Cemetery Park: A Councilmember responds

Few issues have drawn as much ire on both sides as what to do about Cemetery Memorial Park in Midtown. For one camp, anything short of restoration of the old cemetery is an immoral insult to the 3,000 departed still buried there. For another group, the plan recommended by the Parks and Recreation Commission to better memorialize the park's unique history symbolized over-the-top government excess.

As with so many issues in our "soundbite" democracy, judgments are made and lines are drawn on the basis of a newspaper headline or an email blast. Recently Councilmember Morehouse received a sarcastic query from a constituent on the topic of Cemetery Park (I've shortened the name since the resident may not wish to be publicly identified.)

Dear Council member Morehouse,

I was sorry to miss the meeting where you supported a 4 - 6 million dollar renovation of Cemetery Park. I would have been fascinated to hear why you think it would be appropriate to spend that much money on a perfectly fine park while our children are having music, art and other school programs cut. The world has truly gone mad when the dead get more than the living.

"K"

Few elected officials take the job of dialogue with their constituents as seriously as Councilmember Carl Morehouse. He obviously took care in response:

"K":

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and asking a question. Let me address both if I may.

First, with regard to issue of school programs getting cut and substituting City of Ventura capital funds to take care of those things; the answer is that this is beyond comparing apples and oranges. It’s more like comparing apples and watermelons.

The City of Ventura’s tax dollars are completely and thoroughly separate from the Ventura Unified School Districts funds. So nothing in our budget has any impact on the schools and vice-versa. That’s why there is a separate school board election, as there is this fall, and those people are completely separate from the City Council. Personally, I happen to agree with you that society seems to have its priorities slightly off-kilter when so many important programs -- such as music and arts and other things that help make our children more well-rounded citizens of our community – are being squeezed out of school curriculums. However, as a City Councilmember, I have no say in that. For that, please speak to your elected School Board members.

Now, with regard to my vote on Cemetery park. I don’t know if you actually watched the meeting that night either via television or web-cast, or if you simply read the headlines in the paper. If you did watch, you would know exactly what I did and why I did it.

To begin with, you did not have the pleasure of sitting in the Mayor’s seat, as I did, the night the Council chambers were filled with dozens of angry, frustrated descendents of those buried in Cemetery Park. Let me tell you, it was no fun. Those people were extremely angry about how their ancestors’ remains were being treated and they were being egged on by one individual that I contend is a carpetbagger with a single agenda and who is a Johnny-come-lately to Ventura. Still, that did not dismiss the anger and frustration of that crowd.

As a result of that group’s contention that the City somehow or another had a moral obligation to do something about those individuals still interred in Cemetery Park, the Council set a process in motion. To that end, the Council set aside some funds to develop a process, dedicate staff time and to hire a consultant who had expertise in these kinds of matters to bring us back a way to recognize Ventura’s pioneers who are buried there, but to not return it to a full fledged cemetery. (Which the outside carpetbagger contends that we must under State and Federal law.) Therefore, we set out to do that. While the Council did set a limit on the amount we would spend on the consulting firm (which did come out of our General Fund), we set no other parameters on the outcome of the product. We decided that we would let the experts figure that out with the input they got during the public meetings.

Sadly, there was a fair amount of time between the initial public meetings and when the consultants got back to the City’s Parks and Recreation Commission for the final product. And by that time, a fairly extensive plan had been developed. However, in keeping with the process, our Parks & Recreation Commission had a couple of public meetings and took testimony on the consultants’ proposal. At the end of the process, the Commission brought forward their recommendation to the Council. (Remember, the Commissioners are simply appointed citizens, like yourself, who get paid nothing to put in their time and provide guidance to the Council. They are merely your neighbors and fellow citizens.) Their recommendation was to approve the plan as presented and to consider the possibility of phasing it in over time. Unfortunately, the night of the Council hearing, most of the crowd who had appeared angrily in front of me the night I was Mayor did not show up, and supporters of the “leave it as it is” contingent did appear.

As I am a strong believer in process – and we had one from the get go that gave all members of the community a chance to weigh in before the consultants ever did their thing – and as the Parks and Recreation Commissioners are merely unpaid citizens doing their best to advise the Council, I chose to listen to what the Commissioners brought forward. And, quite honestly, while I did not appreciate sitting in the hot seat the night the angry descendents were yelling at me and threatening me, they did have a point about how that area has been treated over time. With that sensitivity in mind, I believed then, as I do now, that the Council could have at least received the plan as well thought out and accepted it as a potential blueprint for sometime well in the future, if the City ever had additional capital funds, to maybe phase in over time. I CERTAINLY NEVER HAD ANY INTENTION OF SPENDING $4-6 MILLION RIGHT NOW OF CAPITAL MONIES WE DON’T HAVE ON FIXING UP CEMETERY PARK. If that’s how you interpreted my action, you are, I’m afraid, way off the mark.

By the same token, for those who demanded that it be fully returned as a cemetery with full up-right gravestones and a surrounding black, gated wrought iron fence, I told them to forget it. That train had left the station in the 1960’s when the Council of that time took over the property from the Catholic Church, who had, basically, abandoned it.

So, while there are some who prefer not to be aware that they are walking on dead people while playing Frisbee or walking their dogs, I do believe that we ought to do a better job of recognizing those dead other than just putting up a small wall with a little plaque on it saying basically “Oh, by the way, there are dead people under your feet here”. (Okay, I’m being a bit sarcastic here, but in some ways that’s what the final Council’s decision was.) To that end, I thought the final proposal brought forward by the consultants met the purpose the Council initially directed quite nicely and it could have, maybe someday, been phased in over time. But in no way did I ever envision spending $4-6 million right today to build some kind of elaborate park. That WOULD have been nuts.

Now, one more thing I’d like to point out. Since you seemed to have had a problem distinguishing between the City’s funds and the School District’s funds, would you do me a favor? I have developed two pieces that occasionally run on Cable Channel 6, CAPS TV. However, they have also placed these on their website, so you can watch them at your leisure instead of trying to find them on the TV. Most people who have initially come to me with criticisms, like yourself, have returned to me after viewing them and thanked me for better explaining the tax system to them. And for that I am thankful. I’m not sure I’ll change your mind about anything, but it might aid you with better understanding where your tax dollars go. So, if you are at all interested, please do the following. Go to: capstv.org, then click on Streaming Media on their home page. On the next page you’ll find “Member’s Projects” and you’ll find my two pieces listed. I would suggest you watch them in order. The first is about a half and hour. The second about 12 minutes. Hopefully, you’ll find them both beneficial.

Thank you, again, for sharing your thoughts. I hope you now better understand where I was coming from. And thanks for caring!

Councilmember Carl Morehouse

Don't know what K.'s reaction will be. But in a time when too much of public debate seems to involve talking only to people who agree with you and shouting at those who don't, Councilmember Morehouse's thoughtful response stands out as a better way.

UPDATE: Councilmember Morehouse received this response from "K" to his explanation:

Dear Carl,

Thank you for the very thoughtful reply. You are right, I wasn't there
and so was very interested to hear your thoughts. I realize that VUSD
funds are separate from City funds - I was just making a general point
of how our tax dollars are spent. Whether the taxes go to one thing or
another, they are still taken out of my pocket.

I am angry because it seems that every few years we spend time, energy
and money on surveys and such over the fate of a park that really is
perfect. I have never seen any disrespect of the graves. Well
remembered are those whose graves are visited daily. Our time and money
could be better spent.

Thank you very much for your reply,

K.