by Firman Brown

Ventura is known as the home of the original Centre for Art & Talk…a social business. We are a forum for Art & Music and growing social connections in our society today. The joy of learning can also be found in “the joy of learning from other’s experiences.” Always having a place to go where you are wanted, for little cost.

Our talk format is designed to help people who have a limited social life or a super busy lifestyle… resulting in being isolated and disconnected socially from others in their own neighborhoods and communities. Individuals will now have a chance to, relatively quickly, create social and business connections by sharing their best ideas and ideals…enhancing their quality of life.

The 5 Types of intelligences of our species are: physical, intellectual, spiritual, social and emotional.

We focus on enhancing social and emotional intelligence. The idea that our species is evolving mentally and socially is clear. We’ve also become aware that our earth is evolving, reacting to us. Earth and spiritual consciousness exist within each of us.

Recently, the Internet has connected our personal thoughts and ideas…bringing a new level of global shared thought and consciousness. As we are all sensitive to each other, we are all part of our evolution as a species.

Well, social-emotional intelligence was not taught in schools in the 20th century. It was reading, writing and arithmetic. We sat for 18-24 years listening to one person talk…but we rarely got to practice speaking…formulating our thoughts…unless we learned it at home.

At the C.A.T. we’ve created a forum…a place where kids (over 14) and grandparents can come and share experiences with real people…more family time, couples time. This highly social, uniquely enhanced environment with stimulating Music & Art and Musicians & Artists…our two professions most focused on sharing inner perspectives.
Uninterrupted speaking, no counter arguments = an empowered self thought process…speak and evolve your clear inner voice and improve the quality of our relationships with each other.

We need the attention of other people, as psychologists know, to extend our lives. Our minds and spirits grow when we share focused connections with different people. Men can practice speaking their emotions and women speaking their thoughts…it could improve our collective quality of life.

We all know everyone is growing socially planet wide.

The C.A.T. is a format for socially enhancing communities, understanding that we can only concern ourselves with people whom we’ve heard…listened to. We listen to our favorite musicians words and love them (Sting, Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye)…but each of us also have ideas and words that need to be heard…then we can be loved too.

The Centre for Art & Talk…in collaboration with Vaquero Y Mar, where you get food for the body, mind and soul…where the inner voice lives. Visit our hosted $4 Zoom talk online at LeTalkeShoppe.com.

by Venturans for Efficient & Responsible Government (VERG)

No one makes a lifetime commitment based on a single moment in time. Yet, the Ventura City Council made just such a commitment. In November 2020, they awarded step and merit raises to city employees based on revised sales tax figures. This decision is disturbing on several levels:

The city staff led the Council to believe financial conditions were improving based on very short-term statistics.

The people benefiting from the salary increases were the ones making the recommendation.

Our elected officials failed to question the rosy picture the staff presented during the pandemic economic shutdown.

How Did We Get Here?

In the city’s fiscal year 2020-2021, the Ventura City Council faced a $12.0 million budget deficit due to California’s coronavirus shutdown. Among the solutions city staff recommended was the option to ‘defer’ $1 million in employee step and merit salary increases until financial conditions improved.

As a provision of the FY2020-21 budget, former-Mayor Matt LaVere, the City Council and all the bargaining units agreed to freeze employee step and merit increases as a down payment on the massive reductions necessary in the year ahead.

What Was The New Projection That Justified The Step And Merit Increases?

To everyone’s surprise, the September sales tax report was higher than anticipated. The city staff projected that General Fund would be $1.657 million higher than forecasted. The City Council seized this as the ‘green light’ to reinstate the employee step and merit raises.

At the November 9, 2020 meeting, the Council rescinded the suspended step and merit salary increases for city employees. The suspension lasted from March to November 2020.

Was The Decision To Grant Step And Merit Increases Logical?

The Council made its November decision based on data presented on September 23, 2020, a month and a half earlier. The Council received no updated data on which to decide. If they had, the decision might have been different.

What’s Happening With The General Fund?

The $1.657 million General Fund surplus presented in September 2020 was misleading. Yes, sales tax revenue was higher, but that didn’t account for the excess. Two unique, one-time events inflated the figures.

The General Fund received $2.0 million from the CARES Act funding. The city also received a donation from the Marion Schwab Trust.

Without these two rare revenue infusions, the city would have had $2.4 million less revenue than the city staff led the Council to believe when deciding to award the raises.

What’s more, the city staff failed to mention the City Council’s risks to the General Fund. Player’s Casino Card Room sales taxes, parking violations, and Parks & Recreation programming were below budget. Mr. Coon’s November 2020 report shows revenue fell more than $5.2 million below budget in those three areas.

The Result Of Their Actions

In June, Councilmember Jim Friedman warned of an “absolute financial disaster” in the coming years if the city doesn’t continue to cut spending. Yet, the City Council awarded over $719,000 in pay increases to city employees.

What Can We Do?

Every budget cycle, our City Council makes long-term decisions based on the short-term data they receive from city staff.

Staff isn’t always right. No one has examined the budgeting process recently. Periodically, it would be a good idea to have independent, outside consultants provide an unbiased analysis of Ventura’s budgeting.

Editors Comments

We believe the City Council made the November decision to award the step and merit increases on flawed forecasts from staff. The Council decided based on a September bump in the sales tax revenue for the first four months of the fiscal year 2020-21. And the data didn’t include the all-important Christmas season sales tax revenue.

At a higher level, citizens should be concerned about this process. The same people who prepare the reports used to decide salary increases are the same people who get the raises.

Our concern isn’t with the exact budget numbers. We question using numbers provided by the very people who enjoy the increases.

And we’re disappointed by the elected officials that failed to question staff’s rosy projections in the middle of a pandemic.

We hope that the new Council will be more rigorous in asking questions when preparing next year’s budget.

St. John’s Regional Medical Center (SJRMC) and St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital (SJPVH), members of Dignity Health Central Coast, recognize American Heart Month and the importance of cardiac health, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, and the medical experts at St. John’s urge community members to take action toward better heart health.

Adopting healthy habits such as exercising regularly, maintaining routine cardiac screenings, eating heart-healthy foods, and alleviating stress can have a positive impact on overall health and help prevent heart disease.

“The pandemic has been incredibly stressful for many and has deterred some individuals from keeping up with routine health screenings, including cardiac care,” says Robert Streeter, MD, Chief Medical Officer of St. John’s Regional Medical Center. “We encourage our community to make their health a priority by keeping up with their routine care and seeking medical attention at the onset of any symptoms.”

For cardiac emergencies such as stroke and heart attack, the emergency departments at SJRMC and SJPVH are safe and ready to care for the community. A delay in care can make all the difference in health outcomes.

The comprehensive cardiac program at St. John’s features: emergency heart care, various treatments for heart disease, including non-invasive cardiology services, surgical heart, and vascular interventions, electrophysiology treatments, beating heart surgery, minimally invasive valve repair/replacement, and a dedicated outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program.

To learn more about cardiac services at St. John’s Hospitals, please call St. John’s Cardiovascular Coordinator, Lorraine Herrick, RN, at 805.216.0502.

Island Packer Cruises, established in 1968 will begin to run regular trips for day visitors and campers to Scorpion Anchorage in Channel Islands National Park.

During construction of the new pier at Scorpion Anchorage, the park boat concessioner, Island Packers, offered alternative destinations for visitors to experience the Park resources. Now that construction is complete, they will again provide service to the main artery of Channel Islands National Park.

Scorpion offers a beautiful backdrop for picnics, hiking or camping as well as a user-friendly beach area with access to one of the Marine Reserves. Snorkel with the diverse sea creatures of the kelp forest or take a kayak tour through the sea caves with Santa Barbara Adventure Company.

Island Packers will also continue to offer daily trips to Prisoners Harbor on Santa Cruz Island, regular service to Anacapa Island, weekend trips to Santa Rosa Island, and special day trips to lesser-known island destinations. There will also be multi-island day trips and inter-island camper shuttles to expose visitors to the great diversity of the Channel Islands.

Along with their regularly scheduled Winter Whale Watches, they plan to also offer extended Wildlife Cruises, most of which will include a brief cruise along the shoreline of one of the iconic islands.

Island Packers continues to operate safely under pandemic protocols, including:

Passenger loads limited to under 50% capacity to better facilitate social distancing
Island Packer employees are health screened before every shift
Eating and drinking permitted outside cabin area
Passengers in office or boats are required to wear face covering.
Office and boat crew wear appropriate PPE when in contact with the public
Office and vessels are sanitized during stops and between runs

Follow us on social media, or check our website frequently for specific details about these and additional opportunities to visit the National Park and National Marine Sanctuary.

With Ventura councilman Erik Nasarenko being appointed as Ventura County’s District Attorney is became necessary for the city council to decide how to select a new council member.

During its City Council meeting on February 1, 2021, the Ventura City Council approved an appointment process to fill the District 4 vacancy. The Council voted to accept applications to fill the vacancy by appointment under Section 705(c) of the Charter.

Breeze reader Lynn Arneill-Brown stated “The city council voted to appoint a council member as opposed to allowing District 4 citizens to vote. It’s an important issue because District 4 specifically said they wanted the vote. The entire citizenry of District 4 are incredibly disenfranchised by what has happened. “

City Manager Alex McIntyre explained “The Charter outlines how to fill a vacant council seat. Council has the authority to fill it by appointment if it decides to do so. Also, the estimated cost of the election is at $89,000 plus additional costs. Total estimate is $100,000.”

The City Council’s options to fill the vacancy are controlled by the following:

If a vacancy occurs on the Council, the date upon which such vacancy occurred shall be

determined as soon as possible by the Mayor in accordance with the provisions of this Charter relating to vacancies. Within 30 days after such determination, or within 60 days

after the vacancy occurred, whichever is first, the Council by majority vote of the remaining members, shall appoint a person to the vacant office to serve until his successor is

elected at the next succeeding municipal election and qualifies. If the Council fails to fill the vacancy by appointment as provided herein, it shall forthwith order a

special election to be held to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term. However, no such special election need be ordered if the vacancy occurs less than eight months before a municipal election.

Four of the six remaining councilmembers chose to move forward with appointing someone to fill the vacancy. Two council members, Jim Friedman and Doug Halter voted against the move, saying they wanted the decision to be made by the District 4 voters.

The council had the option to leave the post vacant until a special election could be held in November. Not appointing someone to fill the seat would mean District 4 would go nearly a year without a representative on the council.

“To me, the residents from District 4 have clearly spoken. They want a voice based on their vote not ours,” Friedman said.

If a special election could be held sooner than November councilmembers said they would have supported that choice. The rules, however, only allowed for special elections in March or November in 2021. Since any election must be called at least 88 days beforehand, no dates in March would be available.

On February 18, the East Ventura Community Council meeting (see events) will consist of a Candidate Forum in which those persons interested in being appointed to the newly vacant District 4 City Council position will have the opportunity to introduce themselves and answer questions.

by Jill Forman

Upcoming Event – Zoom program on Law and Race, in association the Glendale Public Library – Feb 4 at 6:30-8:00. Information at vencolibrary.org, under Events tab

Reading Challenge – “WinterRead.” Log books read and activities, write reviews, earn badges…who knows, maybe there will be prizes! Sign up at Vencolibrary/beanstack.org.

Change in Hours – Walk-up hours have been cut back at some libraries. Selected library workers are currently functioning as Disaster Workers for the County, reassigned to the Fairgrounds for help with the vaccine administration program. The hours at all branches have been updated on the VCLSA website.

Online Bookstore News – ONLINE BOOKSTORE for Valentine’s Day!

VFOL Online Bookstore has just added a large donation of puzzles and novels to our offerings. If you are searching for a romantic read for Valentine’s Day or to give as a gift, we have you covered. Check out our great gift ideas for unique finds.

Friends of the Library say a huge thank you to Kathy Thomsen. Kathy joined the Friends in 2009, in response to the threatened closure of Wright Library (branch on the campus of Ventura College, closed in December 2009.) Kathy says that, even though Wright was not saved, “It was one of the best experiences of my life…the biggest outpouring of community support I’ve ever seen. Citizens who loved libraries and whose voices hadn’t been heard.” After Wright closed, Ventura had only one larger library, Foster (downtown) and a smaller branch on the Avenue.

Kathy was inspired by her participation and became President of the Friends in 2010. We used to tease her that she was “President for Life,” but she stepped down in 2018 and took on the very difficult job of Treasurer. She is moving to Tucson, but has continued to serve in that position, attending meetings via Zoom and sending out financial reports to the Board using email.

Kathy says, “The best thing for the city is to have as many libraries, and types of libraries, as possible. This can be accomplished with community partnerships between public and private entities; that is the way of the future to make citizens’ lives better in so many ways.”

Mary Olsen, current Friends President, says “Kathy Thomson has been a passionate advocate for libraries.  She never misses an opportunity to remind everyone she encounters about the great value of libraries.  During her term as president, she tirelessly promoted the restoration of library service to the east side of Ventura after the closure of Wright.  Under her leadership, Ventura Friends of the Library played a significant role in bringing the Hill Road Library to our community.

She also presided over bringing the Friends into the digital age, recognizing our need to expand our communications to include a website, Facebook page and e-newsletter.  She has been willing to take on any task, from organizing book sales to serving as President and Treasurer, which is required to sustain a vibrant Friends of the Library organization and access to libraries for residents of our city.”