Reflections on 2007
As we reflect on the year now drawing to a close, what can we look back on?
Last January, the Council confronted a daunting schedule of controversial development issues: the downzoning and draft code for Thompson and Main; a final vote on the 300 apartment unit "Sondermann-Ring" project in the Harbor; a new draft code for the Victoria Corridor; and a final vote on the 120 unit Citrus Place project on the city’s eastern edge. All brought forth passionate public comments – yet in each case, a majority of the speakers supported moving forward with smart growth.
We continued progress for the rest of the year as the first Class A office building in a generation broke ground Downtown; a Target store was approved for the Mall; the WAV project won State tax credits; we re-purchased the parking structure next to the refurbished Crowne Plaza; and adopted the final Thompson and Main code as the year ended.
There were other highlights: the reopening of the Olivas Links golf course; the dedication of the Water Treatment Plant improvements; groundbreaking for the State Veterans’ Home; completion of Povar Plaza across from the Pier; and the occupation of three floors of 505 Poli by City staff.
The City Council had a productive year: adopting regulations of short-term rentals; resolving the employee medical retirement issue; approving the Countywide 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness and allocating $100,000 to pilot programs; tackling the beach sand management controversy; approving the Jobs and Investment Fund partnership and a new high-tech business incubator; and hiring an outstanding new City Attorney.
Ventura focused on thinking globally and acting locally. A comprehensive inventory was done on how well we measure up against our own General Plan goals as well as best practices nationally and internationally. We partnered on a great Earth Day celebration at Mission Park and the City Council unanimously endorsing and adopting what’s already been done and a 10 point priority list for moving forward.
The City moved forward with the implementation of our new financial management computer software system. We took the first real steps toward aligning how we budget with our strategic visions and performance measures. By asking the “four questions,” we made some hard choices, including no longer responding to unverified alarm calls during daylight hours and pushing back a number of planning efforts. As a result, we were able to augment resources for our key priorities, including adding six additional police officer positions and supplementing our regular fire station coverage during peak hours of demand with a new “40-hour engine” staffed by a new three-person crew.
Our efforts earned recognition far beyond our city’s borders. The State recognized our leadership in energy with a “Flex Your Power Award” and Civic Engagement won three “Savvy’s” from 3CMA. Mayor Morehouse was recognized by both the Central Coast and the California chapters of the American Planning Association with awards for his leadership and our Downtown Specific Plan won the award for best planning effort on the Central Coast. Business Week Magazine highlighted Ventura as one of the 10 best cities for artists nationwide.
All this progress was ratified when Ventura voters convincingly re-elected incumbents Christy Weir, Carl Morehouse and Bill Fulton – and approved C7, the updating of the telecommunications share of our Utility Users Tax.
These were some of the big issues, achievements and highlights of 2007. But there were so many more memorable moments and contributions. Our goal of weaving art into everyday life blossomed on our streets with the artful painting of utility boxes and the installation of artwork in our new bus shelters. Streets Supervisor Chris Palmieri rescued an infant who had slipped out of a Laundromat on all fours and reached the middle of busy Ventura Avenue by blocking traffic going north and flagging down a mail truck to do the same for southbound cars. Our IT crew worked around the clock to overcome a computer glitch triggered by the late arrival of daylight savings time. Our firefighters were regularly dispatched around the Southland to battle the firestorms induced by the long drought. Adult recreation broke participation records with 187 teams competing this fall. We began our largest ever neighborhood pavement project in Midtown, fixing streets, curbs and sidewalks and replacing trees. Our PD painstakingly put together cases against two gang members for the shotgun slaying of unarmed Ryan Briner outside his parents home in 2004, tracking down one suspect in Wisconsin, the other in New Mexico and winning first degree murder convictions. On July 29, the Ventura SWAT team peacefully resolved a barricaded suspect situation, when an off-duty Oxnard officer committed several felonies and refused to exit his home.
For these and so many more acts of heroism, dedication and creative initiative, we can look back on the passing year with pride.
As the year comes to a close today, I reflect back with gratitude for the leadership of the City Council, the dedicated work of City staff and the vibrant volunteer efforts of so many in the community to achieve the Ventura Vision of a greener, safer and more prosperous city.
P.S. -- If you're not involved (or want to expand your volunteer horizons) make a resolution for 2008 by logging onto our Volunteer Opportunities page:
http://www.cityofventura.net/volunteer
Last January, the Council confronted a daunting schedule of controversial development issues: the downzoning and draft code for Thompson and Main; a final vote on the 300 apartment unit "Sondermann-Ring" project in the Harbor; a new draft code for the Victoria Corridor; and a final vote on the 120 unit Citrus Place project on the city’s eastern edge. All brought forth passionate public comments – yet in each case, a majority of the speakers supported moving forward with smart growth.
We continued progress for the rest of the year as the first Class A office building in a generation broke ground Downtown; a Target store was approved for the Mall; the WAV project won State tax credits; we re-purchased the parking structure next to the refurbished Crowne Plaza; and adopted the final Thompson and Main code as the year ended.
There were other highlights: the reopening of the Olivas Links golf course; the dedication of the Water Treatment Plant improvements; groundbreaking for the State Veterans’ Home; completion of Povar Plaza across from the Pier; and the occupation of three floors of 505 Poli by City staff.
The City Council had a productive year: adopting regulations of short-term rentals; resolving the employee medical retirement issue; approving the Countywide 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness and allocating $100,000 to pilot programs; tackling the beach sand management controversy; approving the Jobs and Investment Fund partnership and a new high-tech business incubator; and hiring an outstanding new City Attorney.Ventura focused on thinking globally and acting locally. A comprehensive inventory was done on how well we measure up against our own General Plan goals as well as best practices nationally and internationally. We partnered on a great Earth Day celebration at Mission Park and the City Council unanimously endorsing and adopting what’s already been done and a 10 point priority list for moving forward.
The City moved forward with the implementation of our new financial management computer software system. We took the first real steps toward aligning how we budget with our strategic visions and performance measures. By asking the “four questions,” we made some hard choices, including no longer responding to unverified alarm calls during daylight hours and pushing back a number of planning efforts. As a result, we were able to augment resources for our key priorities, including adding six additional police officer positions and supplementing our regular fire station coverage during peak hours of demand with a new “40-hour engine” staffed by a new three-person crew.Our efforts earned recognition far beyond our city’s borders. The State recognized our leadership in energy with a “Flex Your Power Award” and Civic Engagement won three “Savvy’s” from 3CMA. Mayor Morehouse was recognized by both the Central Coast and the California chapters of the American Planning Association with awards for his leadership and our Downtown Specific Plan won the award for best planning effort on the Central Coast. Business Week Magazine highlighted Ventura as one of the 10 best cities for artists nationwide.
All this progress was ratified when Ventura voters convincingly re-elected incumbents Christy Weir, Carl Morehouse and Bill Fulton – and approved C7, the updating of the telecommunications share of our Utility Users Tax.
These were some of the big issues, achievements and highlights of 2007. But there were so many more memorable moments and contributions. Our goal of weaving art into everyday life blossomed on our streets with the artful painting of utility boxes and the installation of artwork in our new bus shelters. Streets Supervisor Chris Palmieri rescued an infant who had slipped out of a Laundromat on all fours and reached the middle of busy Ventura Avenue by blocking traffic going north and flagging down a mail truck to do the same for southbound cars. Our IT crew worked around the clock to overcome a computer glitch triggered by the late arrival of daylight savings time. Our firefighters were regularly dispatched around the Southland to battle the firestorms induced by the long drought. Adult recreation broke participation records with 187 teams competing this fall. We began our largest ever neighborhood pavement project in Midtown, fixing streets, curbs and sidewalks and replacing trees. Our PD painstakingly put together cases against two gang members for the shotgun slaying of unarmed Ryan Briner outside his parents home in 2004, tracking down one suspect in Wisconsin, the other in New Mexico and winning first degree murder convictions. On July 29, the Ventura SWAT team peacefully resolved a barricaded suspect situation, when an off-duty Oxnard officer committed several felonies and refused to exit his home.
For these and so many more acts of heroism, dedication and creative initiative, we can look back on the passing year with pride.
As the year comes to a close today, I reflect back with gratitude for the leadership of the City Council, the dedicated work of City staff and the vibrant volunteer efforts of so many in the community to achieve the Ventura Vision of a greener, safer and more prosperous city.
P.S. -- If you're not involved (or want to expand your volunteer horizons) make a resolution for 2008 by logging onto our Volunteer Opportunities page:
http://www.cityofventura.net/volunteer
posted by Rick Cole at
9:28 AM
7 Comments:
Today is the last day of the year. Ventura made KFI News today as being the city wherein the downtown merchants are forced to generate their own PR program against panhandlers. Where's the city in this ?
Actually, the campaign is a partnership with the Downtown Ventura Organization. Not only has the City's redevelopment agency provided start-up funding for the group, the posters were designed and printed by the City. But that said, it is the merchants who are taking the lead in encouraging giving to non-profits who actually help homeless people -- and those non-profits are working with the City on the Countywide 10 Year Plan to end homelessness.
so when you leave to go to your new job in Austin, you'll be paying back the 250 thousand dollars the City of Ventura gave you, right?
See my blog regarding Schwarzenegger's Temperance Flat Dam and the Delta - or there may be no 2008 to reflect back on.
www.myspace.com/marlalk
The comment by anonymous deserves a response. Obviously I am not going to Austin, so in one sense it is moot. But it is not true that the city "gave" me $250,000. In fact the city invested $325,000 in an equity share in my home. I am required to pay for the insurance, taxes and upkeep, but the city is entitled to its $325,000 or its share of a higher price, whichever is greater.
Real estate prices go up and down, but the transaction was designed to ensure the city did not lose a dime and might very well benefit significantly from the price rising over time.
Posters to eliminate bums is akin to the spending of $140,000,00 to hire a nanny cop and a car to pass out posters to restaurant owners telling them how to run their operations - kind of like what Cologne tried to do in Boulder; resulting in excessive litigation expense to taxpayers. I trust he will have learned his lesson in this area.
Whomever generated the preliminary budget for the WAV project used one of the highest priced construction management firms in the world to do the estimating. $57,000,000.00 for that place is insane. The so-called developers [ called "Place"] are a couple of kids from Minneapolis who have nothing on their resume other than that they worked on projects for other companies. The Ventura WAV project is their intern project at taxpayers' expense. They have nothing of significance invested. Allocating city seed money for a project this expensive and so potentially unprofitable to taxpayers is ludicrous.
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