West County Issue / Outlook for...

Diane Harriman, Board of Trustees, Ventura Unified School District

The boundary question between Ventura High School and Buena High School is at the top of our agenda, because it affects more people than any other issue. Since most of our schools are in the west end of the city and many of our students are in the east end, we are forced to juggle such things as how many kids will have to be bused and how many go to one high school as opposed to another. The idea of creating more year-round schools will also be important. We’re hearing a lot about that from the parents, and I think it’s something we need to keep up with. We already have several schools that are on a year-round basis, but it’s not enough to serve the parents who’d like to have their children in the program. Statewide, I think the voucher issue will come to a head. I am opposed to the concept that the state might pay to send some children to private schools. The budget and class size are always problems to be watched, and I’m not sure if these are ever things we find answers too--we just find ways to relieve them.

Carolyn Leavens, Executive Committee for Ventura County Economic Development Assn.

The biggest issue in my mind is water. I’m for moving as rapidly as possible on getting hooked up to state water, because we’ve already procrastinated far too long. Our statistics show that the drought could be expected to run 10 to 20 years, and state water is still the most inexpensive source of additional water we can connect with. Hooking up to state water will put us in a much more comfortable position than we are currently in. Of course we need to conserve water and reuse waste water too, but the simple truth is we need more water today for the people who are here now. The sooner we get about it the better. The other issue I see as pertinent is the fiscal crisis that the state, the counties and the cities are all facing. Businesses are downsizing because of the recession, and governments are going to have to downsize too. Figuring out how to finance government, and where to trim, will be tough this year.

Greg Carson, Mayor, Ventura

The recession has caused an economic downturn in the business community. Sales tax revenues are depleted, and the city is looking at a projected budget deficit. We need to look at still providing as many essential services as possible, especially things like police and fire protection. We want to provide a level of service that will maintain our quality of life in Ventura. I don’t think the type of things we are facing are unique to this area--it’s happening everywhere. We need to position ourselves so that when we do come out of this downturn, we’re in a good place. Part of that repositioning on the economic front revolves on the revitalization of the downtown area. I think this is the right time to do that. People are traveling closer to home these days, so this revitalization would give us a great opportunity to expose the city to people, which could boost the local economy. I’m optimistic about the possibilities.

John Baker, City Manager, Ventura

Probably the biggest issue facing the city is the economy. When the economy is down, government is usually pressed by citizens to provide more, to solve the problem. The ironic thing is that government tends to follow the rest of the folks in terms of its ability to pay. The business community has been hit, and that has affected our sales-tax revenues, which will eventually lead to a fair amount of service reductions for the City Council to decide upon. Tied to these reductions is the dilemma of making sure that the infrastructure doesn’t decline. Roads, sewers, water lines and capital projects still need to be properly maintained. The council will be made aware that dollars spent now to save something will be less than money spent to replace infrastructure in the future. The issue the city will have the most control over is water supply and quality. Do we construct a desalination facility or a pipeline or a combination of the two? I doubt the council will be willing to take a head in the sand approach on the water issue.

Mindy Lorenz, Spokeswoman, Green Party of California

Obviously for me the biggest issue this year will be the overall relationship between how to have a healthy economy that also protects the environment. The two cannot be seen as being mutually exclusive. We have to realize that quality of life includes more than how much money people have in their pockets, but that it is tied to the quality of the air we breathe and the quality of the food we eat. Eventually we all pay the hidden costs of pollution. Whether looking at a social justice issue like homelessness or the question of what to do with waste, we must rid ourselves of the Not In My Back Yard syndrome. We have to come up with solutions, a fair distribution of where the facilities are going to be and then decide how we should fund them. Certainly the whole question of offshore oil drilling, which I totally oppose, will continue to be important, as well as a major factor in the continual decrease in the quality of our air. I don’t see any of these problems being solved in isolation from state and federal policies.