Cal; people on fixed incomes like Social Security did not get a cost of living increase this year; yet, the Ventura City Council wants to increase the sales tax to make up for the shortfall in funding for the overly generous pensions for city and county workers.

California is going to spend 2 billion dollars for 10,000 apartments for the homeless over a number of years.  It is estimated there are 113,952 homeless in California at any given time. What happens to the majority that are not lucky enough to receive an apartment? Giving a person an apartment alone does not treat the cause of being homeless. The causes of homelessness should be treated with an equal priority to that of shelter.  Would it not be better to use the money to erect large tent cities in appropriate areas which could provide shelter, food, medical care, training, and job placement to more people?  Giving a person an apartment is not going to result in a job. Lacking programs to foster medical treatment and self-improvement, all it will create are zones of poverty.

John Ferritto-Ventura

Everything is permissible as long as it is fantastic.
~ Carlos Mollino

Breeze:

The Star was in such a rush to get the story (Irish Centenary) in the next day’s paper their coverage was superficial and they made serious errors. Their reporter didn’t notice last minute changes to the program and had two wrong captions.   The VC Reporter only gave this unique event a few tiny lines in their calendar because they were busy with Earth Day.

John McNally
Remax Gold Coast Realtors

Dear Editor,

This week the Ventura City Council gave the green light to work on placing an initiative for the November ballot increasing the sales tax one-half to 1%.

Although I support the school district, I believe that lowering the tax rate one half of a percentage point would actually increase sales in town, thus achieving the same result of adding sales tax dollars to Ventura.

For example, the purchase of a $35,000 automobile or kitchen remodel would cost $350 less in Ventura than Oxnard if our tax rate was 1% less than Oxnard. I think this would drive people to spend here considering the savings.

Excessive taxes and business regulations are a damper to our economy. The problem in Ventura is not how much taxes we collect but rather how poorly we spend our dollars. The facebook page Watchdog Ventura is a good platform for studying this issue. I encourage everyone to read it.

Sincerely,
Randall Richman – Ventura

To Shana Epstein-Ventura Water General Manager

We here in Pierpont have seen this before and complained about.  I know you are probably cleaning out the waterline on Waterbury LN since you are doing work on the line on our lane.  But why don’t you capture this water with a water truck and take it to one of the parks that could use the water?   Why are we residents expected to conserve 20% when you are pouring hundreds of gallons of water onto Pierpont BL?   You would think that the Water Department would be making an effort to set the example.

Murray Robertson

Thank you, Murray, for your understanding of why we are flushing the waterline.  We are actually in the process of purchasing a truck as you suggest and hope to have it by the end of this year.  We will be able to flush water into the truck, treat it and then put back into the distribution system.

I appreciate your conservation ethic.
Shana Epstein

Hey Sheldon,

You know that that the Breeze is my fav Ventura pub, and you are a most delightful curmudgeon, but really…

Yes, it was the preliminary hearing (proposed 55-unit hillside development) and those us who attended all understood the purpose of that hearing.

The point of the signs was, as it was then, and still is, to draw awareness to the public. The prescreen is over but the bigger point is to keep it fresh in the public eye.

No need to spend more of someone’s generous personal money to do this, in case you’d perhaps like to pick up the tab, to “right this terrible wrong” with the signs to have it changed. 😉

Second, the “exaggerated concepts” that the locals put together were based on only what the development had made public months before the meeting. My impression was that the presentation they made that night had been put together with a lot of burning of the midnight oil to counter what the citizen group put together. The lush green renderings made it look quite appealing, but when has the hillside ever looked as lush or green as that?

Now that we are in a serious drought, let’s all be realistic going in. So many other issues… vacation housing for the retired and wealthy? (the reality) We have plenty of hillside opportunities now.

best to you,

Kurt Triffet
Triffet Design Group

Kurt: We all look forward to see what their next round of drawings are. Assuming that they choose to continue with the project. We have contacted Regency to learn of the their plans.

After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say,
” I want to see the manager.”
~ William S. Burroughs

Editor:

Sales taxes increased by 5.9% over the last year but the City Council is still considering taxing Venturans more. The City Council is using the argument that it wants a locally kept and locally spent tax. They fail to understand that $340 out of a household budget is still $340.  They fail to see other taxes are also increasing.

Medicare tax from 1.45% to 2.35%, Income Tax rate from 35% to 39.6%, Payroll tax from 37.4% to 52.2%, Capital gain tax from 15% to 28%, Dividend tax from 15% to 39.6%, Estate taxes from 0% to 55% and Real Estate transaction tax of 3.5% was added. There will also be a transportation tax and a school bond tax on the ballot.

City government has $20 million more in real property taxes and sales taxes than 7 years ago. Add to that the 34% water rate increase; imposed without your affirmative vote, which raised millions. They have enough money.

How has the City Council invested your money? $2.0m WAV project; $1.0m to narrow Victoria; $1.0m for the 911 tax, never refunded; $9.0m for a Convention Center, never happened; $8.0M for the aquatics center, never completed; $12m in savings since 1992, has never grown; $50m to settle an environmental lawsuit, done in closed session, and $5.M to promote Ventura the Art City.

This is a question of trust and truthfulness. Past City Councils have broken promises and have redirected or had the spending changed by future City Councils.

The point is that you can’t rely on any City Council to spend another $20.0m of our money tax dollars.

With a budget surplus and taxes growing, this Ventura City Council must operate within its budget, just as citizens do with their 34% higher water rates. Tell the City Council no to higher taxes.

Robert J. Alviani

Ventura Breeze

Brooks Institute and the City of Ventura are both very happy with the deal that was done to relocate Brooks to downtown Ventura.  Looking beyond this move, it may have created an even greater opportunity for the County of Ventura, City of Ventura, and other West County Cities to help solve a serious problem.  It’s a problem that everyone talks about with minimal positive results – Homelessness.

Brooks Institute occupies multiple buildings on a 7.87 acre site on N. Ventura Avenue.  It’s out of town and not subject to “Not in my Backyard” protesters. The County of Ventura should take the lead role and, with the other cities and the many interested non-profit organizations,  pool their resources and acquire this multi-purpose property.  Similar to Casa Pacifica and its service to our county youth, the site would be dedicated to serve the many and diverse needs of our Homeless population.  The facility would set an example to the many other cities in southern California that are struggling to find a solution to their homeless problems.

It will take imagination, creativity, leadership, hard work, and financial resources to make this a reality.  If you are skeptical, look at what CSUCI did with a worn out mental hospital.

Chuck Engel
Ventura

Sheldon

Interestingly enough you have positioned The Breeze to be the number one news source for real community news. You have done an extraordinary job in covering all the nonprofit events and chronicling daily life in Ventura.

You never say no to anyone with a feel good story, and to me that resonates, we need more good  news stories.

You’re the best !
Suz Montgomery

Suz: You do the same thing on your CAPSTV show, so maybe you are the best.
Sheldon

Not being funny doesn’t make you a bad person. Not having a sense of humor does
~ David Rakoff

Breeze

Both April and I would like to thank you so much for the write up in your paper!!  It was exciting to see April featured and we just wanted to let you know how much we appreciated it!  Have a beautiful day!

Diana J. Davis  (aka: “Dinah”), MBA
Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice

Ventura Breeze,

I read Amber Hanson’s interesting article on Graffiti.  Of late, in some quarters, graffiti has risen to the level of art (Banksi, Basquiat, Haring), but there is no doubt about what covers the fences of Anacapa Middle school on Telegraph and S Mills Rds.  The amount of commercial detritus on these fences is offensive to many who pass; it makes the neighborhood look cheap and run down.

I imagine the school gets some advertising revenue from the bill posters, but the image of the school and the city is terrible.  I don’t have any idea of how to cure Barbara Boggio’s (Anacapa’s princial) budget  woes but commercial graffiti and signs affixed to their chain link fence is visual pollution that is worse than much of the spray-painted graffiti Amber Hanson addresses.

John Deegan

Dear editor of the Breeze.

I checked online to see the agenda and minutes of the April 11th City Council meeting and found no minutes.  Since the agenda makes clear that the City of Ventura is cutting the budget of the Ventura Avenue library more than half (as well as reducing Boys and Girls club funds) – and since the 30 day comment period starts when the meeting ends, I am surprised that the citizens are being denied access to this important information.  I called the City Clerk on April 18th and was informed that they (clerk’s staff) are behind and it would be 6 weeks or more before the April 11 minutes would be available.

Please encourage your readers to notify the City Council that it is not ok to cut any library budget (no later than 5/5/16 or to come to the City Council meeting on May 9th).  The City was wrong to close Wright library some years ago and now they want to force closure of the Avenue library by reducing that library budget by $80,000 while spending 1.8 million on east side parks.  The Avenue library is one of very few resources for the poorest community in our city. It houses a bilingual book and DVD collection, provides homework assistance to all who come, adult literacy classes, ESL classes, computer classes for seniors, early childhood education experiences and is a HUB of our Ventura Avenue community partnering with the boys and girls clubs, the West Ventura schools and local businesses to provide invaluable resources that are otherwise unavailable to these citizens.

Rather than wonder around waiting to be pulled into gangs, the children of Ventura avenue neighborhoods have a wonderful library to spend time at learning to be creative, imaginative and literate.

Liz Campos
Ventura Ave neighborhood resident

Hi Gail and Sheldon:

I want to thank you for the lovely article in the Breeze.  I believe our Therapeutic Visitation Center model will become statewide, perhaps country wide, model for preserving families. We have tracking our families that do indeed reunifying and the results have been nothing short of spectacular.   A couple of other counties have already made a visit.    Kids & Families Together works with the hardest of families and I’m especially proud of our staff.

Being a not-for-profit that primarily works with county contracts can be very challenging as they can only pay for reimbursable expenses – and there are so many expenses that are not reimbursable.    Anytime I can get the Kids & Families Together name out in the public is very much appreciated.

See you both around!

David Friedlander
President/CEO
Kids & Families Together

Dear Sheldon:

What a beautiful cover on the edition of the Ventura Breeze in honor of the City’s 150th Birthday! I will read it from cover to cover, and not just to look for the few “April Fools” articles (which I think I already found one in the “Mailboxes” – however, if you substitute “dog poo” for “Horse poo”, it just might not be that outdated!! ;-).

And thank you, thank you, more than mere words can convey, for the beautiful and extra special write-up for our Parkinson’s Support Group honoring PD Awareness month!

Yours Truly,
Patty Jenkins

Hey Sheldon:

Appreciated the article “City Center Brings Awareness To Domestic Violence.”

The article could have included a paragraph to acknowledge the churches in the area that sponsor rooms and  volunteers. Churches are often criticized for only providing benefits for their members. They get very little publicity for their Community Involvement. Some of them have sponsored rooms since Harbor Community Church initiated that  service to the homeless some years ago.

Thanks in advance for setting the record straight.
Roy Wilhelm

Be the person that your dog thinks you are.
~ Scamp (I stole it)

Sheldon:

After reading your article on the proposed Kellogg park, I decided to check out the west side parks and compare them to the east side parks. I did this with camera in hand.

First and foremost is the fact that the west side area ( vta Ave ) is comprised mostly of highly dense, older than 60 yr old neighborhoods. Very different from the east end. The population there has a large hispanic community.  (I believe ) traditionally communities like these have more children then those of the Eastside non hispanic households.

I found the parks you mentioned. The Westside park did indeed flank the bike path. The numerous homeless congregating in the park can attest to that fact. They seemed to hang out there right after getting a free meal at a location not too far away.

The park had 50 spaces for parking. Certainly not enough for all the uses you described.

The Harry Lyons park did not even have a sign on ventura ave letting anyone know there was even a park nearby.

The facilities were in terrible condition. Severely rusted basketball back boards, lamp posts and deteriorating asphalt was unexpected especially since I had just visited the beautiful pristine parks on the east side.

It is clear to me that the west side needs another park because of the demographics. Hopefully one day a park with a pool , like the families on the east end enjoy.

I find it curious that the westpark even has a field named after a city council member and you never mentioned it. Could it be because the field is a field of weeds ? Must be in transition.

Apparently you missed all of this. We are all getting older. I suggest better glasses sheldon.

P.S. I doubt this will get printed, but I’ll keep trying to tell the truth about matters concerning the huge differences and money alloted for the east side compared to the west side. Something you seem to think is a waste.

Mike Art

Art
Not sure why you doubted that this would be printed. Your opinion is as valid as mine. And not a knee jerk reaction but you took the time to go to the parks. You point out some good things but the money being spent on Kellogg Park would solve most of them. Feel free to write us whenever you have something to say.
Sheldon
PS: I don’t wear glasses, maybe that’s the problem.

Hello Sheldon,

Just a word about “the C Street Bridge” reconstruction.  It is truly interesting to watch the engineering design and decisions that are being made daily for the success of this project.  Cal Trans, Ventura City and County Building and private construction are working together well with “state of the art” building techniques.  The construction has caused few traffic disruptions because of the well-thought out traffic and pedestrian flows.  Its been so long to see renovation of an existing  bridge…maybe this is the beginning of more in the future?

Suzanna Ballmer, Ventura

Editor:

The Harbor Community Church continues to press for the right to locate a homeless service program within a long-standing residential neighborhood. By requesting a preliminary injunction against the city’s decision to deny this location, this church has elected to take an end run around compliance with the required regulations. The required compliance with a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) takes into account the families in this neighborhood who are at risk.

The Harbor Community Church has decided on four things:

• To whimper and assert to the 9th U. S. District Court of Appeals that Harbor Community Church’s religious entitlement is doing the Lord’s work for the homeless that supersedes the safety and security of the families in this neighborhood
• Not to work with and support the existing programs within the city (ie.: City Center, et.al.)
• Not to find another, less provocative location
• To compel the city to spend increasingly large amounts of taxpayer money for legal representation

The Harbor Community Church that promotes itself as, “… a place called to reach the entire community …” does not have an effective management plan to ensure a suitable measure of safety and security for the existing neighborhood around 3100 Preble Ave. The Ventura Police Dept. will have to station officers in this area on a permanent basis. This neighborhood will become a de facto war zone. Let us be clear, the families, and most notably the children, in this neighborhood are entitled to enjoy their own measure of safety and security.

The hubris of the Harbor Community Church to minimize and thus disregard families’ “… inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” is the antithesis of scripture.

It is apparent the homeless population finds Ventura a desirable place to be. What’s not to like: the weather, the ocean, the fresh fruits and vegetables? Increasingly, advocates for the homeless decry that municipalities are not doing more. People should keep in mind that at the end of the day, it is the tax paying citizens of Ventura operating their respective lives in a responsible way who will shoulder the financial load … not the advocates or the homeless themselves.

Roy Colbert
Ventura

Breeze:

Once again you guys have amazed me with your great talent and ability to take a few simple facts and turn them into  such beautiful statements. I have said it before and I’m saying it again…..You guys are AWESOME!!!  You always make us at Vagabond sound like we really are SOMEBODY! Thank you sooo much, all of you- You are the best!

Jolene McBee-owner Vagabond Restaurant

Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress.
But then I repeat myself.

~ Mark Twain

Dear Editor:

Ventura’s Mayor believes that we will feel better if we pay another $340 to a Ventura City general fund versus it going into a State fund! Really? Aren’t I still out $340?  I feel better already.

Mayor Nasarenko is campaigning for this tax increase on the premise that Ventura voters will support a tax that is kept and spent locally. He fails to make it clear that $340 out of every household budget is still $340, regardless of where and how it is spent. To the average taxpayer, more taxes paid out of their household budget will reduce their ability to pay rent or their mortgage. It cuts into their food budget, their travel and vacation capability, as well as their medical care and their own future retirement.

Mayor Nasarenko also feels that citizens should be willing to tax themselves because there will be a Citizen’s Oversite Committee. When has any oversight committee, appointed by the city, ever challenged spending after it has been spent?

Finally, he fails to remind voters that there is no guarantee that the $340 will be spent on any, or all, of the city needs. No post-audit citizen’s oversight committee will be able to track City spending because all of the records are kept and controlled by the City.

An oversite committee has no power to reverse any spending after the fact. It is a smoke screen to give voters a false sense that a citizen’s oversight committee can put any concerns about “how funds are spent” to rest. The fact remains that once that tax is passed, no one will look at the tax again and no reversals will ever happen.

With a current surplus and better than expected revenues, there is no need to tax citizens more.

Robert Alviani
VREG Chair

Breeze (June, 1866):

I am sick and tired of walking around Ventura and finding  an excess of horse manure everywhere that I go. On the promenade, Plaza Park, in our river bottoms, downtown.

When I attempt to cross Main St. there is so much horse dung that I can hardly make it. Can’t the VPD make the carriages use a side street or are they too busy arresting people for exceeding the 5MPH speed limit and arresting horse thieve? I’m not going to approve a sales tax of .0000078% until the VPD protects me from horse dung.

And at the same time I see our police department making arrests because bar patrons are spitting at spittoons and missing.

Isn’t our tourist trade important? Let the bar patrons enjoy spitting and clean up our city from manure so that tourists enjoy coming  here.

Homer Victoria
Ventura

Editor:

End of Vince Street off Avenue. Is this a hillside coming down one heavy rain??

Laura Flores

Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows. Now we are poor but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die, we die defending our rights.

~ Sitting Bull – Lakota Sioux-1866